[ad_1]
President Trump began his first public appearance after the arrest on Friday of a letter-mail suspect on an apparently inclusive note. He said while reading a teleprompound text that "we should never allow political violence to root in America" and pledged to "stop it and stop it now."
But then he continued.
Standing in the East Wing of the White House, the President lamented that many bombs had been sent to the Democrats and that a media that Trump had long demonized had highlighted his announcement of the drug prices of Medicare the day before. He told the public of young black leaders before him that the Democratic Party had betrayed them. He laughed excitedly as some in the crowd chanted "Fake News!" He also echoed a song of "Lock it!" About the liberal philanthropist George Soros, one of the goals of this week.
Ten days before the November 6 elections and faced with many controversies and crises, Trump did not just struggle to unify the country – he showed little interest in trying. Time and again, the former reality show impresario has sought to sow discord, betting that most Americans prefer his pugilist and discordant style to the sanitized mold of his predecessors.
The midterm elections are increasingly a test of the persistent power of Trumpiness: a kind of irreproachable strategy, a combative policy focused on personal attacks and demagogic rhetoric, without paying too much attention to the presidential tradition which is to provide moral clarity and unity in case of tragedy or violence. danger.
"These are the times when words really count," said historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of a new book on the subject, "Leadership: In Turbulent Times."
The pickup truck under investigation for parcel bombs addressed to high-level critics of President Trump is being carried on a flatbed truck Friday in Miramar, Fla. (Carline Jean / AP)
Goodwin explained throughout his story: "It sometimes happens that the ambition of the president for himself becomes an ambition for the greatest good: to become a leader rather than simply a holder of power. The president is in a unique position in times of crisis to allow the nation to mobilize the people around common ideals that should unite us. "
This week offered a new example of Trump's alternative approach: while homemade bombs were discovered, aimed at well-known Democrats and an information network that had been the subject of bitter attacks by the campaign. President launched an appeal to national unity.
But the words sounded all week as Trump attacked the "Fake News" media, avoided any personal responsibility for his incendiary rhetoric and, on Friday morning, used his chair of intimidation to advance an unfounded plot theory that the bombs were both fake and orchestrated. by the left. About an hour later, authorities arrested Cesar Sayoc, 56, a Florida man with long criminal record whose white van was covered with pro-Trump and anti-Democrat images.
Later Friday afternoon, while he was leaving Washington for a rally in Charlotte, Trump told the press that he had no intention of mitigating his remarks. – "I could really moderate him," he said – and noted that the suspect "was a person who preferred me over others." He also dismissed the notion of responsibility: "There is No blame, nothing. "
His supporters often claim that there is no clear link between the president's impolitic remarks and acts of violence or threats. In the case of homemade bombs, which according to his own director of the FBI were "not hoaxes," many Trump supporters pointed out Friday that no one had been hurt.
President Trump addresses reporters before leaving the White House in Washington on Friday, October 26, 2018 to attend a protest in Charlotte, North Carolina (Photo AP / Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Over the last two months, Trump has identified a series of challenges for which he has openly and deliberately dismissed the expected responsibilities of his position.
During Justice Brett Kavanaugh's sudden confirmation in the Supreme Court, Trump publicly mocked Christine Blasey Ford, who had accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault while they were both teenagers; he later said in a 60-minute interview that his treatment did not count because "we won". Then, as the news was learned that Saudi Arabia had orchestrated the premeditated assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor, the president was muted. in his criticism of the Middle East country, reluctant to sever strategic ties – including an arms deal – between the two countries.
Trump's rhetoric about intermediate courts was also centered on the strategic decision of his council and his advisers to portray an apocalyptic portrait of the country under a democratic regime, a vision fueled by a powerful mixture of lies and fear.
With many members of the Republican Party following him, the President has repeatedly called the Democrats extraordinary
control the "angry mob" that is "too dangerous to govern". Last week, without any evidence, he claimed that unknown "strangers from the Middle East" had infiltrated the caravans of Central American migrants sneaking north towards the southern border. from the country. had "no proof" for the request.
And on Thursday, news came out that the administration was considering a plan to close the US border entirely to Central Americans and deny them the opportunity to seek asylum.
More recently, after often being the subject of criticism, Trump became the target of at least 14 pipe-bombing attempts, including former President Barack Obama, the former secretary Hillary Clinton, Representative Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Former Attorney General Eric H Holder Jr. and CNN – The President has decried "the threat of violence as a method of intimidation, coercion or political control ".
But Trump has disputed the fact that he is contributing to a conflictual political climate and has continued his attacks, calling the media "so bad and heinous that he is beyond description".
Former CIA director John O. Brennan, the target of an explosive addressed to CNN headquarters in New York, berated Trump and urged him to "stop blaming others" .
"Your inflammatory rhetoric, insults, lies, and encouragement of physical violence are outrageous," wrote Brennan in a tweet on Thursday. "Clean up your act …. try to act as a presidential.The American people deserve a lot better."
Responding to Brennan's criticism of Fox News, Sarah Sanders, White House press secretary, defended her boss. "The president, I think, could not have been more presidential yesterday when he spoke directly with the American people," she said on Thursday.
Friday morning, however, at 3:14 pm, the president announced in a tweet CNN coverage, saying the network "blamed me for the current flood of bombs." . . but when I criticize them, they go wild and shout, "It's just not presidential!"
For several days, some notable Trump allies on the right, including radio host Rush Limbaugh, drew attention to a "fictional" plot theory that the bombs were not real and Led by the Liberals as a way to reverse Trump's campaign argument that Democrats are "the party of the crowds" and show that the Conservatives, too, favor the tactics of the crowd.
Later Friday morning, Trump has embarked on this path. "The Republicans are doing very well in advance polls and polls, and now this" bomb "is happening and the momentum is drastically slowing down," the president tweeted.
The president's approach of playing against his base by sowing division and fear contrasts sharply with his modern, democratic and republican predecessors.
Cody Keenan, former White House editor for Obama, said that Obama and his associates acknowledged that providing a moral vision to the nation in times of trauma or division was one of the most difficult tasks. of the Presidency and that they took it seriously.
"There is no room for" except this "or" but that, "said Keenan, who helped Obama write many of his fiery speeches during national crises, including many mass shootings. "If a president does not say and says," It's good, "" it's wrong, "they miss the opportunity to provide moral clarity to a country that often seeks it. "
Trump has sometimes shown a willingness to claim high moral ground. Last year, for example, after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons against his own people, Trump authorized the use of nearly five dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles against targets. Syrian.
Aides said the president was particularly affected by images of young Syrian children who had been injured and killed during Assad's attacks. The US strikes also allowed Trump to present himself as stronger and more decisive than Obama, who had established a "red line" for Syria but had never acted on his threat.
In at least one important moment – the deadly violence of last year at a gathering of supremacists in Charlottesville – Trump was hesitant. After being criticized for blaming "two-sided" violence, Trump delivered a speech condemning racist hate groups as "repugnant to all that is dear to us as Americans". But he almost immediately told his associates that his noble remarks were part of his biggest mistakes, describing him as the "worst speech I've ever uttered," according to Bob Woodward's new book, "Fear."
"It's very difficult to think of a president of American history who has been so aggressive as a divisional and who has shown essentially no moral leadership," said James K. Glassman, former ambassador and Under-Secretary of State, who is the founding executive director of the George W. Bush Institute. "The presidents have set the tone, and you certainly can not say that President Trump is responsible for sending bombs to Democratic leaders all over the country, but the climate of this country is encouraged by the president."
Trump has long expressed his disinterest in the expected standards of the presidency, arguing that his freewheeling style was more exciting.
"It's so easy to be presidential, but instead of having 10,000 people outside trying to break into this overflowing arena, we would have about 200 people," he said. Trump at a recent campaign rally in Wheeling, Virginia, exaggerating the magnitude of the crowd.
Then he waved a sheet of paper and started imitating his version of a more conventional commander-in-chief, by drawing up a list of buzzwords – "Ladies and Gentlemen," "Great Americans" and "Thousand points of light ".
"Which," says Trump, continuing from ad-lib, "nobody really understood."
[ad_2]
Source link
