Back in January, Trump staged a televised fund-raiser that he claimed was for the benefit of military veterans. (Actually it was for his own benefit, as is everything this vain narcissist and egomaniac does.) With great fanfare, he announced from the stage that he had raised more than $6 million, and brayed that he was donating $1 million himself, included in the alleged $6 million figure.
In late May, the Washington Post reported that he never donated a dime. [1]
Typical of this sleazy carnival-barker-quality con man.
So what does Trump do? He calls the media “Unbelievably dishonest.” [2]
That's what's known in psychology as projection. Attributing to others a characteristic in oneself that one subconsciously wishes to disown.
Who's the one being unbelievably dishonest here?
AFTER the Post revealed his scam, he was forced to make his donation- and ONLY after. (No wonder he's so angry at the media. They just cost the con man a cool million.)
What did he think was going to happen?
Sure, for decades the New York City media has promoted him and given him a free ride and presented a false image of him. (As an alibi for their complicity and amoral behavior, and their rotten "journalism," they float the notion that Trump is a master of media manipulation. This is a common excuse the media use when caught in malpractice. Oh, they're such naifs, these cunning masters of media manipulation snooker them all the time! Well maybe go into another line of work, "journalists."
No, they're not that naive. Or to quote a song, they're "not, that, in-no-cent." [3])
So maybe he's too used to media complicity in his grotesque self-promotion. But surely he's been experiencing for long enough now how it's different when you're trying to seize the power of the presidency. This isn't some gimcrack real estate deal, or a scam "university." This is getting your hands on the power of the U.S. nation-state, the greatest power on earth.
Trump had more to say about the awfulness of reporters for failing to continue to function as his public relations brigade:
“The press should be ashamed of themselves.” [4]
Well, yes, but for other reasons than making Trump "look bad," as he tongue-lashed them for doing. He complained that the veterans he deceived were angry at him. Apparently he thinks the media is obligated to assist him in his scams, ruses, shams, and con jobs.
They would if they thought his frauds served the interests of the super-rich, of the corporate oligarchy, and of imperialist state power. After all, they go along with politicians' and presidents' frauds all the time.
They aided and abetted Nixon through a career of political fraud, for instance. Then there's LBJ's Tonkin Gulf fabrication. The Big Lies that "justified" the Iraq invasion of 2003. The 9/11 coverup. Hell, the JFK, RFK, and King assassinations, where the media are complicit to this day in protecting the conspirators in the CIA, FBI, and city police departments that participated.
How about every coup and invasion by the U.S., justified by some alleged "communist threat"?
There are probably thousands of examples, if one could assemble a large enough research team to review decades of media "reporting" and compare it to actual historical fact.
Maybe Trump's problem- one of his problems, I should say- is he is too much of a cynic and not enough of a hypocrite. The way the U.S., its elites, and its media get over is by being genuine hypocrites. They largely believe their own bullshit. Remember, hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue. Thus for example they pretend to be devoted to democracy, freedom, and human rights, while their actions prove the exact opposite. (The U.S. is now the most totally-surveilled society on earth, bar none. There is literally less privacy here than in any other nation on earth. And I'm including China and North Korea. Nobody even has the technical ability to do what the U.S. government is doing right now.)
But I digress. On Trump's denunciation of the media (“The press should be ashamed of themselves”), obviously it's Trump who should be ashamed. And would be, if he were a normal human being who possessed a conscience. Being shameless, instead he shoots the media messengers.
I think the media "coverage" of Trump has gotten "tougher" (i.e. like journalism) because they (and by "they" I mean both the "journalists" and more importantly the media czars who control the media) have awakened to the fact that Trump could actually become president, and that with a loose cannon like him in the Oval Office, things could get, shall we say, very interesting, in very bad ways.
Trump is obviously reckless, nor does he submit to any authority (like the collective authority of the corporate oligarchy, or the Deep State of the military and secret police, or of the "foreign policy
establishment"). Completely lacking in relevant political experience, he would be a more radical experiment than Bush the Younger was, who was also unqualified by experience and knowledge to be president, just from an imperialist managerial perspective. (Of course, his eminence grise, vice president Richard Cheney, was a lifelong imperialist apparatchik. Why the Bush presidency was so disastrous was due to a lot more than Bush's ignorance and fecklessness.)
Over the years there have been a few honorable exceptions to the media rule of promoting Trump. The Village Voice has a large archive of factual articles about Donald Trump.
1] "Four months after fundraiser, Trump says he gave $1 million to veterans group," Washington Post, May 24, 2016.
2] "Donald Trump Lashes Out at Media While Detailing Gifts to Veterans." New York Times, May 31, 2016.
3] Yeah, Britney Spears. "Oops! ...I Did It Again." She actually sang some great songs. "Piece of Me" brilliantly sticks it to the media hyenas who, like a bunch of catty teenagers, liked to trash her. Of course, others wrote and produced the music.
Big disappointment when she came out backing Bush the Younger.
4] New York Times, op cit.
In late May, the Washington Post reported that he never donated a dime. [1]
Typical of this sleazy carnival-barker-quality con man.
So what does Trump do? He calls the media “Unbelievably dishonest.” [2]
That's what's known in psychology as projection. Attributing to others a characteristic in oneself that one subconsciously wishes to disown.
Who's the one being unbelievably dishonest here?
AFTER the Post revealed his scam, he was forced to make his donation- and ONLY after. (No wonder he's so angry at the media. They just cost the con man a cool million.)
What did he think was going to happen?
Sure, for decades the New York City media has promoted him and given him a free ride and presented a false image of him. (As an alibi for their complicity and amoral behavior, and their rotten "journalism," they float the notion that Trump is a master of media manipulation. This is a common excuse the media use when caught in malpractice. Oh, they're such naifs, these cunning masters of media manipulation snooker them all the time! Well maybe go into another line of work, "journalists."
No, they're not that naive. Or to quote a song, they're "not, that, in-no-cent." [3])
So maybe he's too used to media complicity in his grotesque self-promotion. But surely he's been experiencing for long enough now how it's different when you're trying to seize the power of the presidency. This isn't some gimcrack real estate deal, or a scam "university." This is getting your hands on the power of the U.S. nation-state, the greatest power on earth.
Trump had more to say about the awfulness of reporters for failing to continue to function as his public relations brigade:
“The press should be ashamed of themselves.” [4]
Well, yes, but for other reasons than making Trump "look bad," as he tongue-lashed them for doing. He complained that the veterans he deceived were angry at him. Apparently he thinks the media is obligated to assist him in his scams, ruses, shams, and con jobs.
They would if they thought his frauds served the interests of the super-rich, of the corporate oligarchy, and of imperialist state power. After all, they go along with politicians' and presidents' frauds all the time.
They aided and abetted Nixon through a career of political fraud, for instance. Then there's LBJ's Tonkin Gulf fabrication. The Big Lies that "justified" the Iraq invasion of 2003. The 9/11 coverup. Hell, the JFK, RFK, and King assassinations, where the media are complicit to this day in protecting the conspirators in the CIA, FBI, and city police departments that participated.
How about every coup and invasion by the U.S., justified by some alleged "communist threat"?
There are probably thousands of examples, if one could assemble a large enough research team to review decades of media "reporting" and compare it to actual historical fact.
Maybe Trump's problem- one of his problems, I should say- is he is too much of a cynic and not enough of a hypocrite. The way the U.S., its elites, and its media get over is by being genuine hypocrites. They largely believe their own bullshit. Remember, hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue. Thus for example they pretend to be devoted to democracy, freedom, and human rights, while their actions prove the exact opposite. (The U.S. is now the most totally-surveilled society on earth, bar none. There is literally less privacy here than in any other nation on earth. And I'm including China and North Korea. Nobody even has the technical ability to do what the U.S. government is doing right now.)
But I digress. On Trump's denunciation of the media (“The press should be ashamed of themselves”), obviously it's Trump who should be ashamed. And would be, if he were a normal human being who possessed a conscience. Being shameless, instead he shoots the media messengers.
I think the media "coverage" of Trump has gotten "tougher" (i.e. like journalism) because they (and by "they" I mean both the "journalists" and more importantly the media czars who control the media) have awakened to the fact that Trump could actually become president, and that with a loose cannon like him in the Oval Office, things could get, shall we say, very interesting, in very bad ways.
Trump is obviously reckless, nor does he submit to any authority (like the collective authority of the corporate oligarchy, or the Deep State of the military and secret police, or of the "foreign policy
establishment"). Completely lacking in relevant political experience, he would be a more radical experiment than Bush the Younger was, who was also unqualified by experience and knowledge to be president, just from an imperialist managerial perspective. (Of course, his eminence grise, vice president Richard Cheney, was a lifelong imperialist apparatchik. Why the Bush presidency was so disastrous was due to a lot more than Bush's ignorance and fecklessness.)
Over the years there have been a few honorable exceptions to the media rule of promoting Trump. The Village Voice has a large archive of factual articles about Donald Trump.
1] "Four months after fundraiser, Trump says he gave $1 million to veterans group," Washington Post, May 24, 2016.
2] "Donald Trump Lashes Out at Media While Detailing Gifts to Veterans." New York Times, May 31, 2016.
3] Yeah, Britney Spears. "Oops! ...I Did It Again." She actually sang some great songs. "Piece of Me" brilliantly sticks it to the media hyenas who, like a bunch of catty teenagers, liked to trash her. Of course, others wrote and produced the music.
Big disappointment when she came out backing Bush the Younger.
4] New York Times, op cit.
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