Howard Kurtz: As Donald Trump’s detractors grow increasingly loud and desperate, they are aiming their ire at a new target:
The media.
Trump must be stopped, they declare, and it’s the media’s mission to halt him in his tracks.
It’s an argument that fundamentally misreads the role of the press. And it is being made by some generally smart people who are so apoplectic over the prospect of a Trump nomination or Trump presidency that they don’t understand why journalists haven’t convinced the country to despise The Donald the way they do.
The new rallying cry is an outgrowth of earlier laments that the media “created” Trump or “enabled” Trump or “rolled over” for Trump, as if that, even if true, is responsible for him winning 19 Republican contests.
Nearly 7-1/2 years after Barack Obama’s election, we still hear a familiar refrain on the right: If only the media had properly vetted him, he would never have made it to the White House. Never mind that Obama managed to beat the Clinton machine in his first campaign and then to get himself reelected. The 2008 coverage of Obama was indeed too soft, but by 2012 the country certainly knew what it was getting.
55 comments:
It's the media's belief that they can pick and choose for us that has buoyed Trump.
The media hath selected Hillary.
This is exactly what bags and april have been telling us. All the terrible things that Trump did. All the terrible things that Trump said. All the terrible things that Trump is.
When people found out you know what?
They didn't give a shit.
When they found out that Trump went on Howard Stern and talked smack they didn't wet their panties like John Kasich. They just laughed.
When they found out he had to make deals with "mobsters" to get things done which makes Ted Cruz get the vapors they nod their head and say hay you gotta do what you gotta do.
The DNC picked Hillary. The media wasn't involved.
I don't agree that the nomination should be taken from Trump if he wins it or comes close with delegates. I've never said that.
Warning bells about Trump's actual popularity in the general - that's all Bags and I have been saying.
The media have given Hillary a total pass on her criminal behavior.
We knew it was coming, but the fun part of all this is The Donald hath played the like a fine Stradivarius.
If ANY member of the GOP had set up a private server and used it to stuff their family foundation coffers, I can assure you that the media would have made it so miserable for that GOP person, they would have been laughed off the stage eons ago.
One of the most sacred principles in the American criminal justice system, holding that a defendant is innocent until proven guilty.
Them's the rules. Even for a dirty bitch like Hillary.
AprilApple said...
If ANY member of the GOP had set up a private server and used it to stuff their family foundation coffers, I can assure you that the media would have made it so miserable for that GOP person, they would have been laughed off the stage eons ago.
And you can be sure the media will scream any time they think The Donald has overstepped any of the checks and balances laid down in their beloved Constitution.
Warning bells about Trump's actual popularity in the general - that's all Bags and I have been saying
The same was said about Reagan (HotAir's already orgasmic over the first Al Reuters poll to that end). Notice how Trump painted himself as the victim after Fridays outing in Chiraq? He sees how the media works and beats them at their own game.
PS The (almost) unspoken issue is Demo turnout is way down and the Hildabeast is not drawing blacks, Hispanics, women. and other constituencies on which the Demos depend. That's how Bernie has been scoring upsets. He took the black vote in MI and the Hispanic vote in IL.
And we have yet to see the First Law of Hillary kick in - the more people see of her, the less they like her. She's tried to stay out of the limelight as much as possible, but that time is coming to an end.
The main thing, the ONLY thing, is that America must be flooded with immigrants, illegal and legal, at the same time that industry continues to be offshored. Both parties agree on that Master Plan. Endgame? Break the American middle class, make America just one more gigantic cheap labor market. Trump threatens that. Ergo Trump = Hitler.
Please spare me the silly comparisons of Trump to Reagan. There are none.
That's not true.
They both had really ridiculous hair.
AprilApple said...
Please spare me the silly comparisons of Trump to Reagan. There are none.
Of course there are.
Don't idolize Reagan. He was nowhere near the doctrinaire ideologue some have made him into.
He was also in worse shape at this point in '80, but, if you insist, think Nixon vs Humphrey in '68.
Much-disliked Republican against old warhorse Democrat.
And people like Humphrey.
The better parallel is Nixon not Reagan. In fact Trump will turn out to govern very much like Nixon in my estimation. That is why I can support him with a clear conciseness.
Rabid conservative like me and Sixty Grit can support Trump for the enemies he has and the fact that he is not afraid to speak out on the issues and damn political correctness. I am not fooled into thinking he can accomplish most of what he is talking about. Politicians never do that. Nixon never did that. He made many missteps along the way. But on balance he was far superior to what came afterward. (Jimmy Carter.....Hillary)
I don't presume to speak for Sixty but I am very happy that he posts here occasionally.
Too late. I do idolize Reagan. He was the real deal and a class act.
Leland, exactly.
The more the media (or anyone) talks about Trump, the better for Trump.
Interestingly, in contrast, the more the media (or anyone) talks about Clingon [typos can be revealing], the worse for Clinton.
Could be a winning formula.
The problems arise when Trump talks. But then that just generates more talk about Trump and the cycle repeats itself.
In this and so many other ways, Trump is like Obama.
Trooper - "The better parallel is Nixon not Reagan."
Agreed.
Yeah, but I think Drudge is for Trump. He knows that sort of publicity is GOOD for Trump.
Check out the photo of Cruz just below the big Trump photo on Drudge.
Hmm, which candidate does Drudge prefer? It's such a mystery. Ponder, ponder.
Trump is Orangebama.
Drudge is over-the-top for Trump. He's not even hiding it.
Cold, Am, very cold :)
April:
"He sees how the media works and beats them at their own game."
Yes, he's relentlessly himself. And his animal spirit knows the US majority want a strong, eat-my-shorts leader.
As far as Nixon, who opened relations with China to offset the Russians, I do not believe Trump will reverse Obama's detente with Iran. He will want them to balance the Russians (who I think he will work with) and the crazy Sunni Arabs...Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, ISIS.
"When people found out you know what?
They didn't give a shit."
Yea, and "nobody I know voted for Nixon."
Exactly Bags. Do you know anyone who voted for Trump?
Yesterday, Josh, my union iron worker neighbor stopped out to ask if it would be okay for him and his two sons to turkey hunt at my place. Guess who Josh likes?
Read this about Cruz and his wife, plus their family's weird history and tell me that somehow they are better than Trump. In fact, Trump and his family seem NORMAL compared to these guys.
http://dailycaller.com/2016/03/14/who-is-the-real-heidi-nelson-cruz/
Heidi is herself a high-powered Bush insider, who served as deputy to National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice before signing on as a Deputy to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, neocon stalwart and former Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations. Zoellick wired a cushy job for Heidi when she landed at Goldman Sachs as a partner. Goldman would, of course, go on to make a secret $1 million loan to fund Ted’s U.S. Senate campaign while both Cruzes lied about the source of funds being Heidi’s retirement savings.
Yet, investigating more deeply, Ted and Heidi Cruz have had a sometimes troubled relationship punctuated by bouts of physical separation that began when two young Christians on the fringe of protestant evangelicalism met while working on the Bush-Cheney 2000 presidential campaign.
Ted and Heidi began their married years as a Washington-insider “power couple,” before Ted left Heidi to continue her investment banking career in Washington, while Ted returned to Texas to pursue his political ambitions.
Far from being outsiders, Heidi is the ultimate insider. We call Hillary the Goldman Sachs girl. Well Heidi is literally that.
I don't trust people who are evangelizing and so wrapped up in their religions to truly leave the rest of us alone. At least Trump isn't trying to turn us all into Presbyterians or preach at us.
.
That's the thing. Trump wants to turn us all into vulgar gaudy reality stars who live in mansions with our names in ten foot gold gilt letters over the front door.
Who could argue with that?
Cruz doesn't want to highlight or bring out his wife's Goldman Sachs and World Bank connections.
Plus in the last article, he FORCED her to quit her Goldman Sachs job in order to be the good little housewife to support HIS Senatorial and Presidential ambitions. This is likely the reason for her possible suicidal tendencies. While the heavily redacted police report did not claim the incident involved a suicide attempt, Officer Davidson did put into writing that he believed Cruz was a “danger to herself,” noting that he found her sitting 10 feet away from heavy traffic, unable to explain what she was doing there.
Frankly, these people, the Cruz's sound crazy, power mad and unstable.
But....go ahead and tell us how horrible Trump is.
Hold on there DBQ. You can only post negative hateful things about Trump. That's the rule.
Of course a Trump fan can not point that out because we would be accused of whining. Trump handles it himself by fighting back in the media. By calling the media out directly. By going on every show that asks him and getting right in their face. How many press conferences and tough nasty interview has Hillary done?
So please stop posting the details of Ted Cruz's life that have been hidden by the media until the need it for the general election.
Instead lets talk about what Donald Trump said on the Howard Stern show twenty years ago. Get with the program.
Did you read the Simon's piece on visiting Trump's place in Florida the night of the last round? He gave in interesting account, like a mouse nibbling at the edges, his report reminded me of the mood created by the pop-up book "A Piece of Cake." A very odd connection to make. (That book, I destroyed so that it will fit on a shelf properly, the cover is shaped like a slice of cake, I changed mine with an x-acto, has become a collector's item. I bought one for a little girl and ended up paying like 5X more than intended. An expensive little book. Because it is so sweet.)
He had to park far away because his car isn't nice enough. Only very nice cars close in, close measured in football fields and golf courses. Reporters were provided nothing but Trump water. Very nice white tablecloth, well presented array of Trump water. Teetotaler himself. The reporters are there to do work, not to be entertained by Trump's caterer. Reporters couldn't even get close. Separated off. Treated as the necessary nuisance with ordinary cars that they are. His description of of Mar a Lago is breathtaking. Without trying. As Gatsby extreme. Exaggerated. He does describe a visual expression of megalomania. Then, with Trump finally in the scene and delivering his message the reader is left asking, "why not?" Why not megalomania, by a man who actually generated megalomaniacal grandiosity? Why not? We've already just now lived, suffered I must say, through eight years of megalomania by an individual floated to position carried the upraised hands of organized political party and political maneuvering. A far far far less qualified individual in terms of production of anything other than more Party and more government. The one visit to a secondary home gives the evidence of a productive life, whatever it took to produce it, combination of starting with wealth and dirty dealing throughout made necessary by addressing the world as it is and succeeding however success was attained. That is overtaking all the barriers of engaging the worst automatic business party possible, government itself, represented in the comparison by the megalomanic with no observable life's productivity outside of of straight politics. There just flat is no comparison between Trump and Obama or Trump and Hillary or Trump and Sanders. None. One is prototypically American and the others are freaks of what America produces through its world's oldest political party. Obama, Hillary, Sanders, product of the worlds oldest political party. And it shows.
And it freaks everybody the fuck out because they identify more with the likes of Obama's and Hillary's form of success more than they do Trump's. That is, they're not nearly as capable, and they wonder, "I must see to all the other incapables. He's not one of us."
This piece is titled suggesting Trump will be disaster for Australia, but the content supports it only in part. Only a few say so and their superficial analysis is deeply flawed and precisely what you'd expect of socialist dimwits, their concerns are mal-informed and 1 centimeter deep. The more the intellectual then the dimmer their useless ignorant of the world silly girlish cloistered opinion. Daily Telegraph, It was almost interesting.
I must admit that I was not aware of the situation regarding Cruz's wife's mental stability. I don't even know if that is fair game. I do know the Democrats and the media would use it. They were just holding it back for the general election. You know the way bags and april warn us about how they are holding back Trumps bankruptcies, Trump University, multiple marriages and jerky things he said about women when he was joking around. Those are gonna be bombshells I tell ya. Bombshells.
Heidi Cruz said Wednesday that her husband, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), was showing America "the face of the God that we serve" through his faith-based Republican presidential campaign.
and
"We are at a cultural crossroads in our country, and if we can be in this race to show this country the face of the God that we serve—this Christian God that we serve is the foundation of our country,
If these quotes don't turn you off, I don't know what will. I do NOT want a religious based Presidential campaign. I do NOT want a religious based government. No Sharia Law....no thanks. No Holy Roller laws. No Catholic Government. No NO NO NO!!!
There is nothing wrong with being religious. It is a good thing and can be the core of your personal growth, personal beliefs.
However, it sure sounds like Ted and Heidi are cruising to shove God right in our faces and make their religion the core of their political ambitions and political processes. I don't want Ted Cruz speaking in tongues like this nutso father.
You can say Ted is the most Conservative...so? He is also a religious nut.
Did anyone see the picture of Cruz crouched down in some kind of political huddle with some other hot 'n heavy political type, and there, standing next to him but just a little behind him is one of his daughters making the V sign over the back of his head? That's the first human picture I've ever seen of Cruz. Endearing even.
Not that he is human, don't get me wrong it's Trump all the way, but at least his daughters make fun of him so he can't be a complete monster of ambition.
Re Cruz's wife's life, career and instability. The first two for sure, need to be exposed.
The last one is probably not fair game, BUT it is very important to know anyway. The mental stability of the person who is possibly going to be First Lady. The mental stability of the person running for President as well. These people may be in charge of our country and lives for the next 4 years. I WANT to know and people NEED to know. Just look how bad it has been with Obama and his mental issues.....and with Michael...I mean Michelle :-)
The media and the GOPelites will be dragging Trump and his family through the mud. I think it only fair to do the same to Cruz, Clintons and anyone else.
Good for the goose, good for the gander.
Now on the other hand we can debate the stablity of Melania Trump's breasts. I think they are natural but some claim they are implants because they are just too stable and don't move all that much. I think it is good Eastern European genes.
Lets keep our eye on the important things.
Good work, DBQ!
We need to see pictures of Melania's Mom to get an accurate idea of just how much longer Melania's breasts will remain stable which in turn may be the key to just how long Donald will remain stable...mentally. These are important state questions or state issues or issues of state or whatever the hell the proper phrase is.
Indeed I concur Ric.
Great find, DBQ. Her mental health is very important and legitimate to discuss in this context.
You know I don't think it is fair. To be honest with you. I think mental problems of spouses are not really fair game. No one every discussed Pat Nixon's dipsomania, Jackie Kennedy's nymphomania or Rosalyn Carters fondness for necrophilia. The personal foibles of the spouses should be off limits.
The Cruzes' well-connected lives in the Bush and Soros strata of life (especially her connections to the CFR and the North American Union crowd) are fair game. Her mental health ordinarily shouldn't be, but we are talking about a possible Presidential wife and what stresses that might put on him.
It's a personal ethics question each of us needs to confront. That part of her life, I will leave alone.
OTOH, did any notice The Donald has already started to ding Hillary about her health? "She doesn’t have the strength or the stamina to be president, frankly, as far as I’m concerned."
Amartel said...
Trump is Orangebama.
Pissy never worked a day in his life and his record shows it.
Trump has made stuff, employed people, gone nose to nose with everybody without a gang (or mob) to back him up, doesn't claim any exemptions.
So you're wrong, but I know these are the talking points being passed along.
Blogger AprilApple said...
Drudge is over-the-top for Trump. He's not even hiding it.
As opposed to PJMedia, Insta, PowerLine, JWF, HotAir, TownHall, Patterico, and Ace who have been the same (worse, actually) for months for the One True Ted?
PS Gateway is also big for Trump, so you missed one.
OK, I've tried to be nice to Cruz and his supporters now that we all know we need each other to defeat Satan's messenger and this is not intended to go against that, but, if you remember what Garland Greene said to Cameron Poe when the plane took off in its last dash for freedom, you will appreciate this.
After Troop came back from vaca, he noted the One True Ted's shot at Trump's "New York values" may have meant something else. Gateway now notes he's having to eat those words. I don't think he has a prayer of taking the Empire State, but I'll bet he wishes he could take that one back.
But, just to remind all and sundry it isn't sweetness and light on the Dark Side, either, there's this about a shot from the Feel The Bern crowd casting Hillary's sweep of the South as winning the Confederacy.
Umbrage, of course, promptly followed.
You know I don't think it is fair. To be honest with you Re: Cruz's wife possible mental health issues.
Right. I agree. It isn't fair. But, as my mother has said..."Life isn't fair. Suck it up and stop whining."
If this were any ordinary couple or even a couple who owned a business in town, it would be something that is private or should be left alone. It wouldn't be any of our business.
However, we are talking about a possible President and First Lady. Since they seem determined to shove the wife of the President into some sort of semi official role and that person the FLOTUS has power over us in some ways....look at Michelle and the disastrous school lunch program for example....then it does become our business.
In addition, if there is marital strife in the White House, it affects not just the President and his family, but all the people who deal with them and ultimately it affects the rest of us.
So...fair or not, some things that are distasteful may have to be examined. You KNOW that the media, the Democrats and the GOPe themselves are already sharpening the long knives for Trump and his family too.
I understand your Mom, DBQ, but, in this case, it's kind of soiling your own nest.
As I noted, the stress a wife could put on POTUS is an issue, but here I'd let it slide. Keep to more substantive issues. This is what the Lefties do to people.
Now, if it could be proven Hillary is loonier than the Tasmanian Devil, well, that's a long overdue taste of their own medicine; game on...
I agree. The issue is probably one that decent people should just leave alone. That means that the Democrats, of course, will use it.
Basically, I thought that bringing these things up about Cruz's wife and his weird parents and Cruz's controlling way of forcing his wife to give up her connected career with Goldman Sachs and connections with the World Bank.....would be good for the Cruz fans on this blog who seem to have no end of terrible things to say about Trump.
We, who like Trump, are under no illusions (speaking for myself) that he is perfect, a Saint, will accomplish all the things he says. And like Trooper said...we don't care if he isn't the be all end all of Conservatism.
Those who like Cruz might benefit by getting a bit deeper into his past, his and his wife's political insider connections and take the rose colored glasses off as well.
Just a thought.
As my mother used to say, we are none of us perfect, which she said was an old Irish proverb.
So Happy St Paddy's Day to all the Lemmings.
Today, like every other St Pat's Day, New Richmond, WI detours main street so people can go all Irish. Snowing at the moment, so the green beer will be a lighter shade of green.
And just when I was starting to worry that the media wasn't sufficiently agenda-driven...
I don't trust people who are evangelizing and so wrapped up in their religions to truly leave the rest of us alone.
You're smart to remember that.
Here is a funny quote I remember from Gore Vidal that may or may not address the issue.
The Daily Caller piece on Heidi Cruz is as interesting for what it omits as for what it includes. It implies Ms Cruz just "fell in" to her job with Goldman. It doesn't mention her Harvard MBA earned in 2000, implying that Ms Cruz' qualifications in high finance and business were equal to Chelsea Clinton's.
From Wiki: Nelson graduated with a B.A. in Economics and International Relations from Claremont McKenna College in 1994. She was active in Claremont McKenna's Republican group.[18] During her time at Claremont McKenna College, she studied abroad at the University of Strasbourg.[20] In 1995, she received a Masters of European Business from Université Libre de Bruxelles in Brussels, Belgium and in 2000, she graduated with an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.[2][13][21]
Funny how an article purporting to show us the "real" Heidi omits her travel and education experience. It implies that she's such an "insider" that her education and experience had nothing to do with her being associated with the Bush foreign policy team.
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