I do think its amazing that there's supposedly a bunch of actual elected Democrats who (of course anonymously) think the President won this whole racism row. It's as cynical of a take I heard in a while from a group of people that is supposed to help protect the integrity of the institution. But I suppose I shouldn't be that surprised.
I think the initial idea was kind of intelligent. Or at least not entirely dumb.
If I was trying to play 4D chess as Trump, I would realize:
1) my best shot is if the Democrats are divided in 2020
2) I’m a great catalyst for that because they don’t like me
So, any opportunity where Trump can create an impression where Dem leadership is siding with HIM instead of the progressive wing is probably a net positive for him as it creates that democratic disunity, and maybe he can suppress votes in a “voting for “centrist guy” is basically the same thing as voting for Trump.
In that sense, I think his “I agree with Nancy, she’s doing a great job, blah blah” comment was sort of not a bad idea. It puts dem leadership in the awkward spot of defending the position they have put themselves in of “we want to work with the President 95% of our base hates”.
But you know it wasn’t 4d chess because he stepped on his own dick later that same day and fucked up his own message with his racist tirade. I expect his approval ratings to actually go down after this.
