Sunday, November 26, 2017

President Trump and the Very Fake News

In a stunning display of failure to be self-aware, President Trump Tweeted a condemnation of "(Fake) news" in the form of CNN International while boosting the signal of an on-line conspiracy-theory mill, which probably ought to call into question whether Trump possesses any discernment at all for separating truth from lies, if one, for some peculiar reason, still had any question about this. What I don't necessarily think is a coincidence is that just recently, Russia declared that outlets (independent, not state-owned media outlets, mind you) like CNN International, should be treated as "foreign agents" in the way that the US now treats RT (formerly Russia Today) and Sputnik, both of which have been found to have been useful in pushing the line that Trump was preferable to Clinton in the 2016 election.

But of course, Trump has had a storied issue with CNN. He has Tweeted a wrestling meme in terribly poor taste regarding CNN, and Tweeted and deleted an even more distasteful one regarding a cartoon in which a CNN reporter is killed by an oncoming train.  He has threatened CNN as a business over their coverage, and looks to be making good on that threat.

CNN's Twitter responded back,




But who knows what good that will do? Trump doesn't seem to even recognize media he himself was a part of as being real, as he has apparently intimated that he thinks the "Access Hollywood" tape that shows him stating he grabs women by the pussy had been doctored.

It is as if he views the only legitimate media as that which fluffs up his image, giving him awards and so forth, and he wants to be dismissive if not abusive towards any other kind. But he represents the US government. It's not his job to hound the media. And if he wanted them to make a better report on him, he could try doing a better job, right? (Oh right. He's Trump. He never will.) And yet Trump loves Fox News, which is basically the Trump Propaganda Network at this point.

Trump cries "fake news" because he worries the truth is getting told on him, and it isn't very favorable. But what are you going to believe, Trump's alligator mouth or his dead-canary understanding of what's going on in the bullshit mines?

1 comment:

Harry Hamid said...

And regardless of his misunderstanding of what news sources are supposed to do, he's not correct about Fox's importance in the United States.

There are about 4 million people - most of whom are 75 years old and won't vote Democrat under any circumstances - who sit around their house all day watching Fox News. Several of them are members of my family.

When actual news happens, people don't turn on Fox News. Fox News is comfort food for conservative retirees.

If you have any doubt about this, take a look at their ads. No one is trying to sell the 18-35 demographic catheters, gold, and Anne Murray records all day and night.

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