Trump’s Political Jujitsu Creates Outrage and Schadenfreude
If there is a more conceited, self-important group of twits than the national news media I am not aware of it. Its members view themselves as the arbiters of American politics. They make the rules, and enforce them. And woe betide anyone who dares defy them. Especially after they broke Nixon, they believe they can even get presidents to bend to their will. Presidents come and go, after all. The media is there forever.
Today they thought they were going to break Trump. After Trump announced an event at his hotel in DC, and intimated that he would make a statement on the Obama birther issue, the press let its imagination run wild. They believed–get this–that Trump would hold an event at his own hotel where his name and image are everywhere (including on the bottles of water in the fridges!) and abase himself before them, confessing his sins about insinuating that Obama had not been born in the US and subjecting himself to a barrage of their gotcha questions.
This tells you just how far up their own colons they live. It also tells you how clueless they are. Trump has shown time and again that he does not play by the conventional rules of DC, the rules that the national media presumes to enforce, and that he has zero deference for the media: he uses them, rather than the other way around. He has shown time and again that he makes his own rules. And so he did today. He did not just puncture the media’s presumptions. He stomped, crushed, mangled, spindled and mutilated them. Then emptied his bladder on them for good measure.
As it played out in reality, as opposed to the imaginations of the national media, his event was mainly rah-rah about his new real estate project. Further he trotted out dozens of retired flag officers and war heroes to provide backdrop. Then, after promoting his project, at the very end of his appearance, he said:
Hillary Clinton and her campaign in 2008 started the birther controversy. I finished it. You know what I mean. President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period. Now we all want to get back to making America strong and great again.
So not only did he not don (no pun intended!) sackcloth and ashes and beg forgiveness for being a birther he said he ended birtherism and that Hillary started it. Political jujitsu of the first order.
The noise you heard this afternoon was thousands of media heads exploding. Just Google something like “Trump birther press conference” and you’ll see outraged article after outraged article. “We were played. We were Rick Rolled.” And on and on and on.
The press pool stamped their little feet and held their breath, and not only vowed not to show the pool footage of the event, but to erase it. That’ll learn him!
Er, another indication of the media’s failure to recognize that the world has changed. They are no longer the gatekeepers. They cannot decide who sees what. There are other recordings of the event. There are numerous other channels–YouTube, Twitter, etc.–through which those recordings can spread. Their outraged articles and on-air rants will only intensify the Banned in Boston/Streisand Effect and will ensure that the attempt to censor will only make more people want to see it. It will go viral.
Yet another indication of the media’s obliviousness: they actually believe that people will care that Trump has affronted their amour propre. As if. Rather than sympathizing with the media for being tricked by Trump, far more people will indulge in schadenfreude. The media are heartily disliked by vast swathes of Americans, who will enjoy nothing more than witnessing them getting their comeuppance precisely at the moment that they thought they would demonstrate their dominance.
This episode is another illustration of (a) elite failure, and (b) the dramatic change in political norms. The elite establishment is offended that Trump does not obey their rules. But to a very large number of Americans–whom Hillary slurred as “deplorables,” an epithet that many have now embraced with pride–this is precisely Trump’s appeal. They think the rules are rigged against them. They don’t want no water: they want somebody to burn the motherf*cker down. These people believe the elite has failed them, and what’s more, the elite has failed to recognize it: a double failure, and perhaps a fatal one. They revel in the humiliation of the elite.
The pre-Brexit dynamic was very similar, and we saw what happened there. The old verities are cracking. The old rules are being flouted. The old rulers are despised. And they just don’t get it, and don’t know how to handle it.
This is an ominous moment for the media. Not only were they frustrated by Trumps failure to bend to their rules, his in-your-face demonstration that you can break the rules and survive will encourage others to do the same. In large part, the media’s power is predicated on the deference of politicians. Lose that deference, and the power is lost. So this is not just about the 2016 election. It is about elections after that. Perhaps Trump is a one-off. But success breeds imitators. Trump has successfully broken the rules, and that could lead to their demise.
Why the hell should anyone care where Obama was born at this point? Sadly, the conservative camp in US politics has turned into a sideshow.
Comment by aaa — September 16, 2016 @ 9:25 pm
@aaa. It has not one fucking thing to do with conservatives. This was all about the left media trying to tie Trump to that.
Let’s see. Where have I heard that before, “at this point what does it matter”? Oh yeah! You are not a parrot by any chance are you aaa?
Comment by d wolfe — September 17, 2016 @ 8:48 am
Spot on, SWP
I have never, ever ever seen such rabid apoplexy on the part of the media idiots – midiots, for short.
Sanctimonious smarmy self-righteous lefty assholes who think they know it all. They produce nothing except hot air, with lots of self-congratulatory statements about how beneficent they are – invariably at the expense of Other People’s Money.
They abandoned any pretense of integrity and news reporting a long time ago – it all turned into infotainment under the pretense of reporting facts, and of opiniontainment under the pretense of reporting news.
If they got back to reporting facts, they could still matter.
But right now, their heads are spinning like whirling dervishes as they tried to prove that it was not the Killery campaign that first started the birther issue against Obamatollah.
The defense of the lardbutt in the pantsuit is primary mission number one, above all.
In comic books, they had heroes in trouble gasping for their last breath gasp out a message, thusly:
Must …. defend … and … support … Killery …. Billary … Hildebeast ….. at ….. all …. costs…
Agree with all of your post.
Good for Trump.
Comment by elmer — September 17, 2016 @ 1:24 pm
Professor, your candidate goes to cities in Michigan and talks to their residents about bringing “our jobs” back from China. He sounds more red than Bernie. Shifting the discussion to the place where Obama was born is surely an act of jiujitsu, but it’s aimed at his gullible voters.
Comment by aaa — September 17, 2016 @ 10:48 pm
@aaa
It’s not Trump who is beating the birther stuff to death – it’s the rabid apoplectic midiots and liberals
Example: Mr. Tingly Leg, Chris Mathews, recently spent about 15 minutes literally screaming at Rudy Giuliani on his show that noone watches. And get this – they “knew” what Giuliani would say, so the “producers researched who started the birther issue ahead of time.” Billary’s campaign started the birther issue against Obummer. Mr. Tingly Leg has not yet pronounced any tingles in his leg for Killery, but he is doing his part for Killery and the liberals.
It’s ironic that Mr. Tingly Leg and liberals and midiots then lament about how “noone talks about the issues.”
Comment by elmer — September 18, 2016 @ 7:55 am
@aaa. He’s not my candidate. I am pointing out the hysterical and dishonest criticism of him by the media. Trade policy is one area where honest criticism would be quite useful (and I’ve written posts criticizing him on that), but the media instead focuses on irrelevancies, and does so in a dishonest way. Trump is a short term issue. The media is with us for the long haul. That’s why I’m concentrating on it. Further, Trump is largely a creation of the modern US media and political culture. As I’ve written several times, he’s more of a symptom than the underlying problem. I am going after the underlying cause–a failed “elite” establishment.
@elmer. It’s a damning indictment of Clinton that her supporters can’t come up with a positive reason to support her. This is all they have. Apropos South Park, they know she’s a turd sandwich, and that her only way to win is to convince 50 pct plus 1 vote that a giant douche is worse.
this makes me wonder if physical offices in a state or locality matter. do we need physical offices to get out the vote-or can we do it with social media?
Comment by Jeffrey Carter — September 19, 2016 @ 7:07 am
SWP, the new effort on the part of the Klinton campaign is to go after millenials.
How? Kaine is out there proclaiming that he and the Klinton campaign “believe in climate science.”
They don’t believe in science – they “believe” in “climate science” – the actual phrase.
That, of course, is code for “we must shut down coal mines and coal companies and we must shut down the use of oil and gas, and continue to provide mass tax subsidies for “green energy” to the AlGore and his friends.”
Trump may or may not be a giant douche.
But I draw the line when the Klinton and Democrat mafia eliminate the FBI and the AG, and put Killery and her friends above the law.
Where have we seen this before? In Ukraine and Russia, where bribing prosecutors is de rigeur, where the “Prosecutor General” prosecutes noone, except for rare instances of political enemies. Where massive corruption kills the country, and people can’t live normal lives.
The Klinton mafia has taken the first steps towards trying to eliminate checks and balances, and towards creating a third-world dictatorship out of the US, run by the Klinton Mafia.
Up until now, the virtue of our system of checks and balances has been that no matter how idiotic the persons are who get elected to office – and Obamatollah is a good example – the system of checks and balances manages to keep things in check somewhat.
I think everyone misunderestimates Trump.
Be that as it may, there is no doubt that a power hunger bitch in a pantsuit with no boundaries, no ethics, and unbridled ambition seeks to be the dictator of the US, the absolute queen of the US, for her personal benefit and that of the Klinton Krime Family, and not the prez of the US.
Sorry, but I can’t stomach that, no matter what color pantsuit she wears.
Comment by elmer — September 19, 2016 @ 7:47 am
@elmer. As someone who personally felt the wrath of Hillary’s flying monkeys (back in the mid-90s), I am totally with you. (Google “Pirrong Whitewater Report”.) Trump’s biggest problem is that he makes it easy for people to misunderstand him. Then there’s the fact that the media jackholes deliberately misunderstand him. For instance, his remarks on disarming Hillary’s security detail. He was pointing out her hypocrisy on guns, not calling on someone to shoot her. It was obvious. But the media bent over backwards to misinterpret what he said. Ditto his son’s remark on gas chambers.
Excellent. You have nailed it again, sir.
Comment by Dave D'Rave — September 19, 2016 @ 11:00 am
Funny thing about the whole “Birther” story:
There is evidence that the Clinton campaign started it in late 2007 or early 2008, as part of a whispering campaign. (She was worried that Obama was going to win the nomination.) When you trace back the very earliest talk about “Where was this Guy Born?”, it is not obviously coming from the Right.
This would account for Trump’s comments that Hillary started it.
Comment by Dave D'Rave — September 19, 2016 @ 11:05 am
SWP:
If Clinton’s campaign was not responsible, then why did they apologize for it? Why did Kathy Solis call David Plouffe? They NEVER apologize for things, even when guilty. aaa is blinded by his own biases. Watched the Emmys w/ significant other Sat nite. One award winner actually thanked Hillary Clinton for her award (gender-specific, ironically) to thunderous applause. Another winner ended his speech with ‘Out with Obama, in with Hillary,’ his fist clenched on his trophy thrust in the air. One of two Trump jokes [that weren’t negative] were greeted by awkward silence or a smattering of applause, some boos.
Vlad hopes you are right. That LA & NYC/DC are so far estranged from reality that they cannot understand the outrage in flyover country.
Vlad hopes you indeed have your finger on the true pulse. Time will tell.
VP VVP
Comment by VP Vlad — September 19, 2016 @ 3:53 pm
still wondering how the Klinton Krime Family got to Comey
In the meantime – more on “wiping it with a cloth”
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/09/20/hillary-clinton-tech-guy-reddit-email/
An army of vigilante Reddit investigators has come across a curious piece of information suggesting Hillary Clinton’s former private computer specialist Paul Combetta might have consulted Reddit for advice prior to the email controversy that ensued back in 2015.
On July 14, 2014, a Redditor by the name of stonetear started a thread seeking opinion on how to purge a series of archived email messages for an undisclosed, but purportedly “VERY VIP” customer.
Here’s what the original thread said:
I may be facing a very interesting situation where I need to strip out a VIP’s (VERY VIP) email address from a bunch of archived email that I have both in a live Exchange mailbox, as well as a PST file. Basically, they don’t want the VIP’s email address exposed to anyone, and want to be able to either strip out or replace the email address in the to/from fields in all of the emails we want to send out.
This Monday, things got really curious when evidence linking Combetta to the abovementioned Reddit thread surfaced on Twitter.
SMOKING GUN: “BleachBit” Paul Combetta ASKED TO STRIP OR REPLACE VIP’s EMAIL ADDRESS! https://t.co/nz13MqzWth #MAGA pic.twitter.com/qQII96JI76
— Katica (@GOPPollAnalyst) September 19, 2016
As suggested on Reddit and corroborated by Motherboard, it seems the user stonetear might indeed be Clinton’s former tech guy, Combetta. Although the evidence does appear circumstantial, there’s enough to speculate about this possibility.
A website promoting a guide for the video game Betrayal at Krondor lists Paul Combetta’s email as [email protected][.]com, while a forum post on Slashdot from 2011 shows a user by the name ‘Stonetear’ brag about being “contracted to a state government.”
Stonetear also has a Google Account profile with a photo that looks awfully similar to Combetta.
The original thread has since been deleted after the newly found information started picking up momentum on Reddit. All of stonetear’s comments seem to have been wiped out too.
Hillary Clinton’s IT consultant (‘stonetear’) has been erasing his secret comments from Reddit on redacting her emails made two years ago.
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) September 20, 2016
Comment by elmer — September 20, 2016 @ 7:22 am
I am still wondering how the Klinton Krime Family got to Comey, who has been in and out of gubbamint.
And here is a big, big clue:
http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/09/10/exposed-fbi-director-james-comeys-clinton-foundation-connection/
If you click on the link where HSBC announces that he has become a director of HSBC, you will see that he was in and out of gubbamint:
http://www.hsbc.com/news-and-insight/media-resources/media-releases/2013/former-us-deputy-attorney-general-joins-hsbc-board
Lockheed Martin and HSBC have ties to the Klinton Foundation.
Then his brother comes into play in several ways, with DL Piper, plus the mortgage.
It’s all there.
Careerism alone can’t explain it.
Comment by elmer — September 29, 2016 @ 1:38 pm
Sounds like Obamacare has been able to resurrect the dead with all the deceased now registering to vote. Like the Sixth Sense at polling stations-I see dead people.
Comment by pahoben — September 30, 2016 @ 8:48 am
Dems would see the zombie apocalypse as a good voter registration opportunity. Maybe not much different than now in many ways. World War Z type forays into the cities to get those walking dead registered to exercise their basic pseudo human right to vote.
Comment by pahoben — September 30, 2016 @ 8:54 am
@pahoben-Many have said that Obama is bringing Chicago politics to the national stage. This is a perfect example. The zombie vote has been a Chicago staple for decades.
@Professor
This place is the first American city I have encountered. It
holds rather more than a million of people with bodies, and
stands on the same sort of soil as Calcutta. Having seen it, I
urgently desire never to see it again. It is inhabited by
savages. Its water is the water of the Hooghly, and its air is
dirt. Also it says that it is the “boss” town of America.
Rudyard Kipling
Look at our Lords disciples. One denied Him; one doubted Him; one betrayed Him. If our Lord couldn’t have perfection, how are you going to have it in city government?
Richard Daley
Chicago does have a long tradition to draw from in these matters.
Comment by pahoben — October 2, 2016 @ 2:48 pm
@pahoben-I’m a 3d generation Chicagoan, and I love the city. Last night I got wistful watching the iPhone 7 ad in which balloons float past iconic Chicago scenes, including a couple of the Board of Trade building (which, of course, is the wallpaper for the blog).
I recently read a couple of histories of Chicago, and yes, Kipling’s description was accurate, but what he described is only part of the picture. The energy and accomplishment that was 19th and early-20th century Chicago is remarkable.
That said, although the physical sewer that Chicago was in the 1800s has been cleaned up, the political sewer remains as putrid as it has ever been. Sadly, political pollution is the city’s main export, at present.
@Professor
Springfield matriculates to the Big House and Chicago to the White House.
With the bad comes the good like The Blues Brothers and Billy Sianis ;).
It’s funny how things work out. I grew up in a place with a very long Leftist/Labor tradition and secondary school that was a pretty much an out of control radical hot bed and so not wistful at all.
Comment by pahoben — October 5, 2016 @ 5:03 pm
Sadly, I did google “Pirrong Whitewater Report” and drew blanks. The only link I found initially was to this blog entry.
However, when I googled +”Pirrong” +”Whitewater Report,” I was able to see results.
Unfortunately, of the five results I found, three consisted of footnote cites of your study of the effect on stock prices of the Clintons’ public outcry against drug companies for alleged price gouging.
The only relevant article I found was this 2015 blog entry from you (see below). Is this what you wanted us to find?
https://streetwiseprofessor.com/?p=9605
Comment by Vulnaviac 24(DLXXIV)(h) — October 7, 2016 @ 4:18 am
Reading this post and related comments in light of developments since September 16 make me laugh.
Comment by job — October 17, 2016 @ 7:47 pm
And at the end of the match: Media 1, Professor 0
Comment by mr mcknuckles — October 19, 2016 @ 2:54 pm