Operation Orange Shield

It became fairly clear by mid 2017, halfway through his first year in office, Donald Trump wasn't going to benefit from populism.  His poll numbers spiked briefly after the Inauguration, but the easily provable lies and Trump's pettiness over the Inauguration crowd size quickly turned any willingness to give Trump the benefit of the doubt sour.  He has consistently had 52-58% of the population disapprove of him, and his best days in office were when his approval numbers were less than 10 points underwater.

The herculean response to prevent Trump from ever having to face his floundering support has been amazing.  The Republican Party and the Administration have effectively shielded Trump from most criticism, something which is remarkable in this day and age.  Occasionally someone leaves his TV on CNN or MSNBC, prompting a Twitter lashing at whatever unflattering story the other news networks covered.  Occasionally his legal team has had to come to him with negative news about legal issues, also prompting his social media ridicule.  But outside the occasional bad news comet roaming into his solar system, Trump seems to be securely insulated from the negative world.

Trump's vacations/weekends off (can anyone tell the difference) are almost exclusively at his own properties, surrounded by not only paying rubes who want to rub elbows, but employees who look at him as their boss.  His international trips are usually with people who are kissing his butt, loving the validity their despotic regimes are given by having the USA's leader kiss their ring of power.  And even when Trump ventures out into the country, his actual interactions with the masses are a coordinated event, designed to make sure he never sees anything negative.

He leaves the White House, goes to the airport, gets onto Air Force One, flies to what ever city is hosting him, is greeted at a secure spot at the incoming airport, is whisked away to the underground parking garage under the arena he's appearing at, an arena which has been vetted and screened to ensure 99.9% of the crowd worship Trump, get's told to go on stage, speaks to the adoring masses, then goes back to his car to be shuttled back to Washington DC.  He doesn't interact with the masses like any of his predecessors.  His handlers know if he was to take a wrong turn, he would find himself face to face with REAL Americans who HATE his guts.  His fragile ego couldn't take it.

This is why what happened on Sunday night was a real head scratcher.  Trump decided to go to Game 5 of the World Series between the Washington Nationals and the Houston Astros.  I have no idea if anyone tried to talk him out of it, but for whatever the reason he decided to go WAY off script.  Trump went to a 45,000 person filled stadium, filled with people who hadn't been screened for their loyalty.

I think the Trump team felt the news from earlier in the day, the death of ISIS leader Baghdadi, would give him a bump.  They felt there'd be some boos, but most of the crowd would cheer.  There were plenty of HUGE red flags the Trump team seemed to ignore.

The National's ballpark can seat far more people than who attend his rallies, and at his rallies, many in attendance travel show to show like he's the Grateful Dead (my guess from the Minneapolis rally which had 19,000 Trump fans in attendance would be at least 50% of the crowd was transient).  Those loyal Trump followers would not be able to get a World Series seat, even if they had the $500 needed for a bad seat.  This was in Washington DC, a Democratic stronghold.  It was at an arena where beer had been getting poured for a few hours prior to the introduction.  It was a crowd who had not been screened, but knew Trump would be attending.  And it's a city where most of the people are employed by the Federal Government and are getting a front row seat for the damage this Administration is doing.  What could possibly go wrong?!?



Trump's facial expression at not being greeted as the hero was actually kind of sad.  For a second I felt sorry for him, but then I thought about all the crap he's done to people he doesn't like, and I realized he's only getting a small taste of what he's eagerly handed out.  He got a peek behind the curtain to see the real world, something he's completely unaware exists.  Plus, he didn't take Barron, his own son, to a World Series game.  That's really sucky parenting.

As much as Trump supporters try to argue this was a fluke, that somehow only anti-Trump Antifa zealots had gotten tickets to a World Series game, just in case Trump attended, the reality is this destroys the idea Trump is the popular one, and the polls which he insists are rigged, are actually telling the truth.

It's hard for Trump to speak at the UN without most of the UN turning on him, so this wading into unfamiliar waters must have been refreshing for the people in attendance at the game.  It's a shame it costs you hundreds of dollars to be able to boo Trump to his face, but it seems worth every cent for those in attendance.

Expect the Trump team to dramatically limit any future appearances where Trump might actually have to come face to face with the people he actually is in charge of.