Cont: The Trump Presidency: Part 24

[Ladewig]

It's a pretty thin line between the two.

Yes.
After I wrote that I was thinking about following it with
to-MAY-to
to-MAH-to

 

[thaiboxerken]

It's not rocket science. Trump continually lies, CNN, MSNBC etal. reporting he's lying is not political bias.

Exactly. In fact, they are so scared of being labeled as biased that it took them years to finally call Trump's lies lies.

 

[Stacyhs]

Donnie Jr's Tweets:

Donald Trump Jr.
@DonaldJTrumpJr
·
41m
Dems/media have falsely labeled Trump and his supporters as racist, xenophobic, domestic enemies, Russian assets, traitors and even Nazis. They called us "irredeemable" and "deplorable."

But now they want to absolve themselves of any responsibility for the violence? #BidenRiots

My irony meter just blew up. Daddy never takes responsibility for anything that doesn't make him look good even if he is responsible for it and takes responsibility for anything that does even if he isn't responsible for it. And to call them the "Biden riots" when they're happening under Trump's watch?

Donald Trump Jr.
@DonaldJTrumpJr
·
59m
Ted Wheeler has blood on his hands. He decided to play politics and refused
@realDonaldTrump
's offer to send the National Guard to end the riots and now an innocent Trump supporter is dead at the hands of the radical leftwing mob because of it. He's a disgrace!!!
Quote Tweet

It is unknown who killed the man or even if it was connected to the protests but Donnie Jr has already declared it was at the 'hands of the radical leftwing mob'.

 

[Aridas]

Organized anarchists!?!

Closest thing to that are the organized right-wing anarchists (most of whom support Trump) that actually are causing trouble. So Trump isn't completely lying there.

What's your idea of "left?" It is a tragic Trumper error to imagine that facts have a political bias. CNN reports facts. MSNBC's commentaries are fact-based. The network news broadcasts are facts, and may even lean too far toward appearing even-handed when the facts are on one side. The Fox primetime lineup actively promotes lies, and has even been in conflict with its own news division. If you think the NY Times, the Washington Post and the news networks are biased, you need to define bias.

The selection of which true facts to report and the surrounding spin and interpretation attached can constitute bias. With that said, though... the MSM does tend to be biased to some extent, just dramatically less than right-wing propaganda outlets and in much different ways than the right-wingers tend to accuse them. CNN, for example, when looked at in the larger picture, should probably honestly qualify as slightly right-leaning, all things considered.

Don't know man, I certainly get anti-Trump feeling from CNN. It might be because Trump is an idiot and he generates so much crap just reporting on it straight will end up looking like campaign.
As for NY Times and WP I'll report later, didn't follow them so far.

There is no "might be" to it. Straight news of what Trump says and does is not flattering at all. He is exactly what he appears to be, a would-be dictator that is racist, narcissistic and dangerous to democracy.

Exactly. In fact, they are so scared of being labeled as biased that it took them years to finally call Trump's lies lies.

There's three main things to consider here with regards to CNN's negative coverage of Trump. First and most importantly, as thaiboxenken said, straight news coverage of Trump will generally be horrible, because what Trump does is generally horrible. Seriously, Trump is a career criminal who knowingly was great friends with, for example, Epstein. He was literally taught Nazi tactics and uses them. He... yeah, there's no need to get into a long list. Trump is objectively horrific. It's pretty much journalistic malpractice not to acknowledge that.

Second, as was touched on, the MSM has, for a long time, engaged in rather egregious both-siderism in their attempts to appear fair. There are probably four main aspects to that - a cynical strategy to attract and keep consumers, trying to avoid giving an opening for the loud and generally baseless right-wing accusations of media bias and thus ending up amplifying their false/misleading messages and narratives more, naive reporters who fall into the same traps as nigh everyone else is liable to fall into given human psychology, and as a play for continued access to politicians of different stripes. In practice, of course, that can end up with, at first glance, different sides of an issue being given far more equal weight than they deserve, regardless of merit.

Third... profits. To be clear, contrary to impression that the negative coverage gives, the (largely right-wing) leadership at CNN LOVES Trump. Same for a plenty of other news outlets. Reporting (truthfully) about the horrors he and his Administration cause raises ratings and profits and they are very happy about that - and very potentially the kind of happy that may (the almost certainly will kind of may) lead them to do backhanded things that help Trump in his bid to win, again.

As a bit of a tangent when it comes to where CNN is on the political spectrum, to be clear, CNN leadership doesn't like actual center leftists, like AOC and Warren - and they're not alone. Center left ideology represents a threat to the ability of people on top of big businesses to exploit them for profit, after all, while right-wing ideology makes it easier for them to exploit the businesses for personal benefits. Plenty more could be said on that, either way. Now, with that said... I feel like poking at a couple other tangentially relevant things.

Cable news applies “far-left” framing 6 times more often than “far-right” framing

That's using MSNBC, CNN, and FOX. FOX is more like 10 to one in ratio, while the other two were more like 4 to 1 in ratio. ETA: That's with the note that -

Over a four-week period, CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News discussed extremism on the left or right a total of 547 times; 86% of these instances framed the American political left as extreme. This trend is in stark contrast to data showing that the Republican Party is further away from the political center than the Democratic Party, and it leaves viewers misinformed about each party’s position by lending undue credibility to the right-wing talking point that Democrats are extreme.

In TV coverage time, the RNC got quite a bit more in coverage just about across the board.

Republicans spent months obstructing a COVID-19 relief bill. Broadcast evening news shows are ignoring it.

In short, it's not wrong to say that the MSM is systemically biased TOWARDS Republicans and the right, when looking at the big picture, albeit nowhere close to as much as the overt right-wing propaganda outlets.

 

[Dr.Sid]

Duplicate.

 

[Dr.Sid]

Donnie Jr's Tweets:
It is unknown who killed the man or even if it was connected to the protests but Donnie Jr has already declared it was at the 'hands of the radical leftwing mob'.

Yeah, it would be nice if people waited, like a week, before reacting to shootings and such. It's always complex event, and first glance is often not the correct one.

 

[Aridas]

Yeah, it would be nice if people waited, like a week, before reacting to shootings and such. It's always complex event, and first glance is often not the correct one.

That's if you're interested in the truth.

Trump and co aren't. They're interested in trying to sway opinion to their advantage. As part of that, trying to start the narrative off with attacking the "violent radical left mob" is one of the main features of their campaign strategy. "Those people are animals!" after all.

 

[Minoosh]

Quite possible. I mostly follow MSNBC, CNN and Fox internatinal sites. MSNBC and Fox are not even news really. It's just propaganda. CNN, while being clearly left, still seem to has some decency left. But I don't have any source I would call unbiased. I'm open to suggestions.

For variety's sake, Al Jazeera, Reuters, Associated Press, BBC.

Not that these are propaganda-free, just maybe with a somewhat less predictable slant. Sometimes I will look at the U.S. broadcast networks' websites, because while they are not Trump cheerleaders, they may be a little more balanced than cable sites.

You already are consuming a more-varied media diet than many people in the US, though. They are not used to looking at the world through a non-U.S.-centric lens. This is across the board, I think. Too many of us simply discount the rest of the world as not quite real.

 

[carlitos]

At least you have the maturity and a healthy enough ego to admit it instead of going into the self-defense mode of digging the hole even deeper!

Indeed. All the more so since the poster he’s replying to has a tendency to disappear from threads where evidence is provided to, or requested from them. They just blast right into the next thing and wait for everyone to forget the evidence, a la right wing pundits.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Trump Tweets

Rushing him out of basement after seeing some very disturbing numbers. Don’t worry, he’ll go back to basement soon!

 

[Norman Alexander]

Trump Tweets

Rushing him out of basement after seeing some very disturbing numbers. Don’t worry, he’ll go back to basement soon!

What is the blitherer blithering about now?

 

[Dr.Sid]

What is the blitherer blithering about now?

Biden ?

 

[Stacyhs]

What is the blitherer blithering about now?

Biden is going to go on the campaign trail in person now and Trump doesn't like it. He wants all the attention.

 

[varwoche]

Quite possible. I mostly follow MSNBC, CNN and Fox internatinal sites. MSNBC and Fox are not even news really. It's just propaganda. CNN, while being clearly left, still seem to has some decency left. But I don't have any source I would call unbiased. I'm open to suggestions.

MSNBC and Fox are unabashed advocates.

MSNBC advocates using facts (by and large). Fox advocates using distortions and lies (by and large). This is an important distinction.

MSNBC advocates in opposition to a sociopathic, fascistic imbecile. Fox advocates in support of a sociopathic, fascistic imbecile. This too is an important distinction.

 

[Stacyhs]

Typical GOP scumbaggery:

Twitter on Sunday flagged a manipulated clip posted by House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) that alters a question from activist Ady Barkan to Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

The clip is included in a video the House’s number-two Republican tweeted that accuses Democrats of fomenting and encouraging violent unrest. “No police. Mob rule. Total chaos. That’s the result of the Democrat agenda,” Scalise tweeted.

No police.
Mob rule.
Total chaos.

That’s the result of the Democrat agenda.

Ask yourself: Is this what you want in your town next? ↓ pic.twitter.com/zFnrx2kjZq
— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) August 30, 2020

In the initial interview, Barkan, who uses a computerized artificial voice due to his ALS, asks Biden if “we agree that we can redirect some of the funding” for police departments toward public safety and mental health services. “Yes,” Biden responds.

The clip Scalise tweeted, however, inserts the words “for police” into Barkan’s question, using the same computer-generated voice.

Biden has repeatedly come out against the movement to defund the police. Barkan, who also uses a wheelchair due to his condition, endorsed Biden in July and asked him about the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Rayshard Brooks.

Barkan called on Scalise to remove the video, tweeting "I have lost my ability to speak, but not my agency or my thoughts. You and your team have doctored my words for your own political gain. Please remove this video immediately. You owe the entire disability community an apology."

https://thehill.com/policy/technolo...ia-tag-on-video-shared-by-scalise-that-alters

 

[Norman Alexander]

Biden is going to go on the campaign trail in person now and Trump doesn't like it. He wants all the attention.

Ah, I see. So using the Trump Rule of Projection, when Trumps says Biden will be back in his basement soon, it really means Trump will be "inspecting the bunker" a lot more in the coming weeks.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Trump Tweets
The only way you will stop the violence in the high crime Democrat run cities is through strength!

LAW AND ORDER!

 

[Andy_Ross]

Trump Retweeted
Jason Miller
@JasonMillerinDC
Must be nice to have the MSM for a rapid response team.
No mention of Biden failing to call on Wheeler to allow federal help in Portland.
No mention of Biden refusing to condemn Antifa.
No mention of Dem Convention falling to condemn chaos & criminals!

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I think that horse left the barn quite a while ago.

Could he break down even more? Possibly.

Should be interesting to watch.

No no, I don't mean his mental illness surfacing or something, obviously that's on display for all to see.

I mean a full blown mental breakdown.

He's already showing his typical panic Tweets because Biden got more speech watchers and he's still ahead in the polls.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Trump Tweets

Rest In Peace Jay!
Quote Tweet

Amy Kremer
@AmyKremer
Jay Bishop.
He was a good American that loved his country and Backed the Blue.Flag of United States
He was murdered in Portland by ANTIFA.
Jay, we will never forget you.
Rest In Peace my friend.