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Zorro

(15,740 posts)
Mon Jun 15, 2020, 12:03 PM Jun 2020

Trump has finally lost control of his narrative. Voters are ready to see him canceled.

When it comes to both business and politics, President Trump has repeatedly defied predictions of doom. He has survived multiple business bankruptcies, and he remains in the White House despite a haze of embarrassment and scandal.

Nonetheless, I believe that when we look back at the Trump era, we will remember the spring of 2020 as the time when Trump and his administration finally jumped the shark. Somewhere between seeming to promote bleach as a cure for the novel coronavirus and accusing elderly protester Martin Gugino of being an “Antifa provocateur” after Buffalo police shoved him violently to the ground, Trump has — finally — lost control of the narrative thread.

To “jump the shark” is a term from the world of entertainment, used when a hit television show, desperate to maintain its ratings preeminence, turns to a ridiculous plot twist to maintain viewer interest. (For those who are wondering, the original shark-jumping incident occurred on the sitcom “Happy Days.”) Instead of renewed fandom, however, the plot twist is met with ridicule, indifference and viewer contempt.

On the one hand, to claim that Trump jumped the shark is to understate the ongoing tragedy of his time in office, one that includes caged children and now more than 100,000 dead from covid-19. On the other, jumping the shark is the most appropriate analogy to use for the (hopeful) twilight of the Trump era. Trump approaches his presidential office from the vantage point of entertainment and ratings, not of politics and beliefs. He is literally a failed businessman who played a successful one on TV.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/06/15/trump-has-finally-lost-control-his-narrative-voters-are-ready-see-him-canceled/

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Trump has finally lost control of his narrative. Voters are ready to see him canceled. (Original Post) Zorro Jun 2020 OP
Paywall, alas...is there another source? CTyankee Jun 2020 #1
This message was self-deleted by its author Dennis Donovan Jun 2020 #2
I don't think images of pages are allowed as a way around a paywall. CrispyQ Jun 2020 #4
Of course - just helping out another DUer. Dennis Donovan Jun 2020 #5
This: He is literally a failed businessman who played a successful one on TV. CrispyQ Jun 2020 #3
As musclecar6 Jun 2020 #6
in tv land a 39% share of the viewing audience is not a failure nt msongs Jun 2020 #7

Response to CTyankee (Reply #1)

CrispyQ

(36,463 posts)
3. This: He is literally a failed businessman who played a successful one on TV.
Mon Jun 15, 2020, 12:33 PM
Jun 2020

Right wingers hate to be told this, that he's declared bankruptcy multiple times, that they voted for a reality TV show host. I have a cousin who refused to believe me when I told him that the Con had declared bankruptcy multiple times. With casinos, no less, where people come in and give you their money and the House has an advantage.

Howard Stern once asked the Con, "How do you go bankrupt selling red meat to America?" The Con just laughed.

musclecar6

(1,686 posts)
6. As
Mon Jun 15, 2020, 01:46 PM
Jun 2020


Michael Cohen said Trump is a conman liar and a cheat. The top that off Trump has made a complete fool of himself handling the pandemic and the latest many weeks of protest. As we know anything is possible with this jerk off, but hopefully he’s on his trajectory to go down in flames
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