Hi Tom, Blaming the media, and they do demand blame, is interesting in that here we are using the media to show 45's depravity. There are some, many, screaming the same message/warning. So this is not about the media in general. We have allowed a well organized propaganda machine to operate under our 'free press/expression' value. By claiming to speak for God and Country they have captured, captured, a large following. Tar and feathers may be appropriate for some media. But WE ARE ALLOWING them to claim they are in the news business, when in court to claim they are in the entertainment business so don't have to tell the truth. We need to stop this treachery undermining democracy.
I just saw a discussion on fears among those who know what he was prevented from doing during his administration. No one said it was ‘normal.’ I remember a flurry of interviews with psychologists who did not describe his behavior as “normal.”
Given the constant coverage and outing of his criminal tendencies I have no idea why it is the media’s fault a noisy contingent likes his behavior. His followers are not looking for “normal”. They like him for being different, ruffling feathers, being tough and doing things no other candidate or president would do. Biden was elected because people wanted “normal.”
I’ve come to the conclusion that blaming the media is easy. Finding a solution, not so much. The media is not a monolith. In the meantime, his followers have their own communication channels teling them the revised version of what MSM says and why. That is what they believe. It was the purpose of DJT insisting the media is the enemy of the people. MSM reported it.
I agree...it IS surreal. If I keep responding to your excellent posts, it’s because I am trying to understand the trauma I am again experiencing due the elevation of Trump in our country’s politics and political psyche. I always thought that my fellow countrymen and women could be trusted to choose right and integrity over moral depravity and degradation. After President Biden’s election in 2020, I dared hope that they knew the difference plainly and that the choice (almost in as stark terms) between good and evil would always result, of course, in our choosing someone like Biden who is ‘good to the bone’. But is it so? I almost cannot bear the thought that a man so evil could AGAIN run the country...and I do mean run...into ruin and into a snapshot of his moral turpitude.
I seek reassurance that there is still hope, but I feel that the howling winds of winter carry my hope with them. I suppose I believe that to be an American is to also believe steadfastly in our ability and desire to hold on to what is right and just and fair for all, but is it true?
Aside from all of the criminal stuff 45 has done previously, he told voters to caucus tonight even though it’s so cold. If they die after going out in the dangerous weather, at least they got their vote cast. HOW SICK IS THAT. More proof he cares nothing about the American people and only about getting elected, not because he wants to govern, although he would like to be a dictator, but because it’s his get out of jail free card and his opportunity to pardon all of the wrong doers who conducted the insurrection at the Capitol. In the process destroying our legal system of punishment for crimes. And in that process destroying our Democracy. God Bless America. Wake up Americans. He’s not running to help you. The narcissist is only running to help himself !!!
Every bit of this is with us daily. Largely because the media we had come to rely on for unbiased news reporting continues to promote Trump as a reality show star that garners attention and gain revenue dollars.
We will push back, and HOPE that our Democratic leaders who are just NOW beginning to stand up for us. But what good does that do for the tens of millions of maggots who are so firmly in the cult that reasoning is a complete waste of time? (I know from personal experience.)
The MSM doesn't care—they figure whatever gets them clicks and money works. That's because television news is no longer seen as a public obligation but as a profit center. Not that news as public obligation was more "objective", it was just subjective to a much broader consensus than it is now. (No television news organization wanted to risk their broadcast license renewal by alienating TOO many people who might write in, after all!)
With the rise of cable news which wasn't beholden to the FCC or any regulation other than that of the municipalities allowing cable services in, the leash on network news was loosened up so they could compete better—or that's what Ronald Reagan said when he had the FCC remove the Fairness Doctrine! So with less regulation, broadcast news could pursue more profits, which meant keeping audiences watching them.
Online news outlets aren't beholden to anybody, not even their ISP. So.... 🤷♂️
"no longer seen as a public obligation but as a profit center" + the end of FCC regulation (under the repugnicant prezident ronnie reagan, I believe?) has destroyed media in our nation.
While the media, in the plural/aggregate is much at fault for keeping these false and dangerous narratives going, it is the apathy and inaction of large swaths of the public that is the enabler. This is how the MAGAs keep it going. “We” allow it.
Still, doing the numbers, the 85% of Republicans who support the position that his legal issues are a “witch hunt” is still a minority of voters. Thus getting out the vote should be our primary aim. This is the stuff of fiction yet it’s abundantly clear that there still is a large portion of the population who blindly and deafly follow Trump. We can never let our guards down. Let’s disappoint them.
CORPORATE news media is to blame for creating an environment which gives the false impression that this minority (less than 20%) of Americans -- who were/are so poorly educated they are unable to identify a danger to democracy -- is a majority. They are NOT A MAJORITY.
New poll: If the indicted former 45th president is the GOP’s nominee, the 46th president would likely win by 10+ points.
👇🏼💯 This is what happens when people just parrot what they hear and do not put things thru the logic test and think for themselves. The hypocrisy is mind numbing.🤦🏻♀️
“In several ways,” The Washington Post reported yesterday, “Trump is an unlikely hero for those who identify as deeply religious Christians given his history of committing adultery, promoting falsehoods, and uttering vulgar comments and insults about women and people who cross him. But many have overlooked these indiscretions and questionable morals.”
What’s extraordinary is his attack is upon other Republicans as “liars,cheaters,thugs etc etc”! His vendetta knows no bounds yet ordinary everyday republicans will enthusiastically cast their vote for him. I understand that there are such gullible folks out there but after fifty plus years in active politics in Virginia as well as California, I still find it very hard to believe that a majority of this country is so ignorant, foolish and destructive?
The comparisons between the present GOP/MAGA/Christian Nationalists led by their Führer and the Nazis cannot be overlooked or considered histrionic. We must believe what Trump says that he plans to do is what he will do. To him dark skinned people are vermin, the disabled “life unworthy of life”, the poor, unworthy of respect or care, soldiers are fools for not looking after profit, and those killed, wounded, captured, or disabled defending their country are “losers.” Only those absolutely loyal to him matter. The thought of him being elected again is frightening and sadly, even if he loses, the poison that has spread through the GOP and country will not go away anytime soon.
Great effort today, Steven, but I would add that these idiots are maybe 25% or less of the actual electorate, and as an optimist, feel that most of the 75% remaining will overwhelmingly vote for anyone who runs against Trump, not because of who is running, but because voting for Trump means the end of women's rights, the rights of those of color and nationality is in peril, and that the proof that these MAGA jokers are really wanting to take over without any plan of action except retribution and the destruction of the "vermin" who would dare to champion our democracy over dictatorship. Pretty simple choice, and I think the great majority of the ever increasing number of independents will have no problem choosing honesty, integrity and freedom over distrust, lies and violence.
It's amazing how many people believe his lies! He's quite a con man. He's also pathological, and he's infected a lot of people with his sickness. It's going to take a lot of work, and the media to wake up to the danger, to keep him far away from the White House.
The Bitter One leans on demonizing because he wants a certain type of “us against them” atmosphere to encourage hostility & bad behaviors. He provides ‘justification’ for them in defining “the other” as criminals, evil, etc.
He also said it is very important to vote for him, even if voters risk death and die.
I detect a theme. His words of war and death do not belong in an election.
This gives me an idea of how to begin to combat the ongoing onslaught of Trump disinformation. Let’s establish a BS hotline, kind of like the complaint system at the BBB. If you disagree with something a business did, start a complaint. In this instance we can have a free-for-all place for people of all stripes to issue complaints or concerns about how the media deals with Trump’s lies, Et al. It could be done on Substack, but that might limit the number of viewers and essentially preaching to the choir. But if media outlets were aware of this they might begin to realize that “We’re mad as hell” and won’t take it any more!
We might begin by figuring out what we want “the media” to do.
It’s the Independents and sour note Dems who will decide which way the election goes. Blame the media doesn’t really explain why DJT’s message resonates. His fans are not getting their info from most of what we consider MSM. They get the curated and spin view of what MSM reports on their pro-trump communication channels (not necessarily TV). They are not interested in new info.
I’m talking about MSM for sure. When Trump makes a bald faced like about any subject it should be the media’s responsibility to call it out. If they don’t we should address the medium and call them on it. Print or broadcast, regardless. We cannot afford to lose votes due to misinformation.
Appreciate getting a definitive answer. I knew you were talking about MSM. Just pointing out that his followers pay no attention to MSM so it won’t change their minds.
Personally, I’ve not seen him getting a free pass for lying - the notable exception being the pass he gets from his own voters. Some of them are willing to tell reporters or say in posts they know he lies (or euphemisms to that effect but don’t care or “all of them do”).
That is probably because my news consumption is limited to sources I consider reliable and can be verified. But there hasn’t been agreement by those who don’t want to endure another DJT administration on whether to ignore him (“don’t give him oxygen”), to swat down the lies or how to deal with the daily firehose of bad behavior. There really needs to be a strategy to sort that out. Otherwise the responses are buried in conflicting noise.
It can’t be all on the folks who report and opine on the news. Inoculation is a communication theory or strategy. It is one that DJT leans heavily on. It prepares someone for arguments or information they’ll hear contradicting what the speaker/candidate etc. want you to believe. Ex: “You’ll hear people say …”
Now there is an approach being developed to use it to do the opposite.
“Given the difficulty of dislodging beliefs based on misinformation, there is a growing field of research into helping people resist persuasion by misinformation in the first place. … Inoculation protects people against disinformation by teaching them to spot and refute a misleading claim. Inoculation messages can build up people’s resistance or “mental antibodies” to encountering misinformation in the future, the way vaccines create antibodies that fight against future infection.”
“These caucuses are your personal chance to score the ultimate victory over all of the liars, cheaters, thugs, perverts, frauds, crooks, freaks, creeps and other quite nice people. The Washington swamp has done everything in its power to take away your voice. But tomorrow is your time to turn on them….” This chills me down to my bones. Is this how Hitler did it?
Most folks probably aren’t paying much attention to all this right now. As we get closer I believe the trump phenomenon will at least partially collapse. He can’t sustain this level of shock without going over the top.
I have always wondered if this might be true...that, emboldened by the lack of pushback, he would eventually say something that is a bridge too far even for his supporters.
I have to believe that he will reap what he sows regarding media coverage. I’m referring to Adam Kinsinger’s well-publicized piece about how bad Trump smells. 🤣
Excellent piece!
Trump training his base and society generally to accept his victimhood and violence as normal. Media is lazy and complicit.
Hi Tom, Blaming the media, and they do demand blame, is interesting in that here we are using the media to show 45's depravity. There are some, many, screaming the same message/warning. So this is not about the media in general. We have allowed a well organized propaganda machine to operate under our 'free press/expression' value. By claiming to speak for God and Country they have captured, captured, a large following. Tar and feathers may be appropriate for some media. But WE ARE ALLOWING them to claim they are in the news business, when in court to claim they are in the entertainment business so don't have to tell the truth. We need to stop this treachery undermining democracy.
I just saw a discussion on fears among those who know what he was prevented from doing during his administration. No one said it was ‘normal.’ I remember a flurry of interviews with psychologists who did not describe his behavior as “normal.”
Given the constant coverage and outing of his criminal tendencies I have no idea why it is the media’s fault a noisy contingent likes his behavior. His followers are not looking for “normal”. They like him for being different, ruffling feathers, being tough and doing things no other candidate or president would do. Biden was elected because people wanted “normal.”
I’ve come to the conclusion that blaming the media is easy. Finding a solution, not so much. The media is not a monolith. In the meantime, his followers have their own communication channels teling them the revised version of what MSM says and why. That is what they believe. It was the purpose of DJT insisting the media is the enemy of the people. MSM reported it.
I agree...it IS surreal. If I keep responding to your excellent posts, it’s because I am trying to understand the trauma I am again experiencing due the elevation of Trump in our country’s politics and political psyche. I always thought that my fellow countrymen and women could be trusted to choose right and integrity over moral depravity and degradation. After President Biden’s election in 2020, I dared hope that they knew the difference plainly and that the choice (almost in as stark terms) between good and evil would always result, of course, in our choosing someone like Biden who is ‘good to the bone’. But is it so? I almost cannot bear the thought that a man so evil could AGAIN run the country...and I do mean run...into ruin and into a snapshot of his moral turpitude.
I seek reassurance that there is still hope, but I feel that the howling winds of winter carry my hope with them. I suppose I believe that to be an American is to also believe steadfastly in our ability and desire to hold on to what is right and just and fair for all, but is it true?
Do remember 81 million voted for the empathic Biden in 2020. But your point is well taken.
Thank you, Steven!😀
It is true for many of us--we just have to keep pushing back.
Pushing back is what we must do.
It’s exhausting. 😢
I feel the same.😩
❤️
"the trauma I am again experiencing due the elevation of Trump in our country’s politics and political psyche." Same here. Precisely.
Aside from all of the criminal stuff 45 has done previously, he told voters to caucus tonight even though it’s so cold. If they die after going out in the dangerous weather, at least they got their vote cast. HOW SICK IS THAT. More proof he cares nothing about the American people and only about getting elected, not because he wants to govern, although he would like to be a dictator, but because it’s his get out of jail free card and his opportunity to pardon all of the wrong doers who conducted the insurrection at the Capitol. In the process destroying our legal system of punishment for crimes. And in that process destroying our Democracy. God Bless America. Wake up Americans. He’s not running to help you. The narcissist is only running to help himself !!!
How sick is it? As bad as it gets. And that's REALLY BAD.
Every bit of this is with us daily. Largely because the media we had come to rely on for unbiased news reporting continues to promote Trump as a reality show star that garners attention and gain revenue dollars.
Push back! Don’t buy it. Leave them disappointed.
We will push back, and HOPE that our Democratic leaders who are just NOW beginning to stand up for us. But what good does that do for the tens of millions of maggots who are so firmly in the cult that reasoning is a complete waste of time? (I know from personal experience.)
The MSM doesn't care—they figure whatever gets them clicks and money works. That's because television news is no longer seen as a public obligation but as a profit center. Not that news as public obligation was more "objective", it was just subjective to a much broader consensus than it is now. (No television news organization wanted to risk their broadcast license renewal by alienating TOO many people who might write in, after all!)
With the rise of cable news which wasn't beholden to the FCC or any regulation other than that of the municipalities allowing cable services in, the leash on network news was loosened up so they could compete better—or that's what Ronald Reagan said when he had the FCC remove the Fairness Doctrine! So with less regulation, broadcast news could pursue more profits, which meant keeping audiences watching them.
Online news outlets aren't beholden to anybody, not even their ISP. So.... 🤷♂️
Exactly right. Without the fairness doctrine they have no obligation to speak objectively.
"no longer seen as a public obligation but as a profit center" + the end of FCC regulation (under the repugnicant prezident ronnie reagan, I believe?) has destroyed media in our nation.
It was more of a group effort, started by Reagan and finished by Bill Clinton in 1996:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_Act_of_1996
Push back!
Tell me HOW?
While the media, in the plural/aggregate is much at fault for keeping these false and dangerous narratives going, it is the apathy and inaction of large swaths of the public that is the enabler. This is how the MAGAs keep it going. “We” allow it.
So true! I’m dumbfounded by all the “passes” he gets.😠
Push back!
Dems are JUST now starting to do it. Praying that it will be enough. If not...
Still, doing the numbers, the 85% of Republicans who support the position that his legal issues are a “witch hunt” is still a minority of voters. Thus getting out the vote should be our primary aim. This is the stuff of fiction yet it’s abundantly clear that there still is a large portion of the population who blindly and deafly follow Trump. We can never let our guards down. Let’s disappoint them.
Exactly, Richard.
You are correct, Richard.
CORPORATE news media is to blame for creating an environment which gives the false impression that this minority (less than 20%) of Americans -- who were/are so poorly educated they are unable to identify a danger to democracy -- is a majority. They are NOT A MAJORITY.
New poll: If the indicted former 45th president is the GOP’s nominee, the 46th president would likely win by 10+ points.
👇🏼💯 This is what happens when people just parrot what they hear and do not put things thru the logic test and think for themselves. The hypocrisy is mind numbing.🤦🏻♀️
“In several ways,” The Washington Post reported yesterday, “Trump is an unlikely hero for those who identify as deeply religious Christians given his history of committing adultery, promoting falsehoods, and uttering vulgar comments and insults about women and people who cross him. But many have overlooked these indiscretions and questionable morals.”
“Questionable” morals? This media equivocation is exactly what enables him.
What’s extraordinary is his attack is upon other Republicans as “liars,cheaters,thugs etc etc”! His vendetta knows no bounds yet ordinary everyday republicans will enthusiastically cast their vote for him. I understand that there are such gullible folks out there but after fifty plus years in active politics in Virginia as well as California, I still find it very hard to believe that a majority of this country is so ignorant, foolish and destructive?
(I hope not "majority"! Rather, a vast majority of pugs.)
Steven,
The comparisons between the present GOP/MAGA/Christian Nationalists led by their Führer and the Nazis cannot be overlooked or considered histrionic. We must believe what Trump says that he plans to do is what he will do. To him dark skinned people are vermin, the disabled “life unworthy of life”, the poor, unworthy of respect or care, soldiers are fools for not looking after profit, and those killed, wounded, captured, or disabled defending their country are “losers.” Only those absolutely loyal to him matter. The thought of him being elected again is frightening and sadly, even if he loses, the poison that has spread through the GOP and country will not go away anytime soon.
All the best, be safe,
Steve
Great effort today, Steven, but I would add that these idiots are maybe 25% or less of the actual electorate, and as an optimist, feel that most of the 75% remaining will overwhelmingly vote for anyone who runs against Trump, not because of who is running, but because voting for Trump means the end of women's rights, the rights of those of color and nationality is in peril, and that the proof that these MAGA jokers are really wanting to take over without any plan of action except retribution and the destruction of the "vermin" who would dare to champion our democracy over dictatorship. Pretty simple choice, and I think the great majority of the ever increasing number of independents will have no problem choosing honesty, integrity and freedom over distrust, lies and violence.
It's amazing how many people believe his lies! He's quite a con man. He's also pathological, and he's infected a lot of people with his sickness. It's going to take a lot of work, and the media to wake up to the danger, to keep him far away from the White House.
The Bitter Season. Such an apt description.
The Bitter One leans on demonizing because he wants a certain type of “us against them” atmosphere to encourage hostility & bad behaviors. He provides ‘justification’ for them in defining “the other” as criminals, evil, etc.
He also said it is very important to vote for him, even if voters risk death and die.
I detect a theme. His words of war and death do not belong in an election.
Can I just say that this community is just GREAT. You save my sanity! There’s nobody I’d rather spend time with in the Gulag...🤣
👍
This gives me an idea of how to begin to combat the ongoing onslaught of Trump disinformation. Let’s establish a BS hotline, kind of like the complaint system at the BBB. If you disagree with something a business did, start a complaint. In this instance we can have a free-for-all place for people of all stripes to issue complaints or concerns about how the media deals with Trump’s lies, Et al. It could be done on Substack, but that might limit the number of viewers and essentially preaching to the choir. But if media outlets were aware of this they might begin to realize that “We’re mad as hell” and won’t take it any more!
We might begin by figuring out what we want “the media” to do.
It’s the Independents and sour note Dems who will decide which way the election goes. Blame the media doesn’t really explain why DJT’s message resonates. His fans are not getting their info from most of what we consider MSM. They get the curated and spin view of what MSM reports on their pro-trump communication channels (not necessarily TV). They are not interested in new info.
I’m talking about MSM for sure. When Trump makes a bald faced like about any subject it should be the media’s responsibility to call it out. If they don’t we should address the medium and call them on it. Print or broadcast, regardless. We cannot afford to lose votes due to misinformation.
Appreciate getting a definitive answer. I knew you were talking about MSM. Just pointing out that his followers pay no attention to MSM so it won’t change their minds.
Personally, I’ve not seen him getting a free pass for lying - the notable exception being the pass he gets from his own voters. Some of them are willing to tell reporters or say in posts they know he lies (or euphemisms to that effect but don’t care or “all of them do”).
That is probably because my news consumption is limited to sources I consider reliable and can be verified. But there hasn’t been agreement by those who don’t want to endure another DJT administration on whether to ignore him (“don’t give him oxygen”), to swat down the lies or how to deal with the daily firehose of bad behavior. There really needs to be a strategy to sort that out. Otherwise the responses are buried in conflicting noise.
It can’t be all on the folks who report and opine on the news. Inoculation is a communication theory or strategy. It is one that DJT leans heavily on. It prepares someone for arguments or information they’ll hear contradicting what the speaker/candidate etc. want you to believe. Ex: “You’ll hear people say …”
Now there is an approach being developed to use it to do the opposite.
“Given the difficulty of dislodging beliefs based on misinformation, there is a growing field of research into helping people resist persuasion by misinformation in the first place. … Inoculation protects people against disinformation by teaching them to spot and refute a misleading claim. Inoculation messages can build up people’s resistance or “mental antibodies” to encountering misinformation in the future, the way vaccines create antibodies that fight against future infection.”
https://inoculation.science/inoculation-theory-a-beginners-guide/
“These caucuses are your personal chance to score the ultimate victory over all of the liars, cheaters, thugs, perverts, frauds, crooks, freaks, creeps and other quite nice people. The Washington swamp has done everything in its power to take away your voice. But tomorrow is your time to turn on them….” This chills me down to my bones. Is this how Hitler did it?
Most folks probably aren’t paying much attention to all this right now. As we get closer I believe the trump phenomenon will at least partially collapse. He can’t sustain this level of shock without going over the top.
I have always wondered if this might be true...that, emboldened by the lack of pushback, he would eventually say something that is a bridge too far even for his supporters.
I have to believe that he will reap what he sows regarding media coverage. I’m referring to Adam Kinsinger’s well-publicized piece about how bad Trump smells. 🤣
They could call it The Great Exstinkion🤣🤣
Keep pushing back!