Trump's Twitter Speech: Lots of Talking Points, No Content

President Donald Trump is nothing if not a master at spreading conspiracy theories on social media. A couple days ago, he gave a nearly breathless 30-second speech on Twitter. In classic Trump style, he dealt with the impeachment inquiry not by answering the accusations against him but by lashing out at the Democrats. The Democrats’ position is that a recent whistleblower complaint, closely corroborated by what is called a rough (but official) transcript of a phone call that Trump had with Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelensky. During that call, Trump repeatedly asked Zelensky to investigate Hunter Biden, the son of his likely 2020 election opponent, Joseph Biden. In this speech, Trump tried to shift attention away from his own conduct and toward what he claimed to be his administration’s positive accomplishments. Magicians call this misdirection. It works for magicians, and it is working for Trump, at least a little bit.

Here’s my transcript of Trump’s short Twitter speech: 

“What's going on now is the single greatest scam in the history of American politics. The Democrats want to take away your guns; they want to take away your healthcare: they want to take away your vote: they want to take away your freedom; they want to take away your judges; they want to take away everything. We can never let this happen. We’re fighting to drain the swamp and that's exactly what I'm doing and you see why we have to do it, because our country is at stake like never before. It's all very simple:  they’re trying to stop me because I'm fighting for you and I'll never let that happen.” 

That’s it. That’s the whole thing. 

Let’s start with what the speech does not say. (Often, what we don’t say is more important than what we do say.) 

What Did Trump’s Twitter Speech Not Do?

Trump’s speech did not deny that he asked President Zelensky for help investigating Biden. The speech did not explain why he asked Zelensky to investigate Biden alone, as opposed to the piles of white-collar criminals who infest his country. This speech did not justify asking a foreign power to intervene in the upcoming presidential election. In fact, Trump’s speech offered no defense whatsoever, except in the sense that the best defense is a good offense.

Well, Then, What Did Trump’s Twitter Speech Do? 

What did Trump do in this speech? First, he shifted the argument away from him and toward his critics. The Democrats, according to Trump, are not engaged in their constitutional function of conducting an impeachment inquiry; they are conducting “the single greatest scam in the history of American politics.” One might expect Trump to give proof that it was a scam. Or he might offer evidence and reasons that the charges against him are wrong. But he said nothing of the kind! He just called the investigation a scam.

Second, Trump brought up standard Republican talking points: “Democrats want to take away your guns.” Democrats “want to take away your freedom.” Democrats “want to take away your judges.” But the impeachment inquiry is not about judges already appointed, is it? Instead, Trump presumably meant Democrats were trying to stop the appointment of more conservative judges. What freedoms did the Democrats threaten to take away? Trump didn’t say, did he? 

Third, Trump went back to his campaign promise to “drain the swamp.” Draining the swamp suggests that he was ending corruption. Is the swamp a conspiracy theory? Or was Trump ending real corruption? His speech didn’t give any details either way, did it? 

Fourth, what about taking away our healthcare? Expanding healthcare coverage is a traditional Democratic policy point and Republicans have yet to propose an alternative to the Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act. Other than making a wild accusation, what did Trump have to offer about healthcare?

Fifth, Trump raised the ante: “our country is at stake like never before.” He didn’t say that our system of checks and balances was at risk, instead, he meant that his removal would become the swamp’s revenge on him. The fight to remove him became, in this speech, a vast conspiracy: “they’re trying to stop me because I'm fighting for you and I'll never let that happen.” 

But Trump Packed the Speech with Talking Points

Trump only spoke for 30 seconds. Could he give any details in only 30 seconds? Of course not, but he could repeat standard Republican talking points. And, in only 30 seconds, he spewed out many, many talking points. Furthermore, by giving the speech, he could emphasize a set of talking points that his supporters could repeat whenever they got the chance. As his party’s leader, he used the speech to set a tone for his defense. Never overestimate the power of logic! Trump certainly does not.

So, this speech presented an amazing number of ideas combined with feeble content. How much content could Trump give in 30 seconds? Not much. But that leads us to wonder about American political discourse, which is increasingly broken down into short soundbites, devoid of reason and content. I’ll blog about that later.

P.S.: I’ve blogged about how politicians rely on talking points, which they parrot mindlessly even though they don’t understand a word of what’s coming out of their own mouths. I call this “talking points disease.” Trump’s Twitter speech may be the ultimate example.