{"id":129214,"date":"2025-03-08T18:16:56","date_gmt":"2025-03-08T18:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/you-cant-pin-him-down-trumps-contradictions-are-his-ultimate-cover-the-new-york-times\/"},"modified":"2025-03-08T18:16:56","modified_gmt":"2025-03-08T18:16:56","slug":"you-cant-pin-him-down-trumps-contradictions-are-his-ultimate-cover-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/you-cant-pin-him-down-trumps-contradictions-are-his-ultimate-cover-the-new-york-times\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018You Can\u2019t Pin Him Down\u2019: Trump\u2019s Contradictions Are His Ultimate Cover – The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trump<\/span> Administration<\/span><\/span><\/span>
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News Analysis
President Trump\u2019s shifting positions and outright lies have presented the American public with dueling narratives at every turn.
By <\/span>Erica L. Green<\/a>
Erica L. Green covers the White House. She reported from Washington.
What does President Trump really believe?
Does he want to run for a third term<\/a>, or is that just a joke? Does he intend to seize control of Gaza<\/a> and expel millions of Palestinians, or is that just a suggestion? Is Black History Month a waste of time and money, or worth a lavish celebration<\/a> at the White House?
Anyone looking for definitive answers will have a hard time finding them.
Since storming back into office, Mr. Trump has used a dizzying rhetorical tactic of shifting positions like quicksand, muddying his messages and contradicting himself, sometimes in the same day. The inconsistencies have presented the American public with dueling narratives at every turn, allowing people to pick and choose what they want to believe about the president\u2019s intentions.
Mr. Trump has long dealt in distortions<\/a> and lies, including in his first term. But as he executes a much more aggressive agenda at home and abroad, his contradictions have become more brazen and more pronounced.
\u201cHe says so much, you can\u2019t really pin him down,\u201d said Julian E. Zelizer, a Princeton history professor and editor of a book of essays about Mr. Trump\u2019s first term. \u201cThe point isn\u2019t to have a contradiction, the point is to have cover.\u201d
\u201cThe reality of our modern information world is that you can pick and choose what you want to believe,\u201d Mr. Zelizer added. \u201cHe instinctively knows that.\u201d
Within hours of taking office, Mr. Trump pardoned Jan. 6 rioters who assaulted Capitol Police officers, a move that clashed<\/a> with his professed support for law enforcement.
He spent his first weeks disparaging diversity, equity and inclusion policies as \u201charmful\u201d and blamed diversity efforts at the Federal Aviation Administration for a deadly plane crash over the Potomac River. But just hours after the Jan. 29 crash, he backtracked.
\u201cWe want the most competent people,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t care what race they are.\u201d
Mr. Trump has eviscerated federal programs aimed at combating inequality in America and his Defense Department announced that the military would no longer \u201cuse official resources\u201d to mark Black History Month.
Mr. Trump then marked the occasion in a formal ceremony in the White House.
His foreign policy pronouncements are equally baffling.
Last month, after making a stunning announcement that the United States would seek to seize the Gaza Strip, permanently displace the Palestinian population and rebuild the seaside enclave as the \u201cRiviera of the Middle East,\u201d Mr. Trump changed his proposal several times over two weeks, before saying it was merely a recommendation<\/a>.
Earlier this week, during an address to Congress, he invited Greenland to choose to be owned<\/a> by the United States. \u201cWe strongly support your right to determine your own future, and if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America,\u201d he said.
Moments later, he suggested it may not be a choice at all.
\u201cOne way or the other, we\u2019re going to get it,\u201d he said.
On the matter of Ukraine, Mr. Trump in a social media post called the country\u2019s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, a \u201cdictator without elections.\u201d Later, when pressed on whether he actually believed that, Mr. Trump said: \u201cDid I say that? I can\u2019t believe I said that.\u201d
White House officials argue that especially on foreign policy matters, Mr. Trump is showing his skill as a tough negotiator whose messages adjust to the fluidity of serious situations. An aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that Mr. Trump\u2019s ambiguity about the situations in the Middle East and Ukraine had pushed both regions closer to peace.
A White House spokeswoman said that Mr. Trump\u2019s polling showed that his messaging resonates on issues that matter to Americans.
\u201cThe American public has ample opportunity to listen to the words of President Trump directly when he speaks to the press, and directly to the American people, on a near daily basis as the most accessible and transparent president in American history,\u201d Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said in a statement, adding that Americans \u201crecognize the beauty of the art of the deal.\u201d
Throughout his career as a businessman and a politician, Mr. Trump became known as much for deal-making as he was for perfecting contradictions. Tony Schwartz, the ghostwriter of Mr. Trump\u2019s book \u201cThe Art of the Deal,\u201d has said the president has one goal.
\u201cHis aim is never accuracy,\u201d Mr. Schwartz wrote in an opinion essay<\/a> during Mr. Trump\u2019s first term, \u201cit\u2019s domination.\u201d
Mr. Trump has boasted about his meandering speaking style, which he calls the \u201cweave,\u201d<\/a> and he often muses about things \u2014 like whether he should be granted a constitutionally prohibited third term \u2014 with a wink and a nod.
But experts say the dissonance can become dangerous.
\u201cOnce you undermine consistency, the shared sense of reality, you\u2019re undermining the basis of democracy,\u201d said Jason Stanley, a Yale professor who has written books about propaganda and the erasure of history. \u201cIf there\u2019s no shared sense of reality, we can\u2019t collectively make decisions. So the only decision maker will be the disrupter in chief.\u201d
Mr. Stanley said Mr. Trump\u2019s contradictions boil down to a simple truth.
\u201cIf you\u2019re constantly contradicting yourself,\u201d he said, \u201cyou\u2019re constantly lying.\u201d
Erica L. Green is a White House correspondent, covering President Trump and his administration. More about Erica L. Green<\/a><\/span>
Ukraine\u2019s Access to Satellite Imagery:<\/strong>\u00a0A Pentagon agency said that it had \u201ctemporarily suspended\u201d the sharing of satellite imagery<\/a>\u00a0with Ukraine in accordance with orders from President Trump.
Justice Department<\/strong>: <\/strong>The Trump administration forced out a handful of senior Justice Department officials<\/a>, further thinning the ranks of career officials who help guide the agency, according to several people familiar with the actions.
Politically Charged Survey:<\/strong>\u00a0Researchers and organizations whose work is conducted overseas were asked by the Trump administration to disclose ties to those regarded as hostile<\/a>, according to a questionnaire obtained by The New York Times.
Vaccines and Autism:<\/strong>\u00a0The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is planning to conduct a large-scale study to re-examine whether there is a connection between vaccines and autism, federal officials said. Dozens of studies have failed to find evidence of a link<\/a>.
Trump\u2019s Contradictions: <\/strong>President Trump\u2019s shifting positions and outright lies have presented the American public with dueling narratives at every turn<\/a>.
\u00a0Freeze on Aid to Nuclear Inspectors: <\/strong>The president\u2019s halt of foreign aid upended two U.S. programs<\/a>\u00a0that help the International Atomic Energy Agency find clues about Iran\u2019s drive to build atomic bombs.
Transportation Security Administration:<\/strong>\u00a0The Department of Homeland Security said that it was ending its collective bargaining agreement with workers in the T.S.A. The move could lay the groundwork for the government to fire workers and perhaps even privatize the agency,<\/a>\u00a0according to labor experts.
How We Report on the Trump Administration<\/strong>
Hundreds of readers asked about our coverage of the president. Times editors and reporters responded to some of the most common questions<\/a>.
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