Thomas Lifson of the American Thinker dissects President Trump’s reaction to the feud between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her most high-profile freshman caucus member.
For a guy who is purportedly stupid and lacking in nuance, President Trump yesterday masterfully trolled Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Party while superficially supporting her. In just a few sentences, speaking to reporters prior to boarding Marine One, he took the high road, affirming Nancy Pelosi is not a racist, gaining points as a healer. But at the same time, he aggravated existing tensions in the opposition party and pushed the ranks of Democrats into a circular firing squad formation where their anger can be directed against each other. All in less than a minute-and-a-half …
… Trump expertly turns Ocasio-Cortez’s demand for respect against her. But that is just the prelude to his sophisticated troll of the Speaker. By defending Nancy Pelosi, President Trump has – in the minds of Ocasio-Cortez and he allies – created an alliance between Nancy Pelosi and himself. …
… Now, what does Pelosi do? Does she express gratitude for Trump’s words of praise? That would make her problems with the radical faction of her party worse. But Pelosi is a woman of many years’ experience in politics (since childhood as daughter of Baltimore’s political boss, Tommy d’Alessandro), where reciprocity is the very essence of politics. Psychologically, she owes Trump one for this, yet any visible expression of this debt would harm her even more. It is a bit crazy-making.
I think that Trump does this sort of thing intuitively. That’s what makes him a Master Troll. …
