ALL COMEDY IS CONSERVATIVE:

There's lots to marvel at in the partial transcript the New York Times released of reporter Michael Schmidt's interview with President Trump yesterday. But I think my favorite part has got to be this little bit about health care:

But Michael, I know the details of taxes better than anybody. Better than the greatest C.P.A. I know the details of health care better than most, better than most. And if I didn't, I couldn't have talked all these people into doing ultimately only to be rejected.

Now here's the good news. We've created associations, millions of people are joining associations. Millions. That were formerly in Obamacare or didn't have insurance. Or didn't have health care. Millions of people. That's gonna be a big bill, you watch. It could be as high as 50 percent of the people. You watch. So that's a big thing. And the individual mandate. So now you have associations, and people don't even talk about the associations. That could be half the people are going to be joining up. ... With private [inaudible]. So now you have associations and the individual mandate.

I believe that because of the individual mandate and the associations, the Democrats will and certainly should come to me and see if they can do a really great health care plan for the remaining people. [Inaudible.]

After reading this, it is advisable to take a moment to wonder at the absurdity of life, to offer a quiet prayer of thanks for the fact that any of us is still alive, and then to pursue--yet again, and surely not for the last time--that recurring question of our era: What in the world is the president talking about?

The first paragraph, in which we see him interrupting his own boasting with the realization that since no health-care bill passed he should probably stop saying he worked to convince Republicans to vote for one, is just comedy gold.

Like advertising writers, sloganeers and propagandists, Trump appreciates the power repetition has on the lax mind. Properly executed, the right catchphrase can work as both setup and punch line and occupy mind-space in friends and adversaries even when spoken out of context. By repeatedly pressing the "no collusion" hotkey, Trump challenges his foes, who believe he has compromised his country, to prove it--or to shut up. He also succeeds in cueing his allies to ridicule his enemies.

In the interview, Trump claimed plenty of "no collusion" company, including Senator Dianne Feinstein and "virtually every Democrat." Democrats, he said, "walk around blinking" the no-collusion belief at each other. Who else attests to no collusion? The Republicans and famed attorney Alan Dershowitz, he said. "I actually think that it's turning out," Trump said, that "there was collusion on behalf of the Democrats. There was collusion with the Russians and the Democrats. A lot of collusion." (You'll recall Trump and his team attempted to "flip the script" on Democrats not long ago with the thin claim that the Hillary Clinton campaign had colluded with Russia when it commissioned the Steele dossier.)

Tweet   @brothersjudd