Friday, July 7, 2017

Donald Trump vs. The Media



In order to deal effectively with adversaries it is necessary to have accurate information about them and an ability to process this information accurately.   The establishment media is failing miserably in their efforts to discredit Donald Trump because they have a distorted view of Trump and a high opinion of their own abilities that borders on delusional.  Donald Trump is a genius.  One of the traits of his genius is the ability to convince people that he is not all that bright and that he is hypersensitive about insults.  He is continuously underestimated by his critics who repeatedly claim that his last mishap has destroyed him.  Tony Schwartz, who helped Trump write “Art of the Deal,” explained how Trump “plays” people: “On the phone with business associates, Trump would flatter, bully, and occasionally get mad, but always in a calculated way,” Schwartz recalled that he once saw Trump verbally abuse someone on the phone, hang up, look at Schwartz and calmly say something like, “Do you think it worked?”

Trump’s opponents think they are significantly more intelligent than him.  This is one of the traps he has sets.  These people are paid enormous salaries to read from teleprompters or pontificate about subjects about which they know little or nothing.  People like Mika Brzezinski who believe it is her job to control what people think reportedly had the lowest SAT scores in the history of the college she attended.  Wolf Blitzer embarrassed himself when he appeared on Jeopardy.  Al (“resist we much”) Sharpton reveals that he could not even read from a teleprompter.   Yet people condemn Trump for being as Martin Sheen dubbed him an “empty-headed moron.”  Sheen knows how a president should act because he played one on TV.  This is reminiscent of Rep. Tom Daschle who invited four actresses who had played farm wives in movies—Jane Fonda, Sissy Spacek, Jessica Lange, and Sally Field—to testify before the Democratic members of a House committee on Capitol Hill about the future of family farms.  When people confuse fantasy with reality there is a problem.

One of Trump’s most effective tools is his twitter account.  Friend and foe alike has advised him to abandon this form of communication.  The loudest people advising him to abandon twitter are the ones who have been damaged by it the most.  Many of these posts are outrageous.  They are intentionally so.  Had Trump tweeted, “Mika Brzezinski is being unreasonable,” his message would not have garnered media attention.  Trump uses his twitter account to communicate directly with the public without the establishment media’s filter.  At one time the establishment media held a monopoly on information.  The loss off their power has deranged many of them.  One example of how the media shades news stories is provided by Paul Waldman’s comment about an “unprovoked assault on a journalist.”  While Congressman Gianoforte should not have assaulted this journalist he could have had security remove him and possibly press charges against him.

Trump tends to exaggerate and is often imprecise.  He is therefore accused of lying.  But these claims frequently turn out to have a firm basis.  His claim about illegals voting may be backed up by a Harvard study on illegal voters.  He tweeted, “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!”  Obama obviously did not personally “wire tap” Trump Tower.  “Wire tapping” is no longer done.  This does not invalidate the essential truth of his statement.

The media establishment wraps itself in the flag and the First Amendment.  Carl Bernstein complained “It’s not just anti-CNN, it’s anti-freedom of the press, it’s anti-freedom of speech.”  The Committee to Protect Journalists stated, ”Freedom of the press is a cornerstone of our democracy. The press are the people's window into the halls of power, and most importantly, they are the people's check on that power. When the president attacks the press, he attacks the people."  Jonathan Ernst from Reuters claims Trump’s attacks on the press threaten to undermine public confidence in its work.  What they are intentionally missing is that Trump is not attacking the press.  He is addressing the establishment media’s abuse of the First Amendment.  The press has undermined itself by promoting laughably fake news stories.  Victor Davis Hanson observed, “CNN is now no longer a news organization, but has been reduced to caricature by Trump hatred.”  Trump has encouraged their irrational reports.

Reporters are now in fear of their lives.  A reporter for a porn magazine confronted Trump’s spokesperson for commenting on a retracted CNN story.  He claimed she was being “inflammatory” for reporting the facts of this incident.  The Committee to Protect Journalists issued the statement, "Targeting individual journalists or media outlets, on or offline, creates a chilling effect and fosters an environment where further harassment or even physical attack is deemed acceptable.”  They condemned “the president's threat of physical violence against journalists.”  Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, claimed Trump will inspire someone "to do something violent against journalists in a large way."  Ana Navarro claimed Trump’s tweet was, “an incitement to violence. He is going to get somebody killed in the media.  The president of the United States is inciting violence against the free press and America.”

It is actually Trump’s opponents who are promoting violence.  Robert DiNiro wants to punch Trump in the face.  Tim Kaine told Democrats to “take the fight to the streets.”  Madonna wants to blow up the White House.  Johnny Depp is talking about its time for actors to assassinate President’s.  Kathy Griffin holding DJT’s bloody head failed the humor test.  Rapper Snoop Dogg's new video features a mock shooting of a clown version of Donald Trump.  Shakespeare in the Park depicts an assassination of Trump.  Howard Dean answered by labeled Trump voters as people “with guns that want to shoot up the place” and the NRA as a “white supremacist organization.”

Jonathan Ernst complains, “it feels demoralizing to be attacked repeatedly by the president of the United States; some feel physically threatened.”  Could a president also be demoralized by relentless criticism?   Donny Deutsch protested,  “Enough is enough with this disgusting vulgar man and to talk about women that way, and the irony is you physically look like you do, beyond the stupidity of it. You are a pig.”  Jerry Springer declared,  “I’m sorry, but Trump’s behavior is not just beneath the dignity of the presidency…but that of any decent man.”  De Niro also calls Trump “blatantly stupid,” “a punk” and a “bulls–t artist.”  Reza Aslan CNN’s religious scholar called Trump a piece of shit.  Stephen Hawking attributes the end of the world to Trump: “We are close to the tipping point where global warming.”  Where were these critics when Bill Clinton was abusing an intern or when Barack Obama was inviting rap singers to the White House? 

Trump concentrates his attacks on members of the elite.  President Obama, Hillary Clinton and their media allies concentrated their attacks on the Deplorables and people clinging to their guns and bibles.  They have a distorted view of reality.  Yet Jonathan Ernst who claims Trump “inflated his mediocre business career,” believes  “Trump has a knack for choosing weak adversaries.”  Donald Trump has taken on the media with its tens of thousands of researchers, academia, the bureaucracy and a large part of the business community.  To claim a multibillionaire has had a mediocre business career and to claim he attacks weak adversaries in an indication of a lack of attachment to reality.


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