Trump Stages Photo-Ops As Counter-programming To Impeachment Proceedings

President Donald Trump shares a Thanksgiving dinner with US troops at Bagram Air Field during a surprise visit on November 28, 2019 in Afghanistan. (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)
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In the midst of impeachment proceedings that he dubs as a “hoax,” President Trump has come up with a new distraction strategy: photo-ops.

According to the Washington Post Saturday, Trump and his aides have staged photo opportunities and public events with the purpose of showcasing the President on the job — an election strategy aimed at convincing voters that he is hard at work for them while Democrats ramp up impeachment proceedings. The Post noted how Trump served turkey to U.S. troops in Afghanistan on Thanksgiving and that he is scheduled to meet with European allies in London next week.

“I’m working my ass off,” Trump said during a re-election rally in Sunrise, FL on Tuesday night, according to the Post. “The failed Washington establishment is trying to stop me because I’m fighting for you and because we’re winning. It’s very simple.”

The Post also noted that Trump is taking a cue from the Clinton impeachment proceedings in 1998 by meeting with former Clinton strategist Mark Penn in the Oval Office. Penn reportedly advised the President to focus on governing and traveling frequently.

Republican public relations professionals told the Post that the images of Trump outside of Washington, such as his visit to an Apple facility in Texas last week, delivered the message that Trump intended.

“This is the right strategy for the President: Show the American people that he is focused on doing his job while Washington Democrats chase the great white whale of impeachment,” Michael Steel, a former senior aide to former House speaker John Boehner (R-OH), told the Post.

Read the Washington Post’s report here.

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