Trump’s Wile E. Coyote Campaign
/By Don Varyu
Apr 2024
n the old Roadrunner cartoons, antagonist Wile E. Coyote would forever obsess on catching the speedy roadrunner…only to fail, time and again. Most often, Wile E would scream across the desert…accelerating so insanely fast that he wouldn’t notice that he’d run right off the edge of a cliff. Inevitably, he would then plummet a thousand feet to a canyon floor.
But before he did, there was always a second or two when he would stop in mid-air, suddenly realizing he was toast. He might still be pedaling madly, or resignedly look into the camera; there was always that moment.
And it is exactly this brief, fleeting realization of impending doom that Donald Trump is making the centerpiece of his campaign. He wants you to know that we Americans have raced off a cliff, headed to oblivion—but he’s there to prevent that.
Or consider it this way. If you approach what looks like a dangerous crowd, you get anxious. If you walk right into that crowd, your brain shifts into fear mode. And if things start to get really violent all around you, you start looking for a way out. In desperation, you will grasp any helping hand.
And Trump promises only he is that hand. Beyond angst and fear, there he’ll be…the balm for your desperation. Don’t ask for details—he has none. No programs or proposals. Just trust him--just trust. That’s his whole strategy.
ut can you really count on him? You certainly remember him descending the golden escalator from high atop Trump Tower to announce his candidacy in 2015. These are among the promises he made that day:
“I will stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons.” Instead, he backed out of the Iran treaty brokered by his predecessor, Barack Obama. That treaty had put weapon safeguards in place. But since Trump blew things up, the Iranians have been enriching uranium and building centrifuges. They are getting closer to weaponization every day—if not there already.
“We are becoming a third world country because of our infrastructure…rebuild the infrastructure!” He promised “infrastructure week” almost too many weeks to count. But he did nothing. Joe Biden did—with bipartisan support.
“Obamacare is going to be amazingly destructive. We have to repeal Obamacare and replace it with something better for everybody.” He didn’t replace it. Instead, the amazing thing about Obamacare is how popular it’s become.
“I will be the greatest jobs creator that God ever created.” He wasn’t. Granted, the pandemic hindered his job growth record. Nonetheless, Trump added 4.4% in job numbers, compared to 10% for Biden. In fact, Biden’s job growth is faster than any of his four predecessors.
“I will build a great, great wall on our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall.” No, he didn’t, and no, they didn’t.
But the immigration threat beyond his non-existent wall remains the issue he clings to most dearly. His key message has been the relentless attempt to tie the flow of immigrants to crime…. because that induces fear.
But once again, statistics undermine his boasts:
Nationally, violent crime remained flat under Trump. Under Biden, things aren’t getting worse, they’re getting better. (Down 4% during Biden’s first two years, according to the most recent data from the FBI.)
From the start of Biden’s term through 2023, murders nationally were down 22%.
Trump might discuss murder from the standpoint of what type of weapon is used (90%+ firearms). But that would lead to conversations he doesn’t want to have--about gun control.
So instead, he focuses on migrants—people who are non-white and poor, two types of “vermin” he would decidedly not want at Mar-a-Lago. (Except, that is, for the undocumented workers he’s used to tend to his properties.)
On the night he eliminated Nikki Haley from the Republican nomination, he said, “Our cities are being overrun with migrant crime, and that’s Biden migrant crime.”
But are those undocumented immigrants really more dangerous? In a word, no.
Repeated studies have shown there to be significantly fewer migrants involved in any type of crime compared to typical Americans. This makes sense, since any interaction with police could lead to deportation for the undocumented. Crime avoidance is key to their survival. The bottom line is this: since 1948, eight percent of adult Americans have had a felony conviction. For undocumented aliens, that number is three percent.
Queston: what’s the most common crime committed by those immigrants? It’s identity theft. Because without a Social Security number, they can’t get a legal job or bank account.
he key to combatting Trump’s apocalyptic strategy is simple: rely on these facts. That means explaining what Democrats in D.C. have done for the last four years…and comparing that to the hollow Trump promises-- both the ones in the past, and the ones he’s making now.
I wonder how many people—including political reporters—know all these facts. Collectively, those facts build a story that defines Trump. Are reporters willing to tell that story?
o conclude where we started, Donald Trump wants you to see America as Wile E. Coyote, momentarily suspended in mid-air, about to plunge to a national death. And in desperation, he wants you to believe that grabbing him is the only alternative. As he’s been saying the same thing for years: “only I can fix it.”
But it’s far more accurate to say that if you simply looked down below your feet, you’d find America firmly standing on remarkably solid ground. Talking about facts proves that conclusively.
But Donald Trump knows telling truths is never going to get him elected. So, bring on the bluster and B.S.
After all…can you really risk us ending up like this?
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