Donald Trump shocked the world today by showing up in Helsinki and being Donald Trump.
In a joint press conference with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Trump was asked whether he agreed with the conclusion of America’s intelligence agencies that the Russian government “interfered” with the U.S. presidential election in 2016. The president’s (partial) response was this:
I’ve been wondering that. I’ve been asking that for months and months and I’ve been tweeting it out and calling it out on social media. Where is the server? I want to know where is the server and what is the server saying?
With that being said, all I can do is ask the question.
My people came to me, Dan Coats, came to me and some others they said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin. He just said it’s not Russia.
I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be. But I really do want to see the server but I have, I have confidence in both parties.
I really believe that this will probably go on for a while but I don’t think it can go on without finding out what happened to the server. What happened to the servers of the Pakistani gentleman that worked on the DNC?
I’ve been wondering that. I’ve been asking that for months and months and I’ve been tweeting it out and calling it out on social media. Where is the server? I want to know where is the server and what is the server saying?
With that being said, all I can do is ask the question.
My people came to me, Dan Coats, came to me and some others they said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin. He just said it’s not Russia.
I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be. But I really do want to see the server but I have, I have confidence in both parties.
I really believe that this will probably go on for a while but I don’t think it can go on without finding out what happened to the server. What happened to the servers of the Pakistani gentleman that worked on the DNC?
What was most striking about the answer wasn’t that it wasn’t an answer: Trump did not say whether he agreed with Putin or U.S. intelligence. Rather, it was simply how Trumpian it was. Indeed, all of the points the president raised—“the server!”—were familiar. He brings them up often on his unfiltered Twitter feed. The only thing missing was a reference to the “13 Angry Democrats.”
Trump is an unconventional politician in many ways. That was in plain sight today with yet another display of is his inability—or his refusal—to code-switch.
Most politicians change their tone, their rhetoric—sometimes, even their accents—depending on what crowd they’re addressing. Some are good at this: Barack Obama could seamlessly move from the pulpit of a Black church to a banquet table at a NATO summit, subtly shifting the way he spoke masterfully. Some are rather less adept. Hillary Clinton would often adopt a painfully fake southern accent while campaigning south of the Mason-Dixon line. This was unsuccessful as her electoral results in every southern state save Virginia demonstrated.
Trump, by contrast, simply doesn’t code-switch. There’s only one version of the man, and we get that guy no matter what context the president is appearing in.
Sometimes, this has awful results, such as today in Helsinki, when in a press conference of geopolitical import, the American president goes on a tangent related to his domestic political woes. (“The server!”) Sometimes, the results are hilarious, as in his 2017 appearance at the National Prayer Breakfast, where he asked for the attendees to pray for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ratings on The Apprentice. And sometimes, he’s matched to the occasion perfectly, such as at the raucous political rallies that he loves to hold.
Whether you think this is a bug or a feature, one thing is for sure: Trump is not the kind of guy you would want to give the eulogy at your funeral.
