As the disputed Napoleon quote goes, “Never interfere with an enemy while he’s in the process of destroying himself.” It’s simple and brilliant, and perhaps the best advice anyone in the political realm can receive. It’s also advice very few people in the political realm follow because not commenting on everything isn’t in their nature.
As a former press secretary in the United States Senate, I know all too well the desire of the politicians to “get out in front of” something or “weigh in on” whatever is happening, even if they had nothing to do with the story. Politicians really adhere to the idea that there’s no such thing as bad publicity. Maybe there isn’t, but there is a time when you’d be better served remaining quiet so the entire spotlight can illuminate the failure of your opponent.
That’s where we get to former (and maybe future) President Donald Trump.
I miss President Trump on Twitter. I didn’t follow him, but only because I didn’t want to see all the things he retweeted from random people. I knew that when he said something himself, it would be retweeted into my timeline dozens of times. I didn’t care who he was retweeting, they weren’t the President. Now that he’s banned and out of the White House, he still has a presence on social media because so many people, including his spokeswoman, tweet out every statement he makes on every issue. It’s like he’s on Twitter by proxy.
That’s all well and good, he should have a voice wherever he wants one, I just question the frequency with which he uses that voice. You can’t miss someone if they never go away.
Joe Biden’s presidency has been an unmitigated disaster – inflation, the COVID pandemic (even with having been handed vaccines), and Afghanistan have all gone straight to hell. They’ve all gotten worse not because of his hands-off approach, but because of his interventions. Joe Biden has a knack for doing the wrong thing, from the bin Laden raid to how he treated female Senate staff in the hall of the Capitol building, you can count on him to do the opposite of what is good and right.
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Nowhere is this “Biden knack” more evident than in Afghanistan. Things could not have gone worse for our withdrawal had Biden been Taliban himself. What makes this Biden disaster different from the others is reporters are actually reporting on the mess he created there.
So many in the liberal media reported from Afghanistan over the last 20 years, getting to know embassy staff, soldiers, and Afghan civilians, they have a connection to it that seems to compel them to report honestly, even though it makes their chosen President look bad. I can’t imagine they like it, but there is also the potential for awards for their coverage of something like this, so it’s no holds barred. That’s a problem for Joe. It’s a problem Donald Trump shouldn’t help him with.
President Trump has released a lot of statements about the mess that is Afghanistan, and each gets a lot of attention on social media. Luckily, with limited exceptions, they’ve been largely ignored by the mainstream leftist outfits. So far.
Trump should stop weighing in on it, give all the oxygen to the Biden administration’s fire.
No one has forgotten that Donald Trump exists, nor will anyone. All sustained Trump statements will do at this point is temp the media into remembering how much they hate him, and he shouldn’t want his name anywhere near this mess. Nor should he want to give reporters actually doing their jobs any excuse to stop.
I know it’s not in his nature, but Donald Trump should let Biden have all the attention here; be splattered with all the mud. He made this mess, let him have it. There will be plenty of time for “I told you so” after.
By releasing a steady stream of statements, Trump runs the risk of changing the media coverage and reminding a large percentage of the voting public why they didn’t like him. Right now, they’re learning why they really shouldn’t like Joe Biden. Trump shouldn’t interrupt that class.
Even among Trump haters, he looks better each day by comparison thanks to Biden’s incompetence. I hope he gives people a chance to miss him. That, more than anything he could say right now, will serve him and the Republican Party better right now. Sometimes less really is more.
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