reflectivepundit

How the Mainstream Media Magnified Trump’s Victory in Iowa

By Brigitte L. Nacos

The former president Donald Trump was the choice of 51% of Iowa’s caucus goers. Because of the extreme winter weather, the turnout was the lowest in Iowa’s caucuses in the 21^st century. Given the cultish nature of the MAGA movement, I assume that the fans of Trump were far more inclined to fight their way through snow and record low temperatures to their caucus sites than supporters of the other competing candidates.

When everything was said and done, yes, Trump was the choice of about half of all caucus goers, but what was lost in news media reports was equally important: 49% of participating Iowans, about half of the total number, voted for other candidates.

This is the likely distribution of delegates who will represent Iowa at the GOP nominating convention:

Donald Trump                   20 delegates in Iowa

Ron DeSantis                       8 delegates in Iowa

Nikki Haley                          7 delegates in Iowa

Vivek Ramaswamy            3 delegates in Iowa

As the above numbers show, Trump received two more delegates than the next three candidates combined. Ramaswamy suspended his campaign last night and declared his support for Trump. Thus, Ramaswamy’s three delegates are likely to support Trump’s nomination at the convention and most of the former candidate’s supporters—even fewer than in Iowa—will switch to Trump.

Yet, to interpret the outcome of the Iowa caucuses as the coronation of candidate Trump and a slowdown of Nikki Haley’s momentum before the New Hampshire primary as a New York Times headline suggested is once again playing perfectly into Trump’s campaign.

Not his good showing in Iowa was Trump’s greatest triumph after the results were reported; it was the massive coverage in the off- and online mainstream media that assigned an importance to the Iowan GOP caucuses which the small electorate in this demographically unrepresentative U.S. state does not have.                                      

Trump does not have to bother with the retail campaigning for the first primary in New Hampshire next week—a must for his competitors. Not merely Fox News but the very mainstream media that Mr. Trump attacks frequently as “enemy of the people” does this job for him by over-covering anything related to Trump.

Trump’s January 6 Anniversary Message: “God Made Trump”

By Brigitte L. Nacos

One day before the third anniversary of the failed insurgency of January 6, 2021, former President Donald Trump’s social media platform (ironically named Truth Social) posted a campaign ad titled “God Created Trump.” In the 2:44-minute video, the narrator claims in biblical language that on June 14, 1946 (Trump’s birthday) God looked down to earth and recognized the need for a hard-working caretaker and “so, gave us Trump” to fix this country, fight the Marxists, etc., etc.

I saw this video because every now and then I visit Trump’s site to sample some of his posts, reposts, and responses of his followers wondering whether there have been changes and if so, whether those are for better or worse measured against Trump’s relentless production of Twitter posts during his 2016 campaign and presidency. During these periods two of my colleagues and I analyzed the content of Trump’s tweets and the aggressive language he used to attack his various individuals and groups he and his cult followers consider enemies.

Columbia University Press just published a book titled “Hate Speech and Political Violence: Far-Right Rhetoric from the Tea Party to the Insurrection” that I wrote with my colleagues Robert Shapiro and Yaeli Bloch-Elkon. As the title suggest, we first examined how online and off-line media were instrumental in the rise of the Tea Party movement that was established shortly after Barack Obama, the first Black U.S. president, was inaugurated. The White Christian nationalist wing of that movement became the core of Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.

The latest video clip that celebrates Trump as God’s tool to take back our country from evil-doers synthesizes how Trump sells himself and how his cultists idolize their narcissistic leader. One female Trumpian posted in response to the video,

“This is amazing!!! We love, respect, and appreciate you so very much President Trump! The chosen one!”

This was followed by the image below showing Trump enlightened by what the poster seemed to consider a heavenly beam.

 

The notion that Donald Trump is God’s present to contemporary American patriots who are fighting the last battle against America-hating domestic enemies is not new among the former president’s Christian followers. While Trump himself has encouraged this image of the Chosen One in the past, his campaign video goes a step further in that in this campaign video he characterizes himself as made by God to become America’s savior.

Otherwise, posts on Truth Social repeat the Big Lie about the 2020 election results in old and new versions “Trump Won; Biden Cheated!” Whoever is not loyal to the Dear Leader is called demon, devil, liar, cheater, traitor—and worse. That has been in the Trumpian online vocabular for years.

On the day before the January 6 anniversary Trump posted this angry message:

CROOKED JOE BIDEN and the Radical Left Democrats, together with their minions in the DOJ, are coming after me, that moron’s Political Opponent, like never before in the history of the USA. Crooked Joe is a Threat to Democracy!!! They are setting a horrible precedent for the future of our Country. Deranged Jack and Lisa, is it a 6 year Statute of Limitations, or just 5 years? Ask your slimeball Boss, Andrew Weissmann, what your next move will be. Does Crooked Joe Biden know, or understand, what you are doing to our Failing Nation??? ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!!

These posts were among the first responses:

@OksanaTrump

“The Duke of Hazzard star John Schneider to Joe Biden: I believe you are guilty of treason and should be publicly hung. Your son, too.

@67Deplorable

I agree with him. Joe Biden started selling political influence to foreign entities decades ago. He's a traitorous POS.

@JeffAndersen

Bidens are scum!!!!

@max1puzzle2

I totally agree with you, All of Them should be publicly Hung FOR TREASON, Clintons, Obama, and Bidens.

Hanging political opponent has a long tradition that has been embraced more recently by violent Far-Right extremists. On January 6, 2021, MAGA insurgents erected a gallows in front of the U.S. Capitol and screamed “Hang Mike Pence.”

 It was not a one-time shocker. Three years later, calling for the hanging of opponents seems quite normal on Trump’s social media platform.

A New Phase in the Israel-Hamas War?

By Brigitte L. Nacos

The targeted killing of Saleh al-Arouri, a deputy Hamas leader, along with several leaders of the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, and the withdrawal of several IDF brigades from Gaza in the last few days could signal a new phase in the war between Israel and Hamas.

In reaction to the horrific October 6 Hamas attack on Israeli civilians the Netanyahu government left no doubt that the goal of its military response was the complete destruction of Gaza’s de facto ruling group. And there is no doubt that the IDF destroyed major Hamas facilities, including parts of their extensive tunnel system, and part of the group’s military hardware.

Besides the women, children, and men tortured, murdered, and taken hostage by Hamas on October 6, Gazan civilians have been the victims of the hostilities. The Gaza strip is mostly destroyed and its civilian population experiences a humanitarian nightmare.

Hamas leaders were in safe places—often underneath civilian facilities—or abroad.

This week, Israel’s intelligence community and the IDF were able to pinpoint the whereabouts of important Hamas leaders and take them out via drone attack. This action confirmed that an all-out war is less likely to decapitated a terrorist entities leadership than targeted missions carried out by strong intelligence and military capabilities. While such actions may kill at times some innocent civilians, they cannot be compared to the collateral damage in an all-out war. Taking out the second in command and a few other leaders is a big loss for Hamas. But it is not a fatal blow. In the past decades, Hamas has recovered repeatedly and rather quickly from the targeted assassination of several of the top leaders. Losing more important figures in the leadership strata could weaken the group.

The simultaneous withdrawal of thousands of Israeli soldiers from Gaza along with tanks and other military equipment may be another sign that the Netanyahu government might be  changing its war strategy against Hamas in a direction that President Biden and other Western friends and allies have pushed for.

Ultimately, however, taking out Hamas’s leaders, facilities, and weaponry will not solve the conflict between the people in Israel proper and the Palestinian territories.

This will take a political solution that all parties can live with—peacefully.