'Long live the king': Inside the real reason Trump may be trolling us

22 February

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem gestures, as President Donald Trump delivers a speech, during the Laken Riley Act signing event, at the White House, in Washington, U.S., January 29, 2025.

President Donald Trump and his MAGA allies have never been shy about trolling liberals and progressives as well as traditional conservatives and Never Trumpers. And some Democrats are urging Trump's critics to avoid responding to every outrageous thing he says or does and be more selective in their criticism.

Steve Bannon, host of the "War Room" vodcast and former White House chief strategist for the first Trump Administration, famously described MAGA's approach as "flood the zone with s---" — meaning create as much chaos as possible if order to overwhelm and exhaust political opponents. And the Washington's Aaron Blake, in a February 22 column, argues that MAGA Republicans "appear increasingly consumed with trolling their opponents" during Trump's second term.

"A month ago," Blake observes, "Elon Musk rang in President Donald Trump's second term with a straight-arm salute that divided a political nation. Was it meant to be a Nazi salute? Just an awkward gesture? Or was it a deliberate provocation meant to spur all of this debate — and attention? Fast forward a month, and longtime Trump ally Stephen K. Bannon on Thursday offered a very similar gesture at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). He, like Musk, denies it was intended to evoke Nazism. But the leader of France's far-right party saw fit to cancel his own planned CPAC speech over Bannon's 'gesture alluding to Nazi ideology.'"

Blake continues, "These episodes by prominent Trump allies just a month apart would suggest this is indeed a provocation, at the very least. And it would have plenty of precedent; right-wingers in recent years have deliberately provoked similar debates with the 'OK' hand sign."

Other recent examples of MAGA trolling, Blake notes, include Trump referring to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as "Governor Trudeau" — as in making Canada the 51st state — and the Trump White House saying of Trump, "Long live the king."

Another is Trump comparing himself to Napoleon Bonaparte.

"Trump has long exploited this dilemma between taking him seriously and taking him literally to great political effect, because it means he can say pretty much anything he wants and not lose support on his side," Blake observes. "It's a social contract with the American people that skews decidedly in Trump's favor. The downside of the public's built-up tolerance for it, though, is that nobody really knows where the trolling ends and the potentially troublesome begins."

Aaron Blake's full Washington Post column is available at this link (subscription required).

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