Let’s talk about that shining political light Donald Trump and The Press.
Have you ever seen anyone so adept at digging deeper hole for himself virtually every day?
Speaking Friday at a rally in Erie, PA, for example, he pointed at the media platform and said: “These people are the lowest form of life, I’m telling you. They are the lowest form of humanity.”
The crowd responded approvingly, giving Trump the satisfaction he was seeking, I suppose.
But what a dummy! To the best of my memory, no one has ever gotten elected to anything by bashing the press. It has never worked and probably won’t for a long time, despite the thinning of the “mainstream media” ranks and the proliferation of new media models.
Remember Bob Dole? The year was 1996, and he was the Republican nominee, running against incumbent Bill Clinton. Dole railed against “the liberal media” and angrily denounced The New York Times for a pro-Clinton bias.
A story back then in The Weekly Standard, a conservative publication, said, “By all accounts, Dole’s audiences have loved this media-bashing.”
Fine and dandy. But what happened in November? Well, Dole lost the electoral vote 379 to 159 and the public vote by nine percentage points.
While surveys might show that much of the public says it doesn’t trust The Press, the vast majority of Americans intuitively understand that freedom of the press as it is practiced in our country is the best by far, and they rely on The Press to root out corruption and peel back the bullshit that so often shrouds the truth.
Trump’s latest demonstration of pique at The Press prompted The Times to do a story in today’s edition titled “Trump’s Other Campaign Foe: The ‘Lowest Form of Life’ News Media.”
At one point, the story quoted Kevin Madden, a former spokesman for Mitt Romney’s and George W. Bush’s presidential campaigns, on how futile it was for candidates to waste time tilting at the media windmill:
Whining about media coverage is just that: It’s whining. Any campaign that tells you it makes a difference with swing voters is just lying to themselves and lazy, because it’s easier than developing an actual strategy or message.
The Times’ reporters, Alexander Burns and Nick Corasaniti, added this bit of analysis: “If bashing the media proved an effective way of rallying the Republican base to his side during the primaries, Mr. Trump must now prove himself to a broader community of voters in the general election, who are far less preoccupied with the notion of press bias.”
From all accounts, Hillary Clinton has no love for The Press, either. She’s just smart enough not to talk about it. And shrewdly, an effective way she has chosen to deal with it is to hold precious few press conferences. That, of course, pisses off The Press no end…At the same time — just like Trump’s anti-journalistic drumbeat — it doesn’t bother the public a bit.
Also, in spite of The Press’ irritation at Clinton for refusing to hold press conferences, Trump’s hyperbolic press rants serve only to increase the media’s overall tilt toward Clinton.
…A wonderfully insightful and funny political cartoon appeared Friday on The Star’s Op-Ed page. It was by Glenn McCoy of the Belleville (IL) News Democrat. Under the headline “Hillary’s post-convention bump” were caricatures of Hillary, looking thick and dumpy, and an iconic reporter from yesteryear, wearing a nondescript tie and a hat with a “press” sign sticking out of the band…Looking slyly at each other, the two figures were exchanging a fist bump.
Onward and downward with that pit-bull, attack-the-press strategy, Mr. Trump!
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Jim:
I recently saw a video on line where people at a Trump rally are walking by the press, working on deadline at their computers, while people are hurling horrible words at them, giving them the finger and screaming at them to get out. The reporters simply had to grit their teeth and take it, without saying a word.
They are unsung heroes–daily.
Laura
Let’s face it, Trump loves to attempt to invoke the wrath of God on his enemies and perceived enemies.
Longtime reader and frequent commenter John Altevogt has tried to post a comment this morning, but for some reason it wouldn’t post for him.
JimmyCSays apologizes for what must be a technical problem and will check into it, if it persists.
Meanwhile, here’s John’s response to Laura’s comment:
Laura, I saw that video also. It is just a matter of time before reporters on both sides are physically attacked during this election cycle. Many reporters no longer have identifying insignias on their equipment anymore for fear of being accosted at these rallies and physically attacked.
Trump has a growing number of websites that do nothing but spew one lie after another while Hillary and the DOJ flaunt the law and simply ignore the media. Never has truth been at such a premium. Even Fox is denounced as being unfair to conservatives. Matt Drudge is held out as a stooge for Trump and an alternative site thenewamericana.com has been launched as an anti-Trump conservative site to compete with his.
A commenter on a recent entry stated that he felt I was oblivious to this. Far from it. I’ve toiled in the vineyards of the conservative movement for some twenty years. In 1972 i worked to get George McGovern elected and spent much of my adult life in sociology departments. To see now the culmination of our political history fall into the hands of a corrupt, felonious hag and a narcissistic liar whose every utterance is either unconstitutional, legislatively impossible, or an outright lie is not encouraging.
Worse yet is to see the history I studied on the rise of totalitarianism in Germany in the 30’s be reenacted on both sides of the fence is absolutely horrific. The only thing standing in the way are a few judges who uphold the structural constraints against authoritarianism and everyday they grow fewer in number.
The real heroes are the gadflies, people like Fitz’ cousin, who while a Bernie supporter, takes the time to look at the plank in the eye of her own movement and speak out against it. Quite frankly it doesn’t matter which side wins in November, the outlook for America is not very optimistic. It’s a really great time to be old.
For the sake of my kids and possible grandchildren, I hate to hear the words, “It’s a great time to be old.”
P.S. If anyone else has had a problem posting a comment, please let me know. If you don’t have my email address, you can advise me about it on the “About Me” page.
Vacuous. But which one should I label. I’m coming to some sense that HRC might only be able to win against a buffoon. It’s flabbergasting to watch this campaign cycle then ponder what it could constructively mean. I feel dumb just thinking about it. I would find it painful, as a insightful respected reporter, to face yet another day of this election year. Just get it over with. I’m tired of being aghast and dumbfounded. There is nothing else to be learned so let’s get on to the post-election regrets.
Sent from my iPhone
Don’t wring your hands so much, Jayson. I see plenty of good days ahead…