IT'S NOT A DISTRACTION DAMMIT

All the time now I see people saying stuff like "While you were distracted by Trump's racist tirade/latest sexual assault allegations/Supreme Court battle, this other horrible thing happened. look at you stupid sheeple reacting to things, be like me!"

These people are being tools sure, I feel like we can all agree on that, but they are also wrong, they think there is a deep and complicated plan, full of different layers of misdirection that is allowing the GOP and the presidency to pursue their agenda. But people, there really isn't. For one thing they don't need any of that, they control all branches of government and can pretty much do what they want for the most part. But beyond that, and here is where it gets complicated for folks like this: The outrageous actions and statements from our putative leadership are not distractions at all, rather they are the entire point.

The Toddler didn't order a strike on Syria to distract from the Supreme Court battle, or reports of Bannon being on the outs, he did it because he acted on impulse and loves the idea of blowing shit up. That is why he was elected, his voters want someone who acts "from the heart" and will kill our enemies, he is doing precisely what his supporters said they want, and what he said he would do. The same goes for the health care showdown, nominating Gorsuch, and so on and so forth. There is no hidden agenda, it is all right out there for anyone to see, nothing is distracting from anything else, not on purpose anyway, and they don't need a distraction to accomplish their goals. Just like I don't need a distraction to step on an ant.

This government was elected by promising jobs and safety, they said, outright and with no obfuscation, that they would do so by implementing racist policies, getting us involved in military actions on foreign soil, and by running a tax and budget package with explicit advantages for the wealthy. They said that, and they won, in the president's case not with a majority sure, but the same cannot be said for the Senate and other state reps though, that is what people asked for, and that is what they are getting. In many ways it is among the more honest administrations we have had in a while, yeah sure they outright lied about little things like what they said last year regarding Supreme Court nominations, or who they groped, or what have you, but not their ultimate goals.

The point is, when you are telling someone that they are being distracted by one horrible thing, you are actually saying "The lives of the people affected by the thing you care about don't matter, pay attention to the thing I want you to care about". It's stupid as hell, selfish, and misses the point utterly.