Opinion | If you think Trump is just bluffing, you're the sucker

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

51% : And a Data for Progress poll in October found that fewer than 4 in 10 likely voters thought Trump believed in his more outlandish and extreme statements, including his claim that there were "very fine people on both sides" at the 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville.
48% : "It is, of course, true that Trump wraps a tremendous amount of his commentary in a semi-ironic tone or uses cartoonish hyperbole to make some points that he probably doesn't really mean.
47% : While running on bringing down prices, Trump also floated the idea of replacing the income tax with revenue from across-the-board tariffs -- an inflationary proposal that some economists say would effectively put a 130% sales tax on all imported goods.
30% : Trump really did try to use loyalists at the Justice Department to subvert democracy.
29% : They've discussed how they think he's good for the economy or for slowing down immigration, but when you ask about his most authoritarian rhetoric or his brutal commentary about mistreating migrants, they'll shrug and say something to the effect of "that's just Trump being Trump.
28% : Trump really did, according to his former defense secretary Mark Esper, ask if he could shoot protesters -- only to reportedly face resistance from his advisers.
28% : Trump gets to activate the extreme parts of his base while reserving the right to say anything is a joke if the backlash is too intense.
25% : But after nine years of Trump in politics, four as president capped by an attempted self-coup, we know there is no norm Trump won't break, nor is there any idea too extreme for him to execute in reality.
24% : Trump also floated preposterous ideas that undermined his own argument against the Democrats.
24% : Anyone that assumes Trump is bluffing is the sucker at the poker table.
22% : Trump really did decline to take a strong stand against white supremacists, and America saw a surge in hate crimes during his tenure.
21% : Trump really did oversee a cruel family separation policy when it came to deporting undocumented immigrants.
18% : If all of Trump's rhetoric and policy commitments are shrouded in a haze of "we don't know if Trump actually meant this," then he is failing on the most basic level of fulfilling popular rule.
17% : Trump really did try to capitalize on lies about the election and try to lead a mob to overturn the election results.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.