Back in P.T. Barnum's day, most crowd attention - and the associated ticket sales - went to the most "strange" or "outrageous" displays or acts. The "bearded woman", the three headed horse, "Siamese twins", the man with no legs, captured cannibals, and all the rest. Today, the same might be said of those who believe that any press is good press. That is, any attention is good attention - the more the better. Welcome to the Trump Campaign Circus, featuring Ringmaster Donald Trump. The 2016 Trump Campaign has rapidly become the "greatest show on earth."
In the last several days we have all witnessed a slick slight-of-hand game of three-card Monte on a scale that would be the envy of any street hustlers on the west side of NYC. The campaign is attempting to be everything to everyone. With a pretend "softening" of his immigration policy to gain some Hispanic votes; with his "what do you have to lose" message to the African-American community; and, with his "red meat" message to his Alt. Right, ultra-right supporters in Arizona, Trump is attempting to appeal to every segment of the electorate without offering any commitment about what he really means. So far, he has again doubled down on his hard-line approach to immigration issues.... including this past week. In fact, the founder of the Trump Hispanic Advisory Council, Marco Gutierrez, noted that unless we get a handle on the wave of immigration illegally arriving on our shores that is causing "problems", and given that the Latino culture is a "dominant culture", we need to push back against the TACO TRUCK INVASION already underway. Unbelievably, Gutierrez identified the illegal immigrant "threat" to America as the horror of seeing "taco trucks on every corner." So, that is the real motivation of the anti-immigrant, deportation force, round-them-up and throw-them-out, anti-Mexican and anti-Muslim Trump immigration policy? To prevent the invasion of taco trucks? Not drugs? Not crime? Not rape? TACO TRUCKS! Unbelievable....
As previously outlined in an earlier posting, and as everyone who is breathing knows, Trump has made the issue of immigration - legal and illegal - a major cornerstone of his campaign for president and the dividing line between Trump and the other 16 candidates seeking the Republican nomination for the presidency. The Trump position: 1. Build a GIANT 2000 mile long wall and have Mexico pay for it; 2. Create an immense "Federal Deportation Force" to round-up 11,000,000 "illegal immigrants" - men, women, and children - and sent them all home; 3. Completely bar any and all Muslims from entering the country - refugees from violence, war, and economic ruin - for the first time applying a religious test for entry into the USA, directly in violation of the US Constitution's guarantee of freedom of and protection for religious expression; and, 4. Apply "extreme vetting" (whatever that means) to anyone seeking to emigrate to the US in search of freedom, safety, economic opportunity, and the American Dream, before they are admitted. This also applies to those presently here without papers and are returned to their home country for a "touch back" before being water-boarded... oh, I mean "extreme vetting." WOW. Most other Republican candidates in the primary election spoke to these positions - some with shock and others with disbelief - but with universal comments that such a program was simply not possible and made no economic success. Trump also suggested that children born here, crowned with citizenship by virtue of the federal Constitution and law, be "exported" along with their families. All this, of course, was without any judgment or accusation that any one of them had done anything wrong other than being present without papers.
Should we have a secure border? Of course. In fact, President Obama has been criticized for deporting more illegal immigrants that any other President in recent times - far more than both President Bushes. But, Trump is proposing an armed camp, bristling with threats of "extreme vetting", religious discrimination, and ethnic bias in the extreme as well. Build a wall, raise the drawbridge, and catapult "the invaders" out! This is a sad commentary for a nation built on a history of immigration from throughout the world and one who's strength has been based on the mixing of cultures and interaction of peoples from varied backgrounds. America is "exceptional" alright. And, that "exceptionalism" is that we have always greeted, assimilated, educated, and thrived on immigrants from everywhere else throughout our history, unlike virtually every other nation. Pick up any local phone book in the US and you will find residents from most every other nation on earth. Do the same virtually anywhere else, and you will find a surprisingly uniform ethnic population, with a sprinkling of outside immigrants. The resulting energy, inventiveness, and creativity of our national workforce has been the winning edge that our economy has displayed over the decades, making us the most productive and richest nation on the planet. Immigrants = exceptionalism. And, how realistic is it really to round-up and deport 11,000,000 people? And, what disruption to the economy is that?
In any case, the "Trump Show" - once again - has dominated the press and all of the media channels, the pundits and commentators, and on-line social media for the past three weeks. From the possibility of changing his policy on immigration, to options for altering the policy, to meetings with advisers - Hispanic and otherwise, to the meeting with the President of Mexico in Mexico City, to the immigration speech in Arizona, the media attention and commentary has been Trump wall to wall and 24/7. And, that is the TRUMP TRAP.
Donald Trump, the showman, the salesman, and, evidently, the master media manipulator, has stolen the show. Just as he was the central figure in his TV show, "The Apprentice", he has manipulated the press and the media since his candidate announcement ion 2015. Throughout the Republican primaries in the spring of 2016 and since then as well, Trump has operated on a single media theory that he has long espoused - "all press/media is good press/media." OK... so, to be the single focal point of media attention, one may have to take some outrageous stance on an issue, utter something that is unusual or off the beaten path of political "correctness", go "off the rails" from time to time, change your position from day to day or week to week - essentially, become a "controversial" figure on stage. Trump has been and continues to be a master of dominating the press cycle. Hillary has been essentially frozen out of the press cycle, but for any scandal that might be as attention-getting as the Trump show. Given that, over time, Hillary has learned that her press "availability" has often resulted in unwanted negative coverage and a tamp down of her poll numbers, perhaps it is understandable that she would cede the press play to the Donald. The question is, does that mean that press avoidance is a winning strategy? Perhaps it is - as long as the Trump Campaign keeps lurching from extreme to extreme. But, isn't that the "real" Trump game? Hmmmmm..........
So, here we are on the brink of Labor Day - the traditional start of the most substantial segment of Presidential campaigns - the dash to election day. One campaign basks in any press attention at all - positive, negative - it doesn't matter. The other, limits press conferences or availability, anxious to avoid the potential negative stories about one thing or another. Still, after Labor Day the entire landscape may change. Fall Presidential Debates do matter, after all and expectations have been high that Hillary will be the dominant presence. In little more than two months, we will all bear witness to the outcome - and, whether the Trump Trap worked or not.
Tacos anyone?
No comments:
Post a Comment