Two things:
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This is another “considers” story from the WH, something they have loved to do since the day they stepped in. They float notions to move the press more than any WH I have known in my life.
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I suspect the reason they are floating this, is they aren’t reading the latest polls in the same way Josh is (neither am I). In fact, my guess is Hope Hicks and co. are scared to death about what his posturing about DACA is doing to his base.
Hurricanes come and go. And while I guess its a major accomplishment that Trump didn’t say “Only losers live in Houston and Florida. F__k them!”, its not something that is going to build a floor or cause a major rebound in his numbers. Healthcare is once again taking center stage, and each time it gets more disastrous from a PR perspective. And the revelations dropping about the Russian investigations are becoming seriously more damaging with each round.
If things were hunky dory, I doubt we would see Ivanka making her baseless claim to having suffered PPD, for instance. They are preemptively trying to build up sympathy, because things are about to get a lot worse.
Don’t forget Trump’s primary domestic policy: re-tweeting anti-Hillary GIFs created by bots and anti-Semites from the golf course. But the ROI for tweets is collapsing, and even the media are getting bored of covering them.
That’s a very good point, one I have been noticing in the background for a while now.
That may however, not be a good development. If Trump perceives that the public isn’t being wowed by his tweets anymore, he will find another avenue for outraging people.