Betwixt Trump’s Weave, Pelosi’s Wrap-up Smear and the Polls…
Aside from manning the French fry station at McDonald’s, what can we make of the closing days of Trump’s 2024 campaign?
October 25, 2024–Trump has dropped another one of his secrets. First, he was revealing his love of music by showing his softer side in his Oaks, PA town hall where he hit the brakes on the Q+A (for a perfectly good reason) and then asked his audio guy to ‘turn up the music’ which if you’re paying attention we covered last week. (Here.)
Now Trump is letting us in on his storytelling secrets as he makes the rounds with popular podcasters who – to mainstream news consumers might seem more like off-off-off Broadway shows only these podcasters get millions of listeners while an off-off-off Broadway production – is given kudos if it is staged in a church basement somewhere.
Trump has probably reached over 50 million podcast viewers in the last few weeks because of this push to reach a key voter – that of the 18-24 year-old Gen Z male.
It’s Called The Weave
And, no this is not a secret about his famous poufy gold hair.
He talked about the technique with Andrew Schulz, a stand-up comedian and host of the podcast, Flagrant last week. It aired October 9 and earned 5.7 million views. Trump had Schulz and his fellow buddies on the show in stitches when he described The Weave storytelling technique to them:
“You weave topics together, you need an extraordinary memory, and I go to faraway places and then come back to exactly where I started.”
Listen at 28:22. He talks about how he did it at a rally the other day. “I mentioned Air Force One and I went off…” “You have to worry when you can’t come back. Let’s weave back to his (Schulz’s) question [about Iran’s plot to assassinate him].” See full video below.
You’ve probably also heard he is doing his first ever interview with Joe Rogan of Joe Rogan’s Podcast Experience tonight. With 17.5 million subscribers, Rogan is the number one YouTube podcaster.
Tomorrow Trump is holding a massive rally at Madison Square Garden which seats 20,000 and we’ve heard there has been 80,000 RSVPs in New York City. It will be historic since no other political figure has held a campaign event like it at the famous Madison Square Garden. Unbelievably, it will be his third campaign rally of the day. We just hope he has maximum security…
The Flagrant appearance is one of a growing list of so-called ‘Trump’s bro podcast tour’ during the closing days of this campaign. According to his campaign, Trump has eschewed interviews with traditional outlets like “60 Minutes” and supplemented his schedule with podcast interviews.
We’ve heard his son Barron, who seems to be in the know about what Gen Z’ers are watching these days has been making these suggestions, if not setting up these events himself. Barron, you might recall, put his father in touch with Adin Ross a 23-year-old gazillionaire, top Tik-Tok and YouTube digital creator, and friend of Barron’s.
We must thank Forbes for providing a full run-down of this phenomenon in its article, “Here are the biggest moments from Trump’s bro podcast tour ahead of Joe Rogan appearance.” Forbes also covers viewership and polling stats for these Trump appearances.
From the article:
“20%. That’s the share of likely voters who say they have watched one of the Trump podcast episodes, according to figures from a Suffolk University/USA Today poll released Oct. 23. Another notable polling figure: More than half of voters said Trump’s podcast interviews made them “more likely” or made “no difference” on their decision. In contrast, about 27% of voters said they have watched one of Harris’ appearances on podcasts. But for those who have watched, about 50% of all voters said it made them less likely to vote for her. Meanwhile, radio host Charlemagne The God — who hosted Harris for a conversation — said on his podcast “Brilliant Idiots” Schulz’s interview helped Trump’s chances of winning.”
In addition to Ross and Schulz, Trump met with wrestler Mark Calaway of Six Feet Under, Barstool Sports: Bussin’ with the Boys with Dave Portnoy, Theo Von (host and comedian), Lex Fridman (who also did an extensive interview with Ivanka Trump), The Nelk Brothers, Impaulsive with Logan Paul, and Patrick Bet-David, host of PBD (this is link to interview with Trump).
Click here for links and more background:
Because he has been talking about The Weave so much, the Mainscreams noticed and have gone right back to accusing him of rambling. The Guardian penned a few screeds about it — all by the same writer — telling us that Trump is merely ‘rebranding’ his rhetorical detours when maybe he is ‘really’ covering up cognitive issues.
From The Guardian’s article, “Trump rebrands his ramblings as ‘I do the weave’ – but is he just losing it?,” by Chris McGreal (September 7, 2024):
“I do the weave. You know what the weave is? I’ll talk about, like, nine different things that they all come back brilliantly together. And it’s like friends of mine that are like English professors, they say: ‘It’s the most brilliant thing I’ve ever seen,’” he told a bemused audience.
“But the fake news, you know what they say, ‘He rambled.’ It’s not rambling. What you do is you get off a subject to mention another little titbit, then you get back on to the subject, and you go through this and you do it for two hours, and you don’t even mispronounce one word.”
Here’s the link: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/sep/07/election-trump-speeches
McGreal, it seems, has made a specialty of writing TDS-ridden articles for The Guardian. See more here and here.
Even if you’re not actively listening to Trump at an event these days and have him on mute, you’ll recognize his hand gestures that accompany how he describes The Weave. He hand-draws large double S’s in the air. It looks like he’s swerving to avoid traffic on a curvy road but as he says he always comes back to where he started because he has a good memory.
With 24 more events unfolding between now and November 5, you will have ample opportunity to spot The Weave. Trump has not taken a day off from campaigning for 53 days and counting.
A Word from Polymarket
If we were to imitate The Weave, we might insert a note about the polls before we give away the ending of this story. For instance, here is current Polymarket betting odds:
See link in image (right) to Polymarket for more.
See I just did The Weave.
On the Other Hand: Some Know The Weave is Genius
Paul Ingrassia, a favorite Trump article writer and a big figure in New York’s Young Republican Club, wrote a piece about “The Weave” a few weeks ago, titled, “The Art of the Weave. From Demosthenes to Donald: How President Trump’s Rhetorical Innovation Places Him In Good Company Among Great Western Orators”.
He says it’s a brilliant technique and in the article he also notes that even English professors agree (which The New York Times reported on) and here’s why:
His innovations span well beyond simply making complex topics digestible for the masses. In a word, the Donald is a rhetorical craftsman. For example, it is also true that President Trump is an artful storyteller. He genuinely enjoys bewitching engaged listeners of anecdotes from his time as president – and life experience in general – invariably with his trademark humor and punchy touch.
The Weave is really the same thing any radio personality like a Sean Hannity or a Mark Levin does every day of the week. They’ll yammer on about a topic and mid-sentence switch to a ‘message from our sponsor’ with no warning. Their tone of voice remains exactly the same as they segue seamlessly from the topic to ‘get Doan’s Pills’ for your aching back. Next time you listen to a radio show host, you’ll notice it.
But before we wax enthusiastic about Trump’s rhetorical talents, let’s insert something poll-related.
There’s this to ponder from The New York Post reporting that even liberal-leaning pollster, Nate Silver, is saying he is seeing a Trump victory in November. Click the image for link to the article, “Famed polling guru Nate Silver’s gut says Donald Trump will win 2024 presidential election.”
Mainscreams Loathe It!
Trump doesn’t really miss a beat…and he’s knows it’s a beat!! Well, that’s his musicofilo side.
He sees the whole thing as a ‘design’ – as he said on Flagrant. The design or outline starts with a main topic, moves to a sub-topic, goes to an off-topic, then maybe tries out a joke or stumbles into something really off topic, and then he comes right back to where he left off like any pro.
Other than the fact that their hatred is now encoded in their DNA and that there are a lot of nepo babies at those rotten alphabet networks, why does it bother them sooooo much?
Paul Ingrassia offers this insight into Trump’s speechifying ability that shows why it rankles ‘the elites’:
“The weave” becomes an art, rather than mere rhetoric, because it is uniquely and recognizably a creation of Donald Trump’s (and no other politician) – much like how Luciano Pavarotti’s stirring arias were uniquely and recognizably his, too. In this respect, Donald Trump hearkens back to an older, more classical understanding of political rhetoric – the understanding that was not uncommon among the ancient Greeks and Romans.
Ahhhh, the musicofilo is more like say a Pavarotti improvising his arias, than a dull lawyerly type which makes up all of The Swamp.
Admittedly, if you’re taking notes on any of Trump public speaking events, things get a bit dicey. I’ve done it, but then I take notes like Trump talks.
Pelosi has Her Wrap-up Smear
What surprises me is that Nancy Pelosi employs a useful storytelling technique too. Only it’s not nearly as innocent as Trump’s and it’s never written about in screeds like that of The Guardian’s when they latched on to news of The Weave.
We’re not sure if she intended to spill the tea about how she (and her cohorts) launch a smear campaign on opponents, like Donald Trump, but she came clean in a taped talk she gave back in 2017 that we found on C-SPAN.
Before we share that, let’s tour that was reported by John Fredericks, on his show, Outside the Beltway, this week. His report includes early voting numbers in key states. Listen at 3:21 for interview with Georgia county chair, Brant Frost, Jr. (AJC is the Atlantic Journal Constitution.)
Trump is leading by 70,000 votes out of 4 million. That’s a 4 pt. lead, according to Brant. The surge for Republicans is unbelievable – the ‘swing from 2020 with Biden is about 8 points.’ His lead is in the 50% margin and outside the margin of error.
This nugget should quash jitters. More polling data is coming out hourly now.
Three Steps to Unleashing Fake News by Nancy Pelosi
But let’s get back to the very dastardly Wrap-up Smear, that former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi is so proud of. She tells us it takes three easy steps:
- First you smear or demonize someone with a falsehood.
- Then you ‘merchandise it’ in the media.
- Then once it’s reported by the media, the smear is validated.
Treat this link like gold. In case this media clip goes down the rabbit hole, bookmark it now. Listen at the open:
This is step one. The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg pens another hit piece using “Hitler” in the headline. Again, two weeks before the election, resorting to same Hitler tropes they’ve trotted out over and over again. “Trump: ‘I Need the Kind of Generals Hitler Had'” is linked below: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/10/trump-military-generals-hitler/680327
This is step two. Pelosi, pictured in front of an Atlantic magazine background, The Daily Wire writes up her latest contribution to the latest smears unleashed from leftist quarters two weeks before the election in “‘Like swearing: Pelosi says Trump’s name is a ‘grotesque word'” (October 16, 2024). See:
She is not alone in piling on. Tune in to any alphabet ‘news’ segment and you’ll hear some version of this non-stop.
This is step three. VP, Kamala Harris, appears on the steps of the Vice President residence, to tell reporters – in all seriousness – that Donald Trump is a real danger to democracy and he is in fact Hitler. The story is presumed true and it becomes part of recorded history.
Highlights at :22 – Harris opens that 4-star General John Kelly confirms that Donald Trump said that he wants generals not loyal to the Constitution but only loyal to him…He will tell them to break the law and so on…
At 1:04 She talks about Trump being to blame for calling certain factions ‘the enemy within’ – or ‘anyone who refuses to bend the knee to him’; she names judges, journalists, and election officials as examples…
At 1:44 Harris rebukes Trump for invoking the name of Adolph Hitler… .
C-SPAN full video here: https://www.c-span.org/video/?539466-1/vice-president-harris-reacts-john-kellys-comments-president-trump
Meanwhile, she has left the campaign trail for all intents and purposes and when she does make an appearance as she did on CNN this week, she gets widely panned. She also sounds drunk half the time.
Now I need a shower, but I digress
Time for one or two more forays into polling? Sure, why not. Turn up the music!
This is another in-depth on-air report from Mark Mitchell of Rasmussen Reports from October 22. As a preview to the segment, Fredericks, says it looks like Trump is going to win Penn State in Centre County, PA. If he does, it would be a huge upset win for Trump as that county always goes blue. Trump is doing a Penn State rally tomorrow.
First he says Trump is winning the popular vote by 3 points nationwide. “We’re seeing cracks in the Harris campaign…everyone in polling is starting to move back to the right.” USA Today moved 5 pts to the right. Emerson moved 5 pts to the right; we moved 9 points to the right. “We have Trump winning Pennsylvania – Atlas Intel and Trafalgar – all have Trump up three points in Pennsylvania.”
Full video but listen at 3:39: https://americasvoice.news/video/5RdzWUPcID0YseT/?related=playlist
Mitchell finishes the segment with digs at the pollsters who have had Trump lagging behind Biden, then Harris throughout the race. “They’re [pollsters] are still giving their viewers fog of war numbers.” “We dump on them – it’s hilarious and fun.”
Mitchell met with podcaster Stephen Gardner recently and told him – not sure if off-the-record or not – two things stand out to him in his polling: 1) Life has become unbearable to many people under Democrats; and 2) the country is becoming more conservative. Listen at open. Link here.
Maybe the headline says it all in this Newsmax article (by the AP) “More Republicans Vote Early, Helping Break Records; Over 17M Ballots So Far” published October 22 about tallies for early voting in key states. This excerpt illustrates:
With former President Donald Trump’s encouragement, Republicans are voting early again, flocking to the polls for in-person voting ahead of Election Day and helping push the national number above 17 million.
The early turnout is breaking records in swing states such as Georgia and North Carolina.
It is wrapped in snark but there is more data here.
My last pivot, John Kelley’s remarks have been discredited by former Trump aides who attended the same meeting he claims Trump made those ‘Hitler’ remarks.
RESOURCES
Paul Ingrassia’s Substack: “The Art of the Weave: From Demosthenes to Donald: How President Trump’s Rhetorical Innovation Places Him In Good Company Among Great Western Orators,” by Paul Ingrassia (October 11, 2024). Link: https://open.substack.com/pub/paulingrassia/p/the-art-of-the-weave?r=48heo1&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Forbes: “Here are the biggest moments from Trump’s bro podcast tour ahead of Joe Rogan appearance,” by Stephen Pastis (October 22-24, 2024). Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephenpastis/2024/10/22/here-are-the-biggest-moments-from-trumps-bro-podcast-tour-ahead-of-joe-rogan-appearance/
For a full list of Donald J. Trump campaign events between now and November 4th, go here: https://event.donaldjtrump.com/events/president-donald-j-trump-to-hold-a-rally-in-new-york-new-york
