Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Trump's right: Press is 'enemy of the people'

National View Column: Trump is right: The press is the 'enemy of the people' | Duluth News Tribune - Gordon Marino:

August 28, 2019 - "[I]f there is one point Trump seems right about, it is his infamous declaration that the press is the 'enemy of the people.' After all, it was the press, and especially cable television, that, more than anything, helped elect the president who would carry on a fake war against 'fake news.'

"Media today are driven by a desperate need for ratings because it is the number of hits that reels in the lifeblood of advertising revenue. No cable networks have criticized and lampooned Trump more than MSNBC and CNN; for three years now, Trump and his antics have monopolized their offerings. Why? Because those of us who wince at the words of our self-described 'stable genius' revel in hearing him excoriated....

"Recently, MSNBC’s 'Hard Ball' host Chris Matthews ended a segment by shaking his head in disgust over Trump’s extreme indifference to immigrant children. Then, almost under his breath, Matthews archly chuckled something to the effect that it would be hypocritical of him not to acknowledge that cable networks love Trump, too — and for the obvious reason that Trump is a magnet for viewers.

"TV talk-show hosts Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, Jimmy Kimmel, and Seth Meyers have been bottom-feeding off Trump for years, and even the incurious and uninformed president well understands that all publicity — or almost all — is good publicity. As for Fox, sometimes referred to as 'state television,' watch host Sean Hannity and company for a few days and you, too, might feel befuddled by people distraught over Trump’s behavior....

"The president’s mistruths are legendary, but hear something enough and it becomes hard to dismiss. Hear enough false blather, and it eventually drowns out both the truth and the demand for truth. It used to be a problem for a politician to blatantly contradict himself or herself, thanks in large part to never-ending press coverage. But the public now shrugs when Trump says one thing and then a few days later says the opposite — even when it is all caught on tape.

"Yes, Trump is right; the press is the 'enemy of the people,' because it is the press that not only provides him with boundless coverage but gets us to bite on the glittering lures Trump casts whenever he seems to want to divert attention from something like the Mueller testimony.... Trump loves to gin up conflicts and then congratulate himself for protecting us from the self-created conflicts. Likewise, the media created this Frankenstein’s monster of a president, and for all their vitriol against Trump, the talking heads know they depend on the man they love to hate."

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