Has Trump Rendered the Political Gaffe Obsolete? (5/3/2019)

[Scurrilous]

'Intelligencer writers Ed Kilgore, Benjamin Hart, and Margaret Hartmann discuss whether campaign-trail slipups still matter in 2019.

Ben: The Atlantic’s Adam Serwer tweeted the following this week: “I don’t know if this is true but I wonder if Trump has so inured the public to verbal gaffes that Biden’s weaknesses in that area are neutralized in a way they wouldn’t be against a traditional candidate. Trump says like five things every day worse than the typical Bidenism.”

This gets at something I think a lot of people have been wondering: Has President Trump’s ascent rendered a lot of candidate behavior that would have once been deemed problematic as forgivable, or maybe not even newsworthy anymore? What has become of the political “gaffe”?

Margaret: In preparation for this chat, I looked up some of Biden’s alleged gaffes.

Ben: I appreciate your research commitment.

Margaret: Most range from “meh” to kind of endearing when viewed through Trump-weary eyes. What is asking a paraplegic state senator to stand up so everyone can applaud him — and quickly realizing the error — when you have Trump’s infamous mocking of a disabled reporter? So yeah, I think a lot of these things aren’t even going to register. But as we saw with Hillary’s “deplorables” remark, if just one line catches on, it can make a dent. That was even true of Obama. The theme of the 2012 Republican National Convention was “You didn’t build that,” which was a distortion of the point Obama was making.

Ed: There’s definitely some truth in what Serwer is saying, if only because Trump creates the crucial context for everything in U.S. politics right now. But I think we need to qualify the “Nobody cares what Trump says” planted axiom here. Democrats and both liberal media and the mainstream media endlessly document and talk about Trump’s lies, excesses, high crimes and misdemeanors, etc., etc. It’s Trump supporters who don’t care, because for the most part they view him as a scourge for lashing their hated enemies. Every time he says or does something outrageous, he’s “owning the libs,” not breaking time-honored norms.

At the moment, though, the main context for judging Joe Biden is the Democratic presidential nominating contest, and Democrats have not abandoned the old norms. So Biden’s gaffes may bug them now, even though they’d stop caring in a general-election contest with Trump.

Margaret: That’s true, though I do think Democrats have limited capacity for being outraged, or it’s hard to get all Democrats to be outraged on the same point, unless we’re talking Trump.

Ben: Right now, the clear front-runner for the Democratic nomination — Biden — is someone well known for (among other things) getting off message, committing verbal miscues, and generally being undisciplined on the campaign trail. In 2008, he called Obama “clean” and “articulate” on the first day of his campaign, a remark that I think would land with even more of a thud today. But as Ed pointed out, they may view things through an “Okay, it’s not perfect, but the guy can beat Trump” lens in a way that contrasts with previous election cycles.

Margaret: I’m sure people who already aren’t big Biden fans are going to latch onto any gaffes, but he already survived the unwanted-touching issue. I think there’s the mystique around him, that he’s the guy who might be able to beat Trump so we can’t care about these comments that might have bothered us a few years ago. It takes a gaffe machine to fight a gaffe machine.'

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/05/has-trump-rendered-the-political-gaffe-obsolete.html


With Trump in office, do scandals matter anymore? (10/12/2017)

'Plagiarized speeches. Unpaid tax returns. Inflammatory rhetoric captured in an old newspaper clipping.

For decades, political operatives have embarrassed and discredited their opponents through the dark arts known as opposition research, the kind of provocative dirt-digging deemed essential to any winning campaign.

But as the 2018 midterm election begins, strategists from both parties are confronting a new, Donald Trump-affected reality: Revelations that would have once infuriated the public, even scuttled a campaign, now risk being greeted with indifferent shrugs.


“The bar for disqualifying candidates is almost invisible at this point, it’s so high,” said Tim Miller, once the executive director to America Rising, a GOP opposition research group. “Especially given the fact Donald Trump is president and he committed at least two dozen gaffes and actions that would have crushed any other candidate.”

“Your old-school gotcha hypocrisy hits on a Senate or House candidate that might have made it onto CNN in 2010,” he added, “isn’t going to break through anymore.”

Pinpointing just how much the public attitude toward scandal has changed is, of course, impossible. Even in a political culture perpetually seized by outrage — led by a president who only a year ago was caught on tape bragging about sexual assault and whose campaign is now under a grand jury investigation — an ill-timed gaffe or startling revelation can still sink some candidacies and end some careers.'

https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article178355531.html



Thank you for playing.

[empedocles]

1. Context here, reaganhood was called the Teflon president.

History has its benefits.

reaganhood, who robbed from the poor, to give to the rich . . . also

[Cha]

2. Exponentially "worse".

I wouldn't call #45Impeached's diarrhea of the mouth "gaffes".. stupid utterings coming from the 666th circle of hell is more descriptive.. and in addition he's a treasonous ugly troll.

Fascinating graphic, Scurrilous.. Mahalo for the articles!

You're Welcome

[Scurrilous]

6. Something I read before and thought would be timely.

The graphic is just randomness.

[Cha]

8. lol.. and somehow

it fits.

[Scurrilous]

9. There's also one about apologizing.

Someone started the recent spree with an apology request for Biden. And I can remember when we stopped doing that. Apologizing for every little thing to the delight and glee of the GOP.

I Apologize For This Article

'Of course, we’ve come a long way since then—so far that the original meaning of apology seems buried in antiquity. Even so, there’s some evidence that Americans don’t necessarily want of their politicians what they expect of themselves. Law professor Cass Sunstein polled several hundred people on four scenarios involving a public official who apologized for a former position, statement, or behavior. In each case, the percentage of people that were less likely to support the figure after the apology was greater than the percentage that was more likely. “One reason,” Sunstein suggests, is that “an apology is like a confession. It makes wrongdoing more salient.” Voters might also question how much of a leader someone is who keeps recanting previous positions because they’re no longer popular within his or her party. And, of course, this might explain why many voters support Donald Trump, who, as the Los Angeles Times points out, is loath to apologize.'

https://www.city-journal.org/apology-culture

[Cha]

10. I say.. do apologize if you've done something wrong..

I think to apologize is a sign of strength.. learn from it and just move on.

Work on not doing anything you have to apologize for.. But not for something that is part of a smear campaign.. that is someone else's idea of what you should apologize for

Of course sociopathic hell creatures don't apologize.. but who wants to be them?

Did that make sense? It's late here and I really should be dreaming now.

[rampartc]

3. trump is teflon coated

biden is not.

[Scurrilous]

5. It's not about Teflon. It's about 'the bar.'

When you have a President who tweets insults daily, who insults people at his rallies, whose uncouth vulgar actions from before he became President are well known, and who lies nonstop, the bar for outrage is raised. The public has become inured. If you're going to come at someone, it better be spectacular. Gotcha ain't what it used to be.

[rampartc]

12. trump can do all those things with impunity

there is no "bar" too low for hum.

that does not apply to ant democrat, as we are about to learn, again.

[blm]

4. IOKIYAR

[thesquanderer]

7. Exactly. The political gaffe is only obsolete for Republicans. n/t

[BusyBeingBest]

11. Trump could seize up and shart himself onstage

and his cult zombies would cheer that he's owning the libs. But I don't think the political gaffe is obsolete for anyone else. Might be less important now, and that would be a good thing.