The Times thinks it’s leading the forces of reason and light against Donald Trump, but it doesn’t have a clue. Every day their front page is festooned with the latest noxious Trumpian remark, followed by paragraphs of commentary on how unprecedented it is for a president to talk this way and how appalled most politicians and political observers are. They think Trump is making one mistake after another, and if their readers are exposed to the whole lot of them, they will turn against the Donald. But his pompous bullying is not a mistake at all; it’s pretty much all he does.
Trump has been nothing but consistent during his first run as a reality-show business tycoon and his second as a national politician. He presents himself as a sort of alpha male, bigger, badder and sexier than anyone else on the block. People don’t support him because they think he’s nice or sophisticated in his reasoning; they want someone who can get the job done, and Trump presents himself as willing and able to bash his way to success. Threats and insults are standard operating procedure.
The irony, of course, is that once you get past his mouth he turns out to be an uncommonly weak and ineffectual president. True, his allies and cronies are securing judgeships and eviscerating regulations, but Trump himself is 99% PR. He was a fake business kingpin the first time around, and now he’s a fake president. His only job is to distract you from what the real movers and shakers are doing.
So the Times, by giving us megadoses of Trump’s mouth are playing right into his strategy. If they secretly want him to be re-elected, they should go on doing it. On the off-chance that they want to defeat the guy, however, here’s a better way:
1. No, absolutely no, front page news on Trump unless he actually does something—and saying stupid or mean stuff doesn’t qualify as doing.
2. Have a regular section deeper in the paper, on page 8 say, devoted to the man’s various harangues and tweets. Record his weird and ugly babbling for posterity. Provide reputable internet sources for factual correctives. But keep it small and tucked away.
3. Change the ruling meme from “He is upending the world through his threats and insults” to “He is a blowhard who actually does almost nothing.” Treat him not like an alpha but more like an omega with endless vocalizations, best ignored.
Excellent point.
Agreed.
It is the blueprint being followed by most of our media. Way past time for these people to accurately report what exactly is happening without the constant both sides take.
Clear example of this behavior is here:
“Sarah Huckabee Sanders Was an Arrogant Liar on Behalf of a Corrupt Administration*
With “farewell drinks” on her behalf, the elite political media once again shows it will not stop pretending everything is normal in a time of larval tyranny.
Erik Wemple is a fine media reporter, but he’s just very wrong here:
‘Yet an important distinction should be taken into account. Journalists convey their sense of right and wrong in their work product, not in the appointments on their professional calendar. Sanders has a history of lying and poorly serving her country, but, well, journalists have a grand tradition of meeting up with liars — and slimeballs and felons and losers and scammers. That’s what they do.’
“Meeting up with” people is not the same thing as organizing a farewell soiree for a truthless woman who fronted for a a bunch of crooks and bunco artists. (And I wonder how some of the people who cover this White House feel about having how they do their jobs equated with how SHS did hers.) And the problem with the highlighted sentence above has been demonstrated time and time again—from Sally Quinn’s memorable Not Our Kind dismissal of the Clintons, to the closing of the ranks around Scooter Libby because he shopped at the same grocery stores they did, to the continued presence in public of that bag of rank old sins that is Henry Kissinger. A courtier press is not saved by its work product. It is inherently corrupt.
And, lo and behold, even at this worthless hootenanny, SHS stayed true to form, stiffing Wemple when he asked her about the many lies on which she built what’s left of her career.
ERIK WEMPLE BLOG: Do you feel you were honest with the media?
SANDERS: Hey, Erik, I just don’t think this is the appropriate venue, but I appreciate you being here tonight.
Well, then, piss off, Elly May.”
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a28186196/sarah-sanders-white-house-press-farewell-drinks/
Sometimes when he says things it is actually news as when he threatens actions of one kind or another against other nations or on actual domestic policy, unlike his insults to other politicians, competing celebrity figures, or the latest sports star to insult him. Report the news and confine the rest to the back pages with the Kardashians and other “celebrities”.
Can we use the made-up word spittooned rather than festooned. It kind of fits his mannerisms.
well,
Dorman and me and Noam Chomsky and apparently a lot of other people here seem to agree that Trump is the clown designated to distract attention from what the real bad guys are doing.
question is when is the Left in particular going to recognize this, not to mention the Democratic Party?…who seem to be playing “good cop” at best in this tragic farce.