Trump Is Not Very Good At This

He has a talent for saying the worst thing at the worst time.

It was not complicated: All Donald Trump had to say was that Democrats are causing the government shutdown, while he is the protector of the American people’s interests. Instead, he said this to a gaggle of reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday:

We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them [i.e. Democrats] and irreversible by them, like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like. And you all know Russell Vought, he’s become very popular recently, because he can trim the budget to a level that you couldn’t do any other way. So they’re taking a risk by having a shutdown. Because of the shutdown, we can do things medically and other ways, including benefits. We can cut large numbers of people. We don’t want to do that, but we don’t want fraud, waste and abuse.

In other words, Democrats say that they’re trying to keep Trump from cutting medical benefits, to which Trump basically responded: Yep, I’m going to cut medical benefits.

When other politicians hand their opponents such a perfect talking point on a silver platter that way, it’s usually the occasion for a vigorous round of mockery and contempt, as both enemies and allies marvel at how only a spectacular idiot with no political skills would say such a thing.

It’s a reminder that Donald Trump is a very bad politician who screws up the most basic political tasks all the time.

That seems strange to say after he won two elections and has completely transformed American politics in ways we’ll have to live with for a generation or more. And he does have certain gifts, including a finely tuned radar for voters’ darkest impulses.

Nevertheless, if Trump were a little smarter he could be in a very different and even more terrifying position than he’s in right now, with weak approval ratings and the majority of the public disapproving almost everything he’s doing. His inability to frame the shutdown in advantageous terms is one example, and I want to point to a few others that occurred just in the last couple of weeks to show how ineffective Trump is when it comes to using the power of his megaphone.

Put him in front of a crowd and bad things will happen

Let’s take them in reverse order. First, there was his speech to hundreds of flag officers gathered at Quantico on Tuesday at the insistence of Pete Hegseth, in which the most inexperienced and unqualified Secretary of Defense in history harangued the military leadership about how they’re all a bunch of fat woke sissies, but now we’re finally going to get down to real manly war stuff. Trump then took the stage, and in the hands of a different president it could have been an opportunity for something special. The tableau was unique, and had never happened before in modern times: all those generals and admirals sitting together, a sea of medal-covered uniforms representing the vast American military machine, the commander in chief in front of them.

A different president would have used the occasion for something grand and memorable, perhaps the explanation of a new national security doctrine, or a rearticulation of America’s dominant position in the world, or a warning about the dangers the future presents. Something that would, at a minimum, explain why they were there. What did Trump do?

Sounding like he had been awoken early from his afternoon nap, Trump gave a particularly low-energy version of his standard campaign speech, except one even more pathetic than usual. He started by complaining that “I’ve never walked into a room so silent before” — yeah, genius, because these are military officers with a commitment to discipline, and they aren’t supposed to hoot and holler like a bunch of MAGA cultists — then said, “And if you don’t like what I’m saying, you can leave the room. Of course, there goes your rank, there goes your future, but you just feel nice and loose.”

So right off the bat, he established a hostile relationship between himself and the audience. He then droned on interminably, ranging across such vital topics as bitching about Joe Biden (of course); bitching about how the Associated Press won’t write “Gulf of America”; bitching about cities run by Democrats, to which he now wants to illegally deploy troops because “it’s a big part of war now, it’s a big part of war”; bitching about how he hasn’t gotten the Nobel Prize yet; and bitching about the quality of the paper on which he signs promotions for generals:

It went on for over an hour.

His recent speech to the United Nations was much the same. In that environment — an enormous hall, representatives of all the world’s nations before him — Trump could have delivered something sweeping and eloquent. Instead, it was yet another litany of complaint, this time about the escalator that stopped, and the teleprompter that didn’t work, and “Sleepy Joe Biden,” and the fact that many years ago he bid on a contract to remodel the UN building but didn’t get the contract, which was obviously a wise decision on the UN’s part. And yes, he also whined about not getting the Nobel Peace Prize.

The last example: Charlie Kirk’s memorial service was nothing if not an occasion for movement-building, one that was all about the fusion of Christian nationalism and Republican Party politics. Trump mostly stuck to the speech about Kirk that was written for him, but he couldn’t stop himself from putting a rake down at his own feet and stepping on it. “He did not hate his opponents. He wanted the best for them,” Trump said. Not really true, but whatever. But then came the kicker: “That’s where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponent and I don’t want the best for them.”

Not that it will diminish Trump’s support among right-wing evangelicals, because Trump’s hate is exactly what they love about him. But it was so shocking, particularly after Kirk’s widow expressed Christian compassion by saying she forgave his killer, that it cast a harsh light on everything dark and corrupt about Trump’s alliance with the Christian right. That remark about hating his opponents is all that most people will remember from the event.

Presidents have to engage in many different types of rhetoric and argumentation, and part of being a good president is understanding the context you’re in, what people expect from you, and what will be persuasive. They have to perform all kinds of rhetoric — sometimes we want the president to be inspiring, sometimes we want him to be quiet and sympathetic, sometimes we want him to be somber, sometimes we want him to help us mourn, sometimes we want him to march us into battle.

Some presidents are better at it than others, but all of them, before now, have understood the assignment. To be an effective president you have to speak in different registers, to different audiences, and at different moments. Trump’s problem is that he only has one register, and only one audience: himself.

This does not mean that Democrats can just sit back and wait for him to make mistakes; beating him requires more than that. But he will make the mistake of saying the absolute worst thing at the absolute worst time. Always.

I don’t know how the shutdown will play out and how it will end; no one does. But it won’t end with a great victory for Donald Trump, born of his cleverness and skill and powers of persuasion. Even if that’s what he’ll claim.

Thank you for reading The Cross Section. This site has no paywall, so I depend on the generosity of readers to sustain the work I present here. If you find what you read valuable and would like it to continue, consider becoming a paid subscriber.