Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/09/13/trump-newsweek-eichenwald.html
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Trump surfs on bombshells.
They create shockwaves that push him forward.
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Trump bragged that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and his followers would still vote for him.
Given his followers, shooting someone in cold blood could increase their fervor.
I wonder what could possibly come out in the way of financial improprieties that could possibly change things. The press would continue to give him a pass, and his devotees would think his crimes were either fabrications or a sign that Trump is a playa.
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Does the Newsweek piece include some big reveal about Donald Trump’s mental health history? Eichenwald tweeted the statement earlier today, then yanked it
No, it doesn’t. Eichenwald has explained that the tweet about Trump’s mental health had nothing to do with the Newsweek story coming out tomorrow. He took the tweet down because it was confusing people - they thought he was hinting about the contents of the article, when he wasn’t.
That said, if he does have reason to believe Trump has been institutionalized, I’d sure love to see an article about it.
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That dude is so sued.
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The contents don’t matter nearly as much as the tone of the media narrative.
Clinton has spent the last few weeks dealing with a continuous stream of non-scandals. I don’t think any of them look particularly bad once you view the facts, but the tone of the media coverage makes people think that there’s major corruption going on.
The Newsweek article doesn’t even have to break anything, if it just causes reporters to start covering existing Trump stories with a harsh tone I think his numbers start going down to where they were after the convention.
As for a real collapse, I think the only thing that does that is if they do come out with proof he was institutionalized in the 90s.
I think a lot of Trump supporters assume that his public persona is largely an act and he’s a completely different person when it comes down to business.
Show that he was institutionalized, particularly for a “loser” reason like a nervous breakdown, and those antics might look a lot worse.
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oops legal due process
I always add a sweetener when varnishing a good wood
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Yeah, tRump gets away with a lot - blatant corruption and outright bastardry - that would sink any other candidate because they’re seen as integral parts of his being a ruthless - i.e. successful - businessman. Then there’s the whole tRump-supporting contingent that admit that tRump is unstable and probably dangerous but they don’t care, because they feel that life is so bad for them and their children that they have nothing to lose. NYTimes did an article last Sunday with some interviews with tRump supporters in coal mining areas of Kentucky where that was a common sentiment. These people blamed Obama for the decline of coal, not, you know, cheap natural gas, so we’re talking about people who don’t have even the most basic knowledge of the facts most important to their lives. We’re truly talking about “no information” voters here.
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Yeah, we’re clearly past the point where information about Trump will dissuade his supporters
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Luckily we don’t have to convince his core supporters, they aren’t (quite) numerous enough to elect him. We need to convince the undecided voters. Dissuading his marginal supporters would be nice too.
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The problem for Trump is that his die hard followers are a pretty limited demographic. <40% of GOP primary voters, so extrapolated out you’re talking about a bit more than a third of a bit less than half the electorate. Much of the rest of his support is your standard partisan back our guy who ever he is support. Die hard supporters of the GOP/right rather than die hard supporters of Trump. Its those people, the people who would prefer some one other than Trump who can be driven off. The ones keeping his numbers anywhere near competitive. Trump shoots some one in broad daylight on 5th ave and his die hard supporters will probably cheer him on. The other half to two thirds of GOP voters? Probably not, at least not all of them
He’s not in a primary any more so he can’t coast on just his base and expect the other candidates involved to tear each other apart. More than a few highly visible Republicans have already broken with him or out and out endorsed Hillary. Trumps already sitting well below the 48ish% of the electorate/population that actually identifies as Republican (43.4% in most of the polling averages I watch). Hillary’s problem is that’s she’s also sitting below the 48ish% that goes dem, just not as far below (46-47%). A suitably big scandal, and more importantly a negative/critical push in the media would certainly be enough to pull at least a few percentage points more of those don’t like Trump GOP voters away from him. And it doesn’t even matter particularly matter where they go, so long as its not for Trump. That’s why you’re seeing Hillary make a play for uncomfortable Republicans. Attracting at least some of the other side is one of few ways you can breach the 'bout half break down our elections have fallen into.
His ties to Russia, and any similar ties would be a big way to do that. I’m guessing that’s a major subject of this article, from the tenor of those excerpts Maddow read. This particular subject has already caused a lot of grumbling from GOP figures, was involved in the period where his numbers looked worse, and drove some of those visible Republicans to publicly disown him. Given the mention of ties to criminals there might also be some more info on his (already) publicly known connection to the Mafia and organised crime. Something that wouldn’t look great from a “law and order” candidate.
In the end I doubt there will be much in the way of major revelations. Newsweek isn’t exactly a major, groundbreaking, news source these days. Though Eichenwald is a good reporter with a good reputation, and his background looks like exactly the sort of person you’d want looking into Trump. He’s a business/financial reporter with a big focus on corruption and unpacking incomprehensible business arrangements. So there could be something there. More likely the addition of fresh details to feed what we already know back into the news cycle, and a more directly critical approach will get the rest of the media digging around in things they should have been discussing all along. Given the way they seem to be generating buzz for this that might be the goal.
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This isn’t going to go well. KE has some hiccups in his background, Trump’s people are going to latch onto those like barnacles.
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Trump could have posed as a doctor ,forced a woman to have an abortion , then sacrificed the child for Satan and his followers would tell that the video of it is a lie and the media is trying to hide that Hillary ate ice cream on Sunday !!
His followers are a lost cause , they wouldn’t believe anything but Trump
all this is trying to make the others , the ones on the fence go for Hilary
and the fact that there are people still thinking between the two ( or giving to third party , which is a vote for trump ) make me understand why we as a species are doomed
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The problem is that they see Trump as someone who will pick conservative judges and sign conservative bills from Congress, and they don’t care about anything else because those two are important enough alone. Yes Trump is down a little, but the election is still essentially breaking on party lines.
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Why can’t the press simply say what every reasonable and intelligent person knows that Trump would be a disaster as a president and would do great harm to the country and world. If they won’t say so, then so many clueless people have no guide, no standard of reason to compare to.
Its not like the press had to make the statement themselves, although editorials are legitimate venue for this. All they have to do is put a huge focus on the millions of voices that see Trump as a totally inappropriate person for president.
For gods sake, hammer this ass hole.
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Who was that pol years ago who had a psychiatric hospitalization & bragged that he was the only candidate who was certified sane?
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Donald Trump’s financial conflicts of interests
Not to mention his moral conflicts of interests.
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Librul media! Librul media!
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he has the Best! Moral! Conflicts! they are HUGE!
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