I may be wrong, but I don't think that Trump is an evil mastermind. I think he's an out of touch, impulsive, ego maniacal man-child that is incapable of, or unwilling to, think critically. Especially when it comes to his favorite (only?) topic: himself.
The day after Charlottesville, I attempted to create mental a zero tolerance policy for arguments defending white supremacists. There is just no subtlety or nuance to be had - a point which has been expressed well by (guesstimating) 25+ million people here and on social media.
I made the zero tolerance policy so that I could save my brain from the trauma of trying to parse and understand the arguments and where they are coming from.
But it's in my nature to try to understand where people are coming from, maybe because I still believe that most people at their core want to know right from wrong and want to be good people and do want to do right by others.
So depite my attempt at a mental shield, I still found myself trying to observe the Trump press conference through the lens of a Trump supporter. What I saw with this lens was Trump being Trump: thinking only of himself (defending himself), making use of shallow knowledge of the subject at hand that he picked up from his defenders on the far right, and communicating his points in the worst way he possibly could. All the while, portraying himself as, and I think really believing that he is, some kind of champion of truth.
That pretzel of thought is pretty easy to untwist when examining the actual circumstances, but he doesn’t do that. He only examines his own circumstances, and barely, at that.
All I could think, while watching this thing, was -- Trump gets all of his "information" and critical thought and analysis from his favorite TV shows. Fox & Friends and similar.
Sidebar: Ok, not all I could think. When he brought up Washington and Jefferson, a fleeting thought came to mind: Is Trump Fox News trying to communicate the pretty lefty idea that we need to remove our collective rose-colored glasses when we look at an American history checkered by exploitation at almost every turn? Yes! Except they're also saying “exploitation good" - that we should celebrate, and not mourn, that exploitation. Ah yes, and there we are, back to white supremacy.
Trump's inability to think critically about this — any of this — was loud and clear when he said that lots of fine folks just defending a statue were there, marching alongside white supremacits and nazis. That defies logic.
I think “Trump being Trump” is Trump being a shallow thinker, a puppet of whoever props him up, and thus the far right media is his brain and his mouth right now. Without thinking about the consequences, he simply parrotted his favorite "news" and analysis in the press conference.
Sometimes I do weird things like look at redstate when Trump be Trump. (I have to admit, sometimes redstate gives me hope that not everyone on the right has the blinders on for Trump.)
I saw this last night and, maybe it's obvious, but yes, the answer is yes.
Redstate: Did President Trump Lift His Wishy Washy 'Both Sides' Comments From Fox & Friends?
To wit:
This morning I found more coverage and evidence of this, and I wanted to share. Both are worthy reads:
Media Matters: Trump's remarks defending neo-Nazis were full of right-wing media talking points
Wired: Trump Cribbed His Charlottesville Press Conference Straight From Fox News
What do you think? Am I naive to think that Trump is just an empty headed, out of touch, narcissist, that pretty much only thinks about himself? Is there any solace in the idea that these are not his original thoughts? Does the distinction even matter, when he’s so easy to manipulate?
