The Democrats have no playbook for dealing with a Republican who’s a populist.
.. the central assertion of President Trump’s inaugural address: I am a populist independent, allied not with the two major parties but with the working men and women of America.
.. But those orders — even though their use makes the presidency more imperial, even though it’s no way to govern, even though Mr. Obama did it, too — will likely not be unpopular in the country. It actually looked as if someone was doing something.
.. More important still — the most important moment of the first week — was the meeting with union leaders. Mr. Trump gave them almost an hour and a half. “The president treated us with respect, not only our organization but our members,” said Terry O’Sullivan, general president of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, by telephone. Liuna had not endorsed Trump in the campaign, but Mr. O’Sullivan saw the meeting’s timing as an expression of respect: “He’s inaugurated on Friday and we’re invited in Monday to have a substantial conversation.” The entire Trump top staff was there, including the vice president: “His whole team — we were very impressed.” They talked infrastructure, trade and energy. “The whole meeting was about middle class jobs, how do we create more?” Mr. O’Sullivan believes the Keystone pipeline will eventually generate more than 40,000 jobs. Mr. O’Sullivan said he hopes fixing “our crumbling transportation infrastructure” will be “the largest jobs program in the country.”
.. The Trump White House was showing the Democratic Party that one of its traditional constituent groups is up for grabs and happy to do business with a new friend. It was also telling those Republicans too stupid to twig onto it yet that the GOP is going to be something it’s actually been within living memory: the party of working men and women, a friend of those who feel besieged.
.. It’s a mistake for observers in Washington and New York to fixate on Mr. Trump’s daily faux pas at the expense of the political meaning of what he’s doing. He’s changing the face of the GOP.
.. Mr. Trump suggested to Mr. Green his stands were not as ad hoc and ideologically jumbled as they seemed, that they were in fact intentional. He was creating “a worker’s party,” a “party of people that haven’t had a real wage increase in 18 years.” “Five, 10 years from now — different party,” he said of the GOP.
.. And here is the important political point: Democrats don’t have a playbook for this. They have a playbook to use against normal Republicans: You’re cold, greedy, racist, sexist elitists who hate the little guy.
.. They don’t have a playbook to use against a political figure like Mr. Trump yet, because he jumbles all the categories. Democrats will wobble around, see what works. For now they’ll stick with saying he’s scary, unstable, right-wing.
It’s going to take them a while to develop a playbook against an independent populist, some of whose advisers hate Republicans more than they do.
5 New Rules From the Trump Scandal Playbook
The “never explain” rule goes back to Ronald Reagan, who said “if you are explaining, you are losing.” The basic idea is this: If you have an unpleasant action to defend, once you start explaining it, you have lost. Instead, you must brush past the problem, apologize for it (see below) or counter-attack in the face of it—but never “explain” it.
But the Trump campaign came to understand that in today’s communications environment—where social interactions between supporters and their friends and neighbors (via Twitter, Facebook or old fashioned face-to-face conversations) are critical—a campaign’s advocates must be armed with “explanations” for their candidate’s actions. The Trump campaign thus replaced the “never explain” rule with a determination to always explain his statements and deeds, no matter how inexplicable they might seem. Trump was refusing to release his tax return because he was “under audit.” The comments on the Access Hollywood tape were “locker room talk.” His statement supporting the invasion of Iraq could be disregarded because it was made on Howard Stern, as a sort of joke that he “said very lightly.” Never mind that these explanations did not satisfy fact-checkers or the media; never mind that they ranged from outright false to downright ridiculous. The point is that Trump supporters were armed with an explanation that they accepted and that enabled them to defend their candidate in the face of withering attacks.
.. Old Rule: Apologize and move on
New Rule: Never apologize and double down.. Trump, by contrast, almost never apologized in 2016. Not for attacking John McCain, a heroic POW. Not for belittling a beauty queen. Not for besmirching a Gold Star family. Not for calling immigrants “rapists.” Not for urging supporters to beat up dissenters at rallies.
.. And not only did Trump refuse to apologize for these many errors, insults or mistakes, he often doubled down on attacks or controversial comments, re-upping his remarks with renewed intensity or further elaboration.
.. After virtually every single news event that occured in the 18 months since he announced his bid for president, Trump was the first Republican or Democrat to comment—because his comments came straight from the gut, in rapidly fired, 140-character shots.
.. Trump immediately fired off a tweet with his take, dominating early coverage of events and making sure his voice was heard.
.. Trump traded making mistakes for having more impact. Putting aside the question of whether we are living in a “post-truth” world, there can be little doubt that “narrative” is critical to public understanding of events—and shaping that narrative early is more effective than trying to reconfigure it later.
.. Old Rule: Don’t feud with people who buy ink by the barrel
New Rule: You can score points by going to war with the media.. Old Rule: Drive a consistent message, consistently
New Rule: Adapt constantly, disorient your opponents and the media.. He told 100 million Americans on television he didn’t want to raise Bill Clinton’s alleged infidelities at the first debate because Chelsea Clinton was in the live audience; then he did so at the second debate, in front of 90 million Americans and the former first family. He out-and-out denied saying many things that he had absolutely, positively, been captured on video tape saying.
Trump’s inability to tolerate critics may be his biggest problem
One thing we can be sure of: At some point Trump will decide Schumer is a “loser” or “the worst” or whatever childish insult comes to mind because Schumer and Trump do not share objectives. As self-evident as it may be, Trump operates in a world in which someone’s worth (whether it is Schumer or Ryan or Russian President Vladimir Putin) is a direct reflection of whether he is saying nice things about Trump.
This may be one reason he relies so heavily on his children; they know better than to insult him or to challenge him in ways that prompt him to lash out. (They are, in a word, enablers.)
.. For a textbook narcissist, there is no objective, ideology, aim or vision other than satisfaction of his own ego. It makes him a sitting duck for flatters — and may make him a very isolated president, very quickly.
.. Now, when Schumer delays the confirmation process or maybe even derails a nominee (perhaps the secretary of state pick, ExxonMobil Chief Executive Rex Tillerson, with the help of dismayed GOP hawks), Trump won’t be whispering sweet nothings to any Democrat. He’ll be flailing away on Twitter, denouncing Schumer & Co. as he does anyone who gets the better of him.
.. Likewise, if, for example, the GOP House refuses to do his bidding on a tariff bill or won’t pass an overstuffed infrastructure bill consisting of tax breaks for billionaire developers, Trump’s newfound affection for Ryan will evaporate as well. He’ll be back to calling Ryan “very weak and ineffective” or “a man who doesn’t know how to win.” His new cordial relationship with Mitt Romney? If Romney starts speaking up about Russia, Trump surely will revert to labeling him a “catastrophe” who was “just trying to stay relevant.”
.. Sooner or later, everyone is bound to be a “loser” or “horrible,” according to Trump. That makes it tricky to sustain ongoing relationships for four years with these people. Unlike on reality TV, he cannot fire Schumer, Ryan or McConnell.
.. If there is a vast majority in both houses for additional sanctions, does Trump declare 90 percent of lawmakers to be “terrible” or “a disaster”? (Maybe he pulls another Trump tactic — gaslighting the press and public, pretending he wasn’t opposed to sanctions.)
How to Know What Donald Trump Really Cares About: Look at What He’s Insulting
First, Mr. Trump likes to identify a couple of chief enemies and attack them until they are no longer threatening enough to interest him. He hurls insults at these foils relentlessly, for sustained periods – weeks or months. Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Hillary Clinton have all held Mr. Trump’s attention in this way; nearly one in every three insults in the last two years has been directed at them.
.. Second, there’s a nearly constant stream of insults in the background directed at a wider range of subjects. These insults can be a response to a news event, unfavorable media coverage or criticism, or they can simply be a random thought. These subjects receive short bursts of attention, and inevitably Mr. Trump turns to other things in a day or two. Mr. Trump’s brief feuds with Macy’s, Elizabeth Warren, John McCain and The New Hampshire Union Leader fit this bucket well. The election has not changed this pattern either...Mr. Trump frequently insulted journalists and media organizations even before he was a serious presidential candidate. Early on, Mr. Trump focused on conservative publications and commentators who stood against him: Bill Kristol, George Will, Glenn Beck, Charles Krauthammer, Stuart Stevens. As the campaign progressed and media scrutiny increased, Mr. Trump focused on the larger news organizations and the national press, particularly after coverage critical of him. One particularly big insult campaign began in the days after a New York Times article about his behavior toward women.