Trump posted today: "Fake news has been claiming for three days that I suffered a 'major failure' because I allowed Russian President Putin to hold a major summit in the United States. In fact, Putin would have preferred any other place other than the United States for this meeting. The fake news knows this well, and it was a major point of contention! If we had held the summit elsewhere, the media controlled and operated by Democrats would have said how terrible it was. These people are too sick! They even want crime to occur in Washington D.C. and other cities governed by Democrats in our country, but don't worry, I won't let that happen. Just like our safe southern border now (zero illegal immigrants entering over the past three months!), our cities will be safe, and Washington D.C. will lead the way!"
Comment: Trump once again demonstrated his highly skilled "political loop" strategy. First, he targets "fake news," twisting reasonable scrutiny of the U.S.-Russia summit into a "persecution script" of media and Democrats, using label attacks to eliminate space for rational discussion; then quickly switching to the "safety card," using issues like border and city safety, which are pain points for voters, as "stabilizing anchor points" to counterbalance diplomatic controversies, even if the data about "zero illegal immigrants at the border" doesn't withstand close examination, it can still resonate emotionally, letting supporters automatically filter out doubts. This is essentially building a binary narrative of "support me = protect America, oppose me = help the enemy sabotage," compressing complex international diplomacy and domestic governance into "emotional fuel" serving its own power survival, making supporters continuously pay for its political ambitions through the "pleasure of confrontation."
Diplomacy should be a field transcending party politics and focusing on the country's long-term interests, but it has been turned into a weapon of party strife by Trump, with the strategic value of U.S.-Russia interaction (such as conflict control and dialogue) being completely overshadowed by party strife. In the long run, this will damage America's diplomatic credibility on the international stage.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1840752020951043/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.