Last night, President Trump spoke at a rally in Texas for Senator Ted Cruz and the GOP ticket. During his remarks, the President chided "globalists" as people who cared more about other countries than the USA. Trump then said, "I am a nationalist." If you listened closely at that point, you could hear the heads of the pundits from the mainstream media exploding. Today, there are a great many stories in the media about Trump calling himself a nationalist. How could he do it?
The reality, however, is that this is just another time that the President has owned the media. After all, a nationalist is someone who puts his own country first, a supporter of his own nation. That's hardly a problem. Most people are nationalists. For the pundits, though, calling yourself a nationalist is like calling yourself a Nazi. To them, it is just a few steps shy of a full blown fascist. They just don't get it.
Look, 80 years ago, European nationalism exploded when it was overdone and used not just to promote one;s own country but to subjugate others. That's not what Trump is saying. Americans know that; they've seen him in action. For the pundits, however, nationalism is a triggering word. They live in a world in which what gets said is more important than what actually gets done. (Just think about the Obama years when we had to be so careful of what we said, but nothing good ever got done.)
By using the word "nationalist", the President took a big hold of most of this and the next news cycle. All those Democrats who want to control the headlines as part of their election strategies have just lost nearly 20% of the time remaining before the election to a discussion that hardly anyone cares about.
I wonder if some day the media will realize when it has been had. I doubt it; they're just too Pavlovian to reform.
The reality, however, is that this is just another time that the President has owned the media. After all, a nationalist is someone who puts his own country first, a supporter of his own nation. That's hardly a problem. Most people are nationalists. For the pundits, though, calling yourself a nationalist is like calling yourself a Nazi. To them, it is just a few steps shy of a full blown fascist. They just don't get it.
Look, 80 years ago, European nationalism exploded when it was overdone and used not just to promote one;s own country but to subjugate others. That's not what Trump is saying. Americans know that; they've seen him in action. For the pundits, however, nationalism is a triggering word. They live in a world in which what gets said is more important than what actually gets done. (Just think about the Obama years when we had to be so careful of what we said, but nothing good ever got done.)
By using the word "nationalist", the President took a big hold of most of this and the next news cycle. All those Democrats who want to control the headlines as part of their election strategies have just lost nearly 20% of the time remaining before the election to a discussion that hardly anyone cares about.
I wonder if some day the media will realize when it has been had. I doubt it; they're just too Pavlovian to reform.
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