I previously was highly critical of President Donald Trump for his reposting a video from his appearance at a professional wrestling bout that was altered to look like he was beating down CNN. With the rising anger and attacks directed at the media, the posting was irresponsible and inflammatory. While I have criticized some in the media for open bias in its attacks on Trump, I have been alarmed by his attacks on the press. Undeterred, Trump again reposted an item this morning that featured a cartoon of CNN being hit by a train. Some people have said that this is outrageous after the car attack in Charlottesville. I think the objection should be directed at the pattern of images of press being beaten or run down by this President. The free press has helped guarantee civil liberties and good government in this country for over two hundred years. Unlike much of the world, we have an independent media that is a constant check on the abuses and corruptions of government. Trump’s open antagonism for the press is alarming and at times reckless.
The image on top of the cartoon explains the purpose for its reposting: “Fake news can’t stop the Trump train.” Trump feels obviously aggrieved by the coverage of his Administration. I agree with the media has been openly oppositional at times. While lionized for his confrontations at the White House, CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s interaction with the President this week was more of an advocate than a journalist — as was his confrontation with Stephen Miller. That is not to say that he did not have valid concerns, but the direct challenges and assertions from the media pool can dangerously blur the lines between commentary and coverage.
I get the cartoon. Trump is saying that he will plow through the bad media. However, presidents have to show a modicum of restraint. He has millions of followers that he is whipping up into a frenzy against the media. That can be a dangerous mix, particularly when you again isolate CNN for such images. Moreover, President Trump has consistently ignored his contribution to bad press. Although there is a clear bias in much of the reporting and increasing negative spin given stories, the press is generally covering valid stories and missteps. Referencing the possibility of a military intervention in Venezuela or Donald Trump Jr. willingly setting up a meeting purportedly to receive dirt from Russia were not missteps or machinations of the media. To use the cartoon theme, this first year has been a train wreck for this Administration and the cause has not been media coverage.
My bride watches Lester Holt’s newscast. She told me the lead story reported Susan Bro, mother of Heather Heyer, thanking Trump for his comforting words. I was shocked. Well, try finding that anywhere else in the MSM. Even Stevie Wonder could see there is a blitzkrieg by the MSM to destroy Trump. They are trying to make this Katrina like they did in their destroy W campaign. However, they are at war w/ someone who fights back. It’s only going to get uglier.
I think we can ALL agree the MSM press is not independent. They stand behind a constitutional right that says they should be. But they are absolutely not. CNN/DNC collusion against Sanders. DOJ/Journalists discussing squashing Lynch tarmac meeting…and these are just instances that have been brought to light. Media has been consolidated into the hands of a few, content controlled and dictated by these few. If anyone and i mean anyone actually believes the press is intendant, you are truly living in an alternate realty
so then what’s your solution?
So where and when do you suppose that these conspiratorial meetings occur, wherein all the MSM actors get coordinated?
For the groups it is through many groups many of which are related to George Soros. Sometimes the affiliations seem unatural. For example OWS, Occupy Wall Street likely probably had some support from the American Nazi Party as well as all the left wing groups.
AS for journalists it was released quite awhile ago that a lot of the top journalists had a secret group they all corresponded with.
This is our President, engaged in pi**ing contests with tin pot dictators, threatening to invade Venezuela, knee jerk responding to every news flash, tweeting his pudgy fingers to the bone, but, not doing anything to lead, help, make better…. Those in defense of this buffoon sound stupider by the day.
Issac – dude, you have a lot of hate. If you ever wonder to yourself (and you should), “Am i part of the problem in this country?” The answer is a resounding, “yes.” I hope, for your sake, that you can do better.
What’s wrong with this country is bigger than Trump. What’s wrong with this country is that it is not a free democracy but an oligarchy that allows the worst of the richest supported into government and not the best. Obama was light years ahead of Bush and Trump because he came out of the people. Bush was a lame a** who performed as a tool for the oligarchs. Trump is the head oligarch. So, what can one do? Firstly call a spade a spade, over and over. Advocate the abolition of financial backing of candidates, as is the case in the more successful democracies. This will expand our choices by allowing more parties, than the two we have today, one more than a dictatorship. Those who are part of the problem in this country are those that believe that there is no better system than the dysfunctional one we have at this time. If we change the system, we can change the quality of our leaders. If you actually believe that the likes of Trump and Clinton are the result of a successful system of government, then you are the problem.
issac – Canada is calling youououou!!!!
The ‘rubber and glue’ theory applies here.
For decades “the media” has not been “independent,” but has sold its soul to the DNC. And it has only been a “check” on one party, despite the abuses and corruption plain for all to see. This is why Trump is right to denounce it: just as Obama denounced the Supreme Court at his State of the Union address. The media deserves no special treatment.
I assume you also meant to include Fox which has always been right wing but is now just Trump TV.
Is the news section Trump TV or were your referring to the opinion broadcasts?
You base this on what–what Briebart & Drudge are saying? Or what Alex Jones said?
The media, newspapers, have always leaned to one side or the other. That is because they are made up of people who, lean to one side or the other. The credibility of a newspaper rests on how far left or right and whether or not they retract when found printing other than the truth. If you read the Washington Post you will notice a core objectivity tainted with the placement of the same words just as is found in a right wing paper. The Post does arrange words of truth to carry a weight to the left. The greatest difference between a left leaning paper such as the Post or the NY Times and the Wash. Times or Fox News can be found in the editorials. There is no comparison for vitriol, lies, and accusations; The Washington Times and Fox News read like the tabloids they are. On top of that, they simply don’t print what might go against their grain. The stories are short, hollow, and devoid of detail, just like the people who lean in that direction.
Turley did use the word Charlottesville in a sentence without actually attempting to discuss it. Progress?
Too bad he didn’t include the word “Soros”. THAT would be progress. Bussing in black-shirts and Hitler Youth, for pay, to violently attack and create a melee for the purpose of making the president look bad is the new normal, I guess.
This Soros fixation is so hilarious, but not unexpected from people who can’t confront a Trump atrocity without knee-jerking the words Clinton, Obama, Rice, Lynch. And Soros.
Well, Soros DOES finance the artificially created opposition. No one can credibly deny it. It’s a horrible development in contemporary society. He’s perfectly open about his agenda–which is why his home country (amongst others) is fighting to block his nefarious plotting, by the way. So I guess it’s the very best thing we can do. We should grow ever more fixated by this.
The man should be tried for treason and hanged. In public.
Please don’t give credeance to what the likes of Briebart and Inforwars spread. Thanks.
What?
” What?” He’s telling you the obvious. You are talking the BS conspiracy that would put Alex Jones to shame. You’re nuts, mate. Produce some evidence, or admit you are just another extremist, pathetic nutter.
Sister, the whole point of Soros activity is manufacturing astroturf.
Right. Breitbart and Jones, by definition only report lies. Anyone who knows who George Soros is, and what the organizations he finances are designed to do, is by definition a “nut,” and pathetic extremist.
The “evidence” you ask for is reported ubiquitously. Hungary (and other countries, too) is banning the man and the evil organizations he uses to subvert its institutions. Everyone knows these things; the evidence is reported all day long, all around the media. But then, you certainly know that.
Old George survived the Hitler Nazis in Hungary but can he survive the MAGA Nazis.
That’s funny.
A poor kid collaborates with the people exterminating his race, to survive, and then later in life becomes fabulously rich and hires an army of poor kids to destroy the world that made him rich.
The NAZI minion becomes the Boss NAZI.
Irony, thy name is Soros.
In Hungry his place of origin Soros turned on his own, Jews, and was financially rewarded for doing so. He is an animal and possibly a sociopath.
Oh? Can you prove any of this? How much were these supposed agents paid? Can you produce any who would testify that they were hired agents? What were the bus companies? – Did anybody see these buses?
You might just as well claim that they were flown in inside alien flying saucers, so that the extra-terrestrials can discombobulate our governments before “the invasion.”
Right. I just made it all up. No one was on television, showing the pictures and talking about it, the last few days.
https://twitter.com/ForAmerica/status/897085483305644034
“Working America is the political organizing arm of the AFL-CIO.[3] Its membership is made up of non-union individuals.[1] It is the largest non-union workers’ group in the United States, with a self-reported membership of 3.2 million individuals.[2] Working America advocates for progressive policy issues. The organization recruits people in working-class neighborhoods on their doorsteps in an effort to persuade them to support labor-backed candidates at election time.” WIKI WORKING AMERICA is not a violent group. They generally go door to door with clipboards.
Pathetic you t rumpers think a living wage is abhorrent
Pathetic you t rumpers think a living wage is abhorrent
I also think meth addiction is abhorrent. So there’s that.
Let’s see JT. . .Madonna, at a public rally, claims that she wants to blow up the White House. . .Kathy Griffin posts a picture showing her dangling a life-like replica of Trump’s bloodied and severed head. . .yet I don’t seem to recall you, JT, getting your panties, in a twist, over those episodes, in the same way and manner that you appear to be with a cartoon depicting Trump blasting through the false narrative on CNN. Stretching a bit, aren’t you JT, to claim that this cartoon represents any sort of a threat to the media? That’s what you call, digging, pretty deep, to try to manufacture a threat to the media. While Madonna and Griffin are not individuals who have the privilege of holding the highest office in the land, if memory serves me, I don’t recall you taking the opportunity, to get up on your soapbox, to thoroughly denounce those individuals, despite, what many viewed as real and actual threats to the lives of the President and his family–the call to blow up the White House or the publishing of a photo with the severed and bloodied head of Trump being dangled. Those words, those acts, could truly encourage some to do harm to the President. . .this cartoon, despite your machinations, doesn’t come anywhere close to encouraging anyone to harm or hurt those in the media. A failed attempt to show that there are wrongs being committed by both sides, but, hey, keep trying.
Those were celebrities making stupid comments/showing gross pictures. Trump himself is retweeting this crap and he has a history of trying to incite violence. There is no equivalence.
“The free press has helped guarantee civil liberties and good government in this country ”
But in recent years the free press (MSM) has all but abandoned doing its job and today acts as if it is an arm of the DNC.
I think a more important question is Google and its manipulation of its search engine to favor
Google’s political beliefs.
Darren, perhaps JT would like to comment on that or perhaps some attorney on the list might wish to comment.
I was thinking Ollie’s Barbacue Supreme Court Case went against Ollie because of “stream of commerce” Are Google’s actions likewise involving the same issue and should action be taken against Google?
The MSM doesn’t “act” like it’s an arm of the DNC: it IS an arm of the DNC! they weaponized it years ago.
Enlighten Us.–and don’t forget that Fox is also MSM….
Actually Fox News is cable. The mainstream networks would be considered ABC, NBC and CBS.
FYI ABC, NBC and CBS all have “cable/live streamikng” services..the idea that Fox somehow thinks it is different is simply not correct…..
They may have live streaming, but I believe those three are on the public bandwidth.
You mean, the same way that Fox and the WSJ are the propaganda arms of the Republicans?
A content analysis of the WSJ news pages was done a number of years ago and discovered that their citation patterns matched those of Democratic members of Congress. You fancy they’re a ‘propaganda arm of the Republicans’ because you don’t actually read the paper.
so, this toon is ironic to what happened in Charlottesville; it is despicable and deplorable! this prez has nothing better to do than fight against the media; he has a job to do and is sitting around child like in his romper room tweeting stuff like train wreck against CNN; this so called leader of the free world thinks it’s ok to beat up or mow down the free press (NOT FAKE NEWS) for telling the truth; if anyone’s fake it’s him; he can’t handle the truth; he’s the BIGGEST LIAR in this country and so far, the worst in the WH and “We the People” have to put up with his antics for 3 and a half more yrs. What’s become of our country and we as citizens of American? Trump needs to lead or leave … The world is watching …
Ya, he should go on an apology tour, remind business that government made them successful, give Iran some more money, let NoK get a better delivery system and let’s not forget about “fair share”. Hopefully we’ll have to put up with him for 7+ years
Agreed! Well said!
Ha. Clam for the win………
Perfectly stated.
Sooo the free press can publish countless photos depicting the President of the United States as a clown, Hitler and a monster, write articles about leaks that are later proven false but when he fires back that’s no good. You have to be kidding me. If the “free press” starts printing news and truth not political bias we will all be better off.
That Trump is an authoritarian, wannabe dictator/tyrant has been clear for a long time. Dictators hate the media. However, the country is not yet a dictatorship because the institutions are holding moderately well, including the media.
Only someone with their head buried up their posterior would even bother to defend the CIA operatives of operation Mockingbird (i.e. the mainstream press) Wakeup! The mainstream “press” is and has been a propaganda arm of the CIA, for as long as I have been alive.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2016/11/30/the-cia-and-the-press-when-the-washington-post-ran-the-cias-propaganda-network/
I don’t take the same yoga classes as Steve Bannon.
But the MSM does. We all got to watch the MSM take care of BHO for eight long years with lots of loud sucking sounds filling the air waves and television screens.
“Tell us Pres Obama, what has most enchanted you about the presidency so far?”
Yes, a real question asked by a journalist at an Obama press conference.
We’ve gone from kiss my ring to pull my finger in less than a year.
T rump is reaping what he has sown.
Yeah, it’s called the Presidency.
LOL, but I don’t think Ken gets it.
“Dictators hate the media” ergo Trump must be a dictator? Absurd! Dictators LOVE the media they control! That’s what keeps them In power! So Putin must not be a dictator: his press shows him in a flattering light, just like . . . Obama!
If anything Trump should be MORE forceful in his attacks of the fake news.
They deserve to go the way of the dinosaur.
Is the MSM Free Press an
Oxymoron?
Mmh I think it is kind of important to point out here that the CNN dude is not being run over by the train… He is trying to stop the train, and failing…
He is trying to stop the train, and failing…
An excellent point lost on everyone here!
When it comes right down to it, CNN is nothing in the argument of fake news when compared to Trump, the lying sack of sh*t President we now have. No one, and I challenge anyone to present their champion of lies, compares to Trump. Trump has lied about himself and almost everything else from well before he made his foray into politics. I believe he lied on record over five hundred times in his first four months. Newspapers have always been biased-read the Washington Times or Fox News. CNN may exaggerate but if it prints a falsehood, it retracts the info. Trump is one big falsehood that lies more often than telling the truth. Comparing CNN to Trump is like comparing apples to horse apples.
That depends on what “is” means!
We used to call dumb schmucks: “twits”. For some reason the word has gone out of favor. But, I think that those who tweet are twits.
President Twit Head.
World of a liberal . Idiots can attack with lies all the time but god forbid if anyone jokes about the idiots . Half of the country is in need of serious psychiatric intervention but it thinks it’s the other side that needs it .
JT, if they were attacking you everyday, you would feel the same. CNN is a train-wreck right now.
Citation needed. That presented without evidence may be dismissed without evidence.
susangalea – no cite needed. It is common information. Take judicial notice as they say.
” Common information” . Er, no it is not. It is a point of view, no more.
Paul , in the world of our elites unfortunately humor and exposing the fraud that journalists and media in general is is not allowed . Who will they go to put their faces on if the media loses all its credibility
Trump is the government. All media should “attack” the government, no matter who holds office.
Dave137 – they were a complete failure at attacking the government during the Obama administration. Fair is fair. If you attack Obama, you get to attack Trump. If you didn’t attack Obama then you don’t get to attack Trump.
Paul it is NOT the job of the press to “attack”. It is the job of the press to ferret out the truth and to educate the electorate. With that metric that only press that we have is the so called alternative press.
No! The media is not charged with “educating” anyone!! They are supposed to REPORT FACTS and allow us to draw inferences and conclusions! They have overstepped their authority and we need to hold them accountable! No more BS weaponized “news” in which they act as political pawns relying on “confidential” sources!
All media concerned with actual reporting should investigate and challenge the government, along with any other individuals, corporate entities, groups or interests they are “reporting” on. Of course, that is a tall order, since there are virtually zero (0) main stream media outlets interested in investigative journalism.
Enough with stenographers. And Fox is no better than CNN, or MSNBC, just different lies.
Agreed! We need to require reporter to report FACTS! If they only reported facts, there wouldn’t be a need for 24/7 news! They could report the facts and others to post comments using the facts as support for their positions.
This commentary is incredibly weak. The salience of a CNN reporter being mowed down by the American Government is totally missed. If you can’t see the parallel iniquity of Trump ignoring the young woman peacefully demonstrating against racism and her subsequent mowing down by one of his supporters with Trump’s willingness to revel in the mowing down of a person reporting for CNN then I despair.
If you could move away from trying to play King Solomon in the most detached and absurd manner you may get closer to the truth of what this Trump Government represents for so many: this is the banality of evil.
T rump is a sicko.
Yes X 1000.
Oh for crying out loud! Now Trump is Pontius Pilot?! Pleeeeze! Get over your incessant demands for conformity!
Doesn’t he have work to do. Actually, the more time on Twitter the better.
Trump is a lazy sod. Work? Ha! The trouble with his twitter guff is that he is feeding the part of his base that gather like carrion crow to feed off his repulsive bullying and not so subtle incitement to violence. Trump has always been a racist and settled in court for being caught out. Since that ignominious time he has used all manner of dog whistle and codes to ensure the racist base he plays to remain roiling and dangerous. He should be impeached to ensure the safety of all peaceful and decent Americans.
Yep. Lazy guys sleep 3-4 hours a day, built fabulous golf courses, 4-star hotels and luxury high-rise apartment houses. Because that’s what lazy guys do.
They also, when they choose to run for president, flit around the country (having carefully chosen the counties in the key electoral-vote states) to do rallies a few times a day.
Meanwhile, the ever-energetic Hilz proves to be astonishing in her output (even today); she ran a much stronger race, fought a much more fierce fight, campaigned in waaaay more counties than lazy-bones Don.
Yet somehow the sod beat her.
He spends a few minutes Tweeting at four in the morning, I guess, and then does nothing all day.
Patrick, susangalea lives by the aphorism, ignorance is bliss.
allan, The left has put out stories Trump has abused amphetamines over the years because he’s a workaholic. Poor susan is running off the boilerplate template, “Republicans are lazy, stupid and uncaring, Dems are hardworking, smart, and empathetic.” That template has been in use for generations.
You are so right Nick. They also accused him of anti-Semetism despite the fact that all his married children are married to Jews and his grandchildren are Jewish. It just goes to show if enough nonesense is printed enough times the dumb and dumber crowd will eventually believe it.
He got a larger percentage of the Nazi vote than the Jewish vote. Could be that he bashes and threatens the press like Hitler did.
https://twitter.com/jpost_politics/status/897380117994889217
…and how does this affect the conversation at hand?
By the way frankly, there should be action. The mayor should be fired and everyone on both sides involved in the violence should be arrested and jailed. There should also be an investigation of why the police department didn’t take appropriate action. We have seen violent leftist outbursts elsewhere that were illegal and no action was taken.
You probably like the fact that the police didn’t do very much perhaps because you thought the leftist were armed and white supremacits weren’t. Only miserable people want to see such violence. You aren’t a miserable person, are you?
Leftists are rarely armed and you are right the police should have taken action. Just because I think Trump is doing an awful job does not make me miserable .:) I would be truly miserable if I had to defend Trump all day as you do.
Frankly did you consider why they didn’t take action? We have seen similar actions where violence from the left erupted and the police in left leaning cities did nothing. In most of those cases those on the other side had no weapons what so ever.
I remember almost a decade ago during the Presidential election Breitbart was protesting and some violence broke out and the police went after Breitbart and his crew. Luckily they were filming which proved that the one’s breaking the law were the leftists so his crew wasn’t arrested. They took note of the faces and many of these were organized leftists brought in from elsewhere. One of the leaders was an out of town leader of the Democratic party.
Think about it Frankly, and ask yourself why this is the case?
Leftists are rarely armed…
Unless you would complete that sentence with …with critical-thinking skills, then you have completely discredited any future you thought you had in being taken seriously.