President Donald Trump has been lashing out on Twitter even more than usual, and one political expert thinks he's trying to strengthen his personal brand with voters ahead of this year's midterm elections.
Daniel Drezner, a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, wrote for the Washington Post that Trump has been reduced to tweeting impotently despite the Republican Party controlling the House, Senate and White House.
"The president’s behavior this past month or so can best be understood as him trying to return to his brand as an angry outsider," Drezner wrote. "He needs to ensure that his loyal base supporters are sufficiently energized to come out and vote GOP in the midterms. An easy way for him to do that is through Twitter rants."
Trump and the GOP are unlikely to score any major legislative achievements in a gridlocked Congress, and Drezner argued that Trump lacked the "patience and the stamina to see policy implementation through."
"Given his political constraints, Trump will do what he did in the private sector when his real estate empire was floundering: switch to branding," Drezner wrote. "When Trump actually tried to build things like hotels, his track record was mediocre. As a brand, however, Trump pocketed millions with far less skin in the game."
Drezner argued that Democrats hold an enthusiasm gap over Republicans, but he said the president could try to "keep his voters in a sustained frenzy until November" by focusing on foreign affairs and attacking domestic enemies.
"Will this strategy work? Probably not," Drezner wrote. "Eight months of Twitter frenzy might bore even his loyal base."
But crazed rants cost Trump nothing, and they helped carry him into the White House -- so Drezner argued the president was left with few choices in a divided Washington.
"Is Trump unhinged? Yes, absolutely," Drezner wrote. "Is that on brand for him? With no political option left to him, yes, absolutely."