At the beginning of this week, a concerted effort by America’s media cartel promoted the idea of President Donald J. Trump as an authoritarian dictator champing at the bit to get his hands on power, explicitly in pursuit of dictatorship.

Laughable on the face of it – especially given that most Americans remember Trump’s first few years both fondly and with retrospective relief – the moment marked an openly collusive effort across corporate media. A cross-platform, multi-network, varied-medium attack designed neither to “report” nor “analyze”, but to smear and spread fear. It was also a brazen attempt at election interference by outlets that are in no small part owned by, or invested in from, foreign countries.

Up against this avalanche of animosity, Trump took to a town hall with Sean Hannity. On the morning of his appearance, the New York Times front page screamed, “Second Term Could Unleash Darker Trump.” USA Today led with a warning from Liz Cheney, of all people. CNN’s homepage carried an “analysis” entitled: “Trump shows how US constitutional premise may be on the line.” The Atlantic magazine went less rapid fire and more rapid fire, with the following articles being published this week alone:

• A Warning: America survived the first Trump term, though not without sustaining serious damage. A second term, if there is one, will be much worse;
• How Trump Gets Away With It: If reelected, he could use the powers of the presidency to evade justice and punish his enemies;
• The Danger Ahead: If Donald Trump returns to the White House, he’d bring a better understanding of the system’s vulnerabilities, more willing enablers, and a more focused agenda of retaliation against his adversaries;
• Corruption Unbound: Donald Trump and his cronies left his first administration with a playbook for self-enrichment in a second term;
• Trump Isn’t Bluffing: We’ve become inured to his rhetoric, but his message has grown darker;
• Trump’s Plan to Police Gender: His campaign is promising a more repressive and dangerous America;
• A Military Loyal to Trump: In 2020, the armed forces were a bulwark against Donald Trump’s antidemocratic designs. Changing that would be a high priority in a second term;
• What Will Happen to the American Psyche if Trump is Re-Elected: Our bodies are not designed to handle chronic stress.

Again, that was just this week. Business is booming in Never Trump world. Which scarcely happens speculatively.

No, the corporate bosses are spooked. The advertisers are ploughing cash in, mostly fearing mass migration reform and an end to America’s uncompetitive subsidies under a second Trump term. Believe me, The minutes of the Coca Cola Company’s board meetings are scarcely replete with mentions of “our democracy” and the post-war “rules based order”. This is about their bottom lines.

Which is why, when Trump was asked about these scare-inducing headlines during his town hall with Hannity, he responded the way he did. It was, frankly, a masterclass in communications. A moment that should be taught in all and every comms course, and which those who aspire to politics should be forced to study.

“Do you in any way have any plans whatsoever, if re-elected President, to abuse power? To break the law? To use the government to go after people?” quizzed Hannity, eliciting one of Trump’s best responses, I think ever. And it has three critical components. All stuffed into just 60 seconds.

You Mean Like They’re Using?

This was the first response Trump offered. Throwing the charge back a the political establishment, and bringing to minds of the audience the variegated ways in which both the Obama and Biden regimes have weaponized the federal government against their political opponents. In just five words, memories of Russiagate, FISA abuse, Jan 6, IRS targeting, discrimination against Christians and conservatives, and the current Trump legal cases all spring to mind. Within a second, the issue is already on its head.

“In the history of our country, what has happened to us has never happened before,” Trump explained. And he’s right. Prior regimes who have wanted to snoop on and intimidate their own people in the past have had nowhere near the technological prowess to do so as the U.S. government. They push those boundaries ever day, while breaking ground in literally locking up political opponents.

But Trump didn’t “reject the premise,” per se. He just redefined it.

Only On Day One.

Hannity came back to the issue, seemingly unsatisfied with Trump’s response.

“Under no circumstances, you are promising America tonight. You would never abuse power as retribution against anybody.”

Trump’s already infamous response? “Except for day one… look, he’s going crazy,” he pointed at Hannity, who begged, “Meaning?”

And here’s where it gets clever. Because it’s easy for someone like Trump to point his finger back in the other direction. But to redefine the subject of the conversation without accepting it was anything other than that is remarkable. Shifting the entire tone of that conversation is damn near impossible. He does both in under a minute.

“I want to close border, and I want to drill, drill, drill.”

To the untrained eye, this is a form of obfuscation. Hannity himself failed to understand the response. “That’s not retribution,” he pleaded. Except it is. Trump doesn’t see the ultimate enemies as individuals, whether its Chris Wray, Jim Acosta, Chuck Schumer, or even Rosie O’Donnell. Those are just the agents of America’s enemies. The enemies themselves are the multinational corporations and what they stand for. That’s why closing the border and drilling for energy independence is retribution, in Trump’s mind.

He’s going to the source of the problem. The head of the snake. To turn off the spigot that enriches and empowers the political left. Not simply to spar with its agents as political theater.

‘Hahaha’.

By the end of the segment, the mood was up, not down beat. The tone was jovial, no longer sombre. The warrior was happy, not mad. At in one fell swoops, thousands of lines of text, dozens of headlines, hours of television and radio minutes, and days of “brainstorming” at editorial meetings were turned on their head.

The idea that Trump could become a dictator? A joke. “Only on day one,” he said again. Just like his so-called “attacks on women” were limited, pre-2016, to “only Rosie O’Donnell”. And how quickly Rosie turned into the butt of the joke back then? How fast Trump turned the “our democracy” attacks on his army of assailants.

That one moment alone, on Tuesday, was worth more than the entire GOP debate the next day. Frankly, it was worth more than all of them put together. And if you think the political right has a better communicator that Donald Trump, you’re kidding yourself. The hard fact is you probably won’t ever see his like again in your entire life.

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