At this point in the game I hope of all us in the media are on to exactly what Donald Trump uses his Twitter account for. While it’s the responsibility of the media to check all the unsubstantiated claims that Donald Trump makes on a daily basis, that’s exactly what he’s intending to do: make you go on a wild goose chase while more absurd policies are being written and another huge announcement is about to be made.
You can all but guarantee these absurd tweets about Obama and Schwarzenegger are intended for one reason and one reason only: Deflection. By making a complete spectacle of himself it takes considerably more attention away from the corruption we’re seeing and the real investigations that need to take place.
As the media we must stay focused on one thing: the administration, it’s policies, and whether or not they are abiding by the law. Send Billy the 20 year old intern out to fact check Trump’s wiretapping quotes. But don’t lose site of what we’re supposed to be doing. Checking higher level stuff. Stay on Jeff Sessions. Stay on Russian ties. Do NOT get caught up in Arnold Schwarzenegger leaving The Apprentice.
This is exactly what the President wants. This is exactly what his Twitter account is for. I’m willing to bet a huge policy announcement is forthcoming after this ridiculous tweeting tirade. Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump himself weren’t even doing the tweets. I think a handful are his but he probably has a whole staff assigned to particular motives on Twitter. One person does the deflection tweets. Another does a “let’s make something up” tweets. Someone else is assigned to “personal attack” tweets. Then there’s the “media bashing” tweets. Remember folks. This is all deliberate and is by design. Don’t fall for it. Don’t let this guy take us off the obvious trail that we’re on. Stay on the path.
And right on queue!
The White House budget director confirmed Saturday that the Trump administration will propose “fairly dramatic reductions” in the U.S. foreign aid budget later this month.
Reuters and other news outlets reported earlier this week that the administration plans to propose to Congress cuts in the budgets for the U.S. State Department and Agency for International Development by about one third.
“We are going to propose to reduce foreign aid and we are going to propose to spend that money here,” White House Office of Management Budget director Mick Mulvaney told Fox News on Saturday, adding the proposed cuts would include “fairly dramatic reductions in foreign aid.”
Mulvaney said the cuts in foreign aid would help the administration fund a proposed $54 billion expansion of the U.S. military budget.
“The overriding message is fairly straightforward: less money spent overseas means more money spent here,” said Mulvaney, a former South Carolina Representative.
The United States spends just over $50 billion annually on the State Department and USAID, compared with $600 billion or more each year on the Pentagon.
