Roughly 90% of President Trump and his team’s day-to-day activities are meant simply to goad an overreaction from his opponents. The freak-outs distract from legitimate scandals, and they provide the president and his people with a good laugh.
You think Trump’s adversaries in Congress and the press would try to stay focused and deny him and his cohort the satisfaction. You would be very wrong, though. These people still don’t understand with whom they are dealing.
CNN’s Don Lemon, for example, had a meltdown this week after a Twitter account managed by the Trump 2020 campaign tweeted an Avengers-themed political video showing the president “snapping” away Democratic leadership:
House Democrats can push their sham impeachment all they want.
President Trump’s re-election is ??????????. pic.twitter.com/O7o02S26nS
— Trump War Room (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TrumpWarRoom) December 10, 2019
Is the Trump campaign video silly? Yes. It is troll-y? Absolutely. Does it misconstrue the actual events of the Avengers movie from which the scene is pulled? Ha, yes.
Is it just a silly online campaign ad? Yes. Does it deserve a solid two minutes of prime-time news coverage? Uh, no.
“What are we — in junior high school? Like, what the hell? What is this?” the incredulous news anchor demanded. “I cannot believe that I’m even having to report this on the news. This is crazy. This is literally crazy. Are you people insane?”
His tirade against the meme continued, adding, “Go ahead. Troll the Democrats on Twitter. Do this stupid, silly you-know-what. Play this stupid, juvenile meme game. History won’t record this meme stupid crap, but history will record this: the seriousness of what is happening.”
Good grief, man. Get a hold of yourself. First, you don’t have to report this on the news. This was your choice. You could have reported on literally anything else happening right now in the United States and the world, and you chose instead to dedicate two minutes to your indignation over a campaign tweet.
Secondly, try a little perspective. The tweet is silly, sure, but let’s also remember that it is a campaign tweet and that it is also not even the first time a president’s support team has descended into pop culture silliness via Twitter. I still remember when the Obama White House’s official Twitter account rebranded itself the “Westeros Wing” with a photoshopped image of the president sitting on the “iron throne.”
That particular Game of Thrones-themed tweet, by the way, was sent during White House Correspondents Dinners in 2014, the same year the Obama administration set a record for denying the most Freedom of Information Act requests of any administration. Attendance at the dinner that year was high.
