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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy Trump Can Lie and No One Seems to Care - Neal Gabler
http://billmoyers.com/story/donald-trump-and-the-walter-winchell-effect/#.V1StTDSVrh9.facebookIn an ordinary political season, perhaps Trump would be under fire for his habitual untruths, like the one that Ted Cruzs father might have been involved with Lee Harvey Oswald. This time around, though, neither the media nor the public least of all his supporters seem to care. Which leads to the inescapable conclusion that these days, as far as our political discourse goes, truth, logic, reason and consistency dont seem to count for very much.
The question is why.
long article but good read.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)Basically it's a dog bites man story.
Now a truth telling politician, well that's such a fantasy they had to make a movie out of it.
Response to edhopper (Original post)
Post removed
edhopper
(33,639 posts)let it go.
coyote
(1,561 posts)Credibility and integrity be damned....full speed head.
ronnie624
(5,764 posts)But I disagree that the MSM are bored with discussions about policy. I find it more sinister than that. I think it is simply not in the ideological and financial interest of the shareholders, the executives and the advertisers to inform the American public about certain issues, and that they deliberately seek to uninform and -- in the case of FOX News -- actively misinform their viewers.
But I think there is something even scarier at work. I don't think that there are that many members of the MSM who are even capable of having a policy discussion. When you look at what is presented as news these days it's all very soft.
In my major US city there is a 24 hour news radio station. It never aspired to hard hitting commentary, it was where you went to find out what was going on. It has become a goo of man on the street soundbites by reporters "at the scene" when being "at the scene" adds nothing to the story. No facts, just opinionating by passersby waylaid on their way somewhere. Going up the chain to the networks it's a little better - opinionating by some designated expert who spends most of his/her time on new shows. I was watching the BBC the other day and they actually spent 10 whole minutes on an international scuffle I didn't even know existed. I felt like I time travelled back to the '70's.
quaker bill
(8,225 posts)Unlike Mitt, the Donald has not only figured out that the 47% won't vote for him, but also that he does not need to care about what they think of him. The people who will vote for him, and have voted for him already, are for the most part unimpressed by "facts" and "policies". They find that sort of stuff "boring", as he correctly terms it. They want red meat infotainment, beating on immigrants, Muslims, and any other group of "others" will work for that. Belittling the other GOP candidates worked for that, belittling Hillary or Bernie will work just fine as well.
There is a problem with this strategy and that is that there are just so many grumpy old white men and such that he can attract and keep with this approach. Yes, he can whip them up and get them to the polls with a lot of energy, but the numbers while stunningly big given the nature of his campaign are just not that large.
The other edge of this sword, is that all things being equal, there is that 47% voting for the other side, but things are not equal. It is 47% when both candidates are fighting to the middle and attempting to win a slice of it. Trump is not going there, his plan, to the extent there is one, is to fire up the 40% who are taken with him and get them to the polls in large numbers, there is no sign that he will reach to the middle at all. This presents risk to him and opportunity to our side in that the things he will do and increase doing between now and Nov., will fire up our side in anger and opposition and potentially grow the 47% a good bit.
There is potential for a wave election here, but we need to play this right. Some of the early ads against Trump seem to be going there by using his words, but using other faces to lip-sync them. The words sound far more absurd and offensive coming from anyone else.
Solly Mack
(90,792 posts)Reality TV at large.
Vinca
(50,318 posts)There's something worse than Trump though: the GOP leaders who have endorsed him despite his ignorance, racism and overall buffoonery.
malaise
(269,219 posts)his racist birther attacks on the President of the United States - who the fuck do they think they're fooling with their outrage today?
They helped to promote this despicable racist scumbag Don the Con and so did all the ReTHUGs who never condemned the racist birther bullshit.
Vinca
(50,318 posts)The media enabled Trump to the point he won the GOP nomination and now it's clear to the entire world that our next POTUS might be batshit crazy. And the media - especially Joe and Mika - will be the ones to blame. Trump went from a disgusting act that got good ratings to being in a position where he can rather easily do great damage to the country. What's worse are the Republicans like Ryan and Turtle Man who are endorsing him and putting party over country.
malaise
(269,219 posts)<snip>
Soon President Barack Obama and Donald Trump will be half a world away from each other. The president will be in Africa, where his trip is taking him to the country where his father was born. Trump, meanwhile, will still be in the first weeks of a presidential campaign that has rendered the most basic assumptions about the Republican primary temporarily inoperative.
However far apart the two men are, their two journeys are linked in significant ways. In the minds of millions of Americans (if polls are right), Barack Obama is actually returning to the country in which he was borna fact he, his parents and the entire Hawaiian public health system have fiendishly hidden from the world for half a century. Those suspicions were fanned greatly by the comments of Donald Trump stretching back more than three years, comments that had no basis in fact, and for which Trump has offered neither explanation nor apology. Back in 2011, Trump trumpeted that he had sent investigators to Hawaii and that they cannot believe what theyre finding. We never did learn what it is they had found. A few weeks ago, asked about whether he thought Obama was born in the United States, Trump told CNN, I don't know. I really dont know.
For his part, Obama has usually resorted to humor to reply. The two men even faced each other at the 2011 White House Correspondents Association dinner, where Obama skewered Trump from the podium for his birther stance, saying, I know hes taken some flak lately, but no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than The Donald, Obama told the crowd. And thats because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter, like: Did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac? Two years ago, he told the same dinner about plans for his library: Some have suggested that we put it in my birthplace but Id rather keep it in the United States.
The baseless notion that Obama is not really one of us is not confined to questions of birth. It is also linked to a broader notion that in countless ways, the president is not really one of us. For ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Obamas worldview is explained as Kenyan anti-colonial behavior. For FOXs Sean Hannity, Obama is the Manchurian candidate, whose (perhaps unconscious) attraction to Americas enemies was shaped by ties to onetime Weather Underground bomber Bill Ayres and his longtime pastor, Jeremiah Wright. For former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the conclusion is clear: I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that the president loves America, he said in February. He doesnt love you. And he doesnt love me. He wasnt brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up through love of this country.
If these are the public views of some of the more prominent voices on the Right, its no surprise that a majority of Republicans believe that deep down, Obama is a Muslim, or that a significant chunk of Republicans think its likely that Obama is not a citizen.
Vinca
(50,318 posts)American. So, like Ted Cruz, he would still be eligible to be POTUS. Sometimes you can only shake your head and wonder WTF has happened to this country. Ignorance appears to be the new normal.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Determined ignorance protected in fortresses of self delusion.