The Trump Thump
It’s been quite a week for the Tweeter In Chief. He fired and hired, constructed and destructed, lectured, gestured and lit a fuse on a revolution.
But for all the stunning news out of the White House during President Trump’s first week in office, perhaps the most instructive hint about what’s to come happened ten days before the inauguration.
Wednesday, January 11th, Mr. Trump conducted his first formal news conference. The Washington press corps, hungry and belligerent as usual, began their pack of wolves routine in anticipation of ensnaring The President in a goof.
Jim Acosta, a correspondent for the disreputable Buzzfeed news site, and only slightly more credible CNN, sought to get something juicy out of Tweeter One with a series of shouted questions. A SERIES of SHOUTED questions. Mr. Trump would have none of it, in fact, he intentionally avoided the increasingly assertive Mr. Acosta, until, at last, Acosta shouted over NPR national correspondent Mara Liason, who had been recognized by Mr. Trump to ask a question following Trump’s denunciation of an unsubstantiated CNN report that alleged various unsavory activities in Russia many years prior.
It went like this:
Acosta: “Mr. President-elect since you are attacking our news organization can you give us a chance … ”
Trump: (pointing past him) “Not you, your organization is terrible … I am not going to give you a question … You are fake news.”
Acosta / Trump: Back and forth, louder and louder. Finally,
Acosta: (several times) “Mr. President-elect that is not appropriate,”
Appropriate or not, Mr. Trump had the last word and thumped Mr. Acosta in no uncertain terms. His affront was masterful and effective. It put the press on notice that some new standards of comportment and etiquette might be forthcoming.
In fact, every day since January 11th, there has been a running battle between the White House and the Fourth Estate complete with charges and counter charges of retailing in fake news, favoritism, cronyism, threats of expulsion from the briefing room, pouting, shouting, and an increasingly apparent double standard favoring progressives over conservatives.
My colleague and friend, Dennis Hart, and I have often lamented the state of modern journalism. We don’t agree on everything, but we do find much room for improvement, especially when recalling the days of rock steady reporting by the likes of Edward R. Murrow’s boys: Winston Burdette, Eric Sevareid, Howard K. Smith. Charles Collingwood, Richard C. Hottelet, and others. In fact, it was Hottelet who once said, “It was not our job to inspire people, to educate, to move them. It was our job to tell them what was going on. We were accredited war correspondents. That was it. We were serious people at a serious job.”
There could be something to learn from the old timers. After all, it was the media’s all time favorite, Barack Obama, who just a few days ago, in a parting news conference, warned the press not to be sycophants, but rather skeptics. Advice too late for Obama era scribes, but a worthy refresher as Trump World emerges.
Mr. Trump’s dizzying first week targets for action included: Obama Care, the Keystone and Dakota Access Pipelines, Federal hiring and rule-making freezes, Scrapping the TPP trade agreement, Reforming the U.S. Border Patrol, and more.
Only a brash, egotistical, unfiltered, undaunted, anomaly such is The Donald could pull off this stuff. He’s demonstrated in bold shades that he meant what he said about reforming, really reforming, Washington, DC, including the media.
Perhaps it’s working. Beginning with his no-nonsense inaugural speech, and several times during the week, Mr. Trump used the phrase “Radical Islamic Terrorism,” words never uttered in the previous administration, at all. The press managed to get it written down and reported properly without filter or freshening. Perhaps Professor Trump’s Thumps are having some effect.