POINT OF VIEW

There is indeed a method to President Trump's madness

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Division, distraction and (no other way to say it) lies are no longer a covert part of the 2018 White House strategy. It’s deliberate misinformation used as a weapon to shock the public into submission, and as a tool to serve “red meat” to the president’s base.

What we have is a one-two punch. In addition to the president’s tweet-storm of hurling the term “witch hunt” as many times as possible, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani has begun to spew new layers of misinformation. That second punch is aimed at publicly discrediting Michael Cohen (the president’s recent personal lawyer) who seems to want to cooperate with the special counsel’s investigation of President Trump.

This continuous bombardment of disruption on both the domestic and international front is designed to sap the collective morale of the public, and boost the president’s own standings with a narrow base of Republicans as we move closer to the midterms.

The sheer volume and frequency of shock policy decisions, denials and counterclaims are off the charts, but is being buoyed unwittingly by the media. As a reality star, Trump made a career of drawing attention to himself. Accordingly, it should be no surprise that he is skilled at using the ploy of division and distraction to his advantage.

The media may also be engaged for its own self-interests. The 24/7 Trump news cycle has become a ratings bonanza, and as a result, a moneymaker for the mainstream media and cable news outlets. 

So expect to see more of it. But at what cost to our democracy and the American public?

Let’s look at foreign policy, and close on domestic. The White House has no coherent strategy on foreign policy. From pulling the plug on the Iran deal, then sewing the seeds for regime change there, while supporting Saudi Arabia’s and United Arab Emirates’ destructive war with Yemen; fumbling with North Korea — which was observed recently rebuilding its nuclear plants; to the Russian summit debacle in Helsinki, where not even his cabinet members know what was accomplished or promised.

And now the clamor to meet Iran’s president with no pre-conditions — the damage done in the span of some 100 days could be a setback for at least 10 years. This is especially true when one considers, in addition to the foregoing, the president’s role in alienating the 29-member bloc of allies, NATO, responsible for the North American-European military cooperation.

On the domestic front, it’s all about rollbacks to Obama-era policy. While the damage is systemic to the poor, working families and the middle class in the areas of immigration, education, health care, voting rights, civil rights, women rights, and the environment, the voting public (Democrats as the opposing part, and independents) has an opportunity to recover. It’s called the midterms.

The president already has his division and distraction strategy in overdrive. Plus, Russia appears to still be in the game of elections meddling (literally in real-time 2018 midterms). Ironically, leading members of his administration found courage to warn the nation on this on Aug. 2. 

In other words, the president’s own senior team has publicly debunked his claim of “witch hunt” and “hoax” (think Manchurian candidate). Now Mueller has to decide whether this constitutes further evidence of intent to mislead the public on matters under investigation. However, our president is undaunted. His “Trump” card has always been the economy, and that is also in overdrive.

That means Democrats must proffer a strategy beyond just resistance to regain control in November. They need not only a coherent national agenda from congressional leadership, but locally — elected officials must deliver in improving lives within their respective districts.

Finally, our president’s renewed calls for recused attorney general Jeff Sessions to shut down Robert Mueller’s investigation on Russia’s role in the 2016 election, confirms that he knows that Mueller is getting close to offering a public statement: That the president is guilty of obstruction of justice.

So, he is actually consumed by the method and the madness.

The author is a past candidate for New York’s 16th Congressional District.

Derickson K. Lawrence,

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