But not about past retribution, nor future retribution, but the way that Trump is leveraging cultural cues about retribution, starting with the launch of his campaign from Waco, TX on the thirty year anniversary of the raid (connotations that were evident in advance). It is more urgent to understand why Trump’s mob buys into his messiah syndrome and puncture its power. Nor am I hoping NYT reverts from its prospective reporting on retribution to its past obsession with Trump supporters in diners. I’m asking for a focus on the continuity of retribution in Trump’s power — past, present, and future — along with some soul-searching about the media’s cooperation in that retribution dynamic. Yet Trump continues to convince people differently, in large part because the media plays along with Trump’s staged circus.

Source: Washington Post November 07, 2023 19:04 UTC