Bill Kristol
@BillKristol
You look at the polls and think "he can't win." But Trump's path to victory doesn't depend on persuading Americans. It depends on voter suppression, mass disinformation, foreign interference, and unabashed use of executive branch power to shape events, and perceptions, this fall.
It did in 2016. But now? The path has been thoroughly disrupted now. You can take Kristol's last two words to mean that the Spring and Summer don't count in Trump's mind. That Trump doesn't care that he's down 9.5 points. That obviously is not the case. When the epidemic first dawned on him he openly fretted about going the way of Herbert Hoover; wistfully thought of how the economy was so strong, but now...You can see it in his body language after Tulsa; in his actions and in where he doesn't act--he gave up on the epidemic, just quit. He tried to use presidential power: First it was war and he was the commanding general. Bud Cadet Bone Spurs couldn't pull it off. Then he used it to appear every night alongside the doctors on TV at the briefings. He gave up on that too, literally walked out, after he asked the doctors to "test" "a powerful light" and/or "disinfectant" "injection" into the body.
His and Russia's alt reality disinformation is having no effect, or the opposite effect. You see that in his inability to come up with a new slogan--he knows he can't go with "KEEP AMERICA GREAT!"; you see it in his reaction to the bunker story getting out; in his perp-walk at the George Floyd protests; in his finally building the Wall—around the White House; you see it in the polls on race and policing--the division and chaos strategy is not working this time. Russia can move 50,000 or 70,000, or 85,000--or even a couple hundred thousand--votes his way through fake social media. They can't move 9.5%. No: Trump cares that he's down 9.5 points. He's depressed and puzzled and exasperated that those same navigational tools, voter suppression, mass disinformation, foreign interference, the bully pulpit, are not accurately directing him to the path of victory this time.
Trump himself is the reason of primacy why is getting killed. The Lincoln Project is right there with him. They have boomeranged Trump's tools on him. Look at this ad from an allied group FACT. LP rightfully calls it “art." https://twitter.com/ProjectLincoln/status/1274748265376907265?s=20. Biden runs UP the same ramp that Trump baby-stepped Down. Trump's lengthy explanation why in Tulsa? Stop whining you bitch! Imagine Donald Trump being called a "whiny bitch." Imagine a group of Republicans calling Donald Trump a "whiny bitch." Now, that has only gotten 9.2 million views since being posted on Sunday.
They have taken Donald Trump's soul. LP's ads, that one from FACT, are voter suppression. This is a personality cult. When you demoralize Trump you demoralize his supporters. They don't show up. They didn't show up in Tulsa and they're not going to show up in November, not the way they did in 2016. They see how Trump looks and acts: defeated. The Klan rallies were Trump's favorite thing in 2016. They are what first got him attention. I can still remember watching the news and being amazed at the size and enthusiasm of his crowds. As was the media covering them.They fed off each other, the media and Trump, Trump and his supporters. Now, they're not there: the arena in Tulsa was less than one-third full. There is no enthusiasm, in fact the opposite. Trump voters feel increasingly too demoralized to even show up.
[will]
So at one was Trump with his supporters that they were often said to "dog whistle" to each other, remember that? In a pitch that the rest of his couldn't hear. In a language we did not understand. Who knew what a "cuck conservative" was? Who knows now! My (second) ex-wife didn't. "A cuckold is when a wife cheats on her husband" she responded puzzled at my use of the term in a text message. I had to Trumpsplain "cuck" and "bitch" when used on a man.
The ads that The Lincoln Project put together are psychologically complex ads. They know the secret sore points and they press and they press and they press. They know the secret language and the perfect pitch to use. They acknowledge that they are psychically messaging both Trump, the host, and his supporters, the parasites. They know that they are getting to Trump and they know that they are getting to his supporters. They can smell Trump's fear and they're moving in for the kill. This is LP's latest, "Shrinking," and they have the long knives out now.
He did not intend to be down 9.5 points now. He went the same direction, using the same internal compass he had in 2016 but now he cannot find the path to victory. He is standing in a wilderness bewildered and lost and he doesn't know what to do. There is no path to victory there to be found. Trump has lost the election.
@BillKristol
You look at the polls and think "he can't win." But Trump's path to victory doesn't depend on persuading Americans. It depends on voter suppression, mass disinformation, foreign interference, and unabashed use of executive branch power to shape events, and perceptions, this fall.
It did in 2016. But now? The path has been thoroughly disrupted now. You can take Kristol's last two words to mean that the Spring and Summer don't count in Trump's mind. That Trump doesn't care that he's down 9.5 points. That obviously is not the case. When the epidemic first dawned on him he openly fretted about going the way of Herbert Hoover; wistfully thought of how the economy was so strong, but now...You can see it in his body language after Tulsa; in his actions and in where he doesn't act--he gave up on the epidemic, just quit. He tried to use presidential power: First it was war and he was the commanding general. Bud Cadet Bone Spurs couldn't pull it off. Then he used it to appear every night alongside the doctors on TV at the briefings. He gave up on that too, literally walked out, after he asked the doctors to "test" "a powerful light" and/or "disinfectant" "injection" into the body.
His and Russia's alt reality disinformation is having no effect, or the opposite effect. You see that in his inability to come up with a new slogan--he knows he can't go with "KEEP AMERICA GREAT!"; you see it in his reaction to the bunker story getting out; in his perp-walk at the George Floyd protests; in his finally building the Wall—around the White House; you see it in the polls on race and policing--the division and chaos strategy is not working this time. Russia can move 50,000 or 70,000, or 85,000--or even a couple hundred thousand--votes his way through fake social media. They can't move 9.5%. No: Trump cares that he's down 9.5 points. He's depressed and puzzled and exasperated that those same navigational tools, voter suppression, mass disinformation, foreign interference, the bully pulpit, are not accurately directing him to the path of victory this time.
Trump himself is the reason of primacy why is getting killed. The Lincoln Project is right there with him. They have boomeranged Trump's tools on him. Look at this ad from an allied group FACT. LP rightfully calls it “art." https://twitter.com/ProjectLincoln/status/1274748265376907265?s=20. Biden runs UP the same ramp that Trump baby-stepped Down. Trump's lengthy explanation why in Tulsa? Stop whining you bitch! Imagine Donald Trump being called a "whiny bitch." Imagine a group of Republicans calling Donald Trump a "whiny bitch." Now, that has only gotten 9.2 million views since being posted on Sunday.
They have taken Donald Trump's soul. LP's ads, that one from FACT, are voter suppression. This is a personality cult. When you demoralize Trump you demoralize his supporters. They don't show up. They didn't show up in Tulsa and they're not going to show up in November, not the way they did in 2016. They see how Trump looks and acts: defeated. The Klan rallies were Trump's favorite thing in 2016. They are what first got him attention. I can still remember watching the news and being amazed at the size and enthusiasm of his crowds. As was the media covering them.They fed off each other, the media and Trump, Trump and his supporters. Now, they're not there: the arena in Tulsa was less than one-third full. There is no enthusiasm, in fact the opposite. Trump voters feel increasingly too demoralized to even show up.
[will]
So at one was Trump with his supporters that they were often said to "dog whistle" to each other, remember that? In a pitch that the rest of his couldn't hear. In a language we did not understand. Who knew what a "cuck conservative" was? Who knows now! My (second) ex-wife didn't. "A cuckold is when a wife cheats on her husband" she responded puzzled at my use of the term in a text message. I had to Trumpsplain "cuck" and "bitch" when used on a man.
The ads that The Lincoln Project put together are psychologically complex ads. They know the secret sore points and they press and they press and they press. They know the secret language and the perfect pitch to use. They acknowledge that they are psychically messaging both Trump, the host, and his supporters, the parasites. They know that they are getting to Trump and they know that they are getting to his supporters. They can smell Trump's fear and they're moving in for the kill. This is LP's latest, "Shrinking," and they have the long knives out now.
He did not intend to be down 9.5 points now. He went the same direction, using the same internal compass he had in 2016 but now he cannot find the path to victory. He is standing in a wilderness bewildered and lost and he doesn't know what to do. There is no path to victory there to be found. Trump has lost the election.
