Twizzlers, Not Red Meat

People sometimes say that Donald Trump’s bluster and bombast is “red meat” for his base. I respectfully disagree. I think a better description would be Twizzlers. 

A quarter pound of Twizzlers (10 sticks, splitting your package four ways) gives you 400 calories, 53 grams of sugar, 230 mg of salt, and only 3 grams of protein. It gives you no vitamins or minerals. By contrast, a quarter-pound beef patty provides 231 calories, no sugar, 84 mg of salt, and 17 grams of protein. It also contains significant amounts of B vitamins and magnesium. So Twizzlers are chewy and addictive. Red meat is food.

Our loud-mouthed forty-fifth president’s loud pronouncements may make his fans feel good, like Twizzlers, but they are equally empty and bad for you. Yesterday he responded to the scary revelation that North Korea can now build nuclear devices small enough to fit on their long-range missiles. He said: “North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”

Fire and fury. Like the world has never seen. What does this actually mean? Is he planning to drop multiple nuclear warheads on the Korean Peninsula, murdering our allies along with Kim Jong Un’s people? Is he hoping to taunt Kim into launching a preemptive strike on us? This is either empty bluster or thoughtless provocation or both. Either he is threatening something he won’t do or he is planning the unthinkable.

Empty substitute for a real policy. Twizzlers, not red meat.