Keisha Lance Bottoms. Trump’s social media posts.

Keisha Lance Bottoms. Trump’s social media posts.

Keisha Lance Bottoms

Keisha Lance Bottoms won the democrat primary for governor in Georgia. She is a former judge and former mayor of Atlanta, my hometown. With President Trump’s falling popularity and the republicans in a mudslinging contest between healthcare executive Rick Jackson and lieutenant governor Burt Jones, the democrats think that they may have the rare opportunity to win back the governor’s mansion. Bottoms has her distractors and some say that the main one is simply that she was mayor of Atlanta. They will attack her record. But serving as Atlanta’s mayor maybe why is why she won over my favorite Michael Thurmond. The polls also show her ahead – for now – of whoever wins the republican primary. However, I find it curious that none of the news stories mention one salient fact – to me. She is Major Lance’s daughter. Remember Monkey Time? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMRLrf4pNn4&list=RDxMRLrf4pNn4&start_radio=1

The President’s social media posts

Does Trump’s vulgarity and coarseness shock anymore? Or have we just inured ourselves having accustomed ourselves to all his shock and awe? I am reminded of Chicken Little running around yelling “the sky is falling!” But becoming less sensitive to the barrage of tweets does not make Trump more presidential. So when he tweeted on Truth Social regarding Iran did anyone believe him? “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen but it probably will.” Or “Our Military, the greatest and most powerful (by far!) in the World, hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants!” And on Easter Sunday, “Open the f— Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell—JUST WATCH. Praise be to Allah.” He tweeted that the U.S. would “massively blow up” its South Pars gas field, the largest in the world, if Tehran continued to retaliate against energy infrastructure in the Middle East. He said that the U.S. and Israel had destroyed “100% of Iran’s Military capability” while Tehran continued to counterattack.

Was anyone shocked? And more importantly did anyone believe him when so much of what he has said is not true. I have said before that one of my friends shrugged these off saying that this sort of language was the only thing that the Iranians understood. Well maybe they understood but they also didn’t believe, calling Trump’s bluff every time to see him back down (TACO anyone?). But if all of this is just for show then the show has been taken to extremes. I need not mention all the vulgar tweets aimed at foe and former friends alike. Or the ones directed at the media, the bench, “allies”, the Fed and members of Congress. Is the president’s language is to bring us to his side when much of it repels those of us who are not devoted MAGAs? The fact of the matter is that the president loves to be a bully.

The president must win some prize for “politician with the most tweets.” Since the start of his war with Iran he has posted over 240 tweets. But this has comprised only about a quarter of his total postings. The president’s allies have long supported his rants as an unfiltered view of his thinking. One observer wrote “Think of Trump’s approach to social media as recklessness with intention.” One of his White House spokesmen has said “The American people have never had a more direct and authentic relationship with a President of the United States.” Yes it is direct but is it authentic? Because if it is authentic then the president really needs help because most of it is unhinged.

Amazingly, the Wall Street Journal has analyzed of thousands of posts that the president uses to spread conspiracy theories and attack his adversaries. In “The Late-Night Truth Social Storms That Offer a Window Into the President’s Mind” the Journal looks at his tweeting routine. https://www.wsj.com/politics/trump-truth-social-late-night-posts-167cb47a?mod=Searchresults&pos=1&page=1

It says that on a typical day the president posts 55 messages between 10PM and 1AM. On one atypical day the president posted 150 times. The posts included a video clip of Trump saying that Somalia isn’t a nation “it’s just people walking around killing each other.” In all, “Trump—with the help of staff—has posted at least 8,800 times, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis.” 

The Journal reports that Natalie Harp, Trump’s executive assistant brings the president stacks of printed-out draft social-media posts for his approval. Harp doesn’t share draft posts with the chief of staff’s office, communications aides or national-security officials. Harp has told others she works for Trump and only listens to him. Surprise! Roughly 1 in 10 of the account’s text-based posts call a person or group a name, such as “crooked,” “sleazebag,” “loser,” “low IQ,” or “Fake News.”

So the question is what do you think of the president’s tweet machine? Does it serve a purpose other than feeding red meat to his MAGA base? Or does it serve another deeper purpose and if so what might that be?