Trump’s mattering map
Philip Bump at the Post also notices Donald’s slightly out of proportion obsession with The Flag while Puerto Rico runs out of oxygen and everything else.
Since last Friday, he’s tweeted about anti-police violence protests at NFL games some two dozen times — far more than he’s tweeted about North Korea or about health-care revision or about the special election in Alabama. It has consumed him. Four tweets on Saturday. Seven on Sunday. Eight on Monday. Four before 9 a.m. on Tuesday.
It’s astonishing to behold – that someone in his position can be that petty and childish, and proud of it.
After the contrast between his eager tweets about the NFL and apathy about Puerto Rico was raised by journalists on Monday, Trump tweeted several times about the island.
“Texas and Florida are doing great,” he wrote, “but Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from broken infrastructure and massive debt, is in deep trouble. Its old electrical grid, which was in terrible shape, was devastated. Much of the Island was destroyed, with billions of dollars owed to Wall Street and the banks which, sadly, must be dealt with. Food, water and medical are top priorities — and doing well.”
Wall Street and the banks – that’s the important thing here.
The message Trump is trying to convey with those tweets (which we cleaned up a bit for legibility) is pretty clear: If Puerto Rico is going badly, it’s not my fault. Why the territory’s debt was worth mentioning is hard to understand outside of the context of Trump portraying it as a place that is responsible for its own problems.
So DON’T LOOK AT HIM, ok?
Long-haul recovery efforts that bear no immediate signs of reward are not the sort of struggle Trump enjoys. It’s hard not to draw an obvious conclusion: Trump tweets more about the NFL than Puerto Rico because he is more interested in talking about the NFL than talking about Puerto Rico. I mean, they haven’t even paid their debts to Wall Street!
Plus…don’t forget…they speak Spanish there.
I don’t think he ought to be throwing stones about not paying debts. He’s got the bigliest, tallest, most beautiful glass house around that way.
On the bright side: while he’s obsessing over the NFL, he’s also not declaring nuclear war on NK by tweet.
Steve, I accidentally read your comment as “declaring nuclear war on the UK by tweet”. The sad thing is, it didn’t surprise me that he might consider declaring nuclear war on the UK.
It would be so easy for Trump—for any of us!—to be better on this: “I think kneeling during the National Anthem is a powerful protest. I’m saddened that the protestors believe that we have fallen short. I know this is a great country, and I also know that peaceful protest is a cherished right all Americans enjoy.” The End. And he’d never have to say another word. He wouldn’t even have to mean it.
But not only is Trump a creep; he doesn’t want to be better. This is his “successful” routine. He knows he’ll always have an audience for it (a dwindling audience, I hope), and that’s all he wants. An audience, applause, adulation. If he can get it by being an asshole, that’s fine with him.
Absolutely. Doing this is why he wanted the job in the first place, along with the chance to undo everything Obama did. But all this tweeting and fight-picking and riling everyone is what he likes about the job. He likes it the way a dog likes rolling in mud. I sort of get it, in a way – I obviously like mouthing off, so I kind of get why mouthing off from the Oval Office would feel like the best game ever. But only “in a way,” because the reality of the damage I could do would in fact ruin the fun and prevent me from doing it at all.
Could Trump be suggesting that the bulk of any government aid should be going straight to Wall Street and the banks?
In the absence of somewhere more relevant to put this, I see that it looks as though the Republican run-of for Alabama is going to Roy Moore rather than Trumps preferred candidate Luther Strange. I’m not sure which is worse…
It’s a trick question: they’re both worse.
Damn Ben, you’re onto me!
https://www.facebook.com/144310995587370/photos/a.271728576178944.71555.144310995587370/1672374202781034/?type=3&theater
It’s just Puerto Rico, it’s not really Murica, so why should he care?