Tweeting The Way Forward

The Democratic Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer, said today that “America cannot afford a Twitter President”. I cracked up. Man, is he in for a disappointment. The Donald has learned how to use Twitter to advance his goals and objectives. He’d be a fool to give it up, and while he is indeed many things, the DOTUS is far from a fool … case in point, the House Ethics rules.

It was revealed this morning that the Republicans in the House of Representatives had met in secret and voted to change the Ethics rules. When I heard that I said “Whaaa?” It was clearly a non-starter based on the optics alone. It might have been entirely justified, I don’t know either way, but everything else about how it was done looked horrible. And of course, the media jumped all over it saying “See! He promised to drain the swamp and they’re doing the opposite!”

So as soon as he heard about it, Trump composed a tweet with the hashtag #DTS for “Drain The Swamp”, viz:

In response, the Republicans reversed themselves and let the issue go.

Now I ask you … why would any sane man or woman give up Twitter when it can do that, when it lets Trump reach out, immediately and with a minimum of time and effort, to turn a whole bunch of folks on the wrong path around and then lead them in the direction he wants to go?

Anyhow, here’s my point, which has nothing to do with him giving up twitter. Be clear that Trump is not complaining via Twitter. He is not tweeting his objections. He is not opposing the Republicans. He’s not commenting on their actions.

My point is that what Trump is doing is leading via Twitter. Let me see if I can explain.

I studied Aikido for a while under a variety of masters. The word “ai-ki-do” means the path of harmonizing our “ki”, or energy, with the energy of the other person. The underlying idea of aikido is that the easiest way to take control of a situation is to start by taking the situation in the direction it is already going. Don’t oppose the other person, harmonize with them, move in their direction.

Then, when you and the other person are moving in parallel, looking at things in the same way, at that point it is easy to direct them where you want them to go. After all, you’re not opposing them, you’re working with them …

Now, notice what Trump did not do. He did NOT oppose the Republican action in any form. He did NOT say it was wrong. He did NOT try to stop them. Instead, he moved in parallel with them by his opening—by agreeing with them that there is a lot for them to work on.

Note that this refers peripherally to the fact that this was done first thing and in secret .. but it casts it in the context of them getting an early start on the work that they have to do. Nice misdirection.

He then offers them an olive branch, describing the Ethics act as “unfair as it may be”. Note that while he appears to agree it is unfair … that’s not what he says.

Having laid all that out, Trump reveals the ask—he says to them you can do it, just don’t do it as your number one act and priority. Not “don’t do it”, not “it’s wrong”, not even “consider changing your minds” … just “put it off”. And as any parent knows, that’s a much easier thing to sell, “you can do it later”, whether it’s true or not.

Finally, after moving in parallel with them and not opposing them, Trump then leads them in the direction that he thinks is important, viz “tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance”.

And off they went, to do just that …

He accomplished all of that in 280 characters … and Senator Schumer thinks he should give it up?

Luddite …

w.

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