Over the past couple of days, numerous advisers both inside and outside the White House have urged the president to tone down his violent rhetoric, which many worry could escalate racial tensions and hurt him politically.
Behind the scenes: The biggest source of internal concern was Trump’s escalatory tweet, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Some advisers said it could damage him severely with independent voters and suburban women.
After not going to sleep until the early hours of Friday morning, President Trump woke to a string of conversations with advisers who told him he had a problem.
They aren’t appealing to any higher instincts. They are working to trick people for his campaign, and it’s a vertiginous effort.
“People close to the [troll], including several senior White House officials, have privately expressed concerns that his incendiary response to the Minneapolis riots will hurt him with two groups that could remove him from office in November: independents and suburban women. These are groups who already tell pollsters they don’t like Trump’s tone, even if they like some of his policies.
…"After walking back his looting/shooting tweet, [t]rump tripled down on this incendiary tone in a series of Saturday morning tweets, suggesting that protesters outside the White House would have been ‘greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons’ if they breached the fence.
…”[t]rump added: ‘Tonight, I understand, is MAGA NIGHT AT THE WHITE HOUSE???’ — a tweet that seemed to encourage a clash between his supporters and the predominantly African American protesters outside the White House.“
Later, they must have refreshed trump’s understanding of a post-election type of bunker not guarded by Secret Service, called a “cell,” and got him to render this soundbite:
“'I understand the pain that people are feeling. We support the right of peaceful protestors, and we hear their pleas.’”
A robotic dog could fetch this sentiment more effectively.
“Nobody who knows [t]rump would pretend the tone of these scripted remarks is sustainable on a daily or even hourly basis.”