"President Trump and the MAGA movement are showing signs of moving in different directions. By no stretch of the imagination is Trump’s base deserting him. But nor are those voters willing to simply do his bidding." - Niall Stanage, The Hill, May 23, 2022
The focus has long shifted from the real or alleged perils presented by Donald Trump to how much power does he still have. The answer is two-fold: (1) He still has more power than his critics anticipated and (2) He is losing the ability to unilaterally control the MAGA movement.
That leaves progressives in an urgent state of coming up with strategies to create their own kinds of power. In that the Democratic Party seems to have defaulted to New York City Mayor Eric Adams. As Politico reported, he is the new messaging machine.
At the Democratic Congressional Committee he advocated applying his own motto: Get Stuff Done. Yes, take action. He also was bullish on storytelling. Part of that was forcing the GOP to come to terms with their own conflicting stories. Yes, they are for law and order but they back off from adequate funding of law enforcement.
The buzz is that Adams could put himself out there for US President in 2024. What operates against that is the escalating troubles in his own city. Violence is the dominant ethos. In addition, COVID has returned. Meanwhile, remote work has sent the commercial real estate industry reeling.
Trump has established almost a mystical force field for his points of view. Traditional politicos don't know how to neutralize it.
Connect with Editor-in-Chief Jane Genova at janegenova374@gmail.com.
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