Underline mine. Of course. Trump has shown how stupid he is and what a ‘deal maker’ he is.
I truly believe that Trump thinks or thought that the entire KGB could not out smart him. After all, they praised him, and gave him deals he could not get in the US.
How much money does he owe them? What nasty information does Putin possess?
As stupid as Trump is, I think he realizes just what a pickle he is in. Impeachment and possible imprisonment. His entire persona a party joke (it already is), or death from the Russians.
The problem is that they were no longer even effective at that. In order for them to be used as a channel to put out their version of what is going on, they actually have to settle on a version.
As Happy Lendervedder pointed out, half the time Sarah tells something to the press, Trump tweets something entirely contradictory the next day. The only individual who know what the administration’s view on any subject at any given point in time is Trump himself, at that exact point in time, but even he doesn’t know what the administrations point of view is a few minutes later.
WIth this in mind, I have to reluctantly agree with his orangeness that the press briefing were a complete waste of time for all involved.
Actually, “we” (the media) can, and once upon a time they were judicious about what they reported on so that the news had actual content. But with the rise of 24 hour cable news, there needs to be a constant “buzz buzz buzz” to justify the studio space and the high salaries of vaccuous talking heads like Wolf Blitzer and Chris Cillizza. And the media has become so devoted to wanting to appear “neutral”—a characteristic that no notable figure in the history of journalism, from Joseph Pulitzer to Edward R. Murrow has ever given a damn about—that they’re unwilling to do the intellectual effort to check the facts of the twittering and barely coherent speachifying that they “report” (i.e. repeat verbatim and follow with circle jerk ‘analysis’ of zero practical merit). They’re just too fucking lazy to even attempt to aspire to the essential tenets of journalism.
There is reason to report when Trump is dismissive toward a strategic ally or crucial trade partner, or when he dog whilstles at white nationalists; but there is no reason to report on his social media “war” with Cardi B or cover a stupid MAGA rally. The reason we currently have a government shutdown has nothing to do with security or immigration, and it isn’t even about the ego-fest of “Wall” as a monument to obtuse bigotry; it is all about Trump being front and center every day, all day. If the media would stop giving any press to Trump on the issue, and instead focus on reporting what leading members in Congress could or are doing to end the shutdown and get employees paid for their work—which is something they absolutely have the authority to do regardless of what kind of temper tantrum the current Oval Office occupant has—Trump would get tired of being out of the limelight and give up. Hell, he might very well just resign if he couldn’t get attention as long as he had the assurance that Pence would pardon him and his family.
But Trump is such a great clown to build a circus around that they just can’t help themselves; it is just too easy to manufacture outrage and get an easy day of non-effort out of analyzing what “covfefe” really means, even though it is evident to any intelligent person that it is a nonsememe resulting from Trump’s lack of a coherent grasp on the English language. And they’re collectively so proud of themselves whenever they bother to actually check a fact that they spend as much time navel-gazing and self-promoting as they do actually performing any incidental acts of real journalism. “Reporting” on the litany of complete falsehoods and fabricated nonsense from the White House spokespeople is a waste of time for everyone involved. You might as well just get your news from TASS or World Weekly News for the same level of accuracy and intellectual rigor.
Putin doesn’t even need goat pictures to influence Trump. Donald Trump is so in love with the idea of a strongman leader—someone who makes decisions to benefit himself and his coterie of followers without any deliberation or nuance—that he would let Putin piss all over him just to be in his presence. It’s entirely possible that the Russians have compromising information, and it’s pretty certain that they’ve propped up the Trump organization financially, but honestly, all Putin has to do to manipulate Trump is just whisper sweet nothings in his ear. Trump isn’t even sophisticated enough to know when he’s being manipulated, and he’s too fucking dumb to carry any kind of cover or tell a consistent set of lies.
Trump’s best actual “deal” was playing a buffoon candidate and getting billions of dollars of free press coverage so that he could pander to his imbecilic followers who somehow believed that Trump would make all their dreams come true even though he’s shown to be a low grade confidence operator who has failed again and again at making smart business choices or choosing good advisors. Trump is literally a prototype for a sitcom about a corrupt, dysfunctional family running a failing business and trying to create a distraction by making up fake crises, promoting hollow charities, and advocating for a pointless wall. The only thing lacking is a frozen banana stand and a stair car.
True, I get my news from print sources these days, but when I watch edcable news that type of reporting was often featured after presidential speeches.
As I see it, the problem is not that the news media is too neutral, it’s that it assumes a misleading neutral voice:
In a time when so many people define truth as “anything I really want to believe,” that veneer assuages any possible doubts about veracity and encourages the illusion of objectivity.
I do agree with you about the “circle jerk ‘analysis’ of zero practical merit.” I’m always reminded of John Oliver’s show on climate change and the misleading “both sides” discussions.
Your links aren’t working for me, but my point is not that the media never fact checks, but they often report blythely without bothering to correct obvious nonfactual statements. Immigration is a key example; the media is constantly repeating Trump’s claims and justifications for deporting immigrants and building “Wall” (that MS-13 is sending violent members to the United States, “chian migration”, taking government benefits and not paying taxes, et cetera) often without challenging statements in any disciplined way or referring readers to non-partisan sources of facts and analysis which clearly demonstrates that immigration is and has always been a net fiscal positive or what the impact would be if Trump could actually make good on his promises.
The government shutdown is another; CNN in particular keeps referring to it as “Trump’s Shutdown” which must please him to no end to be the center of attention even though the reality is that the shutdown isn’t just Trump; it is Senate Republicans who have collectively decided to just go along instead of coming to the logical non-partisan agreement that a functioning government should be the top priority of the legislature and they should pass a veto-proof bill through both houses that provides a continuing resolution while they negotiate whatever they need to on immigration reform and border security. It’s a given that Trump is going to continue to throw an infantile temper tantrum, and reporting upon it—even critically—is accomplishing nothign and telling no one anything they didn’t already know. However, reporting on what each GOP senator is doing or not to pass a budget or continuing resolution would be valuable because these are people who collectively have the power and could be willed or shamed into doing something.
The job of the media isn’t just to report facts, or make meme-lists of “The Twelve Most Outrageous Lies…” like some kind of timewasting list site; it is to provide critical commentary and correction to issues that actually matter. It’s a shameful state of affairs when getting the Zadroga Act reauthorized and passed was not due to the media covering the issue and pressuring Congresspeople to do their fucking jobs but a quasi-retired comedian stepping to promote awareness and shame legislators into standing behind their words and doing what was right.
If you actually listen to Trump, he almost never says anything of any significance whatsoever. Covering what he says or tweets as a matter of course is a totally pointless exercise from any journalistic standpoint or informational value. The only purpose of this daily coverage is to get clicks and sell advertising, period.
The irony of comedians like John Oliver or the Daily Show’s Trevor Noah is that they actually cover more real news with greater critical thought and analysis than an entire panel of CNN “commentators”. And sure, they make it fun by throwing in jokes about Gwenyth Paltrow’s fashion sense or people in foam costumes doing wacky things, but they also often cut to the essence of the issues in a way that the media—particularly cable news—often seems unwilling or unable to do. What isn’t need is a big list of Trump’s lies; of course he lies when he’s capable of saying anything coherent at all. What is needed is a reporting of essential, factually supported truth, and a willingness for the media to turn the lens away from a trainwreck in progress and instead look at what is actually causing the accident instead of just commenting about how horrible that it is happening.
