Carnival World Of Trump Unravels As Image Gets Tainted By World, National Events
To authoritarians like trump, performative optics, entertainment, image and moral indolence are everything.
Trump’s anti-migrant crusade has nothing to do with migrants. Trump’s tariffs have nothing to do with narrowing the trade deficit. Trump’s waffling on Russia and its invasion of Ukraine has nothing to do with human lives. It has all to do with optics, sound bites, performances, quotas, targets, votes, personal power and of course, money.
A U.S. Senator, a member of congress, a mayor and a judge are all arrested on dubious charges for opposing trump’s immigration plans. It all makes for great images for trump, the great image-maker. The appearances are up there with trump, the brave leader, risking his life, with his fist raised and blook trickling down after he was the victim of a failed assassination attempt. Pure theater.
And those representing the administration are nothing if not eye candy for MAGA. There’s the gorgeous, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and her, $50,000, 18-karat, gold Rolex Cosmography Daytona watch she wore for a photo op in front of a Salvadoran prison.
Equally attractive is Alina Habba, trump’s former second-rate lawyer and now acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey. Additionally, the adorably cute blonde-haired, Karoline Leavitt, the trump spokeswoman. Add to the list of young, comley women who is the effervescent Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.
Overweight, aging grey haired women need not apply.
The optics and image, so critical to trump plans, have lately not been sterling. He has been outraged as he was dubbed the TACO president, short for “Trump Always Chickens Out.” It was a well-deserved title as he claimed he would use his self-professed, unparalleled powers as a deal maker to stop the war in Ukraine and didn’t; promised to stop the Israeli bombing on Gaza and didn’t; vowed to bring prices down and didn’t; and said he would rid the country of immigrants but decided to allow migrants working on farms to continue working in an effort not to destroy his support among farmers.
Trump has tried to turn Los Angeles into a studio for his anti-immigrant propaganda. Key to the production has been his deployment of National Guardsmen to California to bravely turn back the much-exaggerated protesters to his cruel plan to deport millions of immigrants. In the name of drama, trump ignored the mayor and governor who said their law enforcement were adequate to maintain order.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth drew on his dramatic experience with Fox News when he called on a Marine infantry division to quell the less than widespread violence despite the fact that Marines are trained for urban warfare abroad, not crowd control at home.
Images did not play well for trump of armed soldiers backing immigration officers during raids while they detained peaceful protesters.
Major Ally Jumps
Another bad hair day kind of situation defied trump’s well-crafted image as the brilliant, deal-making, conservative macho man. It unraveled when far right, talk show host and former solid trump backer, Tucker Carlson, publicly broke with trump and wrote a scathing commentary that the U.S. should stop backing Israel and “let them fight their own wars.” Trump has said he remains a strong backer of Israel, and he endorsed the recent Israeli attack on the nuclear research plants in Iran, threatening to explode into a full regional or world war.
Carlson said that fears of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon in the near future are unfounded and that a war with the Islamic Republic would not only result in “thousands” of American casualties in the Middle East but “amount to a profound betrayal of” Trump’s base and effectively “end his presidency.”
And then trump was not very happy and maybe even threw a ketchup bottle or two against the wall, when he saw how millions of people in decidedly “Red” MAGA states joined in “No King” protests including Montgomery, Ala.; Little Rock, Ark.; Atlanta, Ga.; Boise, Idaho; Tallahassee, Fla.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Davenport, Iowa; Wichita, Kan.; Louisville, Ky.; New Orleans, La.; Jackson, Miss.; St. Louis, Mo.; Helena, Mont.; Omaha, Neb.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Durham, N.C.; Bismarck, N.D.; Akron, Ohio; Oklahoma City, Okla.; Portland, Ore.; Charleston, S.C.; Sioux Falls, S.D.; Memphis, Tenn.; Houston, Texas; Salt Lake City, Utah; Charlottesville, Va.,; Seattle, Wash.; Huntington, W.Va.; Milwaukee, Wis.; and Cheyenne, Wyo.
And that same day, the fascist in waiting had to be frowning during his big $25 million to $45 million, 79th birthday bash and 250th anniversary celebration of the Army. Tanks roared and jets soared, soldiers marched in robot-like unison along with robotic dogs, capped by live music by country singers Warren Zeiders and Lee Greenwood. But much to trump’s sadness, the crowds were underwhelming, including many who left after they decided they were bored and would rather not get wet by the drizzling rain.
More catchup bottles were likely tossed when trump’s biglie party and North Korea-like military parade were overshadowed by a political assassination in Minnesota. On June 14, Melissa Hortman, a Democratic–Farmer–Labor (DFL) Minnesota state representative, and her husband, Mark, were killed by an assassin in their home in Brooklyn Park, Minn. In a related incident, a state senator and his wife also were wounded in an attack by the same assailant.
Adding insult to trump’s injury, news shows frequently pulled away from the birthday and parade to show explosions in Tehran and rockets lighting up the sky over Jerusalem, after Israel bombed nuclear research sites and Iran retaliated.
Trump also has always tried to show himself as outlandishly successful, even after numerous bankruptcies.
Trump was losing money when he gained a new life and made millions when he was cast to lead the first four years of the TV reality show, The Apprentice, until he was fired in 2015 when NBC disagreed with remarks trump made about Mexican immigrants during his announcement that he was running for president.
He capitalized on his phony image to win the presidency twice while making many millions in his various schemes from cryptocurrency, golf properties, foreign licensing deals and other sources. In his latest financial disclosures, trump reported more than $600 million in income and $1.6 billion in assets, including cryptocurrency holdings, income from his properties, lucrative licensing deals with foreign developers and sale of merch ranging from autographed Bibles, guitars, watches, books and sneakers to the ubiquitous MAGA hats.
It was only natural for trump the carnival barker to turn to Fox News, the trump propagandist vehicle, which has supplied nearly two dozen sycophants to important trump administration posts.
The Fox alumni include:
Fox News host Judge Jeanine Pirro as the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. Piro hosted Fox’s “Justice with Judge Jeanine” until 2022 and most recently “The Five.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a former host Fox & Friends Weekend.
Dan Bongino, who left Fox in 2023 to focus on his podcast and now serves as the deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Sean Duffy, the secretary of transportation, had co-hosted FOX Business program “The Bottom Line.” His wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, continues to host Fox & Friends Weekend.
Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and a former GOP Congresswoman from Hawaii, was a Fox contributor in 2022 and frequent guest on Tucker Carlson Tonight until Carlson left Fox in 2023.
Michael Waltz is the United Nations ambassador who left his former post as national security adviser following a high-profile scandal in which a journalist was included in a high security chat group on the app Signal. Waltz was formerly a paid Fox contributor.
Gen. Keith Kellog and Mike Huckabee previously hosted a weekly Fox program Kellog is the special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, and Huckabee, is the former governor of Arkansas and current ambassador to Israel.
Michael Bastasch, a writer at Fox between 2019 and 2022, is the spokesman for the Environmental Protection Agency.
Tammy Bruce, who hosted “Get Tammy Bruce” on Fox Nation is the State Department spokeswoman.
Sara Carter, a Fox News contributor is director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Kimberly Guilfoyle, the ambassador to Greece, was a founding member of Fox show “The Five.”
Tom Homan, the “border czar,” was a contributor to Fox from 2018 until 2014 when trump named him to the top critical immigration role.
Morgan Ortagus, deputy special envoy for Middle East peace, was Fox contributor who was seen on the company’s major programs, including Fox & Friends, Outnumbered, and The Five.
Leo Terrell, senior counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights, joined Fox in 2021 where he frequently spoke out on sensitive social issues.
Trump also appointed FOX Business host Maria Bartiromo and Fox News host Laura Ingraham to the board of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and Fox News host Mark Levin serves on the Homeland Security Advisory Council.