Art of Distraction covers a firefight in the White House
When President Donald Trump said a few days ago that now isn’t the time for a debate about gun control, presumably he meant that we should respect a decent interval for mourning after the Las Vegas shooting before launching into a political discussion that historically has led nowhere.
More likely, Trump doesn’t want any distraction from (a) his brilliant PR idea to toss papertowel rolls to thirsty, hurricane-sogged Puerto Ricans (cake to follow); (b) his photo op last Thursday evening with leaders of the armed forces and their spouses during which he teased the “fake news” media he had summoned that the dinner gathering with military brass could be “the calm before the storm.”
“What storm, Mr. President?” an intrepid reporter queried.
“You’ll find out.”
Whoa. Mr. Mystery Man has our attention now. Oh, so clever. Are we going to war? Just you wait, fake newsies, just you wait.
Or perhaps he wants to keep the spotlight on (c) his request that the Senate Intelligence Committee investigate the media, without which his military charade would have merely been the world’s widest-angle selfie.
No, actually, his absurd (unconstitutional) request was, likely, a smokescreen itself, as was the papertowel toss, one hopes (surely no one’s mind is that inert), and the photo op. Trump has mastered the Art of Distraction, lately to keep our eyes off the firefight within the White House.
The revolving door at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is like Saks at Christmastime. Next up, most likely, is Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, not only because the president routinely undermines and contradicts the nation’s top diplomat but also because Tillerson clearly holds Trump in contempt.
Trump reportedly was furious upon returning from his “diplomatic coup” in Puerto Rico, only to see the face of his secretary of state on all his favorite TV channels.
According to NBC News, Tillerson had said the president is a “moron.” But this slight likely bothered Trump less than the fact that Tillerson’s face, and not his, was on all the cable shows.
The very last thing Trump needs right now is a political shootout over guns. Now’s not the time, he says. Apparently, however, many if not most Americans — about 90 percent of whom would support expanding background checks — beg to differ. If not now, when?
The pessimist notes that if the murder of
20 6- and 7-year-olds at Sandy Hook Elementary School resulted in no sensible restrictions, then the slaughter of 58 country music fans isn’t likely to, either. But wait, we have a headline: Even the National Rifle Association has called for regulating (not banning or confiscating) “bump stocks” — the attachment used by the Las Vegas shooter to essentially convert a semi-automatic into an automatic weapon. And Republicans are expressing a willingness to consider restrictions.
You’d think by the reactions — this is really, really huge editorialists have clamored — that the NRA decided to support a ban on semi-automatic weapons. But, no. Like Coco Chanel, who always removed one bauble before leaving home, the NRA is offering to eliminate one accessory from a warehouse of gaudy, bloodletting fashions.
Talk about distractions. Or was this the artifice of a deal?