Whatever you think of Bill O’Reilly, he’s a smart guy and he’s been around the block a couple of times. Consider these observations of his at The Hill:
There are two levels to the hate-Trump media movement. First, the national press corps largely believes he is not qualified to run the country and his flamboyant personal style offends the media elite who consider him to be a vulgarian.
The second level is pure ideology. Under President Obama, the United States lurched left in a dramatic way. Political correctness became the order of the day, and conservative thinkers were branded racists and bigots simply for opposing liberal policies. The press encouraged that massive deception, and the demonization of selective conservative individuals became acceptable. Groups funded by people like George Soros have actually organized into propaganda hit squads using a sympathetic media to spread their vicious invective.
Here’s his advice to the president:
Tweet facts, Mr. President, not insults. Hammer your opposition with verifiable statements. Do that, and you may ultimately prevail against a press that often abuses its freedom — a media where seeking the truth is becoming obsolete.
I suspect his analysis of the media is just about right. I hold no hope that President Trump will take his advice. What I think is likely to happen is that both Trump and the media will continue what they’ve been doing. And, as in mud rasslin’ with a pig, Trump will like it and the media will get even dirtier. We will permanently assume the situation that prevails in the United Kingdom where news outlets are associated with specific political parties.
When they made Trump stop tweeting the last month or so of the campaign, the media covered his policies and his speeches, just like every other politician.
Steve
That was before an excuse for Hillary’s loss needed to be ginned up.
Trump should cut the crap just out of respect for the office, the silly nature of a good portion of it and the distraction. Apparently he feels it’s an effective way of going over the top of the media, and a useful foil.
Anyone expecting the media to change is delusional.
The press was less hostile during the GE, because no one thought he would defeat HRC, and his showmanship helped everyone’s ratings. Dialing back on more sensational tweets did redirect the focus of the MSM more to policy, as there was nothing else to feed on.
However, once Trump won the presidency, the aim of the press was to take down his presidency – period. He no longer became a temporary side show for them, but was someone who was totally shzkng up their world of news, as they wanted it to play out.
Consequently, while I think tweeting less confrontational stuff – concentrating on policy etc. – might lessen the ruffled sensibilities of Indies and the GOP establishment, the Dems and the MSM will not be satisfied until Donald Trump is destroyed.
Just look at George Bush’s reign, and where his political civility got him!
Jan, presidents don’t reign. That’s part of what got us into this mess. They’re employees of the American people.
President Trump was hired by 36% or so of the public to wave the finger at the establishment. The rest would have voted Republican if they ran a black bear (yellow-dog Democrat, comparable). It’s all a game.
The more the President and the media fight, the higher his approbation in his base, and the higher the media income. It’s a win-win for them. Just not the rest of us.
About those anonymous sources, even Kevin D Williamson says they’re not really anonymous. The reporters know who they are. This is an unusual presidency in that so many close to him are taken aback by his behavior, and others like Bannon are truly media savvy.
Bannon even has Breitbart.
I think the Russia story is real in a way most readers here don’t. It’s a new use of technology that needs to be studied. Given the 1st Amendment, I don’t know how much could be done to counter it, but at least people can be informed.
Note: Kevin D. Williamson is National Review.
As for fake news, my favorite story of this past week is the “patriot” shooting himself in the leg at a hoaxed protest at Gettysburg:
http://www.pennlive.com/news/2017/07/patriot_shot_in_leg_gettysburg.html
These guys need to handle their guns better if they’re going to carry them around.
I think the Russia story is real; I just don’t think it’s particularly important. I think that we’ve been interfering in Russian elections since there have been Russian elections, Russia interferes in our elections, China interferes in our elections, everybody interferes in everybody else’s elections.
The importance of the story is to put a fig leaf on the Democratic National Committee’s incompetence in foisting Hillary Clinton on Democrats. They should have accepted responsibility and fallen on their swords. Instead they blamed the Russians.
Oh, now, there’s no doubt about the fig leaf. That’s outrageous, and the proper Dems do accept responsibility. Hillary might not, but, hey, she’s barely likable anyway.
Real Dems now are in a struggle to figure out which direction to go from here. I follow Dave Weigel at the Washington Post for the Dems. He’s on the ground following all the local races, and at DNC meetings and all that sort of thing. Beats me when he washes his clothes.
And you must admit, Dave, the way the all the information was handled this year is something else. From the way the DNC files were hacked, to the bot network for distribution — that wasn’t there in the last election. Or perhaps I just wasn’t paying attention. I was a mess at the time. (God love you.)
Wait, that was 2012. My favorite boy was alive.
I remember, and you can look at your comments, that there were two main reasons I didn’t care for Romney as a candidate.
He was rattling sabers at Iran. A loser, especially when at war with Iraq and Afghanistan.
He held the most conservative Republican position on contraception and abortion.
Not expressed here, but he had as coattails the Tea Partyers, who were mainly social conservatives parading as small government advocates — mostly concerned about the “Homosexual Agenda” which was gaining ground during the Obama administration.
This president is such an inveterate liar that his own lawyers double-teamed him so they had a witness to what he might say.
He had his, I won’t say beautiful but well-kept, wife on the Howard Stern show to describe her sexual life with him.
And he won’t use his genuinely lovely smile in office because he thinks looking like a cane toad emulates Winton Churchill.
Gawd, I miss George W Bush, wars and all.
Guarneri, the guy drives his cart on the greens:
http://www.tmz.com/2017/06/22/president-trump-driving-cart-on-golf-course-green/
That link doesn’t work anymore. How bout this one at Golfweek:
http://golfweek.com/2017/06/22/president-donald-trump-drives-cart-over-green-at-own-golf-club/