14 thoughts on “Drumpf acting like a lunatic to people who report on him for a living”
Top Trump aide Kellyanne Conway disputed the New York Post story. "No, that's not true at all," she said on Bloomberg Politics' 'With All Due Respect." "I sat right to his left. He did not explode in anger. By the way, it's an off-the-record meeting so whoever said that and mischaracterized it should think twice."
It's off the record, which means only I, Kellyanne Conway, get to say what happened.
The national press is likely to be among the first institutional victims of Trumpism. There is no law that requires the presidential administration to hold daily briefings, none that guarantees media access to the White House. Many journalists may soon face a dilemma long familiar to those of us who have worked under autocracies: fall in line or forfeit access. There is no good solution (even if there is a right answer), for journalism is difficult and sometimes impossible without access to information.
I wish people would stop saying that. It's a false equivalency. All Trump can do is to say that, nope, I won't issue you a press pass to the White House. That's IT. The White House, as a reporter's "beat" i.e., the subject that they're assigned to cover, is a really boring beat anyway. White House reporters look really glamorous to the public, because they sit in that fancy press conference room and they report on camera about the president. But most of the beat is sitting around in a cramped room with a lot of other reporters, with tiny desks like the ones where you listen to language tapes in a language lab in high school. There's not a whole lot that goes on on that beat. It's basically following the president around, and being corralled into tight places and texting people on their cell phones.
Trump can also deny giving personal interviews to certain reporters, but again that's it.
What doing that will do is that 1) Trump's staff will leak like a sieve, and 2) news outlets affected will simply find their news elsewhere and it will be better information because they won't feel constrained to kiss Trump's ass.
A third thing it will do is cause a huge public outcry, then mockery from people in the center and on the left as people realize it has no negative effect on coverage, and also it will cause a fuck ton of lawyers to get on Trump's ass to allow these reporters coverage. (Because every single newspaper has a lawyer and the big ones have entire teams of attorneys that specialize in all things journalism.)
On Capitol Hill there's even less that Republicans can do like this, because individual Senators and Congressmen do not have any say in who gets a press pass to "the Hill," which is actually a huge cluster of buildings, a city unto itself, with its own subway system. All any individual Senator or Congressman can do is to refuse to give an individual interview to a particular journalist. They can't even deny them access to their office. Individual reporters still would have access to any congressional hearings and to floor debates, the cafeterias (where a lot of conversations happen), etc.
So basically Trump and his team are showing their naivete in doing this. It will be red meat to the far right, and on the surface for a while it might look like he's now put media outlets that he doesn't like in their place. But the reality is that he'll just fuck things up for himself, since they'll all still cover him fully anyway.
BTW, I didn't mean "you," Cmdr, I meant that I wish that articles would stop staying this. It's silly.
On the other hand, on the up side, the more that articles come out like this, the more people will create an outcry and it will make Trump look bad. The only up side for him if that happens, is that he can then appear magnanimous by saying, "oh, yes, the NYT folks and my folks settled their differences and so we're going to allow them a press pass."
The other thing that is so silly about denying a press pass to the White House is that anytime there's a press conference it goes out live to the world anyway, I mean what's he gonna do – deny CSPAN access, too? The only thing he can do is to not hold press conferences at all (which he might do).
Either way, in the short term he looks like the strong man getting his way. But in the long run he loses.
He's going to fall on his sword over something anyway. It's just a matter of time.
You're so right about all of this. Real journamalism happens when "reporters" do actual "reporting," rather than just appearing at assigned locations and re-writing press releases that are handed to them. The flapdoodle about Trump scheduling, cancelling and then not cancelling his meeting with NYT editors today is indicative of the lazy-press problem. It's interesting that they've created the category of "investigative reporting" as though it were an arcane specialty instead of the actual content of the job.
Trump is used to bullying in a contained environment where everyone has to do his bidding and is afraid of him and where he can see ten steps ahead and control everyone.
Trump can also try to control access to other areas of the government, but he won't have a lot of luck. Those people are career public servants and they know that Trump won't last forever.
Even if the larger outlets throw him puffball coverage, other outlets that don't have as much to lose will step in and fill the void, making the impact, when it happens, even bigger.
Even with Congress red he still can't control them or much of anything and he's going to waste a whole lot of time dismissing advice to the contrary.
He's going to end up like President Nixon, all alone, not talking to the press, not Twittering, cut off, while every eye in the world is turned to him, every camera, every reporter's pen, every lawyer, most of the government, every resistance group, every foreign government, a clock ticking away as indictments pile up, it will be a huge but quiet and creepy flame out at the end.
It's off the record, which means only I, Kellyanne Conway, get to say what happened.
Off the record, I think she's a twit.
A pathological liar calling the media that aided and abetted him liars. These spineless toads won't stand up to him.
Bring in the cephalopods. They might not have spines, but they can handle Donald.
I wish he'd stick to his guns and dispute the outcome of the rigged election.
I forget who first posted | this article,| but thank you.
The national press is likely to be among the first institutional victims of Trumpism. There is no law that requires the presidential administration to hold daily briefings, none that guarantees media access to the White House. Many journalists may soon face a dilemma long familiar to those of us who have worked under autocracies: fall in line or forfeit access. There is no good solution (even if there is a right answer), for journalism is difficult and sometimes impossible without access to information.
Access to information? Like each administration doesn't try to control the flow? Sack up, press corps! This could be your finest hour!
Without daily Josh Earnest gaggles, the republic is doomed.
I wish people would stop saying that. It's a false equivalency. All Trump can do is to say that, nope, I won't issue you a press pass to the White House. That's IT. The White House, as a reporter's "beat" i.e., the subject that they're assigned to cover, is a really boring beat anyway. White House reporters look really glamorous to the public, because they sit in that fancy press conference room and they report on camera about the president. But most of the beat is sitting around in a cramped room with a lot of other reporters, with tiny desks like the ones where you listen to language tapes in a language lab in high school. There's not a whole lot that goes on on that beat. It's basically following the president around, and being corralled into tight places and texting people on their cell phones.
Trump can also deny giving personal interviews to certain reporters, but again that's it.
What doing that will do is that 1) Trump's staff will leak like a sieve, and 2) news outlets affected will simply find their news elsewhere and it will be better information because they won't feel constrained to kiss Trump's ass.
A third thing it will do is cause a huge public outcry, then mockery from people in the center and on the left as people realize it has no negative effect on coverage, and also it will cause a fuck ton of lawyers to get on Trump's ass to allow these reporters coverage. (Because every single newspaper has a lawyer and the big ones have entire teams of attorneys that specialize in all things journalism.)
On Capitol Hill there's even less that Republicans can do like this, because individual Senators and Congressmen do not have any say in who gets a press pass to "the Hill," which is actually a huge cluster of buildings, a city unto itself, with its own subway system. All any individual Senator or Congressman can do is to refuse to give an individual interview to a particular journalist. They can't even deny them access to their office. Individual reporters still would have access to any congressional hearings and to floor debates, the cafeterias (where a lot of conversations happen), etc.
So basically Trump and his team are showing their naivete in doing this. It will be red meat to the far right, and on the surface for a while it might look like he's now put media outlets that he doesn't like in their place. But the reality is that he'll just fuck things up for himself, since they'll all still cover him fully anyway.
Or they could just make shit up…
BTW, I didn't mean "you," Cmdr, I meant that I wish that articles would stop staying this. It's silly.
On the other hand, on the up side, the more that articles come out like this, the more people will create an outcry and it will make Trump look bad. The only up side for him if that happens, is that he can then appear magnanimous by saying, "oh, yes, the NYT folks and my folks settled their differences and so we're going to allow them a press pass."
The other thing that is so silly about denying a press pass to the White House is that anytime there's a press conference it goes out live to the world anyway, I mean what's he gonna do – deny CSPAN access, too? The only thing he can do is to not hold press conferences at all (which he might do).
Either way, in the short term he looks like the strong man getting his way. But in the long run he loses.
He's going to fall on his sword over something anyway. It's just a matter of time.
You're so right about all of this. Real journamalism happens when "reporters" do actual "reporting," rather than just appearing at assigned locations and re-writing press releases that are handed to them. The flapdoodle about Trump scheduling, cancelling and then not cancelling his meeting with NYT editors today is indicative of the lazy-press problem. It's interesting that they've created the category of "investigative reporting" as though it were an arcane specialty instead of the actual content of the job.
Trump is used to bullying in a contained environment where everyone has to do his bidding and is afraid of him and where he can see ten steps ahead and control everyone.
Trump can also try to control access to other areas of the government, but he won't have a lot of luck. Those people are career public servants and they know that Trump won't last forever.
Even if the larger outlets throw him puffball coverage, other outlets that don't have as much to lose will step in and fill the void, making the impact, when it happens, even bigger.
Even with Congress red he still can't control them or much of anything and he's going to waste a whole lot of time dismissing advice to the contrary.
He's going to end up like President Nixon, all alone, not talking to the press, not Twittering, cut off, while every eye in the world is turned to him, every camera, every reporter's pen, every lawyer, most of the government, every resistance group, every foreign government, a clock ticking away as indictments pile up, it will be a huge but quiet and creepy flame out at the end.
"…end up like President Nixon…" Don't get my hopes up prematurely.