I had not seen the tweet of the Featured Image by Trump until I read a column by Michael Goodwin in The NY Post, Donald Trump’s ‘they’re after you’ tweet says it all:
On its face, a tweet President Trump sent last week is fairly benign. It doesn’t mock anyone, isn’t personally nasty and hasn’t caused any hair-on-fire controversy.Yet it is powerful in its own way, for it artfully sums up the Trump era from the perspective of the president and his supporters. With a likeness to the Uncle Sam “I want you” poster, the disrupter-in-chief reaffirms in 14 words the belief of Trump Nation that the political establishment, the media, the permanent bureaucracy and yes, the deep state are trying to crush him and them.The president tweeted the image the day House Democrats voted to impeach him, and hours after his raucous rally in Michigan that evening.The tweet included no added comment because none was needed. The message is clear: I am all that stands between you and the barbarians at the gate. If I fall, you are next.
Trump’s tweet has 123k retweets as of this writing. That’s a reflection of the strength of the message.
It’s a message that resonates because it’s true, and true to the core of our current political culture.
I explored the role Trump plays in August 2018, The value of Trump to the Trump voter is that he stands between them and #TheResistance:
Selena Zito in the NY Post doesn’t think it’s going to shake support for Trump, Why Trump’s supporters won’t care about Cohen and Manafort’s convictions:
Right now the value of Trump to the Trump voter is he is all that stands between them and handing the keys to Washington back over to the people inside Washington. That’s it. He’s their only option. You’ve got to pick the insiders or him.
I’d use slightly different wording:
Right now the value of Trump to the Trump voter is he is all that stands between them and the people who hate them every bit as much as they hate Trump.
Or if you want an even shorter version, “the Flight 93 Election never ended” ….
Trump voters are berated and belittled with the same ferocity as directed at Trump himself. #TheResistance doesn’t distinguish between Trump and his voters.
We all understand that what is being done to Trump is simply a continuation of the attempt to unwind the 2016 election. And that if they succeed, the IRS abuses against the Tea Party and conservatives will seem like child’s play.
The Trump theme has the media and Democrats worried. An Associated Press article, widely reprinted, complains Us vs. them: Trump aiming to use impeachment to rev up base:
Using stark “us vs. them” language, President Donald Trump and his reelection campaign have begun framing his impeachment not as a judgment on his conduct but as a referendum on how Democrats regard him and his supporters.Mere days from the start of an election year, the White House and its allies are painting Trump’s impeachment on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress as an effort to undo his 2016 victory and discount the will of the people.There was nothing subtle about Trump’s pinned tweet shortly after impeachment: “In reality, they’re not after me. They’re after you,” was plastered above a photo of Trump pointing at the reader. “I’m just in the way.”
I agree with AP as to the importance of the theme, except that AP has it backwards. It’s not “Us vs. Them.” It’s “Them vs. us.”
And therein lies the key: Trump supporters aren’t going around harassing Democrats in restaurants and in their homes, aren’t attacking people who wear anti-Trump clothing, and aren’t trying to get Trump opponents fired. The hostility and hate is almost entirely in one direction, and people get that.
Donald Trump may not be the only thing standing between “us” and the deranged Resistance mob, but he’s one of the things.
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