The Trumpian News Cycle
If there were a Pulitzer Prize for controlling the news cycle, without question it would go to President Trump. Either out of sheer brilliance or obscene narcissism, he has the passion and penchant for making sure that he is being talked about in the news. Constantly. Ubiquitously. Unendingly. Without fail. Day in. Day out.
His latest coup to win back his preeminence in the news (Well, not latest. There have been several more. I just can’t keep up.) was his blunt attack on the credibility of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Judge Kavanaugh of sexual assault.
First, for the sake of clarity, let’s grant that the accusations have not been legally proven.
Second, ouch! Let’s throw discretion to the wind and just get naked as a jaybird, roll around in the mud, and then stroll into church and sit muddy and naked on the pew of the most sensitive topic on America’s radar right now, sexual assault. Nothing out of place there.
Whether you believe the allegations made against Judge Kavanaugh by Dr. Blasey Ford or not, the President’s mocking rant was as insensitive to those who have been victims of sexual assault as it was steeped in ignorance about the subject, an ignorance that so many are working so hard to eradicate. First, by talking about Dr. Blasey Ford’s lapses in memory, President Trump ignored the overwhelming amount of established data indicating that traumatized sexual assault victims can often recall some details of the assault but not other peripheral details. This phenomenon is not only common, it is largely typical pf sexual assault victims. Then, he promoted the stereotypical idea that women who bring such allegations at a later date are liars or troublemakers, ignoring the overwhelming evidence that two thirds of sexual assaults go unreported and a great deal are reported after the fact, simply because women do not want to relive the trauma and face the type of ignorant, hurtful accusations that so often accompany reporting sexual assault. In just a few sentences, President Trump became the poster child, and I mean child, for all the ignorance, sexism, insensitivity, and bullying that has made sexual assault the unreported plague that it is.
Yet, it was a move that played well to his followers in the atmosphere of a campaign-style rally. Really well. Incredibly well. Unbelievably well.
Will President Trump pay any penalty?
Well, it could backfire among moderate and independent voters, particularly women, in the upcoming midterm elections.
It was a move that made some Republicans cringe, which could erode support among Republican lawmakers.
It could give more credibility to the #MeToo movement, and possibly more energy.
However, if the past is any indication, much of the negative backlash will disappear with the next Trump-controlled news cycle. President Trump’s followers will dismiss it without any further thought. Republicans, even those that decry it, will tip-toe around it and then move on with their agenda when the coast clears. Political opponents of President Trump will soon have to move on to address his next attempt to control the news cycle.
Even if it it contributes to some Republicans losing in the mid-term elections and the Democrats gain the majority in the Senate, it won’t affect President Trump. He will say the Republican candidates who lost were too weak, that they were losers, low energy, or did not support him enough. After all, it couldn’t be his fault they lost. His followers will agree, and it appears that his loyal following may be most important thing to President Trump. When he retreats to the warm, secure atmosphere that exists in the confirmation-biased cocoon of his campaign-style rallies, President Trump, like a butterfly, emerges new and transformed, ready to move on to his next battle. And the next news cycle.