An article on CNN’s website called attention to a story that, apparently, is popular in British political circles.
A CEO is in a board meeting and he has very bad results to report, so at the start of the meeting he pulls a dead cat out of his brief case and throws it on the table. All those in attendance start remarking on the cat. “Eww! A dead cat?” “What is that bloody cat doing there?” “Who throws a stinking dead cat on the table?”
All the talk is about the dead cat. Nothing about the bad fundamentals of the business.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, in an editorial on Tuesday, November 22, discussed the same phenomenon. They likened it to “chasing shiny objects.” (Link to editorial: http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/columns/the-platform/editorial-pop-culture-should-reflect-a-country-not-the-other/article_ece26979-06ea-5b5c-b5e7-195c13456ebf.html )
This is the strategy… whether it is planned or just an innate part of Trump… underlying events like the Hamilton tweets or the tweet storm about the beauty queen. The media and the electorate focus on insignificant things and the important topics… such as Bannon, the lack of a blind trust for Trump’s business interests, his lack of coordination or even briefings from the State Department as he talks to world leaders… these subjects get forgotten.
I admit to falling for it more than once. Even when Trump goes off the deep end or wanders off on a tangent, we should not lose our focus on the fundamental issues. We can afford to laugh a bit, but we cannot afford to chase shiny objects.
Michael Pfeifer