Trump fans love the fact that he “tells it like it is.” In fact, the President built his populist movement on an unfiltered, jargon-free approach to politics. Since the begining, Trump has denounced political correctness. At times, the words (and tweets) Trump unleashes on the world are farcical, disturbing, insulting and offensive.
Of course, Trump isn’t really telling it like it is. He’s telling it how his right-wing fans and nationalist supporters want to hear it. Trump panders in personal obliviousness, historical insensitivity and stereotyping. The President also traffics in conspiracy theories, propaganda and lies, Deep State tactics favored by dictators and totalitarian regimes.
It comes as no surprise that the same Trump supporters and apologists who love the President for “telling it like it is” are attacking the media for taking Trump too literally. Trump supporters want to have their cake and eat it too.
The irony, of course, is how does someone who tells it like it is tell it too literally? How are the American people supposed to take it when President Trump accuses the Obama Administration of wiretapping Trump Tower, a claim that was later debunked? Trump supporters praise the fact that he “tells it like it is.” But what happens when what he says isn’t true?