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1/ Trump wins if things continue as they're going now. COVID19 &Russian Bounty Payments should be the lead EVERY DAY throughout the 24 hour news cycle. Instead, people focus on his FOX News 'interviews', his Press Secretary, and on the DHS 'troops' in Portland and now elsewhere.
2/ Trump is, intentionally or not, controlling the narrative - making everyone else reactive to what he wants to say, what he wants talked about. Again, I don't think this is completely conscious, but it is, by now, his nature to manipulate.
3/ Most press and media, and certainly the people of or in Portland, are letting him do it.
The U.S. experiences tragically record-setting cases and deaths from COVID19 almost every day; GOP-led states are failing their citizens and guests; the health and well-being of people.
The U.S. experiences tragically record-setting cases and deaths from COVID19 almost every day; GOP-led states are failing their citizens and guests; the health and well-being of people.
4/ A few very short weeks ago, BLM &police reform was front & center, along with protests that were largely peaceful and productive, and were covered by media accordingly. Shortly after came news of Russian bounties paid for killing U.S. military - AND Trump's awareness of them.
5/ All of this dropped into the rotten Trump/GOP stew of how U.S. response to COVID19 was so badly mishandled, and the obvious glaring failures became daily - hourly - reminders to even more casual news consumers & voters were changing minds. Polls showed Biden &Dems ascending.
6/ Portland protests receded, with appropriate proportion, into the background as a story of citizens & local gov't figuring it out. Trump & GOP responses to COVID19, Russian Bounties & BLM/ police reform - self-inflicted wounds - were a collective consistent drumbeat of change.
7/ The addition of Trump's failed rally in Tulsa led to his flailing about, looking for a source of ego gratification. Unfortunately, he is about as gratified by reactions of outrage as he is by fawning adulation of the tragically stupid.
8/ So, again, not necessarily from a fully deliberative mind, Trump finds opportunities to elicit outraged reactions - REactions. Among the trial balloons, he talks of using some form of pseudo-military/ police, under his direction, to 'take control' of cities in chaos.
9/ Of course it's ludicrous, but he got the response his psyche needed. So, he ramped up his rhetoric.
Added in are his proud Harvard Law graduate Press Secretary getting too much attention from the WHPC bubble - without them asking substantive questions.
Added in are his proud Harvard Law graduate Press Secretary getting too much attention from the WHPC bubble - without them asking substantive questions.
10/ And, his own bizarre behavior during his 'interviews'. The attention, relative to the real importance of the daily emergency of COVID19 & Russian Bounties, has been excessive, & has served his interests of distraction.
11/ Every minute spent gloating & luxuriating in ridicule of Trump & Press Sec are minutes that could have been productively devoted to coverage of news that has impact on real people's lives AND drives consideration about their voting. The antics are sideshows, & they've worked.
12/ Media and Press should consider the proportionality according to importance & impact, instead of click throughs, time on a website & viewer minutes. News is driven by commercial considerations, but the frontline reporters & in-studio deliverers can & MUST do better.
13/ People, too, must do better. The people of Portland, have, for the most part, been nearly heroic in their response to the immediate threat on the ground there. But, the show & chaos has superseded the substance of the basis for protests.
14/ Almost no one talks about BLM or other causes, anymore, as the antecedent of the nightly events in Portland. The images, videos & stories coming from them are now THE story. This is what Trump wants, and the GOP is sticking with him because they know it stimulates votes.
15/ Now, Trump et al plan to extend this narrative into other cities, and they're poised to respond exactly as Barr, ChadBoy, Trump & GOP wants. They know that their base will respond to the stories of chaos & crime, & the 'patriotic' images of Trump's troops taking control.
16/ This isn't even a close call. People will fall in behind these tales of 'making America great again', because they'll see proof in the news every night - any time they see any news. We all know the 'news' organizations that will fill their time with this, & we know it WORKS.
17/ Protestors need to reconsider their actions, consider how they're being played by some of the most simple-minded & criminal people ever in gov't. When you 'counter strike', you're providing Trump et al with exactly the images & stories they want & will spoon feed to voters.
18/ And these voters WILL VOTE according to the fairytales. They WANT validation for beliefs about cities in chaos, about Black crime, Dem incompetence, and Trump's supreme abilities to stamp it out. Trump/ GOP will grab this to the exclusion of all else, & make it stick.
19/ Protestors, current & future (planned): don't let Trump write your story. Have YOUR protests, not his. Keep activity to the daytime, when everything can be recorded most clearly, & images are not hyper dramatized to video game level.
20/ If your people are not vandalizing, make sure that is unequivocally clear, & point 'em out IN THE DAYTIME. Make it clear that you are not marching at night. Don't give Trump's Nazis the air time.
Absolutely DO NOT make this into protests against Trump. He'll love it.
Absolutely DO NOT make this into protests against Trump. He'll love it.
21/ And he'll win.
If Chicago, Baltimore, NY, Oakland, Milwaukee & other cities erupt into protest - which seems like a reasonable response - Trump will win the election.
If cities erupt, polls will show a favorable shift for Trump, and HE WILL WIN.
If Chicago, Baltimore, NY, Oakland, Milwaukee & other cities erupt into protest - which seems like a reasonable response - Trump will win the election.
If cities erupt, polls will show a favorable shift for Trump, and HE WILL WIN.
22/ This is what I'm afraid is going to happen. Unfortunately, the momentum is in this direction, now, and there is VERY small window of opportunity to correct course.
But, I don't think media & press are disciplined enough to do their part.
But, I don't think media & press are disciplined enough to do their part.
23/ I think people's righteous outrage, well-deserved & reasonable as it may be, will lead to violence & chaos between them & TrumpGoons.
If legal actions don't preempt this, Trump will win, & the country WILL be lost. There will be no coming back from his/GOP fascism.
If legal actions don't preempt this, Trump will win, & the country WILL be lost. There will be no coming back from his/GOP fascism.
24/ Don't play a part in Trump's story. Stop. Think. Focus on YOUR purpose, not his. Write YOUR story.
When you're completely sure that you know the right thing to do, stop. Consider. Think how it would be if you disagreed with your own certitude. Better ways.
Or, Trump wins.
When you're completely sure that you know the right thing to do, stop. Consider. Think how it would be if you disagreed with your own certitude. Better ways.
Or, Trump wins.
