DEMS/ELECTION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The message the president is selling to his supporters is clear. ‘You don’t have any choice. You have to vote for me,’ President Trump told a crowd on Monday [9-9-19] at a rally in North Carolina, making a point he has revisited often in recent weeks. ‘Your way of life is under assault by these people.’ Now, would they like a straw with that? It turns out that Mr. Trump’s message of outright defiance — against Democrats, against the news media and, often, against facts — can exist in tchotchke form. The president’s campaign, which is relying on small-dollar donors to bolster his re-election effort, is also courting supporters willing to pay a little bit more for reminders of that message. And the campaign has been creative in quickly bringing to market a range of products memorializing the president’s latest run-in — defiance as lifestyle.”
–Katie Rogers, “With Markers and Straws, Trump’s Campaign Sells Defiance as a Lifestyle,” The New York Times online, September 13, 2019