It isn’t a secret…Trump has been limping into the campaign season. Some of this has nothing to do with his strategy or prowess. The virus tipped everything upside down and no matter what direction America chose to combat the virus, it still would have thrown up a huge roadblock for the President’s reelection campaign.
However, some of it has been of his own making. Hindsight is 20/20 and looking back, Trump really shot himself in the foot with the huge reaction to COVID at the federal level. He never should have suggested closing anything but the borders. It’s safe to say he was just doing what people always accuse him of being incapable of doing…listening to his advisors. Regardless, the buck stops at the top and Trump has had to deal with the fallout of that misstep ever since.
There have been some verbal bungles and an ill-advised interview with a hostile journalist that was never going to be anything but rude and leading. And then of course there is the tweeting. I’ve never been of the mind that Trump should stop tweeting. He is who he is. It is silly to expect him to be anyone other than who people voted for. However, as of late some of his tweets have been genuinely eye-roll inducing. Typically I’m one to simply laugh. These days I find myself cringing, thinking he is often doing himself no favors on social media.
No, there is no doubt this is not the Trump we saw confidently owning the entire media cycle and the narrative leading up to the 2016 presidential elections. He has been floundering and there’s no mystery as to why. While the Biden campaign struggles to keep him secluded and minimize his public utterances, the Trump campaign has had to completely revamp their campaign strategy. Months ago a strong economy and “promises kept” were going to be a huge boon for the President, but now he can’t even hold his regular and hugely successful rallies that propelled him to the White House four years ago.
However, we are beginning to see glimpses of the Trump who destroyed our paradigm in 2016.
In one of his most epic trolls so far in 2020, Trump responded to a reporter who tried to slip in a typical “gotcha” question at the end of a press conference in which many Trump supporters were attending without masks. Redstate reporter Bonchie laid it all out:
President Trump gave a press conference today at his New Jersey golf club. The topics ranged from the Lebanese explosion to the economy. He praised the good jobs numbers and was also asked about the new intel report noting that China and Russia want to see Biden and Trump win respectively. As pressers go, it was one of his better performances. Maybe the reporters were just off their game tonight in the formulation of dishonest questions, but he seemed to handled every inquiry well.
Then one final question was asked, setting up perhaps the best executed troll of Trump’s presidency. I don’t say that lightly. The combination of throwing the media’s hypocrisy back in their faces combined with the way he executed in conjunction with the crowd was just hilarious.
Take the time and watch the whole clip. This wasn’t just a one liner. It was a full minute of rubbing the media’s face in their nonsense.
And here is the aforementioned clip:
WATCH: Reporter tries to call out Trump supporters for not following coronavirus guidelines.
“You’re wrong on that,” President Trump replied. “It’s a peaceful protest.” pic.twitter.com/oNZUZ0Fb26
— Trump War Room – Text TRUMP to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) August 8, 2020
Watching the clip, I am struck by how much more at ease Trump seems when he’s simply telling it like it is. His meteoric and historic 2016 rise was due in no small part to that very trait. We get stumbling Trump when he’s giving his advisors the final word instead of going with his gut. We get stumbling Trump when he’s trying hard to be “diplomatic” or a statesman.
Blunt Trump is the best Trump and it shows.
Blunt Trump is who we got with that epic photo op at St. John’s Church near the White House. He couldn’t have cared less what it would look like to the stooges at CNN. He wanted to do it, and so he did it. And he owned it.
I felt almost relieved to see this clip, as if I were seeing an old friend for the first time in a while. There is no doubt that much like his first run, the deck is stacked against him, but if Trump can find a way to settle into being “Trump” – the one who is the President and not simply a candidate – then he will be unstoppable.
Love it or hate it, there is a strange magic to Trump’s abrasiveness. It is captivating to nearly everyone on the political spectrum as evidenced by the non-stop wall-to-wall Trump Derangement coverage on nearly every corporate media outlet save Fox. Even Fox is getting on Trump’s nerves lately and he lets them know it, but that is precisely the Trump who will win.
I’m looking at Biden – a celebrated statesman and diplomat – and frankly, as often as Trump makes me cringe, I’ll take the guy who just does not give a bleep over the guy who clearly doesn’t know what the bleep is in the first place.
Give me cringey, blunt, bold, audacious Trump any day of the week. That’s the guy I’ll bet the presidency on.
