The Press Is Trump’s Enemy, Not the Left’s Friend

You seem to still be angry at the fact that candidates who couldn’t unite their party lost.

Should we equate President Trump’s use of Twitter to FDR’s Fireside Chats?

Apparently you ruined your whole articles point for some partisan readers by using Kucinich as an abused left politician. I, on the other hand, thank you for your even keel in your writings.

Having worked as an editor at four major newspapers for more 30 years, I agree wholeheartedly with everything Ian says. Journalists absolutely work for their owners.

But we should also be aware of the fact that major media — the press — are concentrated in the blue islands nationwide and cater to those audiences. It is a matter of survival as well as inbred inclination.

However, this leaves us with no nationally important newspaper or media outlet of any sort based in Oklahoma, Ohio, Michigan or any other inland state or locale. So there is no responsible, vetted, established, old-media voice that truly represents the mining, agricultural and manufacturing regions or that provides anything like a clear read of populist sentiment nationwide.

For folks who think things would be better had Bernie won, this Russia phobic hysteria would still be occurring. It seems no mistake that just as a socialist is ascendant, the well to do start seeing spies everywhere. Please keep that in mind when the bastards are trying to press your fear buttons.

As is so often the case; Ian’s statement reflects the human condition with clear, unflinching accuracy…and as is so often the case, I agree with Ian:

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S Brennan permalink
February 17, 2017

C[xxxxxxxx] W;

While I voted for Trump to keep the she-demon from starting a war with the Russians [which she surely would have done] and the faint hope [now dashed by Schumer] of infrastructure investment, I have to disagree with point “If they hate Trump… that means he’s on our side”.

The enemy of your enemy is not necessarily your friend…as America’s dalliance with radical Islam starting in the late 70’s has so often proven.

That said; watching so called “liberals” willingly, publicly and frequently fellate the CIA, calling for a Staci-state and attempting a war with Russia tests the limits of Orwellian doublespeak as today’s so called “liberals” would be, in a sane world, referred to as fascists. And I don’t mean that as insult, just an attempt at an accurate description based on their observed behavior.

The mainstream media were not Trump’s friends, but he played them like a fiddle. I saw Chris Matthews on CSPAN say that the media informed the public well and thoroughly about Trump. (In context, that meant that their coverage was largely negative.) But negative publicity, while it may have bothered Trump personally, did not bother him strategically at all. He manipulated the media into giving him a whole lot of free publicity. They repeated and broadcast his messages, in order to criticize them. Matthews made his remarks on a panel discussion that was not, according to its title, about Trump, but the panel talked about little else. The media does not have to be your friend for you to take advantage of it. (And the media is not a monolith, anyway.) This is not rocket science.

“giants are fighting above our heads….”

What an apt way of putting it Ian. I remember reading a blogpost years ago that chided efforts on behalf of Republican activists to reduce trust in the institutions of the nation. I remember the fellow saying how dangerous this was and that once lost this institutional trust could not easily be regained.

I think he was right but too constrained in his view. The fact is that most of these large institutions (the media, the political parties, governmental bureaucracy, our political and academic “elite”, etc) lost the public trust because they were, in fact, untrustworthy. These institutions forsook the duties they had been entrusted with and cashed it in. Literally.

As you said these institutions are epic in scale. The forces that have been unleashed on our society are just as epic. Trust in government and the institutions of society sounds so nebulous that we forget it one of the things that binds our nations together. This nation is so fragmented and divided that without a common bond of this sort what is it exactly that holds it together?

As an example: There is a small but vocal movement to pursue secession in California.

Be honest, if that were put to a vote from the REST of the nation would it be approved? Same for Texas or New York. I think it likely that the rest of the nation would rejoice at the prospect of splitting the blanket with them.

These forces may be a long time in coming but they pack a punch when they get there. We’ve seen these giants become not just unresponsive to the needs of the nation as a whole but actively harmful. We have a big job in front of us if the damage is to be undone. And don’t kid yourself, these giants that need slain are spread across the political and economic spectrum.

This cracks me up:

“professors are teaching a course on bullshit…so very important in the Age Of Trump”

8 years* of Clinton’s bullshit, 8 years* of Cheney’s bullshit, 8 years* of Obama’s bullshit, 2 years* of Hillary’s and Chuck is under the delusion that within weeks we’ve started a new age of bullshit…give-me-a-break…sheesh.

*still dishing it out

Stirling S Newberry says:

Clinton deconstruction of FDR/LBJ’s financial-regulations/social-safety-net and massive incarceration of blacks pales in comparison to what Trump has wrought in one month

Stirling S Newberry says:

Bush/Cheney’s Iraq war, abrogation of the ABM treaty and nascent police state pales in comparison to what Trump has wrought in one month.

Stirling S Newberry says:

Obama/Hillary’s regime change wars in Lybia/Syria/Ukraine, bail out of the financial criminals that destroyed millions of Americans lives, his protection of the rating agencies who engaged in financial fraud, his massive incarceration of those who spoke out against in the Occupy movement and finally his work to enlarge Bush/Cheney police state in to a digital Staci State pales in comparison to what Trump has wrought in one month.

S Brennan says:

Stirling S Newberry’s bullshit is pretty effing deep and the young who are deluded by his bs will be blindsided by reality.

“It seems no mistake that just as a socialist is ascendant, the well to do start seeing spies everywhere. Please keep that in mind when the bastards are trying to press your fear buttons.”

Somebody has already tried that on me. He expected me to be hysterical over alleged Russian election hacking. I told him that I thought throwing Presidential elections was the Supreme Court’s job.

Beyond that that I told him about Mark Blyth’s presentation on Global Trumpism and strongly encouraged him to watch it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bkm2Vfj42FY

I notice that US citizens are extremely politically confused. I hear Republicans tell me that Democrats like Obama and Clinton are Marxist. I wish! I have no idea how two candidates who have done everything they can to allow the banking industry to engage in all sorts of illegal and economy ruining behavior are “Marxist”. Those two are the epitome of crony capitalists.

Of course, most Democrats seem to think Obama and Clinton are socialists. They believe they are good people. I don’t know how starting seven wars, drone killing civilians, to include the deliberate targeting of weddings and funerals during double taps, the selling of white phosphorus to Saudi Arabia for use on poor Yemenis, etc. constitutes being a “good” person.

I see right hating left, left hating right. I see everyone hoping for a savior and few people caring about what having a savior (mother or father figure to fix everything) means. It means– fascism.

We got this confusion in large part due to the MSM promulgating lies. The MSM is ready to serve up wars, economic ruin, environmental catastrophe through lies of omission and commission. They have made certain our people are not informed. More importantly, they have made certain we are misinformed.

Trump isn’t a friend of most of his supporters. The left wing isn’t their friend either and that is something I find utterly shameful. Our population needs to get informed and act with altruism towards others. That is the only way out. No wonder these qualities are blocked at every turn by the powerful.

It is good that the old paraphrase what they think the young should be thinking … heaven for bid we get a new thought from the new generation.

( https://symbalitics.blogspot.com/2017/02/love-and-war-16.html Love and War – 16 )

I’m with S. Brennan on this one. (Dog help me lol.)

His taste is an awful lot like someone who has never seen a rich persons house would think a rich persons house looks like. That’s the big tip off. The second is the kinds of associations he likes to keep. His preferred associations are not the waspy types, but rat pack types.

Hard for me to get upset at his flagrent norm breaking. He’d stab you in the gut, not the back. The rattlesnake, not the poisoned apple.

I agree. It seems each day I witness some new example of the media or Trump jumping the shark. I saw Morning Joe a couple days ago where “Joe” was lambasting Trump for his idiotic remark about Sweden. Gotcha! Thing was, for his part, he talked about Trump looking for a new NSA head, confusing the NSA (big government spy agency) with the NSA (government position, National Security Adviser). Joe then went on to grandly conclude, “As Jesus said, those who live in glass houses should not cast stones,” mistaking a proverb for Scripture. What he was probably going for was the story of the adulteress who was to be stoned, John 8:7:

So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her

I should point out too that the poster child arrivistes and nouveaux riches were the Clintons. Compared to them, Trump was old money. For me, the difference between the two is who is willing to play ball with and, more importantly, be properly deferential to, the Establishment. Ultimately, Trump is playing ball, but he isn’t being deferential. Anyway, not a big deal because it’s all propaganda, and propaganda is not about consistency (or facts or logic) but instilling a message in an audience.

Finally, just wanted to say that nepotism plays a big part in who shows up in the media. Somebody above, for example, mentioned Chris Wallace, Mike Wallace’s son. Or even as in my reference to Morning Joe, co-host Mika Brzezinski is Zbigniew Brzezinski’s daughter.

Hard to believe this needs to be said, but I’m sure it does, so good on you for keeping on saying it Ian.

@CC

I think the last time we received real honest information from the media was when Walter Cronkite told us we were losing the Vietnam War. We need a source for accurate reporting of important news stories and issues but that mostly doesn’t exist with our present agenda propagandists.

Outright and repeated attacks on the corrupt media are the only way to keep everyone from being conditioned and directed by their constant assault on reality. This is the deep state media.

One of the best posts on a needing to be said subject that should be obvious but apparently isn’t that I’ve read in a long time. Major thank you.

The New York Times is now my ally, Ian, if not my friend. Their ineptitude in the run-up to the Iraq War is huge, but what about publishing the Pentagon Papers? For me, their history is checkered, but not suspect.

The NYT may hire lots of Ivy Leaguers and cover lots of elite weddings, but it is challenging the Trump administration at every turn. They are covering this defensive whinefest of an administration thoroughly and mercilessly, as is CNN, Politico, and the Los Angeles Times, who were all disinvited to a Spicer gaggle.

Should I look to the reporting of In These Times or Mother Jones instead? What kind of coverage will they provide?

On the Left I always worry about puritanism and an unwillingness to form coalitions with those toward the center. Your blanket condemnation of mainstream media is another example for me.

I am supportive of much of what you say, especially returning to Glass-Steagall, and really ramping up taxation of the wealthy, especially the super-wealthy.

If not NYT, where do you get news about the current administration? The Guardian? Do you find the Washington Post more credible? Do you divorce editorial policy, or ownership, from reporting? Or is all reporting suspect because of ownership or editorial policy?

Here’s my view of who’s responsible for the awful invasion of Iraq. The invasion was approved by most of Congress, and those representatives were elected by most of the pariticpating voters of the United States. If you’re an American and elected those representatives, or didn’t vote for someone who would have opposed the invasion, you’re responsible for the invasion. In a representative democracy, such as it is, I’m not into granting a pass for not voting or voting for the wrong representative. That the NYT didn’t help stop that invasion is indeed awful in itself, but it wasn’t the NYT that voted.