Trump's Shell Game

[bobabode]

'Don’t get distracted by Trump’s ‘dead cats’' WP

"Donald Trump, we have long known, is a weapon of mass distraction. He detonates daily, or more often.
But now that he is president, the fallout is dangerous.
Just after noon on Tuesday, alarming news began to spread that the Trump administration was imposing a gag order on the agencies of the federal government. The Environmental Protection Agency, the Agriculture Department, the Interior Department and the Department of Health and Human Services all reported various new edicts restricting federal agencies’ use of social media, appearances in public events or contacts with the press or lawmakers. It was an authoritarian gesture that, in an ordinary time, would dominate the news.

But this is no ordinary time. As word of the gag orders spread, White House press secretary Sean Spicer came before the cameras and said publicly what Trump had already said privately the day before: that Trump believes millions of people voted illegally in the election.
“He continues to maintain that belief,” Spicer confirmed, “based on studies and evidence that people have presented to him.” But what, Spicer was asked, “does that mean for democracy?”
“It means that I’ve answered your question.”

Ka-boom. The president, through his spokesman, had just put himself at odds with leaders of his own party, Republican secretaries of state across the nation and virtually the entire store of human knowledge on the subject — and the social-media and cable news chatter quickly shifted.
Meanwhile, the sweeping gag orders muzzling the federal government quietly take effect...

...Distraction has long been Trump’s modus operandi. He dominated coverage during the primaries with outrageous pronouncements, thereby depriving his opponents of the media spotlight. When news coverage of his transition was particularly tough, he created a new narrative by attacking the cast of the musical “Hamilton.” It’s a constant use of the “dead cat” strategy: throw a dead cat on the table, and prior conversation on any other topic ceases.
But now Trump is president, and the stakes are higher. His fantastic claims about crowd size and voter fraud now divert Americans’ attention from serious and real changes in their government. We gape at dead cats, but the wolf is at the door." WP

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...=.fe05e58a6d8b