I Know We’re Supposed To Be...

Trump: J6 hostages. I don’t call them prisoners. They’re hostages pic.twitter.com/p1jsrn5uVl

— Acyn (@Acyn) December 16, 2023

...terribly upset by this, but does anyone stop to consider Trump is drawing a very bright line between “us” and “them,” and that there are a lot more of us, than them?

“Hostages”? Is that supposed to appeal to a larger crowd? Sure, he’s “speaking in code,” but those of us who don’t speak the code know what these words mean, and it’s dangerous nonsense.

There is absolutely no indication this kind of rhetoric is winning hearts and minds.

"Not particularly, because I think you're all misreading the electorate," Priebus insisted. "I think that the electorate is not looking for less blood. I think they're looking for more blood."

"I think, as I've said before, people are looking for a bigger middle finger this time than they were in 2016," he added.

Brazile interrupted.

"Mr. Chairman, let me just say this," she began. "You're talking about taking millions of people off their health care, which is Donald Trump. He is pledged to do that. That's blood."

"You're talking about suspending the United States Constitution, something that Donald Trump has said," she noted. "You know what I don't get? I don't get the fact that you're willing to stand up for someone who's praising dictators as he did."

"Listen, what I'm doing here, Donna, OK, I am telling you what the reality on the ground is," Priebus scoffed. "And if you can convince me that those 100,000 [swing voters] are worried about Donald Trump suspending the Constitution."

I question his math, to begin with.  And still, "100,000 swing voters" would have not have moved the needle in 2020 towards Trump; not anywhere in the country, not in any state.  100,000 swing voters is simply not the electorate. Unless we accept the tyranny of the angry minority, I don't care if they're calling for blood sacrifice and a return to settling all disputes by blood sports.  It isn't going to happen.  It's not an election option.  That's not a political statement; is a constitutional one; as in the document and ideas the POTUS takes an oath to preserve, protect, and defend.  Defend even against the voters who want more blood.

"You know, even though he said that on multiple occasions," Karl observed.

"You have to be able to convince people that are voting that he means what he says," Priebus argued.

Which was Lindsay Graham's argument on MTP this morning:

"The Biden campaign has accused former President Trump of, quote, parroting Adolf Hitler," Welker noted. "Are the President's comments representative of how you and other Republicans feel?"

Graham avoided answering the question directly.

"76% of the American people, not Donald Trump, believe the border is broken," he said. "They're worried about fentanyl coming over and killing their kids."

"But what about his language, Senator?" Welker pressed. "Just that language, that poisoning the blood."

"I'm worried about an outcome," an angry Graham replied. "He is right. He had the border secured, the lowest in 40 years, in December of 2020."

"To the Biden administration, you're talking about Donald Trump's language," he continued. "As you set on the sidelines and allowed the country to be invaded, 172 people on the terrorist watch list have come on your watch."

Welker asked again if Graham was comfortable with Trump's rhetoric.

"You know, we're talking about language," the senator shot back. "I could care less what language people use as long as we get it right."

"If you think you're going to win the debate on illegal immigration by picking a line out of the Trump speech," he added, "most Americans understand the game has to change, that we're under threat, that we're going to get attacked, that our border has completely been obliterated."

And yet government policy is only words, and it is by words that we gauge a politician's intent, as well as their actions (do the words and action match?), and Sen. Graham is offering only words on a subject Rep. Dingell came on after him to say Congress has avoided for decades:  immigration reform.  Sen. Graham is in a unique position in America to do something about the problems he ranted about on MTP, but he prefers words (ranting) to actions (sponsoring and shepherding legislation through the Congress).  The latter is his job; but the former is far, far easier.

We don't need to convince 100,000 swing voters that Trump means what he says.  We just have to convince a majority of the electorate.  Since 2016, they have proven they are far less interested in Trump than the numerical minority is.  And I suspect they are very, very interested in Congress doing what Congress is supposed to do:  legislate and set the policy priorities of the United States government.

(By the way, Lindsay said that this morning and apart from Raw Story, I can’t find any of my usual suspects tweeting about it. So please stop telling me that when Trump does it the media ignores it and so “normalizes” it. This was a long rant first thing on MTP this morning, and nobody seems to care. I’ll retire to Bedlam.)