Media Meltdown: “Mommy! Mommy! No Fair! Donnie Hit Me Back!
Watching the prissy press go to into absolute meltdown mode over the fact that Trump, Sarah Huckabee Trump, and Sean Spicer are such meanies is hilariously entertaining. My God, who do these people think they are? They are so impressed with themselves, and convinced of their own importance, that any criticism is tantamount to unleashing death squads against them.
And no, that is not hyperbole.
CNN is leading the collective crying jag, because it has been the target of Trump’s and Trump’s media team’s most pointed criticism. And justifiably so, given the networks obsession over Trump and the Russia story in particular. An obsession which has resulted in stories so bad that three “journalists” responsible for one of them (relating to Trump friend Anthony Scaramucci allegedly meeting with the head of a Russian investment fund, during which CNN (falsely) claimed Scaramucci indicated that sanctions would be lifted) being fired.
This reminds me of the story about the kid who goes screaming to his mother: “Mommy! Mommy! No fair! Donnie hit me back.”
Yes, the media truly believes that they can hit until arm weary, but it is a grave offense for the target of their blows to hit back.
The funniest thing about this whole episode is that the media actually thinks that anybody outside their bubble gives a shit. No! They don’t! The media is widely loathed, and for good reason. In fact, to the extent that anybody outside the bubble cares about the media getting smacked around, they are likely to care in the way I do–that is, they get some satisfaction and entertainment out of the spectacle.
The overreaction will actually be counterproductive for exactly this reason. Going after the media is throwing red meat to Trump supporters. The more the media howls, the better it is for Trump, and the more he will ramp it up.
This illustrates yet again the media’s (and the establishment’s generally) complete failure to understand the Trump phenomenon. They just do not comprehend that there are people that not only don’t think like them, but dislike them actively and intensely. So they act like Einstein’s definition of a madman: they do the same thing over and over, expecting different results.
Sorry, folks. The song remains the same. Actually, not sorry.
The “elite” is preternaturally thin-skinned because of their excessive self-regard. The media are the most flagrant examples of this, for at least a couple of reasons. One is that they have ready access to mass media, and can more readily express their outrage in ways that are noticed beyond their immediate circle: related to this is the fact that these widely disseminated public displays feed off one another, and the hysterics compete with one another to demonstrate who can be the most hysterical.
Another reason is that journalism is not a highly paid profession, and as a result a substantial fraction of the compensation is psychic: as figures in the public eye, media people have status that far exceeds their skills (note that journalists as a group have below average cognitive abilities), and crucially is disproportionate to their income. Hence, they are jealously protective of this status: without it, they are low paid hacks in a dying profession.
Meaning that Trump and his minions are striking hard at the media’s self-esteem, and as inflated as it is, that’s pretty much all they’ve got. Hence the hysterical reaction.
Which I find hysterical (in another sense of the word).
Interesting comment in the leftist press about how the Trump actions are proof that he hates his base. And I tend to think a lot of his policy proposals are bad for his base’s interests.
Problem is that “base” knows just how much the leftists truly hate them. They will take their pride over “largess” from the left any day of the week.
Comment by JavelinaTex — June 29, 2017 @ 6:12 am
Overheard in a neighbour’s garden, decades ago.
“Mummy, mummy, tell Hamish to give me my ball back.”
Mummy: “Angus, you’re eighteen!”
Comment by dearieme — June 29, 2017 @ 6:26 am
It’s one thing to attack the media for being inaccurate, it’s a completely another thing to write about “low IQ Crazy Mika” and her facelift. The president of the US sounds like a third-class third-world dictator.
Comment by aaa — June 29, 2017 @ 8:51 am
@aaa – no, the prez of the US does NOT sound like a third-class third-world dictator
that is what the media idiots screech and scream against Trump
the fact is that the way Mika and her compadres behaves is low IQ and crazy
President Trump is just being factual
and to further prove the point – CNN had Elmo talking about how much he loves Syrian refugees
apparently the ratings weren’t high enough, so the Clinton News Network brings in Elmo – tee-hee, giggle, giggle, don’t you just love Syrian refugees
The Clinton News Network was actually a premiere reliable news network years ago, something to be trusted and relied on
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/26/world/elmo-refugee-kids-are-just-like-us-cnntv/index.html
Comment by elmer — June 29, 2017 @ 9:43 am
@aaa and @elmer. On this one I have to agree that the gratuitous swipes on people like Mika Brezinski are uncalled for and counterproductive. First, don’t punch down! Never punch down! This actually elevates the status of people you want to undercut. Second, criticize on substance–for which the media gives plenty of opportunity. The criticisms of CNN and the NYT are largely substantive. Stick to that. Third, leave the bulk of the criticism to subordinates (a corollary to the don’t-punch-down dictum).
@SWP – CNN has had to retract stories (and let people go); so have the NY Slimes. Sorry, but I don’t view any of that as substantive.
On top of that, the relentless screeching and carping and onslaught, personally targeting Trump for every little thing, is enough to piss off the Pope himself.
I think at some point a guy is entitled to hit back.
Comment by elmer — June 29, 2017 @ 1:05 pm
SWP, I take your point about the hysterical reaction – yours is an excellent post.
Here’s yet another example of “reporting” by PMSNBC:
During the first few minutes of Thursday’s show, Scarborough had called out Trump for being a fake populist, and pointed a finger at Senate Republicans saying their health care bill gave tax cuts to their donors at the expense of robbing the poor.
Brzezinksi chimed in and said the president, ‘a proven liar,’ made House Republicans ‘look like fools,’ by making them celebrate their bill’s passage in a Rose Garden ceremony last month.
She also made fun of the size of his hands, calling them ‘teensy!’ with glee.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4650874/Trump-goes-war-MSNBC-s-Morning-Joe.html#ixzz4lQA2IZCO
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Day in and out, this kind of crap appears on PMSNBC, and the rest of herd.
Apart from the issue of whether they are going for ratings by having turned themselves into a sick version of the Jerry Springer show –
at some point, a guy is entitled to at least brush the gnats off his sleeve.
Comment by elmer — June 29, 2017 @ 1:27 pm
Donald Trump is not well
We have known Mr. Trump for more than a decade and have some fond memories of our relationship together. But that hasn’t stopped us from criticizing his abhorrent behavior or worrying about his fitness. During the height of the 2016 presidential campaign, Joe often listened to Trump staff members complain about their boss’s erratic behavior, including a top campaign official who was as close to the Republican candidate as anyone.
We, too, have noticed a change in his behavior over the past few years. Perhaps that is why we were neither shocked nor insulted by the president’s personal attack. The Donald Trump we knew before the campaign was a flawed character but one who still seemed capable of keeping his worst instincts in check.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/donald-trump-is-not-well/2017/06/30/97759ee0-5d0f-11e7-9b7d-14576dc0f39d_story.html
Comment by Anders Dahl — June 30, 2017 @ 5:29 am
I hope they never take his Twitter away. Lordy, this is going to be an entertaining ride, with nothing of substance getting done in the meantime.
Comment by job — June 30, 2017 @ 11:29 pm
@job – see, the thing about it is that the various editors get to control the emphasis and tone of what they report as “news”
and they have chosen to put extraordinary emphasis on tweeting, rather than on anything else – which, of course, as pointed out by SWP, includes tons of self-attention and self-glorification by the media idiots “reporting” on the tweets
if you were paying attention to the work and not the stupid shrieking by CNN and WaPoop and PMSNBC and the NY Slimes and all the others suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, you would know that there are indeed things “of substance getting done.”
Kind of interesting – before it was all “Rush Limbaugh’s fault”; now it’s all the fault of the Rashans – and of tweeting
as Goebbels said: “we are not striving for truth, but for effect”
Comment by elmer — July 1, 2017 @ 8:24 am