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Words matter. Much of how the president was talked about before the 2016 election gave an incompetent man with the personality and intellect of a child the presidency.
Yes! President Trump is soft on much, a paper tiger.
Chuck Todd interviewed Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien on Meet the Press. While he did not hit him as hard as he should have done as the Trump administration continues to deflect blame for the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and the subsequent economic collapse, he made the necessary point with his choice of words.
The word association of President Trump and soft was made clear. Trump was soft in his dealings with China. More importantly, Todd had the videos showing that the president has been in bed with China all along and to try to deflect blame now is more than disingenuous, it has proven fatal to too many Americans.
“The president was pretty soft when it came to pinning the blame on China,” Chuck Todd said. “Take a listen, ambassador.”
And here are the notable statements Todd played for the National Security Advisor.
- “I have a great relationship with President Xi. President Xi loves the people of China.”
- “He’s doing a very good job with a very, very tough situation.”
- “Our relationship with China is very good. Maybe it’s closer because of what’s happened here.”
- It came out of China. And it’s one of those things that happened. Nobody’s fault.
An then Todd used the “soft” characterization again.
“Are you concerned that that sort of soft relationship with Xi,” Chuck Todd asked. “Publicly praising him all the time, gave Xi comfort that he could do these things in Hong Kong without a lot of other than rhetorical retribution?”
While this may sound inconsequential if subtle, it’s the remnant in the psyche of the listener that elicits eventual changes in perception. It is a technique progressives should use liberally not only directly on the president put on the middle-class-killing policies of the Republicans and neo-liberals. It starts to frame the national psyche for the ultimate change to a more egalitarian society.
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Hi Egberto,
nice analysis of Chuck Todd’s technique. But I thought the interviewee was worth commenting on too, particularly in the way he described China. He referred to the Chinese Communist party, differentiating the party from the country (very 1950s McCarthy land). He also characterised the coronavirus as having been ‘unleashed’ by China, reaffirming that really disturbing accusation that this was all deliberate and sort of ramping it up with such dramatic language. I’m wondering how long before this is named ‘an act of war’…
Sorry I can’t support you on either twitter or Facebook, I loathe both!
The Trump comments on Xi remind me of Dubya’s “I know [Putin] is a GOOD MAN; I looked him in the eye.” I am acquainted, thrice-removed, with a fellow who worked on Trump’s TV show. He said they filmed ten hours of Trump rambling BS – to be able to edit thirty minutes of usable film, stuffedwstuffed with fillers of applicants in waiting room etc. The star in the show was not reality. (Which we knew; but the Fox news crowd believes TV is “real”.) Vote Democrat. Get the word out- a vote for Libertarian (Rand Paul?!?), Green, Socialist, etc., just helps Trump win. Nadar took the winning votes from Gore. I am not thrilled with Biden, but he will appoint competent advisors and a good cabinet. Got to Vote Him (Trump) Out.