One of my favorite editing stories from my time at the New York Post concerned, of course, headline-writing. In 2017, Rich Lowry wrote a typically smart column about how there was no way for non-Trumpy GOP candidates to escape the pull of the POTUS during early elections in his first term—he was too polarizing and far too media-dominant a figure.
It wasn’t exactly a glowing column about Trump personally; mostly it was about him dragging down otherwise-electable moderate Republicans. The print headline I put on it was “There Is Only Trump,” and the subheading was “Both the GOP & the Resistance must adjust to unignorable prez.”
Well, Trump loved the headline and didn’t appear to read much past it. He cut out the article from the print Post and wrote “RICH- SO TRUE” in marker and then signed his name and mailed it off to Rich. Lowry posted the clip on Twitter and one CNN writer was so amused he went paragraph by paragraph trying to see what Trump could possibly have liked about the column itself.
I think about this story a lot because so much of our politics comes down to that headline: There is only Trump. And that is what some world leaders, top U.S. White House officials, and a few of Trump’s more loyal MAGA followers are learning the hard way as they watch the president (so far) refuse to back down to the Islamic Republic of Iran.
“Tulsi Gabbard testified in March that the intelligence community said Iran wasn’t building a nuclear weapon,” a reporter said to Trump yesterday while asking him how close he believed the Iranians were to attaining nuclear capability.
“I don’t care what she said,” Trump responded about his own handpicked director of national intelligence, “I think they were very close to having one.”
The regime was, indeed, quite close—by some estimates a week away should they have decided to cross the threshold, and that was the position of U.S. CENTCOM leaders as well. Gabbard was given the DNI job because Trump wanted someone who would cast a critical eye on the infamously politicized intelligence community when they tried to manipulate reports in order to influence policy. Gabbard ended up “going native,” as they say: becoming an extension of the people who work for her. She then put out a weird video warning of Armageddon, using footage from a documentary criticizing the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima. Gabbard seems to have projected her own dovishness onto the president, setting herself up for disappointment.
She’s far from the only one. Trump’s non-ideological political character has defined American politics for nearly 10 years now, so it’s surprising that anybody would still be surprised by it. But that appears to be what has happened to the segment of the MAGA-nationalist crew led by Tucker Carlson.
The former Fox host took to his newsletter a few days ago to continue pushing Jew-baiting conspiracy theories in the hopes that Trump could be fooled by Qatari-style propaganda into letting Iran have nukes. Iranian retaliation on Israel, Carlson wrote, “would inevitably lead to Benjamin Netanyahu ordering the American military to step in and fight on his country’s behalf.” Even for Carlson, the desperation was palpable.
Tucker then went on Steve Bannon’s popular MAGA podcast and warned Trump’s support for Israel could bring about “the end of American empire” and “it’s also going to end, I believe, Trump’s presidency.” Carlson’s main point throughout these broadsides has been that helping Israel stop Iran from attaining a nuclear bomb is not what “America First” represents.
In response, Trump told Michael Scherer: “Well, considering that I’m the one that developed ‘America First,’ and considering that the term wasn’t used until I came along, I think I’m the one that decides that.” As Carlson’s apocalyptic warnings became ever more hysterical, Trump said: “I don’t know what Tucker Carlson is saying. Let him go get a television network and say it so that people listen.”
Monday evening the president posted on his social media app: “AMERICA FIRST means many GREAT things, including the fact that, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!” And, finally, the president performed his signature move: the nickname assignment: “Somebody please explain to kooky Tucker Carlson that, “IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!”
The rest of the right-wing Manosphere followed Carlson into the bunker, a parade of podcasting bros declaring Trump a traitor to the cause of America First.
Who did they think was in charge of the Trumpist movement, exactly, if not Trump? A league of second-rate Alex Jones shapeshifters?
Lastly, it should go without saying that if Trump isn’t going to be swayed by his own appointees or his erstwhile loyalists, he won’t be led astray by the president of France. Last night, the president left the meeting of the G7 countries early to hold a meeting back in DC with his top defense officials. There was some speculation this meant the president was considering sending American bombers to finish off Iran’s nuclear program, perhaps by striking the fortified plant at Fordow.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who has been on an anti-Israel blitz in the international arena, piped up to say that Trump went back early because there is a cease-fire deal on the table. Trump was unamused: “Publicity seeking President Emmanuel Macron, of France, mistakenly said that I left the G7 Summit, in Canada, to go back to D.C. to work on a ‘cease fire’ between Israel and Iran. Wrong! He has no idea why I am now on my way to Washington, but it certainly has nothing to do with a Cease Fire. Much bigger than that. Whether purposely or not, Emmanuel always gets it wrong.”
As the president of the U.S., Trump is the de facto leader of the free world. But he’s not looking to lead a knights-of-the-round-table crew. When he wants Macron’s opinion, he’ll give it to him.
Trump sits at the helm of a coalition of one, in every case and context. It has been this way for a decade. There is plenty to dislike about the chaotic and ego-driven policymaking that often follows from this approach. But there is no excuse to still be surprised by it.
