Donald Trump (cc photo: Gage Skidmore)
Some mystical power forces the corporate media to cover Donald Trump.
In the New York Times today:
But White House officials concluded about a month ago that the falsehoods had moved from “the nether regions of the Internet” into the mainstream political arena, thanks in large part to the efforts of Mr. Trump, the real estate developer and reality television host who has used the issue as a media magnet.
Dan Balz of the Washington Post elaborated on the PBS NewsHour:
I mean, I think that the press probably does bear some responsibility for this but there’s no question that what Donald Trump had done over the last month, in bringing this issue back to the forefront, at a time when I think most people thought it had been pretty well settled politically, not that—not that there wasn’t still some controversy, but that, for the most part, this wasn’t a live issue.
But Donald Trump helped to make it a live issue. And all the press coverage attendant to that, some of it aimed at debunking what Donald Trump was saying, nonetheless contributed to this atmosphere.
“Issues” are not brought “to the forefront” and made a “live issue” by some series of accidents, or the physical properties of magnets. Media outlets make decisions about what to cover. In Balz’s world, Trump started talking and the press simply had to cover it. Trump didn’t make anything a “live issue”—people who have television stations and newspapers decided to treat him as if he is a serious person.
Dan Balz was responding to Jim Lehrer saying of Obama, “He seemed to be blaming the press for keeping this story alive.” Imagine that!
People with money are ALWAYS “serious people.”
Could it be that the corporate media is just setting up its next court jester to help boost ratings when the election rolls around (as if it hasn’t already)? If Trump is wearing this as a victory and the media is buying it (and selling it), it is going to make for some entertainment come election time, damn the issues.
Far more critical thinking from your commentators than we have from news anchors.
Personally, I think Trump is disgusting in many ways. I would not watch his TV program if I was paid handsomely to do so. He must know what an oaf he is but, possibly, he thinks that is Sarah Palin can get so much attention for her stupidity, why shouldn’t he?
I think many people who voted in the last election will not vote in the next national election. The choices, to date, do not seem to care about the middle class other than how we can be used by those with money/power.
Donled Frump will not run for President; he has never had any intention of running. The news media who have, so loyally, covered his disgusting behavior and treated it as legitimate news, should be ashamed – but they’re not. Frump is in this for profits, the media is in this for profits, and truth and honor be damned.
There is an upcoming National Hiring Day #3 set for May 19th. Have you heard of it? Did you know about it? There have been over 100 mainstream liberal, conservative, and independent media sources notified. None will talk about it though they talk about jobs daily.
Yes the media chooses what to cover, and anything asking for a small small small bit of voluntary corporate responsibility will not be discussed. Oh wait McDonald’s has a National Hiring Day – and its discussed immediately!
National Hiring Day #3 is suggested for May 19, 2011. This is a day that corporations are encouraged to hire new employees. Corporations are called on to put patriotism first and help their country in hard times. Those corporations that cannot hire, are asked to stop firing for that month. The day was suggested by the 18 year old Dallas art and media zine Musea.
We must forget about the mainstream media, they’re basically useless and can’t be counted on to report on stories and divergent points of view that affect our daily lives. We need to follow the Middle East model and utilize social media in all its forms to promote and distribute stories, events, protests, etc. Forget the mainstream media.
Oh botheration…if Obama wanted to protect or restrict the circus access to the name of his biological father as I read theorised here and there explaining his resistance to posting his BC so be it but Trump, of whom it doesn’t matter what I think, caused, courtesy of the MSM, the posting and it was high time cuz then it precipitated a discussion of the racist undercurrent also in the MSM of the attention paid to Obama’s antecedents compared to every other executive…I never bought to crap about where he was born and his qualifications to run/be President but at last the birther extremists have been unequivocally silenced. Thank you “Donald Trump”.
oops! Should read “bought THE crap”…haha sorry!
How come Obama hasn’t thrown it back in Trump’s face by questioning HIS citizenship? What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
Trump gets covered because Trump is entertainment. Whether it’s his hair in Letterman’s Trump-or- Monkey routine or his taut, pursed mouth when he fires his apprentices, or his dive-bomber claims about his investigators’ work on Obama’s birth history (we’ll be AMAZED at what they’re finding), he’s a showman, a hustler, and a guy with great wealth and stage presence. No matter what he does, he’s irresistible. I have no respect for his values or the time the media devote to him, and he STILL gets my attention!
That Donald Trump, he’s a… he’s a real… schmuck.
If the Obama Administration and Congress would raise taxes on Trump’s fat stupid ass, THAT would be a media story worth the public’s attention.
Truth or not, the Post has got ‘Balz’.
Anna Nichol Smith was also a media magnet, which is all that needs to be said about our “informative” MSM.
Mr Trump has no chance to win a presidential run BUT….he is that special moment/person in time that happens when you mix a well known figure who has the ear of the press- and is willing to talk directly to the ruling class.Today he says why did you make such a mess out of a simple thing(birth certificate)?. Tomorrow he may ask (my question)….”with your lousy grades how did you get into columbia and Harvard?”I think the president will refuse to answer that question.In my experience he could not of ever entered Harvard.My advise to him would be to simply refuse to answer.Take the 5th
Next Trump will attack Obamas economic ideas.He will rip them to pieces.He actually has the experience and knowledge to understand they are all smoke and mirrors.Obama has never owned or run a popsickle stand.Here TRUMP is even gaining traction among the tea party.It is all about dragging our president out into the light. Tearing away his protective press shield,and forcing him to be a transparent president.Of course he is a fraud and a liar so that endeavor will be met with tons of resistance. Hopefully we can end this dance 2 Novembers hence.I would never vote for Trump,but i love that this grand mixer has entered the fray much to everyones discomfort.He does not need the job.He wont pull punches.And unlike Mccain …he bites back.I am enjoying him immensely.
Obama should investigate how TRUMP casinos manged to go bankrupt twice- good golly Trump in any other country would be jailed!
That Trump is one of the great frauds of our times is well known and understood–Spy magazine used to condemn and ridicule his sorry ass every month, and they never ran out of material. So, how was it that a known liar and racist asshole, a man of comically low morals and principles, was allowed to lead the Major Media around by the nose? It was, unfortunately, up to the President himself to point that the Media followed Trump’s lead from the beginning–the President had to actually scold the collection of imbecile sychophants before him, and properly treated them like the nincompoops and toadies that they most often are. They knew, full well and beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Trump’s lies were just that, and that Trump was beneath contempt. Yet they treated his outrageous celebrity with kid gloves, and his lies were given full faith and credit. A sorry sight indeed, especially seeing Trump declaring “victory,” his victory like that of a half-bright 12 year old boy who just jacked off for the first time (in public!). “I’m proud of myself,” declared the Great Self-Aggrandizer.
So, not surprisingly, the dumb and the stupid and the supremely ignorant–Mrs. Palin, the “Birthers,” the Right-wing in general, and of course the Trolls who fluttter in here and elswhere, completely, utterly mis-read what’s happened, and so the cycle of stupid can re-start. That Trump is a monumentally ignorant, greedy, lying simpleton is lost on these angry citizens. His abject, open racism–referring to black folks as “the blacks”– should have tipped off anybody with an IQ over 70. It should have been enough for even a pusillanimous toady like George Stephanopoulos, bit it wasn’t, was it? Boyish George sat there and took Trump’s blustering, phony rage after asking, not unreasonably, what evidence Trump might have that somehow “proved” that Trump’s “investigation” found evidence that the President was involved in a conspiracy to manhandle the beloved Constitution. “Next question, George!” Shouted Trump as Stephanopoulos sat there and just took it.
As the rest of the “Lamestream” media took it, too–mostly willlingly, perhaps a bit ruefully sometimes, but always accepting the jaundiced fact that in their world, no matter how awful someone is, their foul, ill-gotten station commands respect.
P.S.: Anybody–Anybody who thinks Trump is anything other than what I described him as above needs to get up off their knees, thank Trump one more time for his “contribution” to their miserable lives, and seriously reconsider their perversions in the light of their new discovery. Shut your pie-holes, and quit diggin’ already.
Ok Tim you don’t like Donald Trump.He made himself ,the president and America,look stupid- for forcing Obama to answer questions he refused to answer(even if they were blitheringly easy questions to set straight)..He is a blue meanie.We get it. Now with the greatest respect and admiration mr president, and heartfelt love and admiration for you sir(is that better?)We have a few more questions for you.How the hell did you enter Columbia and Harvard?And no sir that is NOT the only question.So maybe you better sit your skinny butt down.Your employers are sick of this duck dodge and hide mentality- from the man we hired to HAVE HIS FINGER ON THE BUTTON!!!!
Jerry S……He went broke twice because business declined,and he could not pay out his loans and operating costs(on his casinos).So he renegotiated his loans using collateral of his holdings.He was able to turn things around ,pay his loans off- and return to profit.The Casino industry is a tough tough industry.He probably will get out of it and resume his real love at some point . Real estate.He is hugely successful at most of his enterprises.Just look at his net worth.If his bid for the presidency fails(and it will)he will not be flipping burgers anytime soon.Or going to jail.Although…..if he does win the presidency ,assault a woman and lie under oath I would hope he does the time, and doesn’t let the time do him.Yo yo dog word!
Don’t play in it. Flush it.
That’s right, Jerry, Trump and half of Wall Street, and most of the Bush Administration, should be in prison. In a country that had any sense of it’s self-worth, or that actually had a functioning democracy, they would be. But here, the stupider and greedier you are, the better your chances of being exalted. That’s what really gets the rubes excited too–witness the screeching group of worshippers at Trump’s feet in Vegas (I’m sure it included, at least in spirit, Our Very Own Troll above), cheering on the great man as he spun his utterly unconvincing Everyman wisdom. Lacing his “ideas” with street-tough use of the word “fuck” and it’s cognates, Trump beautifully if unintentionally demonstrated how easy it is to put it over on the uneducated, willfully ignorant, resentful haters in the Good Old USA. Look for Trump to “write” an “editorial” in, say, some failing tenth-rate scandal sheet like the Washington Post, and expect an appearance on one of the Sunday Beltway talk shows, where the hosts can gasp and gape and in general be awed by Trump’s outrageous lies and gargantuan narcissism. All necessary, all following the standard arc of rising and falling political celebrity in Democracy Land.
No Tim you would be wrong about me liking Trump.I like any mixer (who cant win)being let in the game because they can talk honestly- or at least as far as their experience allows.But you hit it on the head when you said narcissism. Trump reeks of it.I believe all our presidents have this fault.Maybe it is even a job requirement here. But you must have an ounce of humility. And I do feel that Clinton ,Bush,and Obama had a certain balance there. Trump has no such filter.He would generate and believe his own press. Dangerous is the word that leaps to mind.