Trump Staffers Plant Alternative Facts to Stop Him From Tweeting Them

[Fantastic Anarchist]

Trump Staffers Plant Alternative Facts to Stop Him From Tweeting Them

“Alternative media” describes media that will report the Trump administration’s “alternative facts.” The Washington Examiner and Fox News contain a mix of legitimate reporting with conservative propaganda. Infowars is a fever-swamp conspiracy site run by Alex Jones, who promotes hoaxes like “Pizzagate,” insists the Sandy Hook shooting was faked, is suspicious of fluoridated water, and so on. Jones is barking mad. Breitbart and the Daily Caller lie in the middle ground between normal, conservative, Fox News–crazy, and Alex Jones–crazy. (Jim Rutenberg recently noted the overlap between Jones’s conspiratorial beliefs and Trump’s, but the administration refused to tell him that Trump followed Jones’s claims. Now Palmeri has confirmed it.)

And so Trump’s staff essentially outsources the job of circulating pro-Trump alternative facts to the right-wing media in order to dissuade the president from doing it himself and thereby tarnishing his brand. The president is therefore not only the subject but also the object of his own staff’s propaganda campaign.

Palmeri also reports a fascinating detail about the efforts to confirm Neil Gorsuch. The nominee’s comments to Senator Richard Blumenthal expressing dismay with Trump’s attacks on the judiciary were planned, out of the calculation that demonstrating Gorsuch’s independence from Trump and willingness to oppose his attacks on the judiciary would ease his path to confirmation. “White House officials anticipated that Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch would distance himself from Trump’s attack and thought the planned comments would help the nominee’s bid, said a person with knowledge of the conversations,” she reports. Alas, Trump was not privy to the plan and, filled with rage, fired off a series of tweets attacking Blumenthal:

Trump himself didn’t like Gorsuch’s “disheartening” and “demoralizing” critique. He fired off a tweet criticizing Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut Democrat who repeated the comments, digging up a past controversy over the senator’s military record and accusing him of incorrectly characterizing Gorsuch’s comments. Afterwards, Blumenthal and other Democrats criticized Trump and said the president’s comments would hurt his nominee’s chances. Asked if aides and advisers liked the tweet, one White House official said sarcastically: “What do you think?”

Other tactics by staff to manage Trump listed at New York Magazine

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. That's so messed up.

It would have been better to just pick some random person off the street to be president.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

2. The random person would do a better job, no doubt. nt

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Maybe being president should be something like jury duty.

You get chosen randomly from a list of people who are constitutionally eligible and don't have any felony convictions or hospitalizations for mental illness or chemical dependency. If you're picked you have to be president unless you have a really good excuse.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

5. I'm not so sure about that, but why the hell not?

Couldn't be worse, eh?

[Thor_MN]

7. The prime qualification should be not wanting to be the President.

Anybody who wants the job wants the power - and is corruptible.

[Gothmog]

3. Trump is an idiot

[Fantastic Anarchist]

6. No argument from me!

👌