A president ignored: Trump's outlandish claims increasingly met with a collective shrug

[brooklynite]

Washington Post

More than 3½ years into his presidency, Trump increasingly finds himself minimized and ignored — as many of his more outlandish or false statements are briefly considered and then, just as quickly, dismissed. The slide into partial irrelevance could make it even more difficult for Trump as he seeks reelection as the nation’s leader amid a pandemic and economic collapse.

In battling the coronavirus crisis, which has left more than 158,000 Americans dead, many of the nation’s governors have disregarded the president’s nebulous recommendations, instead opting for what they believe is best for their residents. So have the nation’s schools, with many of the country’s largest districts preparing for distance learning when they reopen this fall, despite Trump’s repeated calls for kids to return to classrooms in person. And the president’s own top public health officials are routinely contradicting him in public — offering grim, fact-based assessments of the raging virus in contrast to his own frequently rosy proclamations.

Congressional Republicans, meanwhile, never seriously entertained Trump’s desire for a payroll tax cut in the latest coronavirus stimulus bill, and the president has been more of a spectator than a key player in negotiations. Even former vice president Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, often seems to ignore the president he is running against, focusing his messaging elsewhere.

Ian Bremmer, president and founder of Eurasia Group, a political consulting firm with a global emphasis, said that when Trump made his claim about the bomb in Lebanon, much of the global community intuitively understood that the president “is inclined to think that of course it must be terrorism because it’s the Middle East and people blow up stuff up there.”

[LAS14]

1. Yup. I've been thinking this for a while now. nt

[North Shore Chicago]

2. Sounds good in theory

HOWEVER....he has done plenty of damage to our democracy, our troops, our environment, our respect abroad, our animal friends, our citizens lives etc....

I only wish he could be ignored.

[stillcool]

3. the only thing he does on his own is talk-trash.

Anything else is done by the GOP, with Trumps attempt to assist with a teleprompter.

[dawg day]

4. It's working-- his Trumpets are all out of force trashing Biden for saying Trump wants to defund SS

"He didn't say that! Watch the video! He didn't say that."

Someone quotes exactly what he said.

"He didn't say that. What he MEANT was...."

Then the ignorance they display. One guy screenprinted his paystub, with the withholding for SS and Medicare and fed and state taxes.

"See? There is no 'payroll tax' listed! So it's not going to affect us at all!"
(Seriously. He thinks there's some tax called "payroll tax.&quot

Another pointed out that we keep talking about the FICA taxes, and "see, there's no FICA withheld!"
Yeah, dunderhead, because the Medicare and SS are shown separately, but they are the FICA withholdings.

I'd say they were bots, but bots are probably smarter than this.

[Midnight Writer]

5. I believe the goal of his outlandish claims is to induce a "collective shrug".

[Blue Owl]

6. So long as he doesn't get his whiny way

A shrug of condemnation, not of compliance...