"He eggs on his followers and appalls his opponents. Each responds, further alienating the other."
Pretty much nails #45's modus operandi.
https://www.google.com/amp/www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-strategy-20170926-story,amp.html
Back into the Trump vortex America goes, where the president fuels a divisive debate
Los Angeles Times
September 26, 2017
Kathleen Decker
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President Trump’s continued stoking of debate over football players kneeling during the national anthem — and the way the subject has dominated public discussion — raised anew the question that surrounds many Trump controversies: Is this part of a plan? Does he believe he gains political advantage from playing off national divisions on topics as fraught as race relations and patriotism? Or does the resulting chaos deliver personal satisfaction to a president who often appears bored with the more humdrum aspects of his post?
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A steadily lengthening list of aspects of American life —entertainment awards shows, sports, the theater — are caught in the spin of Trump, apolitical ventures suddenly made political by the intercession of the commander in chief. Opinions on topics as disconnected from politics as the quality of Meryl Streep’s acting have been swept up in the partisan divide.
Trump has benefited from growing polarization in America; his most ardent fans love him in large part for the enemies they share. But he also has fueled the move to the poles.
His actions in the case of the NFL players offered a textbook example of how the 45th president operates.
He raises an occurrence that may be in the news, or, as in this case, one that already had mostly faded from view. He eggs on his followers and appalls his opponents. Each responds, further alienating the other. He often plays on race— as was the case Friday, when he judged a few black players in pungent terms before an almost all-white audience in Alabama, a state where ghosts of civil rights battles still reside. And he never, ever admits miscalculation.
Trump’s highest-profile fights have served to fuel the cultural divide that pits his most fervent supporters, white men and rural residents, against what he describes as “elites.”
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= new reply since forum marked as read
