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Trump has already defeated the news media. And it’s unclear what we can do about it.
The Washington Post's The Plum Line ^ | November 28, 2016 | Paul Waldman

Posted on 11/29/2016 11:45:02 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

Donald Trump is either a mad genius who has cracked the media code in a way no politician before him was able to do, or he’s a kind of political Mr. Magoo, stumbling randomly about yet achieving one success after another. We may never know which it is.

But if we’re going to maintain our democracy, we have to figure out how to deal with the way Trump successfully manipulates the media.

Perhaps, as some have suggested, Trump tweeted his ridiculous lie about millions of fraudulent votes on Sunday in order to distract people from this lengthy investigation in the New York Times of the overseas partnerships that present unprecedented conflict of interest problems for his foreign policy. But even if that wasn’t his intent, it’s what happened — and he accomplished some other things as well.

The first thing it does when Trump kicks off a frenzy like this one is thrill his supporters (and I’ll admit that I was among those who said that just playing to his base wouldn’t be enough to win him the election). Here’s how the cycle works. First, Trump says something outrageously false, but which his supporters either believe already or would like to believe. Then Trump gets criticized in the media for it, and his supporters say, “There they go again, the liberal anti-Trump media.” Instead of convincing everyone that the claim was false, the criticism only reinforces for Trump’s fans the idea that nothing the media says can be believed, which further undermines their ability to act as neutral arbiters in any debate....

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Campaign News; Issues
KEYWORDS: 2016issues; media; press; trump; trumpmedia; trumptransition
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

” what we can do about it.”

How about telling the truth MSM, have you tried that lately?

It worked for Trump.


21 posted on 11/29/2016 11:56:02 AM PST by READINABLUESTATE ("If guns cause crime, there must be something wrong with mine." -Ted Nugent)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

This guy hasn’t had a solid stool since Nov. 8th.


22 posted on 11/29/2016 11:57:34 AM PST by GotMojo
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To: woweeitsme
One suggestion: They could actually report news instead of being cheerleaders for the Democrat party.

Correction--you mean an arm of the Democratic National Committee. Remember what WikiLeaks revealed back in late July 2016?

23 posted on 11/29/2016 11:57:47 AM PST by RayChuang88 (FairTax: America's economic cure)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Yet another Washington Post reporter, Paul Waldman, is writing about his very own Pauline Kael moment.


24 posted on 11/29/2016 11:59:16 AM PST by SteveH
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“...maintain our democracy...”?

The author is a moron.


25 posted on 11/29/2016 12:00:07 PM PST by WayneS (An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. - Winston Churchill)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

LOLLOOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
Could not happen to a more deserving group.

However, they are wrong. This has little to do with Trump except that he was smart enough to exploit it. The public long ago did an end run around the mainstream media. They were just too dumb to understand it.


26 posted on 11/29/2016 12:00:47 PM PST by Lorianne
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

neutral arbiters?

Ha!


27 posted on 11/29/2016 12:00:49 PM PST by dangerdoc ((this space for rent))
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“I’ll take he’s a mad genius for 200 Alex”


28 posted on 11/29/2016 12:01:10 PM PST by jmaroneps37 (Conservatism is truth. Liberalism is lies.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

But if we’re going to maintain our democracy, we have to figure out how to deal with the way Trump successfully manipulates the media.
- - - -
When these people say “our democracy” they mean the current, pre-Trump, state of the country where a “little elite in a far distant capital can plan our lives better than we can plan them ourselves.” So I say to them ESAD!


29 posted on 11/29/2016 12:01:28 PM PST by SubMareener (Save us from Quarterly Freepathons! Become a MONTHLY DONOR!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
...Trump says something outrageously false, but which his supporters either believe already or would like to believe....

That is utterly untrue. If Trumps says something that is in error or unbelievable his supporters do not necessarily believe, it or would like to believe it; rather, his supporters put it aside, keeping their perspective, firm in the knowledge that, on the whole, Trump is on the right track to making America great again. His supporters do not seize upon one miscue to dismiss him all together as do his dedicated critics who obviously want him to fail.

30 posted on 11/29/2016 12:01:40 PM PST by luvbach1 (I hope Trump runs roughshod over the inevitable obstuctionists, Dems, progs, libs, or RINOs!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Just as "outrageous" to state that there were "no illegal votes in the election" without a single supporting shred of evidence...

Therefore, we can conclude that WaPo and this scurvy writer are lying..."outrageously"

31 posted on 11/29/2016 12:02:12 PM PST by SuperLuminal (Where is another agitator for republicanism like Sam Adams when we need him?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“But if we’re going to maintain our democracy, we have to figure out how to deal with the way Trump successfully manipulates the media.”

Hey, I have an idea! MAYBE the media could actually report the news objectively, and when wandering into subjective areas give BOTH sides of the story equally! That might work.

But I can tell right now, that would never be considered in a million years. Heck, the mere fact that this “article” couches the whole issue of the collapse of influence by the dying dinosaur media as “Trump vs. The Media” and “Trump Defeats Media” tells you everything you need to know about the non-existent self-introspection by the enemedia.

BTW, guys, here’s a hint: Donald Trump did NOT defeat the media, the media defeated themselves by going 100% in the tank for Hillary in such a blatantly obvious way that even the most politically unaware could see it; so now, anyone who actually wants to know what’s really going on no longer pays a bit of attention to the fake news coming out of fake news sites like WaPo, CNN, CBS, ABC, CBS, ETC, but instead seek out alternative sources like FNC, FBN, Breitbart, The Daily Mail, et. al.


32 posted on 11/29/2016 12:02:56 PM PST by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Grow up, act like adults (rather than spoiled brats) and Americans’ and try to be decent reporters instead of self-serving editorialists.


33 posted on 11/29/2016 12:08:15 PM PST by mulligan (I)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Donald Trump is either a mad genius who has cracked the media code in a way no politician before him was able to do, or he’s a kind of political Mr. Magoo, stumbling randomly about yet achieving one success after another. We may never know which it is.

Oh, I think you know! DJT has led you idiots around by the nose for a year and a half and has been a couple of steps ahead of you the whole way. He doesn't need you to communicate with the American people and the people don't WANT you as their filter. You're irrelevant, except for a good laugh as we watch you flounder and gape at whatever he says that doesn't fit one of your preconceived molds of what a President or a candidate is supposed to say. Watching the response to his tweets this morning about flag burning was hilarious considering that all he did is quote what Hillary proposed as a Senator!

34 posted on 11/29/2016 12:08:16 PM PST by pgkdan (The Silent Majority Stands With TRUMP!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
...undermines their ability to act as neutral arbiters in any debate....

What ability to "act as a neutral arbiter in any debate"?

The media gave up the ability to be neutral decades ago. In fact, they didn't just give it up: They tore it from its moorings, threw it to the ground, stomped it in to tiny pieces, micturated on each individual piece and then buried the remains in a garbage pit.

35 posted on 11/29/2016 12:09:39 PM PST by WayneS (An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. - Winston Churchill)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“...but if we are going to maintain our democracy...”

That’s liberal, asshat, douchebag, media-type speak for “if we want to maintain control of the idiots that still listen to us, we need to figure out a new form of mind control.


36 posted on 11/29/2016 12:10:37 PM PST by Roger Kaputnik (Just because I'm paranoid doesn't prove that they aren't out to get me.)
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To: catnipman

The media started a war against Trump. They were destroyed. Trump should keep his foot on their neck for the next 4 years.


37 posted on 11/29/2016 12:11:31 PM PST by littleharbour
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

They are still in the denial stage of grief.

Someone alert me when the Washington Post starts to admit that they might have been wrong about Trump and wrong about the election.

Actually, no, why should anyone care what the stupid reporters at the Washington Post think. Anyone still stuck at the denial stage 20 days after the election is beyond stupid. It is like going to a zoo and watching the monkey cage expecting an einstein physics lecture. Not going to happen any time soon.


38 posted on 11/29/2016 12:11:57 PM PST by SteveH
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Cry me a river.


39 posted on 11/29/2016 12:12:19 PM PST by karnage
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Trump tweeted his ridiculous lie about millions of fraudulent votes on Sunday in order to distract people from this lengthy investigation
*******************************************

THAT ^^ is NOT a lie...look at California...any illegal immigrant waltzes over the border gets a drivers license and the right to vote...and they aren't Citizens of the United States...tell me about voter fraud and I'll eat your lunch, it's because of Barky and that stupid, idiot “MOONBEAM” Gov. of California!!!

40 posted on 11/29/2016 12:12:40 PM PST by HarleyLady27 ('THE FORCE AWAKENS!!!' Trump/Pence: MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!)
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