Wondering what's behind Trump's improved poll numbers? His attacks on the press.
Seems like President Trump can get away with saying and doing just about anything he wants. The extent to which he has achieved that end is demonstrated by the credit he is getting for his handling of the coronavirus crisis. Trump, in truth, has contributed more to the confusion and disruption plaguing the country’s response to the pandemic than any other public official in the land. Yet he was able to call in to “Fox & Friends” last Monday morning and brag, “I’ve gotten great marks on what we’ve done with respect to this. I’ve gotten great marks.” He happens to be on to something. How did it come to this?
Because Trump is accomplishing what he set out to do when he launched his presidential bid: bring down the press in the public eye to the point where his word, not ours, is believed.
Some of us could see it coming.
In February 2017, one month after his inauguration, I wrote that there was more to Trump’s attacks on the media than just demagogic assaults to manipulate coverage. There was, I speculated, a more strategic calculation at play. He regards us as rivals standing between him and what he wants. He knew as a candidate, and knows as president, that we are going to watch and report relentlessly on what he does — or fails to do.
“His aim,” I warned, “is to denigrate the work of the media so that our reporting and analyses are summarily dismissed by the public.” And regretfully, that goal is being achieved.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/wondering-whats-behind-trumps-improved-poll-numbers-his-attacks-on-the-press/2020/04/03/e23c7880-7527-11ea-87da-77a8136c1a6d_story.html
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