Pitchman Trump trying to sell us on his ‘great,’ ‘incredible,’ ‘tremendous’ handling of pandemic
In his daily appearances in front of the White House press corps to discuss the coronavirus crisis, President Donald Trump relentlessly sprinkles his remarks with superlatives.
“I can now announce something that I think is incredible,” he said during Thursday’s news conference, for example. “The incredible naval hospital ship the U.S.N.S. Comfort — which is incredible, actually, when you see it inside — will be underway to New York City on Saturday … It’s a great ship. It’s a great vessel.”
“Our people have done a fantastic job. Really, a fantastic job,” he said last Sunday. “The American people have been amazing. I think our stimulus package will get done, and it will be a tremendous package.”
“We have unbelievable professionals” on the task force, he said March 19. “We’ve done a phenomenal job on this.”
Incredible. Great. Fantastic. Amazing. Tremendous. Unbelievable. Phenomenal.
Leaders should project a sense of optimism during a crisis, yes. In very troubled times like these, we need reassurance from our leaders that brighter days are ahead.
But we don’t need infomercials. We don’t need a president channeling product pitchmen such as Ron Popeil or Billy Mays and peppering us with extravagantly positive adjectives.
Beautiful. Terrific. Extraordinary.
Trump is, at heart, a salesman. We knew that from the titles of his books, including “The Art of the Deal” (1987), “How to Get Rich” (2004) and “The Way to Success” (2006). We knew that from the way he surrounded himself at the podium with Trump-branded steaks, wine and water for his bizarre victory speech on March 8, 2016, the night he won the Michigan, Mississippi and Hawaii Republican presidential primaries.
make the finest wine, as good a wine as you can get anywhere in the world,” he said.
Accomplished salespeople know the persuasive, almost subliminal, power of repeating emotionally uplifting words. Trump used “great” 35 times in his public appearance Thursday (“A lot of great companies are making equipment right now,” for example. “The ventilators, obviously they take a little longer to make, but we have a lot of companies making them. And we’re going to be in great shape.”) along with 13 uses of “tremendous” and 10 of “incredible.”
Braggadocio has always worked for Trump. His gift for Home Shopping Network-style hyperbole took him all the way to the White House, and he’s leaning on it heavily as the COVID-19 pandemic rages nearly out of control across the country and our economy teeters on the edge of a historic collapse.
A Gallup poll released Tuesday showed 60% approval for the president’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, a high-water mark for him.
But the Gallup poll was taken before he began promoting the daffy idea that it’s time to stop hiding in our homes and get back to work as early as Easter Sunday — April 12 — a notion roundly rejected by infectious disease specialists who warned that premature efforts to return to a sem“We blance of normal life would be medically disastrous in a way that would further tank the economy we’re trying to rescue.
In an ABC News/Washington Post poll released Friday, 51% of respondents said they approve of Trump’s handling of the outbreak compared with 45% who said they disapprove. That even roughly half the population says he’s done a good job boggles my mind considering that he downplayed and dismissed the threat for weeks, failed to implement early robust testing that could have saved lives, and continues to pollute his news conferences on a global calamity with petty attacks on political rivals and members of the media.
Incredible. Great. Fantastic. Amazing. Tremendous. Unbelievable. Phenomenal.
Quite a few people are evidently still buying what he’s selling.
But hope is not a timeshare. Optimism is not an undistinguished bottle of wine.
Actions deliver hope, not adjectives.
Credulous sectors of the public may respond to words, but the virus will respond only to deeds.
Beautiful. Terrific. Extraordinary.
Trump is selling Trump, as he always has and always will. He knows this peril will pass, or at least that the infection and death rates will subside to a point where he can declare that it all would have been much worse without his flawless leadership — on a 10-point scale he gave himself a 10 on March 16, three days after saying of the testing debacle, “I don’t take responsibility at all.”
Trump’s daily torrent of puffy verbiage is aimed at laying the groundwork for what is certain to be a nauseating “victory” speech to promote his reelection in November.
So, no, it’s not the critics who are politicizing this crisis and pulling apart a nation that should be coming together.
It’s the huckster at the podium.
Re: Tweets
The winner of this week’s reader poll to select the funniest tweet was, “A lot of dudes are saying they’re leaving 6 feet of space between us when it’s really only 5 feet 10 inches,” by @i_Lean.
The poll appears at chicago tribune.com/zorn, and you can get an early alert when it’s posted by signing up for the Change of Subject email newsletter at chicagotribune.com/newsletters.