As a morning after thought, the brand managers for Trump’s companies have to in despair today. The public’s perception of Trump’s brand had already crossed the line from “what a rich person thinks of as a luxury brand” to “what a poor person thinks of as a luxury brand” before 2016. But today it has to be at “not quite as classy as the dollar store.”
The hamburger thing is Trump throwing a stick, knowing that the press and many Democrats can’t help but chase it. It is a meaningless event. Yet, with all the real shit going down right now, people are talking about hamburgers. It sucks up attention at a time when Trump needs that to happen.
Ignore the damn stick. You’re getting played (again).
You can tell the White House staff is furloughed because while they set out all the fast food on silver platters and serving bowls, nobody bothered to lay out a single tablecloth first to protect what are probably 100+ year old dining room tables. Also, real staff would have unpackaged the food and placed it into buffet services, with warmers for anything that should be served hot and ice under anything that should be served cold (like the salads).
To their credit, at least the people Trump put in charge of this tried to class it up with candles and china plates, and they made sure that more than one corporation was represented (looks like Wendy’s, McDonalds and KFC at least, possibly more) to avoid the impression of favoritism. I wouldn’t criticize whomever he ordered to do this for him, especially given the fact that they were probably told to do it at the last possible minute.
On the other hand, if Trump or anyone in his administration had an ounce of common sense, they would have seized on this opportunity to bring in one or more local D.C. restaurants to cater the event. Then not only would it have looked a lot classier, but more importantly Trump would have been seen as supporting local businesses that are likely being heavily impacted by the government shutdown, a huge positive optics opportunity. 100% guaranty that’s exactly what Obama would have done in a similar situation, and yes, including rolling up his sleeves and serving the food to the Clemson players and staff himself while talking and laughing the whole time.
Trump doesn’t care about optics though, or about the local businesses or anyone else suffering during the shutdown while he throws his tantrums about the wall. Hell, I’m surprised he didn’t order his guys to build a fucking wall out of all the fast food sandwiches just to troll Twitter…then again, he’s not that clever.
Technically the whole shebang is illegal. The Executive Office of the President is not funded and the only people who should be working are those who are deemed “essential personnel” whose duties are necessary for the security of the nation as a whole.
I’m grudgingly willing to admit that Trump and many of his advisors fall (somewhat laughingly) into this bin, but the people that are still working in the White House are supposed to be scrupulously working on ONLY those duties that fit that definition… and serving cheeseburgers to a winning football team absolutely does NOT.
Moreover, federal employees are forbidden from donating their time and certainly their own money to the furtherance of US Government operations – they must be paid or reimbursed, and the money to do so must come out of a budget. Those rules PROBABLY don’t apply to the POTUS, but they certainly apply to the guy in the suspenders and bow-tie lighting all the candles.
For that matter, the candles, the electricity for the lights and the power needed to heat that room are all non-essential. Everyone in the photo should be wearing full polar garb and holding flashlights.
What does this even mean? What’s the presumption about the attention, intelligence, and understanding regarding those who are pointing out that this was the result of heavy snow and a furloughed White House catering staff?
I think we’re all paying attention to more than one thing.
I do wish the media could help themselves from haring after every shiny object Trump tosses out, but they can’t.
I, for one, can point and laugh at a picture while simultaneously following the Mueller investigation bombshells and government shutdown news. Now, chewing gum at the same time? That I’m not so sure.
Media time and even attention are limited resources. Trump takes advantage of that by filling the time with bullshit, in particular bullshit that provokes his opponents somehow. It’s doubly to his benefit when it’s something his base appreciates.
Here, he gets to play the everyman (“He eats McD’s, just like us regular folks!”) while simultaneously provoking “the libs.” My twitter feed is filled with people remarking on how dumb/ offensive/ unhealthy it is to eat Big Macs off the white house silver.
It’s a variation of the same trick he’s always used – fill the media space with so much bullshit, it obscures the important stuff.
Don’t take it personally. I’m aware that all of us can hold multiple things in our attention at once. But this trick still works on much of the population and media, it’s a big part of why he’s President, and we should recognize it by now.
Yeah, this is why I generally don’t read trump tweets or any of this manufactured outrage garbage, when there is far more awful stuff to be worried about.
While I agree his behaviour has a distracting effect, I disagree that he has the intention that it be a distraction. I’m not certain he is capable of even that minimal level of strategic thought.
This man became POTUS after all. People should stop underestimating him all the time.
One thing I will say, vis a vis the suggestions his hotel cater the event as opposed to McD’s and Wendy’s? That would have gotten even more outrage.
Just think of all the self dealing, now imagine the perception that he is using government funds* to bolster his own private companies catering during the shutdown. ‘He’s using this as an opportunity to graft even more money!’
As ridiculous as this situation is, I think the perception would have been worse had he done what some suggested and use his own hotels to cater.
*we may know that is not really the case, it’s probably from the Trump Foundation or something, but you know damn well that many would have concluded this. Quite probably even TV commentators
You know, this was my attitude right after the election.
“Hmm, he may seem to be an idiot, but he did run a winning campaign and he did actually carry all the states that he said he was going to. Perhaps there’s more to him than his on-stage antics make it appear.”
But then came all of his ridiculously inept attempts to govern: the Muslim Ban, the leaky staff, the incompetent/corrupt cabinet members, the Comey stuff…
No, he’s a guy who failed at his first goal – not getting elected – and who has pretty much failed at everything since.
He was trying not to win. How hard can it be to lose an election? How incompetent do you have to be to fuck that up?
Probably more that a single outlet couldn’t fill the whole order.
Incompetent enough to have another country’s leader help you get elected and then look like you’re working for him… which maybe he is?
I agree that people should stop underestimating him and his cadre of criminal conspirators.
It’s not even true that he was actively trying to not get elected.
I don’t think they considered the possibility that he would be elected. Whether that’s actively trying to not be elected or not, I don’t know. But I think he and his inner circle expected to spin up a TV network, possibly with Breitbart, to snipe at a Hillary administration and rip on a concluded Obama one.
He really isn’t that clever. He’s a guy mashing buttons. And he keeps painting himself into corners from negotiation standpoints.