Wapo this morning: Trump persists in using claims that have been fact-checked repeatedly
… sigh. They’re not “claims,” Wapo. They’re lies: just say so. The weaslely way you’ve phrased this headline makes it sound like Donny is scrupulous in his fact checking.
Just about barfed when I went to check on Iowa caucus results last night and saw this headline on CNN:
Dazzling!
Alternative headline: Law-breaking authoritarian buffoon wipes his ass with civil norms yet again
JoshL
2060
Although apparently it was a total reality-show madhouse. He surprised a military family with the return of the husband/father. He surprised Rush with a Medal of Freedom (a bit ironic for a guy who wants half of Americans jailed or shot). He did everything but tell Congress to check under their chairs for car keys.
So I would say “dazzling” might not be inaccurate, but I also wouldn’t call it a compliment. It’s more synonymous with “bullshit”.
Read this piece, and despair. CNN was not alone.
rowe33
2063
I mean it’s just denial of reality. He literally just read off the teleprompter in monotone agonist the entire time. Master showman?? Wtf?
I took “master showman” as a left-handed compliment. The SotU was just a rehash of a lot of his rally material, with a couple reality-show gimmicks thrown in (e.g., “surprising” the woman with her husband) to add spectacle to an event that really ought to be about the POTUS sharing his thoughts on governing the country.
Nesrie
2065
Pretty sure his thoughts are something like this: money, money, money, me, me, me.
KevinC
2066
, pussymon gotta grab them all.
KevinC
2068
Figured it was one of the Republican hacks they have for clickbait over there.
Who knew, a long-time Republican operative and Forever Trumper thinks Trump is the adult in the room.
Nesrie
2069
He didn’t drool, fall on his face and threw crumbs out to minorities in his speech… so presidential!
The subheading gave it away. “Party Fealty.” I mean, seriously?
Opinion pieces aside, the MSM filters our entire political discourse through a Republican lens. The App Flap is treated with more seriousness and ‘outrage’ than Republican Senators abdicating their constitutional duty. Their treatment of trump this week, the language they use all contribute to the zeitgeist that trump is normal.
And yet, after this eye-popping performance, you will see mildly worded headlines describing Trump as holding a “celebration” for his acquittal. The effort to cast Trump in a setting of normalcy seems unabated, no matter how inappropriate to the events playing out before our eyes (which the vast majority of Americans do not witness live). CNN’s John Harwood was a noteworthy exception. “It was dark because he’s made clear that his mind is dark,” he said from his White House beat. “This is somebody in deep psychological distress right now.”
It is incumbent on the media to inform the public when the president behaves in such an aberrant manner. Indeed, it misleads readers and viewers to cast the event as an innocuous “celebration.” The media have struggled to appear “balanced” and objective in an era in which the president behaves in shocking and unprecedented ways. They need to find a language to convey vividly the unhinged anger and obsession with retribution that Trump occasionally unleashes in public.
You know for a change, I’m going to agree with you about the media. My BIL,a life long Republican, avid hater of Hillary, and no fan of Pelosi or Schumer, described Trump prayer breakfast, as something out of the Godfather. The 1/2 of SOTU I watched, was definitely more like WWE, ,with the Democrats casts as the villians than reality TV as described by the media.
There was nothing presidential, or normal, and it was in no ways acceptable behavior for any elected official much less the President of the United State. It is a journalist miscarriage to describe either event as a speech. There were a rant/temper tantrum, or incoherent babbling of a mental ill individual.
Hey, I haven’t been tilting at windmills after all. ;)
Seriously though, without the media normalizing trump and their unrelenting and forced bothsideisms, we wouldn’t be in this predicament. At the very least, trump couldn’t get away with this:
It should be clear by now that this is how Mr. Trump runs for office. He goes into 2020 in a political situation similar to the one he was in four years ago — he’s trailing modestly in polls and is largely seen as ethically challenged. His approach with Hillary Clinton then and with Joe Biden (or any Democrat) now is not to appear more ethical than they are but to besmirch their character with scandal. The idea is to make them look no better than he is, so that political journalists and voters come to see them as equally tainted by scandal, thus neutralizing ethical considerations.
I think is is right. Manchin surprised me as he takes a bigger risk voting to convict than did Romney voting to acquit. Manchin’s voters love Trump.
JoshL
2074
I’ve been saying that forever. Whoever the nominee is, the right wing noise machine is going to destroy them. I mean, Trump’s Ukraine plan apparently worked against Biden. They convinced everyone that Hillary was a pedophile and murderer. Who’s next?
Whoever they are the nominee will receive sludge from both barrels, guaranteed.
Bernie is the only one who can swing back. I don’t see those other two getting into a slugfest with the Republicans, which is what we need. Call them on their bullshit, challenge their alpha male status and make them look weak.
Bloomberg is calling Trump a fat slob on Twitter and that’s how you win elections in 2020, sadly.
