One of the interesting things about Donald Trump is how he’s forging unlikely political alliances. For instance, if anyone had told me a year ago that David Plouffe—Obama’s ace campaign strategist—would be blasting the GOP presidential nominee and I would agree with him, I would have been very surprised. But here we are:
It is not enough to simply beat Trump. He must be destroyed thoroughly. His kind must not rise again.
— David Plouffe (@davidplouffe) June 13, 2016
Where I don’t suspect we agree is how Obama, and Plouffe specifically, made Trump possible by conditioning the American public to tolerate demagogues like him—those who engage in dishonest rhetoric, unfairly misrepresent and delegitimize critics, and generally acting with contempt toward the rule of law.
Let’s start with some common complaints about Donald Trump. The most obvious thing is that Trump coarsens the debate by frequently saying outrageous and untrue things to grab media attention. Trump’s been doing this for years, but it was relatively innocuous when he was just a reality TV star and real estate mogul. Suddenly, people are alarmed that this approach is unbecoming for a potential commander-in-chief. And yet, this is what we’ve been dealing with for the last seven years:
It’s Plouffe who really deserves the credit here for Making Presidential Communication Great Again. As for the devastating consequences of an overtly dishonest communication strategy, do note that Obama’s signature domestic and foreign policy achievements—Obamacare and the Iran deal—were both premised on explicit lies. Eight million people lost their health insurance after Obama repeatedly claimed “If you like it, you can keep it,” which is far more consequential a lie than Trump has ever told. (At least thus far.) If ensuring that public doesn’t trust the president’s rhetoric is all “stray voltage,” that’s a pretty nasty electrical burn on the body politic.
But let’s look at other problems with Trump. I agree that it’s alarming he seems to have little respect for the First Amendment and wants to “open up” libel laws to go after his critics. Then again, it was also alarming back in 2008 when Barack Obama demanded the Department of Justice investigate an organization that was attempting to air ads tying the then-senator to domestic terrorist Bill Ayers. By the way, it’s now generally accepted that Obama lied for years about his relationship with Ayers. Obama launched his political career with a fundraiser at Ayers’s house, something Obama’s campaign categorically denied. The two men had a significant working relationship and shared an office. The Obama campaign also tried to get law enforcement officials in Missouri to threaten and intimidate critics. They sent letters to TV station managers threatening lawsuits if they aired NRA ads. The Obama campaign organized smear campaigns of conservative authors who had written credible (and prescient!) books criticizing Obama.
Where could have Trump gotten the idea that legal threats against the media were a successful campaign strategy? Care to comment, Mr. Plouffe?
It’s also true that Trump can’t be trusted to responsibly exercise his presidential powers. After all, he’s said he would ban Muslims from entering the United States by “decree.” Unfortunately, there’s now a major precedent for this. On over 20 occasions, our constitutional-law-professor-in-chief insisted the president couldn’t set immigration policy by decree. Then Obama turned around and did exactly that.
Now you might say, Trump lacks the character to be president. He’s engaged in so many shady real estate deals. Kind of like getting a sweetheart deal on a million dollar home from a Chicago developer convicted of federal crimes? Trump’s even allegedly got mafia ties. But it’s not like he would ever invite a shady, mobbed-up banker to the White House, publicly defend him, and then support his Senate campaign. Right?
If you’ve sat on the sidelines the last seven years, much less been an Obama cheerleader like Plouffe, and now you’re worried about an irresponsible, dishonest demagogue in the White House, you might be a partisan.
