Based on the media’s frenzied response to every absurd Trump uttering, Trump could declare that he will blow up the moon and the MSM would be debating each day if he really will and if so, will Ivanka stop him from blowing up Mars next?
Those of us who live on the non-blown-up planet Earth (at least as of now) and have lived enough life to hear 5 year olds try to lie successfully, recognize the transparent manipulation Trump uses in his frequent lies.
When Trump was first getting hammered by leaks about his campaign’s ties to Russia then suddenly claimed that Obama had wiretapped him, sensible people knew it was a petulant lie. When Trump threatened James Comey not to tell the press about Trump’s possibly criminal behavior with him to potentially obstruct justice because there might be tapes, sensible people heard echoes of a schoolyard bully’s empty threats. Now that the investigation of Trump’s potentially criminal acts and his campaign’s likely collusion with Russia is getting staffed up with tough and seasoned personnel, Trump’s people have been clamoring that he may fire Independent Counsel Robert Mueller, sensible people once again see the grit Trump is trying to throw in the eyes of the public with another sensationalist lie.
And how does the media respond to Trump’s lies intended to stoke the media and through them, his base? They become stoked. They pump up their pundit budgets and yammer all day about, “What if this lame lie of Trump’s comes true?”
By swallowing whole the lies that Trump tosses out to drive their “news” days and exploit the tabloid nature of the lies to shock and attract viewership, the MSM is collaborating with Trump just as they did during the campaign. They are instantly validating his lies and manipulation and clutching their pearls and gasping at them because it’s good for ratings.
Despite the media hysteria over each Trump lie as possibly being true, they also pander to the anti-Trump majority by portraying Trump as a liar and untrustworthy. So which is it, MSM? Is Trump a liar who shouldn’t be believed or should everything he says, no matter how obviously dishonest, be debated by pundits as if it’s true?
Here at The Planet, we don’t have the resources that the MSM has but maybe we can help them figure out the simple stuff. No, there was no Obama wiretapping of Trump. No, there are no White House recordings of Comey’s discussions with Trump or any other recordings (does the MSM really believe that the obviously incompetent Trump is instead an evil genius who is three steps ahead of everyone and despite the disarray of his Admin, designed and implemented a White House surveillance system to record conversations in order to prove it’s really those who aren’t “loyal” to Trump who are the liars?). No, Trump is not going to fire Mueller (even Trump’s people are now pushing back on this).
Trump has done and will continue to do outrageous things like firing Comey but his childish threats borne out of frustration are so obvious that the MSM seems to be intentionally ignoring their own reporting on Trump’s penchant for vindictiveness and use of dishonesty to manipulate away a focus on the truth.
After a year of this game (let alone 4 years if he makes it to the end of his term without being impeached), Trump lying provocatively to intimidate or manipulate and the MSM wringing their hands to pundit-worry if his latest lie might not be a lie, it’s hard to imagine that this symbiotic relationship will continue profiting either of them. Meanwhile, a majority of Americans already see Trump as a prolific liar and seem far more insightful than the profit-chasing MSM that keeps trying to breathe life into every Trump lie.
A new MSM motto may be adapted from an old cliche (that G.W. Bush is famous for messing up), “Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice, works for me if our ratings go up!”
A lie is a lie no matter who says it. When they come from the so-called leader of a powerful nation who is trying to obstruct justice, they impact the whole world.
Those in the media making excuses for trump’s lies, have now lost all credibility.
For all of us who have lost count.
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All of Trump’s false and misleading claims: the first 100 days
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-claims/
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All 294 false things Donald Trump has said as president
The Star’s running tally of every false claim the president of the United States of America has made, so far.
https://www.thestar.com/amp/news/world/2017/06/05/donald-trump-has-said-100s-of-false-things-heres-all-of-them.html
Kalima, it still seems like there’s a kind of shock and disorientation in the country over Trump being in the WH. The immensity of his lying and brashness of his dictatorial bent still seems hard for people to fully accept.
But that acceptance is required. Americans and the MSM need to acknowledge that Trump is indeed a vandal against democracy, he is a compulsive liar with no fixed beliefs, just an underlying motivation of serving his emotional needs to feed his ego. And lying is the handiest tool for that.
I can only imagine how intensely the desire will be in voters in 2020 to cleanse the nation of Trump’s corruption, ugliness and destruction of the office of president.
In the meantime, unless there an impeachment, we have three and a half years left of a demolition derby that continues trashing our government, the GOP and Trump at the same time.
Yes, a lie should be labelled as a lie, and guys like Lawrence O’Donnell do just that. Since I never watch nightly news on the networks I can not comment on them. But even correct labelling will never change the minds of the ‘true believers’ nor will it make guys like Paul Ryan do the right thing. Hence my use of the word ‘CONUNDRUM ‘.
gyp46, when it comes to trying to convince Trump supporters of reality, it is truly a conundrum. However, they only represent a minority of voters so unfortunately, it may be best just to write them off and focus energies on indies and soft Trump supporters.
How the MSM can help restore sanity is by calling things for what they are and affirming that truth and facts do exist and there are n “alternate” ones.
Trump’s lies always need to be called out immediately. Anything that sounds likely to be a lie, like claiming he might have video of Comey’s conversation with him, should be framed as, “Trump’s claim, which sounds more like an empty threat aimed at intimidation than an honest admission.”
Since the odds support that something Trump says is a lie, the MSM should present his statements as likely lies.
In any case, poll numbers show that most Americans recognize Trump is a shameless liar most of the time. What I’d like to see is the MSM catch up with what most Americans already know.
We are in agreement. Problem lies in turnout. Will enough voters turn out to oppose republican candidates in order to take the house and the Senate? I don’t see a thing being done to bring Trump down unless that happens. So far we are batting zero, OSSOFF in Georgia may yet win, but even that is now in doubt after massive lying campaign by dark money from the right, tomorrow will show if the common voter is awake.
A definite conundrum. Do we or don’t we? If we do we get labeled enablers, if we don’t we get labeled ‘not reporting’. While I totally agree the press should have stopped reporting every vicious utterance by trump way back during the republican primaries now he’s the President, though many wish he wasn’t, including me.. now we get every tweet and fart, and we will until somehow, someway, we can rid ourselves of this stain on our country.
gyp46, I think his lies should be reported but they should be reported as the lies they are. The repetitive hand wringing by MSM pundits over whether obvious lies aren’t lies is the real betrayal of the MSM.
Nearly everything Trump tweets and says has been proven to be a lie. So shouldn’t the MSM take the position of whatever he says to probably be a lie until proven otherwise?
It’s a simple numbers game. If 90% of what Trump says and tweets are lies, shouldn’t each new tweet or comment be placed in the 90% column instead fo the 10% one?
I agree with you that the press shouldn’t hide what’s going on from the public but they have an obligation to represent truth as truth and lies as lies.