Words Have Weight

Words have Weight. All the people who become President of the United States have, at some point, shifted public opinion with their mere words. Great speeches enshrining ideals, declarations of war, moments where public opinion hung in the balance. For Donald Trump it is no different.

Some observers discount or don't believe that Trump isn't willful with his words to shape the narrative. But he is very intentional and he has a track record of doing just that. When Trump started attacking Barrack Obama for not being born in the USA, almost nobody had given it a thought, but by 2016, nearly three-quarters of Republicans believed the story. In 2020, Trump declared the election stolen, an idea he started setting up even before the general election began. By 2023, two-thirds of the GOP agreed with Trump and the numbers have only climbed since then.

Trump words have weight and he knows it.

Even on Ukraine, where, at first, American's from both parties rallied around the small nation . But steady anti-war rhetoric by Trump and his allies has undermined the people's confidence in the worthiness of the fight and now Americans are closely divided about whether saving Ukraine is in our best interest.

Now Trump wants to makeover Putin. More than 8 in 10 Americans don't believe we can trust the Russian dictator, but Trump seems to do just that. He has all but adopted the Russian narrative about the war in Ukraine and is obviously anxious to re-set the US-Russian relationship.

President Trump knows a populist line or position when he hears it. His campaign promises to "end war" have a strong appeal for Americans who've long had an isolationist streak. But rehabbing Putin is going to take all of the powers of persuasion President Trump has - erasing 75 years of war crimes, repression and conflict can't easily be erased in a tweet. But he will try.