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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGreat ROBERT REICH piece today.
http://robertreich.org/Government by Tweedict
Thursday, January 5, 2017
Trumps tweets are a new form of governing by edict. Theyre tweedicts.
Incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer says Whatever he tweets, he is going to drive the news.
Thats the problem. In driving the news, Trumps tweedicts gain the power of implied threats that hell, for example, sanction a particular company (Ford, General Motors, Carrier, or Boeing); unilaterally alter foreign policy (recognize Taiwan, encourage Israel to expand on the West Bank, not back NATO against Russian aggression); unleash his angry followers on a particular critic (a local union leader in Michigan, a teenage girl in New Hampshire, a TV news host); cause customers or readers to boycott a media outlet (CNN, the Arizona Republican, Saturday Night Live, the cast of Hamilton); or impose high political costs on Republican members of Congress (for pursuing an investigation against Russia, gutting an ethics office).
The United States is supposed to be a government of laws, not of edicts. Yet Trumps tweets are gaining power even though they arent legislation. They arent executive orders (which can be reviewed and overturned by courts). They arent even the statements of a president using his bully pulpit to make a general point, because they single out particular companies and people.
They are arbitrary and capricious, reflecting the daily whims of Donald Trump.
And hes not even president yet.
The media argue that the thoughts of a president-elect are inherently newsworthy. Rubbish. Theyre newsworthy only because they drive the news. And they drive the news only because theyre considered by the media to be newsworthy.
That tautology can turn into a vicious cycle leading to tyranny. The media should pay less attention what Trump is tweeting and more attention to what Trump is actually doing.
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Great ROBERT REICH piece today. (Original Post)
Jacob Boehme
Jan 2017
OP
bdamomma
(63,849 posts)1. that last
sentence says it all.
wishstar
(5,269 posts)2. His tweets are also effective propaganda phrases when repeated over and over by media
When every news broadcast repeats the same talking points from his tweets over and over, his words are ingrained into the minds of millions of people, hence very effective brainwashing for his followers and uninformed listeners.
NRaleighLiberal
(60,014 posts)3. "and he's not even president yet". Indeed.
CentralMass
(15,265 posts)4. I wonder if share holders can sue if his tweets cause stock movement?