“That Was Some Weird Shit”

Or, Trump Trolls News Media … Again

By Kevin Howley, March 30, 2023

Seems like old times.

Last week’s news cycle began and ended with Donald J. Trump. The week started, as it so often does, with Trump making exaggerated claims, without evidence, of his imminent arrest and finished with a portentous campaign rally – the first of his 2024 reelection campaign.

In between reporters and pundits were tripping all over themselves in anticipation of Trump’s indictment at the hands of Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, who is leading a grand jury investigation into Trump’s hush money payments to a porn star back in 2016.

Throughout the week, Trump trolled the press with a series of social media posts – ALL CAPS NATURALLY – fueled by election denialism and leavened with racist and anti-Semitic threats of violence targeting Mr. Bragg. 

By the time he arrived Saturday in Waco, Texas – sacred ground for Christian nationalists with deep-seated resentment toward the federal government and a track record of armed insurrection – the twice-impeached former president was comparing his mounting legal problems with a “Stalinist Russia horror show” and saluting J6 insurrectionists. Something of a compulsion for MAGA Republicans.

Headline writers at Reuters put it best: “Trump Casts 2024 Contest in Apocalyptic Terms, Slams Prosecutors.”

Déjà Vu

The American philosopher and baseball hall of famer, Yogi Berra, once observed, “It’s like déjà vu all over again.” Virulent as it is, Trump’s bellicose rhetoric requires some revisiting about now.

When he announced his 2016 presidential bid, Trump traded in the Republican party’s well-worn dog whistle for a megaphone. His opening salvo targeted immigrants: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. … They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”

On the road to the White House, candidate Trump bragged, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.” And on the day of his inaugural, even born again George W. Bush was taken aback by Trump’s demonic vision of America: “That was some weird shit,” declared Mr. Mission Accomplished.

Trump’s presidency lived up to its billing. All the while, he baited supporters with a steady stream of misogynic, racist, xenophobic and transphobic fighting words. In light of Trump’s recent threats of potential “death and destruction” three episodes stand out.

The malignant speech that incited violence based on a politics of white grievance and the promise of Christian nationalism at the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Prescient threats from the 2020 debate stage when he refused to denounce white supremacists and instead urged extremists like the Proud Boys to “Stand back and stand by.”

Incendiary demands of the MAGA faithful, who he summoned to the nation’s capital on January 6, 2021, to do his bidding. “We fight like hell, and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”

“Death and Destruction”

All of which begs the question: How did Trump fare last week in the right wing noise machine?

Headlined “Another Day, And The Former President Is Set To Be Arrested” WND sees the conspiracy for what it is: “The Democrats’ efforts to silence President Trump have gone too far once again.” Adding, helpfully, “Make no mistake – the Radical Left is trying to use this witch hunt to intimidate you.”

All the same, columnist Joseph Farah is here to reassure his readers, “You can protest, as Trump asserts.” … “But there’s something else you can do that’s more effective. PRAY! Pray for Donald Trump.” Nuff said.

Days later, WND struck a more optimistic tone with this item: “Trump Indictment Moved To Back Burner For Manhattan Grand Jury.” Spinning delays into legal triumphs, the report begins: “Amid a series of scandalous revelations about the Manhattan district attorney trying to indict President Trump, as well as newly publicized evidence that undermines his care entirely, the grand jury considering the case is putting it off – for days if not weeks.”

In the wake of Trump’s portentous posts, the American Thinker was, predictably, of two minds. A clearly distraught Andrea Widburg writes, “Sadly, several non-MSM outlets, ranging from conservative to merely sane, are throwing out clickbait headlines implying that Donald Trump has physically threatened Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg or is literally threatening to destroy America should be indicted.”

Without a hint of irony, Widburg continues, “At a time when America is facing an existential threat to the constitutional system, they should be supporting Trump, not attacking him, and that’s true whether they like him or not.”

For his part, Thomas Lifson is having none of it. “Coming off the best week he’s had in a long time, playing Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg for a chump by predicting his arrest last week, dominating the news and raising legitimate questions about the weakness of the case, Donald Trump shot himself in the foot. In the process, he has damaged the conservative cause debunking the phony ‘insurrection’ narrative.” By golly, someone’s got their priorities straight!

To be sure, the Donald made a name for himself as a bully and a playboy in New York City during the 1980s. Back in the day, Trump knew how to wind up the press and make it play his tune. He’s been playing the news media ever since. All the more reason, then, that as the 2024 campaign kicks into second gear, we keep Trump’s authoritarianism front of mind – criminal indictments or not.

Say what you will about Donald Trump, but he knows how to stay on brand. His penchant for violent rhetoric and tyrannical rule proceeds him; and this time he’s made it clear that he’s out for retribution.

Kevin Howley is a writer and educator whose work has appeared in Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism, Social Movement Studies, and Interactions: Studies in Communication and Culture. His most recent book is Drones: Media Discourse and the Public Imagination.

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