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"A politically weakened Trump has pivoted back to branding, his only option before the midterms"
President Trump is acting unhinged because that’s all he can do
There is a more rational explanation for the president’s behavior, however, and it has nothing to do with staff turnover or any Axis of Adults: A politically weakened Trump has pivoted back to branding, because it is his only option before the midterm elections.
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Given his political constraints, Trump will do what he did in the private sector when his real estate empire was floundering: switch to branding. When Trump tried to build things like hotels, his track record was mediocre. As a brand, however, Trump pocketed millions with far less skin in the game.
The president’s behavior this past month or so can best be understood as his trying to return to his brand as an angry outsider. He needs to ensure that his loyal base supporters are sufficiently energized to come out and vote GOP in the midterms. An easy way for him to do that is through Twitter rants. Trump will also follow the script of weak presidents by focusing on foreign affairs, such as his planned summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. But the primary means through which Trump will brand is by reclaiming the mantle of anger and railing against the D.C. swamp … which he now runs.
Trump will get little if anything from Congress on the issues he tweets about from here on in. But I am not sure that was his real point. Complaining about things simultaneously reveals Trump’s powerlessness but also fires up his base to try to get him an even more pliant Congress. (It also lets him off the hook for anything bad that happens.)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/04/03/the-branding-presidency/?utm_term=.a6aded9900aa
There is a more rational explanation for the president’s behavior, however, and it has nothing to do with staff turnover or any Axis of Adults: A politically weakened Trump has pivoted back to branding, because it is his only option before the midterm elections.
*****
Given his political constraints, Trump will do what he did in the private sector when his real estate empire was floundering: switch to branding. When Trump tried to build things like hotels, his track record was mediocre. As a brand, however, Trump pocketed millions with far less skin in the game.
The president’s behavior this past month or so can best be understood as his trying to return to his brand as an angry outsider. He needs to ensure that his loyal base supporters are sufficiently energized to come out and vote GOP in the midterms. An easy way for him to do that is through Twitter rants. Trump will also follow the script of weak presidents by focusing on foreign affairs, such as his planned summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. But the primary means through which Trump will brand is by reclaiming the mantle of anger and railing against the D.C. swamp … which he now runs.
Trump will get little if anything from Congress on the issues he tweets about from here on in. But I am not sure that was his real point. Complaining about things simultaneously reveals Trump’s powerlessness but also fires up his base to try to get him an even more pliant Congress. (It also lets him off the hook for anything bad that happens.)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/04/03/the-branding-presidency/?utm_term=.a6aded9900aa
4 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
in Apocalypse Now.
