One of Donald Trump’s greatest talents – deployed during his time as a real estate tycoon, source and subject of tabloid gossip, reality TV protagonist, and president of the United States – is his ability to tell stories.
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One → deploy → stories
With six weeks until the US midterm elections, he is likely to lean on this instinct more than ever.
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he → lean → instinct
Rarely does the US president appear more comfortable than when behind a microphone, speaking without interruption, sometimes for multiple hours.
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president → appear → hours
Long before entering the White House, he wholeheartedly embraced social media as a means of crafting his narrative, going so far as to launch his own social network when booted off others.
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he → enter → others
Earlier this week, his administration launched a YouTube channel, which critics quickly dismissed as a “state-run” TV network.
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critics → launch → network
Such platforms give Trump the ability to deliver his unfiltered narrative – unencumbered by open discussion, or its often tenuous relationship with the truth.
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platforms → give → truth
Only when his stories leave the spaces where he has complete control, and enter the real world, do challenges arise.
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challenges → leave → world
The president has long both courted and criticized the media, seeing the very publications and outlets he claims to loathe as opportunities to amplify his message.
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he → court → message
He bristles when they fail to do so.
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they → bristle → ?
Last Friday, Trump abruptly announced a ban on CNN, MS Now and Politico from the White House over their coverage.
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Trump → announce → coverage
The outlets swiftly sued over the move, setting up an acrimonious legal battle over press access.
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outlets → sue → access
In the early hours of this morning, a federal judge ordered Trump to restore their access.
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judge → order → access
“You said you weren’t going to cover me,” Trump told CNN, which had said no such thing, upon his arrival at the United Nations this week.
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which → say → Nations
“You shouldn’t be covering me.”
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You → cover → me
Americans don’t need to tune in to Trump TV or log in to Truth Social to find out how much it costs to buy a home, feed their families or fill up their cars – factors that, time and again, have influenced which way they vote in elections.
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they → need → elections
By the president’s telling, his controversial war on Iran has been about to end since not long after he launched it in February.
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he → end → February
Tariffs are meanwhile enriching the US economy.
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Tariffs → enrich → economy
When news outlets report otherwise, the president – a voracious media consumer – has a choice.
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president → report → choice
He can engage with the message.
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He → engage → message
The Iran war, more than 200 days since it started, is not over.
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it → start → ?
And while the president and his allies seem to be doing OK, millions of Americans have yet to see tangible evidence that a “golden age” is under way.
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age → seem → way
Or he can blame the messenger.
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he → blame → messenger
Railing at all hours against the “Fake News Media”, Trump has filed lawsuits against the Wall Street Journal, the BBC and CBS, among others, over their coverage.
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Trump → rail → coverage
“I believe in the free press more than anyone in this room does,” Trump claimed at July’s White House correspondents’ dinner.
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Trump → believe → dinner
“Hmm,” he added.
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he → add → ?
None of this marks a dramatic departure from the past 11 years, of course.
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None → mark → course
But with Trump’s party facing a crucial electoral test in November, and Republicans increasingly nervous of an impending “bloodbath”, his hunger to control the narrative is set to grow.
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hunger → face → narrative
In this final stretch of the campaign, we can expect to see the president intensify efforts to hammer his narrative – from a purported “communist” infiltration of the Democratic party to a supposed economic boom across the nation – and attack those who dare to question it.
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who → expect → it
This remarkably volatile president has shown a striking ability to stick to a message like glue in the final stages of an election.
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president → show → election
In 2024, this included relentlessly blaming Joe Biden for a surge in consumer prices, and promising Americans that he would fix it.
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he → include → it
We have a good sense of what it will include in 2026.
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it → have → 2026
After summoning Republicans for the party’s first ever midterm convention in Dallas this month – another chance to get behind a microphone, uninterrupted by reporters, or reality – Trump asked supporters to do him “the biggest favor” and “pretend” they were voting for him.
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they → summon → him
In truth, his name will not appear on a single ballot paper.
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name → appear → paper
As polling day edges closer, the president is escalating his fights with the media.
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president → edge → media
My colleague Chris Stein noted earlier this week that polls continue to show Democrats with an edge on the generic ballot, a key indicator of voter sentiment in congressional races, as well as in some key Senate contests.
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Democrats → note → contests
Once all votes are cast and counted, there is a world in which the president and his party retain control of Congress – defying frustration over the Iran war, concern over their handling of the economy and broader anger over the status quo – in an extraordinary display of political resilience.
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president → cast → resilience
There is also a world in which they endure a painful rejection by voters and lose control of both congressional chambers, leaving Trump to serve out his second term as a lame duck in the White House.
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they → be → House
The president’s version of events is only likely to accept one of these outcomes.
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version → accept → outcomes
Quoted
“Most people around the country, many of whom don’t even identify as Democrat or Republican or whatever, are 10 out of 10 pissed off, angry and willing to take that anger into action against the status quo.”
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many → quote → quo
– Maurice Mitchell, the national director of the Working Families party, a progressive third political party that has seen its endorsees winning bigger than ever this year
Read more:
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endorsees → see → more
…and 6 more, not listed.
The Aporia
