Chuck Todd: Donald Trump’s Delegitimization of Press ‘Un-American,’ ‘Not a Laughing Matter’

[Smokin Joe]

There is one thing that we all  (I think) can/should agree on.  And that one thing is that we want to see the left get their collective @sses kicked good and plenty (about damned time).  Right?  If Trump is the vehicle through which that much-deserved kick is delivered....

that's a good thing.  Right???

It was entertaining during the primaries to watch Trump gig all the 'right' people, especially the Media. After all, they deserved it.

There is a long list of factions in the US that I would like to see chased back into their holes, from the rabid environmentalists to the media, to the homonazis, common core promoters, the EPA, and others.

But there is a way to do that which has a lasting legal effect, which removes the extraconstitutional powers from official agencies and uses the Constitutional duties of the Federal Government to accomplish others, like securing our borders and controlling immigration.

Posturing and pushing the media into a tizzy may well be fun, but it doesn't accomplish lasting goals.
 
Trump has the power to do this, professionally, and without playing Jerry Springer. It may not be as entertaining, but I'd opt for the greater satisfaction of lasting reforms.

[XenaLee]

It depends. You can't give up your long term values for short term success.

If we cheer the left getting their 'collective asses kicked' in the realm of media and information, but that comes from just swinging the propaganda pendulum far the other direction, where truth, rationalism, and people critically analyzing everything they read and see are replaced by propaganda that just manipulates and reinforces what they want to believe, we haven't won anything other than an emotional, short-term victory.

Our goal shouldn't be 'kicking the collective asses of the left', our goal should be the truth. If it results in kicking their asses, great. If it results in those on the left and right both getting their asses kicked and exposed, just as great if they are both equally causing the problem of degrading the truth.  If the left happens to be right on something, it shouldn't be rejected because they are on the left. If the right happens to be wrong on something, it shouldn't be accepted simply because they are on the right.

This isn't a football game where you root for your team.

This is a quote from an article I posted last night.

Um....ok.   But.....  I challenge you to provide one thing the left has been or is 'right about'.

I want what is best for this country and for the future of America as a free nation.  The left has, without exception, proven to be against what is best for this nation for DECADES.

This may not be a football game, and ergo.... we may not be losing the culture war against the radical left and their backers.... but it could happen.  And they (the leftists) are working busily and 24/7 to win what they perceive as 'the game'. 

So you'll have to forgive me for wanting their @sses kicked.  I'm just funny that way.

[XenaLee]

It was entertaining during the primaries to watch Trump gig all the 'right' people, especially the Media. After all, they deserved it.

There is a long list of factions in the US that I would like to see chased back into their holes, from the rabid environmentalists to the media, to the homonazis, common core promoters, the EPA, and others.

But there is a way to do that which has a lasting legal effect, which removes the extraconstitutional powers from official agencies and uses the Constitutional duties of the Federal Government to accomplish others, like securing our borders and controlling immigration.

Posturing and pushing the media into a tizzy may well be fun, but it doesn't accomplish lasting goals.
 
Trump has the power to do this, professionally, and without playing Jerry Springer. It may not be as entertaining, but I'd opt for the greater satisfaction of lasting reforms.

Valid point.  And let's hope that he turns these short-term victories over the lamestream media into lasting victories via said reforms.   If he does, that will go a long way towards soothing some of the remaining fears among the anti-Trumpers.  Well...hopefully.   

[skeeter]

It was entertaining during the primaries to watch Trump gig all the 'right' people, especially the Media. After all, they deserved it.

There is a long list of factions in the US that I would like to see chased back into their holes, from the rabid environmentalists to the media, to the homonazis, common core promoters, the EPA, and others.

But there is a way to do that which has a lasting legal effect, which removes the extraconstitutional powers from official agencies and uses the Constitutional duties of the Federal Government to accomplish others, like securing our borders and controlling immigration.

Posturing and pushing the media into a tizzy may well be fun, but it doesn't accomplish lasting goals.
 
Trump has the power to do this, professionally, and without playing Jerry Springer. It may not be as entertaining, but I'd opt for the greater satisfaction of lasting reforms.

I agree entirely, except I believe the MSM needs to be permanently disabled first. For years the news oligarchy  has set itself up as an unaccountable coequal branch of government. They eventually neutralized Reagan, they co-opted the Bushes.

I do not know if its possible, but if AP, Reuters and the alphabet networks were to be reduced to the point that they have no more influence than any of the other sources of news then maybe convincing a majority of voters that reducing the size and authority of the state is in their interest and may actually become a possibility.

[Bigun]

I agree entirely, except I believe the MSM needs to be permanently disabled first. For years the news oligarchy  has set itself up as an unaccountable coequal branch of government. They eventually neutralized Reagan, they co-opted the Bushes.

I do not know if its possible, but if AP, Reuters and the alphabet networks were to be reduced to the point that they have no more influence than any of the other sources of news then maybe convincing a majority of voters that reducing the size and authority of the state is in their interest and may actually become a possibility.

Another one outta the park!  You're on a roll today!   

[skeeter]

Another one outta the park!  You're on a roll today!   

On a roll is right - this is three beers now and its not 10am yet...

 

[Bigun]

On a roll is right - this is three beers now and its not 10am yet...

 

Oops! It's noon in my neck of the woods!

[Jazzhead]

It depends. You can't give up your long term values for short term success.

If we cheer the left getting their 'collective asses kicked' in the realm of media and information, but that comes from just swinging the propaganda pendulum far the other direction, where truth, rationalism, and people critically analyzing everything they read and see are replaced by propaganda that just manipulates and reinforces what they want to believe, we haven't won anything other than an emotional, short-term victory.

Our goal shouldn't be 'kicking the collective asses of the left', our goal should be the truth. If it results in kicking their asses, great. If it results in those on the left and right both getting their asses kicked and exposed, just as great if they are both equally causing the problem of degrading the truth.  If the left happens to be right on something, it shouldn't be rejected because they are on the left. If the right happens to be wrong on something, it shouldn't be accepted simply because they are on the right.

This isn't a football game where you root for your team.

Excellent post!   I agree completely.   Politics-as-blood sport ignores that politics is, or should be, the means to an end  -  effective, Constitutional public policy.   Politics-as-blood sport sacrifices that end and replaces it with partisan gridlock.   

[GtHawk]

I hope you're enjoying yourself because you're irritating the hell out of me.

I can't help it, I have to butt in, Where in the Constitution is the Right to not be irritated? Hell we all irritate someone everyday, right now I'm irritating you and after you read this you will do your best to irritate me back, that's one of the really nice benefits of freedom. Now I wasn't a Trump supporter, but I do my best to give him the benefit of the doubt, and he has done some things I really like and has set up  the situation where by Congress might get some positive things done with him signing off, but then he goes off the rails and makes me shake my head.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

It was entertaining during the primaries to watch Trump gig all the 'right' people, especially the Media. After all, they deserved it.

There is a long list of factions in the US that I would like to see chased back into their holes, from the rabid environmentalists to the media, to the homonazis, common core promoters, the EPA, and others.

But there is a way to do that which has a lasting legal effect, which removes the extraconstitutional powers from official agencies and uses the Constitutional duties of the Federal Government to accomplish others, like securing our borders and controlling immigration.

Posturing and pushing the media into a tizzy may well be fun, but it doesn't accomplish lasting goals.
 
Trump has the power to do this, professionally, and without playing Jerry Springer. It may not be as entertaining, but I'd opt for the greater satisfaction of lasting reforms.

 

[Maj. Bill Martin]

To the contrary -- it is quintessentially American to mock those in power to remind them they are no better -- and no more important -- than the rest of us.  Given the power-wielding role the press has assumed for itself, this puts them squarely in the crosshairs for being mocked and delegitimized.

If they want respect, then they should start from ground zero and start earning it.

[Bigun]

To the contrary -- it is quintessentially American to mock those in power to remind them they are no better -- and no more important -- than the rest of us.  Given the power-wielding role the press has assumed for itself, this puts them squarely in the crosshairs for being mocked and delegitimized.

If they want respect, then they should start from ground zero and start earning it.

   I won't be holding my breath waiting for that to happen however.

[truth_seeker]

Effective? Not in the slightest.

Yeah, right. Not effective.

If it had been effective he might have been elected.

Oh, wait....

I take it that some #nevertrumpers would have preferred losing with a real gentleman candidate, for the betterment of "conservatism." As in McCain, and Romney.

[edited - image removed by mod]

[Idiot]

 

Maybe it's just me....  but I find your animation of Trump at the bottom of every post to be highly offensive.  I don't like the man myself, but this is demeaning the President of YOUR country.  Just my 2 cents.......
@Weird Tolkienish Figure

[ABX]

Maybe it's just me....  but I find your animation of Trump at the bottom of every post to be highly offensive.  I don't like the man myself, but this is demeaning the President of YOUR country.  Just my 2 cents.......
@Weird Tolkienish Figure

Here, let's make it larger for you.

[musiclady]

OK! Different perspectives are fine.  I have no problem with that at all. and I don't see you posting snark on every thread either so we're good!   

We're definitely good, @Bigun !  BOTH of us! 

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Maybe it's just me....  but I find your animation of Trump at the bottom of every post to be highly offensive.  I don't like the man myself, but this is demeaning the President of YOUR country.  Just my 2 cents.......
@Weird Tolkienish Figure

Removed.

[Bigun]

We're definitely good, @Bigun !  BOTH of us! 

    

[musiclady]

There is one thing that we all  (I think) can/should agree on.  And that one thing is that we want to see the left get their collective @sses kicked good and plenty (about damned time).  Right?  If Trump is the vehicle through which that much-deserved kick is delivered....

that's a good thing.  Right???

Not if it is a Pyrrhic victory, and the war for conservative principles and truth are lost in the battle.....

"Kicking ass," while it may be temporarily satisfying, doesn't really achieve anything in the end other than making you feel good.

[rodamala]

@mystery-ak

The presser was blame the press, blame the intelligence agencies, I won, I'm great.  Every presser will be the same with other agencies/people thrown in the blame pot, I won, I'm great.

@Victoria33

Every time I read someone saying the words, "Fake News!", it give me a negative opinion of them, no different than if someone were to say, "We oughhta send all the greasy bleep back to Africa!"

It's just automaton talk... by the chimp jukebox band that Trump has collected as his base during the primaries.  Sure, the MSM is biased... but the thoughtful consumer of media has a rational, reasonable brain to value what the press puts out there, if only for a tool to be able to sleuth out and interpret the journalist's intentions for what it is, and find the REAL truth buroed within whatever yellow journalism the press cranks out, regardless of their bias.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

Not if it is a Pyrrhic victory, and the war for conservative principles and truth are lost in the battle.....

"Kicking ass," while it may be temporarily satisfying, doesn't really achieve anything in the end other than making you feel good.

I'm a lawyer, so I'm usually analytical as hell when it comes to this stuff, but I think there's a pretty good argument for fighting dirty versus not fighting at all....

The single biggest problem the conservative movement has is that the primary schools, the colleges, the media, and the entertainment elites are all lined up against us.  Because of that, it is extremely difficult to get our message out without having it overwhelmed by the above-mentioned opinion-shapers.  That's particularly true when it comes to the young.  So we gradually see our vision of the country eroded.   The messaging from the left is inexorable, and we tend to lose the public on issue after issue because they get them young, and keep most of them.

What the conservative movement -- and the country as a whole  -- needs is a return of the skeptical, mistrustful voter/consumer of information.  We need more people -- especially young people - to quit relying on what they are told by those elites.  We're not going to have a shot at persuading anyone if that dynamic does not change.

Trump is an embarrassing doofus in many respects.  But I don't think there is any doubt that he has been successful at raising mistrust of the media to historic highs.  The almost embarrassingly simplistic-sounding "fake news" label has actually caught on, to the point where I think a lot more people are being much more skeptical when they hear/see things in the media.  Even if they ultimately don't agree with Trump, that burst of independent-thinking is absolutely invaluable.  I don't think we as conservatives can survive without it.

If we burn down the house of trusting the press, the soil that remains will be fertile for conservatives because we are right.  But our message is never going to get a fair airing is someone doesn't kneecap those opinion-shaping leftist elites.  And Trump -- for all his many flaws -- is the first party leader we've had who has actually done that to this extent.

[Bigun]

I'm a lawyer, so I'm usually analytical as hell when it comes to this stuff, but I think there's a pretty good argument for fighting dirty versus not fighting at all....

The single biggest problem the conservative movement has is that the primary schools, the colleges, the media, and the entertainment elites are all lined up against us.  Because of that, it is extremely difficult to get our message out without having it overwhelmed by the above-mentioned opinion-shapers.  That's particularly true when it comes to the young.  So we gradually see our vision of the country eroded.   The messaging from the left is inexorable, and we tend to lose the public on issue after issue because they get them young, and keep most of them.

What the conservative movement -- and the country as a whole  -- needs is a return of the skeptical, mistrustful voter/consumer of information.  We need more people -- especially young people - to quit relying on what they are told by those elites.  We're not going to have a shot at persuading anyone if that dynamic does not change.

Trump is an embarrassing doofus in many respects.  But I don't think there is any doubt that he has been successful at raising mistrust of the media to historic highs.  The almost embarrassingly simplistic-sounding "fake news" label has actually caught on, to the point where I think a lot more people are being much more skeptical when they hear/see things in the media.  Even if they ultimately don't agree with Trump, that burst of independent-thinking is absolutely invaluable.  I don't think we as conservatives can survive without it.

If we burn down the house of trusting the press, the soil that remains will be fertile for conservatives because we are right.  But our message is never going to get a fair airing is someone doesn't kneecap those opinion-shaping leftist elites.  And Trump -- for all his many flaws -- is the first party leader we've had who has actually done that to this extent.

Yes!

And that is true whether or not we like him as a person!!

[Victoria33]

I have a different perspective on that. I believe his preadolescent behavior does harm to conservatism.
I did before he was elected and I do now.  As I said before, his position changed, but not his person.

@musiclady

His exaggerations and habitual lying will never cease - Chaos is his name.

[Emjay]

@musiclady

His exaggerations and habitual lying will never cease - Chaos is his name.

I see you're still riding that dead horse.

[Idiot]

Here, let's make it larger for you.

I'll take the high road here.....   
Have a good day buddy.