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I think it's clear that the Trump administration has declared war on the U.S. media. Although, to be fair, the U.S. media declared "total war" on Trump the moment he became the Republican nominee. And he won anyway. So, that likely says something about how much American's trust their media.
A recent poll suggests that about 15% of Americans feel that they can believe the media. Personally, I'm shocked that 15% of people are that naïve and/or stupid.
Trump is a liar. I've not had exposure to the man throughout his life, but I suspect it's not something new. He's likely a born liar (which makes it puzzling he became a politician so late in life...but he was in real estate so....close enough).
So, is the media wrong to attack the Trump administration's "alternative facts"? Obviously not. Trump has shown from the beginning of his candidacy that he's a dishonest peddler of propaganda and disinformation. I think the question is this: How does he differ from his immediate predecessor on this front? The answer is NOT AT ALL.
The difference is that U.S. media abetted the Obama administration's dissemination of propaganda. They accepted distortions, exaggerations, outright lies, and then sold them to the American people as fact. They sold lies about economic recovery, they ignored misinformation about "shovel ready" jobs and "massive infrastructure" projects to aid growth, and they aided Obama in selling his "blame Bush" narrative when none of it worked. They accepted and sold the Obama and Clinton Benghazi lies about video tapes and protests. They ignored the massive bureaucratic waste and ineffectiveness of "Obamacare" and repeated the administration's fantasies to the masses. They ignored Obama's absurd commutations and pardons, and his massive giveaway to Palestine as he left office.
You see, by that point they were fixated on indulging their fantasies about Trump and Russian prostitutes and "golden showers" in Obama's hotel room. Then it was on to Trump's cabinet picks, presenting them as crazy, demented, insane, or simply stupid. Then they moved on to inauguration crowd sizes (and they remain fixated on that point)/ Then we heard about removed busts of civil right leaders that weren't actually removed but were just were obstructed from view (same difference), but that one doesn't count because they admitted the mistake and said sorry.
Particularly instructive, I think , is the current media narrative that Trump is "subverting" the U.S. democratic process by voicing accusations of voter fraud. Ignoring, of course, that Al Gore did the same (x 1000) throughout the 2000 recount, that Obama alleged plans to "steal" his elections in both 2008 and 2012, but it all turned out okay because he - the media's choice - won. Nothing to see here. Dead story. All's well that ends well. Trump says "voter fraud" after winning and he's insane, unpatriotic, subverting democracy and the sanctity of our electoral process. Gore and Obama do the same thing and, well, they're just telling the truth....and they step up to the plate and help those good democrats tell the story. The "true" story.
In the final analysis Trump is president because of the media. The media whored itself out to the Obama administration and the electorate noticed. They merely pimped for Bill Clinton. They became "fair and balanced" and "spoke truth to power" for George W. Bush, and then outright prostituted themselves for Barack Obama (and Hillary during the campaign).
In the end, what matters is that ALL of these things are true: Trump is a corrupt, unqualified, not overly intelligent, narcissistic, egotistical, lying, amoral sleazebag. The U.S. media is a dishonest, partisan, propaganda peddling arm of the far left-wing of the democratic party. They are the Völkischer Beobachter. And we are going to continue following one awful, fringe, unqualified, corrupt, lying president with another until they take their responsibility seriously. Unless journalistic ethics become more important than espousing liberal positions and candidates, right or wrong, for better or worse, the electorate will never trust the media's information enough to allow it to inform their choice at the ballot box.
A recent poll suggests that about 15% of Americans feel that they can believe the media. Personally, I'm shocked that 15% of people are that naïve and/or stupid.
Trump is a liar. I've not had exposure to the man throughout his life, but I suspect it's not something new. He's likely a born liar (which makes it puzzling he became a politician so late in life...but he was in real estate so....close enough).
So, is the media wrong to attack the Trump administration's "alternative facts"? Obviously not. Trump has shown from the beginning of his candidacy that he's a dishonest peddler of propaganda and disinformation. I think the question is this: How does he differ from his immediate predecessor on this front? The answer is NOT AT ALL.
The difference is that U.S. media abetted the Obama administration's dissemination of propaganda. They accepted distortions, exaggerations, outright lies, and then sold them to the American people as fact. They sold lies about economic recovery, they ignored misinformation about "shovel ready" jobs and "massive infrastructure" projects to aid growth, and they aided Obama in selling his "blame Bush" narrative when none of it worked. They accepted and sold the Obama and Clinton Benghazi lies about video tapes and protests. They ignored the massive bureaucratic waste and ineffectiveness of "Obamacare" and repeated the administration's fantasies to the masses. They ignored Obama's absurd commutations and pardons, and his massive giveaway to Palestine as he left office.
You see, by that point they were fixated on indulging their fantasies about Trump and Russian prostitutes and "golden showers" in Obama's hotel room. Then it was on to Trump's cabinet picks, presenting them as crazy, demented, insane, or simply stupid. Then they moved on to inauguration crowd sizes (and they remain fixated on that point)/ Then we heard about removed busts of civil right leaders that weren't actually removed but were just were obstructed from view (same difference), but that one doesn't count because they admitted the mistake and said sorry.
Particularly instructive, I think , is the current media narrative that Trump is "subverting" the U.S. democratic process by voicing accusations of voter fraud. Ignoring, of course, that Al Gore did the same (x 1000) throughout the 2000 recount, that Obama alleged plans to "steal" his elections in both 2008 and 2012, but it all turned out okay because he - the media's choice - won. Nothing to see here. Dead story. All's well that ends well. Trump says "voter fraud" after winning and he's insane, unpatriotic, subverting democracy and the sanctity of our electoral process. Gore and Obama do the same thing and, well, they're just telling the truth....and they step up to the plate and help those good democrats tell the story. The "true" story.
In the final analysis Trump is president because of the media. The media whored itself out to the Obama administration and the electorate noticed. They merely pimped for Bill Clinton. They became "fair and balanced" and "spoke truth to power" for George W. Bush, and then outright prostituted themselves for Barack Obama (and Hillary during the campaign).
In the end, what matters is that ALL of these things are true: Trump is a corrupt, unqualified, not overly intelligent, narcissistic, egotistical, lying, amoral sleazebag. The U.S. media is a dishonest, partisan, propaganda peddling arm of the far left-wing of the democratic party. They are the Völkischer Beobachter. And we are going to continue following one awful, fringe, unqualified, corrupt, lying president with another until they take their responsibility seriously. Unless journalistic ethics become more important than espousing liberal positions and candidates, right or wrong, for better or worse, the electorate will never trust the media's information enough to allow it to inform their choice at the ballot box.
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