Trump’s #CharlottesvilleVendetta

After watching how President Trump and his information warrior army operate since 2015, you’d think most political pundits would understand, not only his information warfare strategy, by now, but also realize that he has no political ideological core, no principles, no concern for understanding details or facts, and is completely driven by his own popularity.   What makes Donald J. Trump look great matters most.

So, when Trump met with McConnell, Ryan, Schumer and Pelosi Wednesday and stabbed Republicans in the back, by agreeing to Schumer and Pelosi’s deal, the political punditry broke down two ways.  The Trump information warriors, his loyal Carvillian spinmeisters, who have spun  Trump as “great”, “the magnificent builder”, “doesn’t play by the rules”, and most of all “winning”, naturally began spinning this deal as wonderful, but many other political pundits seemed dazed and confused again.  The reaction was sort of  “what the heck just happened?”.

Once again, they are making the mistake of thinking of Trump in American democratic political norms.  He is not really a Republican or a Democrat; he’s a puffed up, pampered prince, our own Peter III, who is used to getting his own way.  If it feeds his image and therefore his ego, all is well.   This is why he doesn’t care about policy, only watching TV and talking about his popularity (crowd size).  His other consuming concern is shutting down the Russia investigation.  He wants to make sure he is not impeached.

The Trump/Schumer/Pelosi deal was Trump’s  #CharlottesvilleVendetta in action.  Any Republicans who spoke out against him after Charlottesville will be targeted  for destruction by Trump and his sleazy political operatives.  Ryan and McConnell are at the top of Trump’s hit list, because they could be very influential in killing the Russian investigation.  This has nothing to do with moving the so-called Trump political agenda, which really was just a bunch of jingoistic flag-waving, “America First”, xenophobic tirades to galvanize his base.

He will rally, and repeat that performance, as often as necessary, to keep his 5th Avenue Loyalists marching in lockstep.  Seriously, he will revert to his large rallies, even if he has to hire a crowd to project a great “crowd size”.

Trump’s spinmeisters are spinning this deal as Ryan’s fault and that will be a recurring theme from now on.  Trump’s spinners will target Ryan and McConnell.  Since Trump has Fox News as a 24/7 propaganda channel, his spin will likely work with his 5th Avenue Loyalists.  They believe not what he says or does (don’t take him literally; but take him seriously).  They believe in Trump the “Great”.

Republicans, who are not on the Trump train, would be wise to realize that Trump is not a Republican and the GOP is no longer the Republican party.  That party was burned to the ground.  When the Trump train kept touting Trump’s “GOP Insurgency”, well, believe it.  He did not want to become a Republican; he wanted the party to become Trumpian.  And it has.  His sleazy information warriors will say anything to prop him up and lie, lie, lie.  They make the Clinton spinmeisters look like amateurs.  Ryan, McConnell and other Republicans, who aren’t Trump loyalists, should start dealing with Trump like he is the enemy, because he is.   Trump will work tirelessly to destroy anyone who hurts his feelings.

Where this Trump train stops is anyone’s guess.  The one thing I am certain of is it leads to an abandonment of American principles of decency and fair play.  There’s nothing good about using mass media information warfare against the American people, no matter who is doing it.

And one short blog note: My area is under a mandatory evacuation this weekend, so I won’t be blogging for several days. We are packing up.