Swimmer Ryan Lochte and friends won but then lost the Olympics. Instead of our great athletes taking up media time and space, these three disrespectful and immature athletes are putting a face on the worst of American sports.
But there’s good news: Trump didn’t do Olympic Tweets, Hillary did, with numerous congratulatory Tweets… Politico looked into it and came up with a good reason:
Why has Trump hit the mute button on the Olympics, while Clinton has pumped up the volume? There’s a good reason for that, and a surprising one. The spectacle of America vanquishing its global rivals is—ironically, amazingly—utterly terrible for the “America First” candidate.
A big part of his political message, the one you hear at his stump speeches, is that America has grown weak. America doesn’t win anymore, he says. “Crippled America” is the title of his most recent book. He alone can Make American Great Again. As someone who’s been around a few campaigns, believe me: The Olympics is about the worst thing that could have happened to the Trump train. Here’s a candidate whose message depends entirely on convincing Americans that they’re living in a failing nation overrun by criminal immigrants. And for the past two weeks, tens of millions of Americans have been glued to a multi-ethnic parade of athletes, winning easily. “Make America Great Again” has never felt more out-of-touch than it does against the backdrop of tenacious, over-achieving American athletes driven by their own journeys in pursuit of the American Dream.
Best comment: “This is the America that I know and I love. The America that is inclusive, that is accepting and encompasses people from all walks of life.” Ibtihaj Muhammad told CNN after winning a bronze medal and hugging her teammates as part of the US sabre team.
According to Politico, while Olympic TV coverage bumped news and opinion shows off TV, the savvy Hillary camp made sure that they aired their most effective ads during the Olympics. Trump didn’t. So much for their brilliant campaign strategy.
You can bet that if the United States defied exceptions and suffered defeat after defeat in the Olympics, Trump would be lamenting that this was further proof that America was no longer great.
I don’t like supporting using the Olympics for political purposes, but Hillary's team could use our athletes victories to make a case that America is great. She could do it by not so subtly referencing Trump’s slogan and congratulating the athletes at the same time.
Lexicographers are no doubt already trying to find all the definitions of Trumpism for the next dictionary editions. But how do you explain that he he took the word “great” and turned it into a political statement.
In a perfect world politics should be kept out of the Olympics, but there are historic examples when the headline Olympic news had everything to do with politics. For example, the most notable: Jessie Owens, Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali, and Tommie Smith and John Carlos giving the black power salute at the 1968 Olympics.
Meanwhile, Trump is trying to make political hay out of the Louisiana disaster even though officials are saying these visits should be postponed since they become a security nightmare and take needed resources away from where they are needed. He’s going for maximum photo ops by taking a tour of Baton Rouge, while if he really cared he’d have stayed at the airport and met with officials and residents there.
And I have to add that I relish the timing of Paul Manafort resigning his position being announced just as Trump arrives in Baton Rouge. And this has got to really burn Trump. Just as his plane landed in Baton Rouge coverage of Paul Manafort’s resignation began. Talking about a bumpy landing! Manafort bumped Trump’s publicity stunt right off the news.
No talk about Trump’s visit — non-stop talk about Manafort resigning
