The Duality of Donald
So, Donald Trump met with a chilly reception on his overseas trip, with cameras and microphones capturing two embarrassments.
In response to this -- and I think especially in response to the mockery of his penchant for long, rambling press conferences -- he cut his trip short and cancelled the final press conference.
His defenders were quick to claim that It's A Good Thing, Actually that Donald Trump is mocked by global elites (i.e., his peers, other heads of state) because it shows that he's shaking up the old order and they're rightly afraid of him. White supremacist commentator and professional propagandist Laura Ingraham made the claim that every Republican president is mocked on the world stage.
Where this gets inconvenient is that the same crew is trying to peddle the exact opposite claim: that President Obama was mocked (and subjected the US to mockery) for his "weakness" on the world stage and that Donald has restored our standing in the world. Supposedly it is Republicans who have the clout to make deals with our allies and enemies. Only Nixon Can Go To China, Mr. Gorbachev Tear Down This Wall...
It just goes to show that once again, as always, Donald Trump is the funhouse mirror vision of the Republican Party. Doublespeak and doublethink abound. Will Donald's humiliation lead to a shift away from the "America is respected again" narrative? No. Because the Republican Party rejects reality and substitutes their own, they have no need to maintain a consistent narrative at all.
Just as it is possible for Donald to claim that his call with Ukraine is so perfect that every legal expert who looks at it agrees and therefore all the legal experts who have looked at it and said it raises serious red flags are wrong, just as he can say that releasing the transcript immediately shut up all the critics and therefore everybody still talking about it is wrong, he and his defenders can say in perfect sincerity that he is a strong and respected figure who has elevated the US in the eyes of the world, and therefore it is the world and not he or us who look foolish when the world laughs at him.
Even while he calls Trudeau "two-faced", Donald's whole political existence depends on this duality where he is an invincible titan but also the underdog, where he is respected and admired by world leaders but also despised and feared by a global elite made up of the same people, where he is always winning and yet has never won.
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