The Week That Finally Broke Trump's Spell

[JNelson6563]

Donald Trump can’t define or pronounce the word Manichaean, but he knows it when he sees it. For Trump, there are two types of people; Donald Trump, and losers, and the one thing Donald Trump can’t abide is a loser. Donald Trump lost this week on immigration, and across the board. He lost, doubled down, lost again, hocked his cufflinks, lost, tried to flip the table and was finally escorted out of the casino and had his knees broken in the parking lot when he couldn’t pay his marker.

Donald Trump was defeated this week by the two things he hates most: immigrants, and the media.

Donald Trump’s superpower has been a war with the media that keeps the Republican base locked down tight. His ability to make the press the enemy, to change any story of his failings, flailings, and fuckups into an account about the evil mainstream media hit a wall of kryptonite this week.

Once a president who stood astride the media narrative like an orange god, simultaneously captivating and revolting the nation’s press corps, Trump was no match for images of crying children torn from their mothers. His seemingly magical ability to change the subject vanished, and the arsenal of his weapons of mass distraction were duds. Everyone in Washington noticed. One House member spoke to me on background Wednesday night and said, “This mistake broke the spell.”

Great article by Rick Wilson

https://amp.thedailybeast.com/this-was-the-week-that-finally-broke-trumps-spell?__twitter_impression=true

[beachbum bob]

1. not sure what it means as the "spell" has not broken over the typical trump supporter at all

the negative numbers of trump and republicans are being driven higher...not coming from loss from the base supporters


I will add, that some in the media have grown some balls to challenge directly for a change

[JNelson6563]

6. He's been unable to distract away from it.

He's never come up against that before.

[MGKrebs]

8. Who gives a shit about the typical Trump supporter.

Right now it's only repubs in congress who matter, and hopefully soon even they won't matter.

[GetRidOfThem]

18. New York Times has a scary article today in the print edition

"In a Backlash th the Backlash, Republican Voters Embrace Trump", basically he has a 90% approval rating, as high as W after September 11. It does matter, this country is in deep doo-doo.

[heaven05]

23. The numbers are misleading

his base is shrinking. To me that means his numbers would be 'larger' because only the hardcore trump supporter is out there. The media is spinning these numbers for drama and profit. Typical of the greedy, duplicitous nature of amerikan MSM media. PEOPLE ARE STARTING TO THINK FOR THEMSELVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Loki Liesmith]

27. More Republicans not calling themselves that

In surveys. So denominator shrinks and percentage of Rs who strongly support Trump grows.

[GetRidOfThem]

29. I hope you are right....

[tomp]

31. There's NO WAY trump has a 90% approval rating overall.

So to compare this to W after 9/11 is flat out wrong.

He might have 90% among republican voters but I doubt that as well.

Sounds like the NYT is fooling around with facts.

[JNelson6563]

41. Their typical MO

[MGKrebs]

48. I doubt the "typical trump supporter" can be swayed with logic, or reason, or

compassion, or anything that we can offer. Only trump or some unknowable criteria in their own brains would change their minds, I suspect. Time and energy spent on speculating about them is probably not very productive. Resisting their racism, xenophobia, and fascism doesn't require 'understanding' them or trying to change them. They are gone. Hopeless. We need to move on without them.

[WhiteTara]

49. His strong supporters are 55% or 46% of the repbulicons

so that's about 22-28% of the population that has always been crazy like this; they just never had center stage before.

[tblue37]

53. This helps tie the Republican brand to Trump, so it might hurt them even more in

the midterms when decent people tightly associate Trump's evil with Republicans.

[JHB]

19. Yeah, the "spell" on them is not Trump's...

...It's their own. Conservatives have spent 50 years feeding it, stoking it, building echo chambers to make them more comfortable with it, but in the end nobody makes people swallow horseshit. They're the ones spooning it up like their favorite dessert.

[heaven05]

20. higher numbers

from a shrinking base of nincompoops. That's the real math behind these 'large' poll numbers of the nincompoop-in-chief.

[beachbum bob]

24. the real impact, the break of some republican political leaders as they are vulnerable big time AND

big GOP DONORS sitting on the sideline waiting for the fix on DACA

[heaven05]

28. Extreme RW hate

will not stand. It can't. Hitler's 1000 year Reich lasted 12 years. This one will be stillborn.

[WhiteTara]

50. That gave me hope.

[empedocles]

2. Good article, but more 'turning points' needed.

The apparent 55% of Republicans that still support trump child incarceration is one. Another is the 72% of voters who disapprove of Russian/Putin 'efforts', who need to be politically mobilized. It is an still early stage - in a long, difficult battle.

[Demsrule86]

44. There is a blue wave coming...if people here can't look at specials, and primaries and the effect of

his shitty tariffs in states he carried and see how bad this is going to be for the GOP, I don't know what to tell say..you have to want to be depressed...now I for one am sick about those kids and wouldn't have wanted this to happen in a million years...but he has been revealed for the monster he is...and that is a good thing. In my family...I have several cousins who broke with him this week and so did my 80 year old aunt who has never voted Democratic in her life...telling me how sorry she is for voting for him and how she will vote a straight Democratic ticket in September...anecdotal for sure but gives me reason for hope. Lordstown Ohio has lost the second shift which despite cars selling poorly would have held this year until we hopefully got a new product...so everyone of those worker and their families are potential Democratic voters...and don't tell me...oh no it wasn't about the tariffs- I know it was. I live here and family members work for the company.

Our farmers are hurting as well as are all the parts plants...and other auto plants such as Parma GM and Ford are also struggling. Foreign auto tariffs will hit Honda in Marysville Ohio- a plant begun by Reagan ...unionized and most parts made in this country hard. It is a big plant and Trump will be burned for sure. My husband's job now is paying double or triple the cost for steel. And even if the orange asshat charges a Tariff for these companies-it has no effect and we don't see the money.

My daughter's company has a shipload of parts for a plant where she works as an accountant in harbor and no one will take them because....China has charged a tariff of 150%...this is what is happening here and elsewhere...it is going to leave a mark...and combine his shitty policies with the horror of the kids...and I think the GOP will fall hard...we may get the Senate ...longshot but possible.

[Cha]

3. I'm sorry it had to be about the KIDS he Kidnapped

for Profit and Cruelty but the Stupid Idiot finally made a mistake that's NOT going away. Anyone who would think that Ripping babies and KIDS from their Mamas and Parents would not have the country and world going FULL BALLISTIC on them.. is too Damn Viciously, Cold Heartless Dumb to be in charge.

Link to tweet

Thanks for the Rick Wilson's Brilliant article, Julie! Great Read.. everyone should read it!

[JNelson6563]

4. Excellent stuff from MWE too!

[Cha]

5. ..

[BlueJac]

7. Give it a week...

and all is forgotten!

[heaven05]

26. nope

and if you are right, gods and the goddesses of goodness, light and right help us. We are in a very dark tunnel.

[Cosmocat]

30. Yeah

There was a flicker, VERY SLIGHT, of light in this country's soul for a few days.

We will see if it grows or gets snuffed out.

The tunnel is deep, dark, dank and drafty ...

[Silver Gaia]

9. Great article! Thank you!

[pazzyanne]

10. Thank you for this post, JNelson6563.

I have been dealing with a post I received from my trumper sister this morning. Let's just say it did not brighten my day. I find my sanity here on DU and your post helped restore my sanity this morning.

[JNelson6563]

43. Glad it helped.

Rick's got a fun way with words.

[svpadgham]

11. 30%

30% of the US population are shitbags who will support him and spin anything into a "win" for The Rump. It doesn't matter what it is. He could accidentally fall backwards into a woodchipper and the Trump-Stains would claim it's part of the plan, he's playing 4-D chess, and trolling the libs.

[FakeNoose]

12. Love this quote from the OP

The only thing worse than losing on his central political issue to the hated news media was losing to brown-skinned children from Central America, but lose he did. Trump’s crapulous, aggressively dumb team of political arsonists thought they had a surefire winner for the core of the Trump demo. What could go wrong with a heartless, callous policy of visible and aggressive separation of migrant children from their parents? They capered and giggled, secure in the knowledge that Fox and talk radio, and the alt-right and alt-light media would cheer Trump’s aggressive steps against the cocoa-colored horde of MS-13 toddlers.

This entire editorial is great - really hits at the heart of Trump and his constant misfires.

[Rorey]

16. I do too

It was all great.

I know a good portion of -45's followers will hang onto their hate. It's like they're loyal fans of a sports team, and lose their objectivity in their blind loyalty. But I do believe that some will break and realize some truths.

[Demsrule86]

36. I am telling you here in Ohio this played very very badly...and couple this with

the damage done to jobs in this state with his shitty tariffs...here is hoping Ohio is part of the blue wave.

[Rorey]

39. A crack at a time

I still am hanging on to the hope that there's some glimmer of decency and logic deep down inside of some of these people. It's not my nature to give up on people.

[FakeNoose]

52. I can relate because Ohio and PA are like peas in a pod

The cities are blue (mostly) and we have lots of minorities, immigrants etc. But those rural counties and most of the suburbs, forget it. We hope the suburbs will crack and turn blue this November, if we get a good turnout. The Dems have to work very hard and hope for breaks to fall our way. There's so much riding on this November election!

[Demsrule86]

54. Auto's are huge...and Trump's policies have gotten many folks laid off.

[JNelson6563]

45. "cocoa-colored horde of MS-13 toddlers" lol

Amen!

[Nonhlanhla]

13. Not among his supporters

They are defending him, and they believe this is all a left wing attack on Trump, who is "trying so hard." So they are gathering protectively around Trump. And they are spreading the lie that Obama separated 90,000 kids from their families, and that, really, Trump just wants to fix the "mess Obama left him." Sigh.You can't through to these people - they literally live in their own reality where up is down and down is up.

[humbled_opinion]

14. Worse they actually believe

that during the Obama admin children seeking asylum were actually treated worse than the horrid conditions of this regime.

[Ohioboy]

21. Yep, his base is still gladly swallowing lies.

It takes too much to explain to them that Obama was dealing with a unique crisis of children showing up at the border without parents, already separated. And, that Obama wasn't using separation as method of deterrence. They need short, easy to repeat, statements that their attention spans can handle. They are so depressing.

[Demsrule86]

35. If the internal polls are correct and I heard the same thing from Cordray's campaign here in Ohio...

(working for the campaign) he did not hold his base with this policy...even his pet religious leaders turned against him.

[Ohioboy]

38. It's good if he is not holding his base.

I hope that is so. I just know there is a good portion of his base that are hopelessly lost in lies and tribalism.

[Rorey]

15. "Sean's ham-like head filling the screen with a spittle-flecked rage"

[JNelson6563]

25. Yes, I enjoy his turn of phrase, as it were.

[Rorey]

42. "turn of phrase"

I love this place. It lifts me.

[heaven05]

17. I pray

you are correct

[Fla Dem]

22. We'll see if that is reflected in new polls.

Trump has been gaining in the polls since last year. Just take a look at the Gallup daily tracking poll.



I never thought he'd get anywhere close to 50% approval. But there it is.

This is where he was tracking this time last year.


http://www.pollingreport.com/trump.htm

[Duppers]

32. Un.f'n.believable!!

[Demsrule86]

34. I have not trusted polls since 16...but the internal polls are different than the bullshit polls...

so you can preach doom and gloom all you want...this is going to break Donald...and worse news is coming or he would't be hiding kids.

[Fla Dem]

40. Excuse me, I'm not preaching doom & gloom.

Nothing has broken "Donald" so far. And when it comes to immigrant kids vs the economy/jobs/US relationship with N.Korea, the middle will come down on the side of the latter. I just want us to be realistic.

I hope this inhumane fiasco has an impact on the 10%-15% middle of the road voters, but if you have your head in the sand and think this is the death knell for his administration, then you're not facing reality.

[Rorey]

46. I think next week will tell a different story

-45 has proven time and time again that he's an expert at f*cking up a good thing, even for himself.

[Fla Dem]

47. That's my hope as well.

[Demsrule86]

33. This guy can write...this was riveting.

Thanks K&R

[Freethinker65]

37. Nah. Trump broke even. He solidified his racist fearful support

[0rganism]

51. seems like his polling numbers held up okay over the last 2 weeks

approval basically flat, slight downtick in disapproval which should scare the shit out of us all

truest thing Trump ever said was that he could openly shoot someone on 5th avenue and his supporters would still back him. hell, some of them would cheer him on during the murder, especially if he was murdering a liberal.

maybe Mr. Wilson is suggesting the media is taking off the gloves when it comes to his bullshit. oh nice, way to close the barn doors now. perhaps they finally realize that fascism can be a scary situation for those who call themselves journalists. not every channel gets to be Fox, and Trump already has his media enemies list going. this situation has metastasized into a life or death struggle for the press, so it's about time they showed up for work.

[DeminPennswoods]

55. The words "concentration camp" and "internment camp"

are being used regularly on MSNC to describe the dentention facilities, which is what Trump et al prefer they be called.

Trump has lost the narrative and won't be getting it back. You can see it in the desperation campaign rallies, crazier than usual tweets, event with "angel families" and other actions. It took Katrina for Americans finally to see the heartlessness and cruelty of GW Bush. This is the same kind of momement for Trump.