At the base of all five is their belief that an abusive, gaslighting strict father is the only type of man truly qualified to lead, whether it’s as head of state, corporate boss, or head of a family/clan. It’s all they know, and if they didn’t do some much damage to the rest of us I’d feel sorry for them.
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I completely disagree with the premise of this post/article.
I think what Jim Acosta did, and often does, was completely wrong. (I also believe Trump’s reaction was completely wrong.) I have a degree in Journalism, and in journalism school we were taught - very clearly and directly - that a reporter’s job is to report the news, not interpret it. What Acosta was doing was making accusations, then asking for a reaction to the accusations. It wasn’t reporting, really, and wasn’t journalism. A reporter would say “President Trump called the so-called caravan an invasion.” Jim Acosta said “This clearly isn’t an invasion” and proceeded to accuse the President of lying.
If Jim Acosta held himself up as an opinion journalist or commentator, it would be one thing. His personal opinion and commentary would be fair game. But he doesn’t - he calls himself a reporter, as does CNN. By injecting his personal opinion into the news story, he goes against one of the basic tenets of journalism.
So to say that anyone who disagrees with Acosta’s words yesterday doesn’t really feel that way is not true.
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Laugh right in their maga hat wearing face, then ignore them
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EXCEPT, it is not unreasonable to hold out the fact that the caravan is not an invasion as a fact. That is not an opinion. Rather trumps’ belief that it is an invasion → now that is an opinion, a stupid one at that.
When trump lying is obvious, and then factual, I hold that reporters are being journalistic by pursuing lines of questions that recognize the fact that he is lying. His fall back is to say that it is his opinion, which trump did. Then Acosta and others are free to write about why his opinion is wrong.
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But that’s the nuance. Acosta’s job is to report Trump’s dumb statement, not interpret it.
I think I suddenly prefer that all my political news from this administration be presented in this format.
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Seeking Trump’s own interpretation of the term “invasion” does not count as “interpretation.” Trump didn’t want to answer, so Jim kept after him. Good for him. Some fucking huckster trying to bullshit America deserves to be hounded over his bullshit.
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Really, does anyone even pretend that? I thought his religious followers just accepted that but ignored it (“we’re all sinners,” “he’s not perfect,” etc). I mean, one can’t claim he didn’t cheat on previous wives, because he said he did.
Though it depends on how many of them there are, ultimately. I have family members I’ll never see again, because they’re Trump supporters. But I’m very luck that it’s just a few, so it’s manageable.
I agree entirely. I’m just having a problem figuring out where the line for “virulent” is. The country is founded on white supremacy. Those trying to maintain the status quo (much less reactionary Republicans) are supporting white supremacy. A lot of Trump support was for his racist policies from people who agreed with them but were convinced they weren’t (and therefore Trump isn’t) racist.
And apparently this is where journalism has totally shit the bed in the last couple of years (and fucked our country), by confusing “pointing out verifiable facts” with “interpreting the news.” The President lies. We know, factually, that he lies. Journalists come up with more and more elaborate euphemisms to avoid admitting that, and play along with the lies. That’s not proper journalism, that’s an abandonment of journalism.
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To the contrary I see no interpretation here.
The caravan is not an invasion - fact.
Trumps opinion is that it is an invasion - fact.
However, Trumps opinion is stupid - opinion
But Trumps opinion is wrong - fact.
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This is the dumbest post I’ve read all day, and I’ve been on Twitter all day (today’s my day off work, don’t judge me).
Journalism is the practice of keeping a journal - a record of fact and thoughts. Karl Marx was a journalist. Benjamin Franklin was a journalist. Jim Acosta is a journalist.
What journalism is not is blindly and blandly reciting events.
I don’t know what J-school you attended, but if that’s the shite you were taught, demand a refund.
A journalist is not a scribe; a journalist’s job is to understand and convey events as compellingly as possible. It’s essentially the same task as a storyteller, except instead of recounting fictional events, it is the art of narrating current events.
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The cynical point of view that I’ve read is that Trump essentially manufactured this event as another distraction… Getting the press riled up about themselves, which is just fodder for his base and also for those on the far left, both of whom have a complete disdain for corporate media…
This is also how a certain subset of the left view Russia-gate as well… They think it’s all media hysteria that will doom the progressive cause and force the GOP to circle their wagons. They think this is why he fired Sessions- to just create a bullshit sideshow for the media to squawk about… but I don’t know about that.
Personally, I think Trump is total chaos and has been Mr Magooing his way for the past 2 years plus… But unlike in a cartoon, I feel that sooner or later the insanity/incompetence has to catch up with him.
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The problem is that Trump isn’t the problem, Trump is a symptom of the modern republican party.
If you flip someone only on Trump you could easily be setting us up for the next evil republican president who isn’t also so incompetent and careening toward 80 years old.
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“Block and move on” still leaves the NAZI in power.
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Journalism requires interpretation to contextualize material. Most professions do.
Your would-say transmits the President’s intended message but why hire a journalist when you can get a parrot to do that for a cracker?
Or just set up a camera, hit record, and take it down later after the President is done berating minorities.
Your second (attributed to Acosta) actually is factual: it clearly isn’t an invasion (requiring a minimum awareness of geography) and Trump did lie about it.
One informed the public. Your would-say does not.
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In support of her thoughts I read this a month or so ago.
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Cool story
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Ah, but he’s a liar! So maybe he was lying when he said he cheated on his wives!
(My head!)
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Quite right. Oddly, Trump provides an obvious path to the truth. Simply assume that the opposite of whatever he asserts is the actual truth. He tells the truth by consistently insisting on a lie, no matter what the subject may be.
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That’s a good indication of the level of maturity. It’s Freshman, all the way.
