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In Response to Dennis Prager: Yes, the Tweets Matter
I need to take issue with something @dennisprager said in his recent appearance on the Ricochet flagship podcast. He was there as part of the larger conversation around his recent National Review piece about why conservatives continue to attack the President. At 44:48, Prager spoke of his puzzlement about why conservatives fixate on what the President says. Specifically, the President’s tweets. Prager said, “I don’t give a hoot what he tweets,” and explained that it matters what he does, not what he Tweets.
Okay, so here’s the problem with that: We can’t just ignore Donald Trump’s tweets. They matter because each tweet is a public statement by the President of the United States. What he tweets cannot be separated from what he does because public statements are part of what a President does. This isn’t something overheard at a cocktail party or caught on a hot mic, these are public statements the President makes under his own name.
So when Donald Trump publicly accuses his predecessor of illegally wiretapping him in a manner akin to Watergate, it’s the President of the United States doing that. When Donald Trump publicly threatens a former FBI director, it’s the President of the United States doing that. When Donald Trump makes easily disprovable, factually incorrect statements, or threatens foreign nations, it’s the President of the United States doing that. If some underling did this, even in error, they would be fired. It is only the fact that they continue to come in such rapid succession that we’re not fixating on each incident for months at a time.
And this was an entirely foreseeable turn of events. Those of us who opposed Donald Trump tooth and nail did so because we understood that he was and remains unfit to be President. That he lacks the common sense or the impulse control (or both) to keep from saying these things in public is part of the reason why he’s woefully unfit to be President. The fact that he continues to make these statements says something either about the sycophants he surrounds himself with and their inability to control him.
Donald Trump is no longer just some crank with a Twitter account picking fights with beauty queens and Gold Star mothers. He’s the leader of the Free World. He’s sits atop the most powerful military ever created by man. He commands troops and planes and ships and missiles, enough to devastate the entire world. His public statements matter.
To choose to ignore his public statements is to choose to neglect our civic responsibility hold this man to account for his actions.
Published in General
So far Trumps tweets and statements have sunk his EO in court every time. How do you think justice Kennedy feels about Trump’s tweets? I would be worried. Just ask Kellyanne’s husband who is one of Trump’s lawyers.
I just wish I had the “foresight” to attribute electoral victory to tweets on twitter. Its not like his polling numbers went down when he insulted a Gold Star family or something on twitter. Then again I am not as basic and simple in analysis as Adams is.
The most fit of unfit is still unfit. So I’m not sure what good ranking them does.
It makes me feel better.
Either the President has the constitutional authority to implement a travel ban or he does not. I would like to see SCOTUS deliver a definitive answer on that key question about the meaning of sovereignty.
You mean like when Obama’s lawyers argued the individual mandate was not a tax one day and that it was a tax the next day?
A lot of life is about making choices. You don’t always have a perfect choice, so you have to rank the choices you have.
News flash: Ronaldo Magnus is dead and unless he’s rolling back the tomb door you’re gonna have to pick among the living politicians.
You’re not alone… I don’t think many people appreciated the power of a tweet.
They can still spin it, but not with the ease of one or two sentences plucked out of a two-page press release.
Just consider it the Power of Covfefe!
He won a majority of the electoral college. Deal with it.
Because he is the president. Deal with it.
Is it your opinion, Fred, that we’d be better off with Hillary?
One of the reasons I got on board with Trump was his refusal to cowtow to the liberal media elite. Khazir Khan went on national television and attacked Trump at the DNC. Trump had an absolute right to stand up for himself and I thought it was a breath of fresh air for a Republican candidate not to give in to the bullies in the media.
You can say that Trump’s polling numbers went down but he won the election so I don’t see what your point is.
This site exists to discuss it, not deal with it.
I wish President Trump didn’t tweet, especially stuff that is easily misinterpreted as what his enemies think of him. But listen to Andrew Klaven’s last podcast about the media and our left. They are enemies of our Republic. Yes criticize his mistakes, which so far are communications problems and if he gets the policy wrong, try to create a storm that might help fix it, but don’t forget we are in a battle to the death.
Perhaps I should make this a bit more crystal clear or perhaps you did not read the cartoon and my response in full. Adams in that cartoon asserted through satire that trump’s tweets always “worked”. The tweets gained favor for trump every time he tweeted something. I brought up the fact that when trump tweeted something it hurt him, it did the opposite of what Adams asserted. As to polls they were well within the margin of error. The polls did not fail, it was just that close in a few states between a Democrat and a Democrat Donor; I can’t blame those who could not tell the difference.
But to a matter of tactics I agree that the Democrats were using the Khans as a trap and it was one of the most obvious traps in electoral history and trump still managed to bite it and hurt himself. That shows trump’s poor judgement on a matter as simple as avoiding a blatant trap. Not every enemy movement necessitates an attack.
There is no need to spin, trump’s not intelligent to even use ambiguous language, you can simply point and laugh. An example as already noted is the current debacle of the trump EO on travel with ME nations.
The Supreme Court will make a decision on that E.O. and trump’s statements are testimony to his intent as he is the author of said E.O.. The federal attorneys having to argue for trump are gonna have a harder time thanks to his blustering. More like pride before the fall.
Another basketball analogy . . . . . .
Dennis Prager saying “I don’t give a hoot about his tweets” is sort of like a professional basketball coach saying, “I don’t give a hoot about my star center’s free throws.”
It’s nonsense.
If your star center has a lousy free throw shooting percentage, the opposing team is going to hack away at him. Every missed free throw is a point not scored, a gift to the opposing team.
You can still win games if your center is a great scorer even if he’s a lousy free throw shooter. But you can’t say that those missed free throws don’t matter.
Excellent point!
Except that I wasn’t going to vote for him and this was one* of the reasons I decided to. So, it did work (for me). And… he won.
*There were a lot of reasons, but this was one of them.
But Trump received fewer votes than Rubio in Florida, fewer votes than McCain in Arizona and fewer votes than Ron Johnson in Wisconsin.
Sorry but anecdotes do not undo quantitative data.
I certainly agree.
What do you mean, “if”? Not to defend Trump here, but have not President’s been doing this forever?
Here’s a prediction from someone whose Trump-related predictions have been quite accurate over time:
Trump’s anti-Muslim policies and rhetoric will win him lots of votes and lose him only votes he could not get to begin with. Terrorist attacks abroad help Trump, more will come.
But he was running against Hillary Clinton and he got more votes than her in all three of those states.
We already established that this is a silly question, but we are not surprised to see it.
This is where you are being…you know whaty, Max. Where is my maple syrup?
So you are you confirming that his policies are anti-Muslim? And not just anti-radical terrorist Muslim?
This sounds familiar.
Oh, right, it’s the same “logic” Obama used in 2009.
Trump won the Presidency specifically because – he was that kind of guy. This was an election between two of the most obviously unfit candidates I can remember, and a more traditional candidate – Rubio or Cruz wouldn’t have won. The media amplifies everything Trump says in a bad way, so it’s a no win situation. Let’s just bask in the actual actions.
Islam is at war with the West. It will never reform. Trump’s policies reflect these facts.