The past 10 days of the 2020 presidential campaign were more eventful than any other such period in memory. The story about the president’s taxes, claiming he only paid a small sum in income taxes (while ignoring the millions in other taxes paid and that Donald Trump is refusing any compensation – aka income – for serving as president), broke less than two weeks ago. A pattern has also developed where the media does a quick damage check to see if their latest attack is hurting the president’s poll numbers. As each sensational story fails to gain traction, they move on to their next dramatic indignation. The bad news is the president and his supporters have little or no time to respond to the daily media attacks. The good news is the outrage-of-the-day usually only lasts 24-to-48 hours before the left moves on to their next faux scandal, and the previous accusations disappear from the news cycle. Because they portray everything as a “scandal for the ages,” there is a built-in shelf life to their outrage as the following allegation is breathlessly promoted as the biggest yet.
The first debate between President Trump and Joe Biden happened on the Tuesday immediately after the leaked-taxes story. Of course, the preparations for the debate, the debate itself, the rudeness of the debaters, the laughable bias of the moderator and everyone’s reaction to the debate bumped the tax story off the radar. By Thursday, though, the claimed bombshell of secret recordings of first lady Melania Trump took over the news cycle. About 48 hours after the debate’s conclusion, former friend Stephanie Winston Wolkoff was on CNN promoting her salacious new book by playing secretly recorded conversations of the first lady confiding in her about her frustrations and concerns, while a giddy Anderson Cooper accommodated the shameless betrayal.
Ms. Wolkoff secretly recorded Mrs. Trump’s confidences in July 2018, saving them for over two years until needed to drum up publicity for her book. Karma struck immediately, though, as her time in the spotlight fell victim to the lightning fast news cycle when the announcement was made that President Trump, first lady and staffer Hope Hicks had tested positive for coronavirus. Miss Wolkoff’s treachery only got her about two hours of national attention before her appearance on CNN was forgotten. As an aside, it is a fair question to ask how CNN and other major media would have covered illegally leaked tax documents or secret recordings of the first lady if the victims were Barack and Michelle Obama? It is safe to say the media would howl with outrage at the disgusting depths to which Republicans had sunk in their filthy partisanship, and would refuse to aid and abet the personal attacks on the saintly Obamas by revealing the contents of illegally leaked private documents and secretly recorded personal conversations.
By late Thursday evening, the focus of every news source pivoted to President Trump’s positive COVID test. His admission to Walter Reed hospital and his condition, treatment and prognosis splintered into dozens of storylines over the weekend, each replacing the last. How sick was the president? What medicines was he taking? How long would he be hospitalized? Did he need to transfer power to the vice president? Trump supporters showed up outside the hospital on Friday night and the number grew and grew until it effectively morphed into a Trump rally. When news got out someone had sent pizzas, Trump supporters from around the country began buying pizzas for the crowd, including the Trump campaign. Meanwhile, major media outlets and celebrities ran with a series of conspiracy theories including: The president was faking his illness for sympathy or to distract from other stories; President Trump was much sicker than White House and hospital officials admitted; that Mr. Trump might install his daughter Ivanka as president; that he was taking medicine that rendered him incapacitated to govern and countless other theories.
After convalescing for a day, President Trump released a video statement thanking the doctors and hospital staff. The White House released photos showing the president working (which also prompted conspiracy attacks that he was signing blank papers or that the photos were staged), and he took a ride outside the hospital on Sunday to wave “thank you” to his throngs of flag-waving supporters. His video, photos and car ride past well-wishers caused liberals everywhere to spontaneously combust into an incoherent rage. This is likely due to his action blowing up several liberal narratives and conspiracy theories that he was at death’s door as a result of not being terrified of the virus as liberals demand.
We have reached a point in our history where few living Democrats remember a time before Watergate. The only way Democrats know to govern with a Republican president is to roil the nation with screeching about scandals and demands that president resign or be impeached. Governing seems not to even be a consideration for them. As the American public has become numb to the constant hyperbole, the left has left themselves no option but to hurl increasingly crazy accusations at the president. So, the Carousel of Outrage spins faster and faster, searching for something to make Americans turn against the president.
We are in for a wild and crazy last four weeks of the campaign.
