The Trump Presidency is only possible because of media complicity.

[guillaumeb]

Yes, in accounting for the Electoral College victory, GOP gerrymandering and suppression were critical factors. And as the evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia increases, that was also a factor.

But prior to the election, the US conservative, corporate media played an enormous role because it was that right wing media that created and normalized Trump. And this media creation, Donald Trump, was allowed to present himself as a legitimate candidate.

Prior to that, the US media created another President, Ronald Reagan. This second rate actor was coddled and protected by a media that was well aware of his intellectual deficiencies. The media ignored that and presented Reagan as a cowboy figure, while ignoring his blatant racism and open appeal to racists.

And then we had the media enabled creation of George W. Bush, a product of a connected political family from the northeast who cast himself as a cowboy type much in the mold of Reagan.

Now we have Trump, who in any sane universe would be seen as the failed businessman that he is, but thanks to reality television, he can call himself a successful businessman.

Thank you, conservative, corporate, media enablers. Thank you for totally ignoring any semblance of journalistic integrity as you normalize Trump's behavior, or present it in a both sides do it framework to minimize how bad Trump really is.

[Irish_Dem]

1. The media is part of the propaganda machine.

Who knows how many of the media have been bought and paid for by the GOP or Russia?
I am sure Putin did not just cultivate American politicians. He has US media assets as well.

[guillaumeb]

3. Good points.

The CIA undoubtedly has media assets in many countries, it would be naïve to expect any less of Russia.

[Irish_Dem]

6. Exactly. And Putin is old time KGP and knows the drill. nt

[RKP5637]

7. Well said! I was thinking that the other day, how many of the media loudmouths are

possibly being paid under the table by sabotages to spout propaganda. You look at people like Hannity, Dobbs, Jones and the herd, and one has to start wondering WTF is going on. And what about Rupert Murdoch, what is his agenda. We know it's to make money, but anything more?

[Irish_Dem]

9. Putin has been brilliantly diabolical. He committed the crime of the century

(stealing the US presidency). We know he bought off Trump and much of the GOP.

I am certain he did not take the US press for granted and has assets there too.
Yes indeed, look at the crazy crew at Fox and the names you mention.
Wonder if any one has looked at their bank accounts and emails?

[RKP5637]

10. They doth protest too much! Many are sleazes to begin with IMO. I can't imagine

them or others turning down the serving plate if it came their way.

[Irish_Dem]

12. I guess the KGB is quite clever at asset recruitment.

They identify potential assets, then start with soft recruitment, friendship,
innocuous deals, etc...... So they are in deep before they realize what happened.

Then of course there are the Manafort and Kelly type assets who run to the money, and enjoy all of it. Think they are smart and important.

[RKP5637]

17. Yep! n/t

[jrthin]

2. Bingo!!!!!!!! nt

[guillaumeb]

4. Some might argue which is the major component of a stolen election,

but if Trump had received media exposure comparable to what Mafia figures receive, his many financial and sexual crimes would have made showed him to be the sexual predator and con man that he is.

[Irish_Dem]

14. There were reports of his criminal behavior and his followers did not care.

I don't think it was any one factor that got Trump elected.
It was a combination of a rigged election, serious and intense propaganda,
FBI/Comey interference, and any other Putin tricks.

[quartz007]

5. Was gerrymandering done state wide?

I thought gerrymandering was only for congressional districts inside a state. The presidential electoral vote is based on entire state's votes, and therefore gerrymandering should have no effect? Please correct if this is wrong. I don't think any state boundaries were changed or gerrymandered.

[guillaumeb]

8. You are correct.

Gerrymandering is a state specific issue, but in states where gerrymandering is prominent, voter suppression is also generally present also.

Both tend to suppress and/or distort the vote because gerrymandering distorts results for the House of Representatives, and suppression distorts the Presidential voting results. So the result was a GOP House and a GOP President.

[Wolf Frankula]

11. For Decades, The Media has been gushing over tRump

Telling us all what a business genius he was, ignoring his bankruptcies and failures. tRump is a media creation, without them, he would be just another bankrupt shyster.

Wolf

[Irish_Dem]

16. And Trump knows how to work the media to his advantage.

He has a long history of using the media to further his interests.

[Gabi Hayes]

13. operation mockingbird and other stuff; Bernstein said that like 40 years ago

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/rolling-stones-biggest-scoops-exposes-and-controversies-2-aa-624/journalists-exposed-as-secret-cia-operatives-81185346

[triron]

15. They are guity conspirators

[ucrdem]

18. Yep.

Trump has leveraged, monetized and mortgaged every particle of his life into the moderately telegenic beast that he is and the media have been happy to hold his cape and sweep up his messes. As usual. I still don't think he's as horrific as the other two, three if you count pappy, at least not yet.

[Gabi Hayes]

19. I posted something along these lines recently....the coke dealer and the helicopter

https://upload.democraticunderground.com/10141560463

thanks to the estimable Judi Lynn for this particular link

Donald Trump biographer David Cay Johnston Saturday on CNN said that the Republican presidential candidate once protected a convicted felon who was charged with cocaine trafficking.

“Donald got his personal helicopter and the one for his casinos from a convicted felon who turned out to be a major drug trafficker, and instead of cutting ties with this guy, he kept him on, he rented him an apartment under very unusual circumstances as I described in the book,” Johnston told CNN host Michael Smerconish. “He wrote a letter pleading for mercy for him, saying he was a standup guy. The guy got 18 months while the people who actually delivered the drugs for him got 20 years. And, by the way, the case came before at one point Judge Maryanne Trump Barry — Donald’s older sister.”

Johnston was referring to Joseph Weichselbaum, who was indicted for drug trafficking in 1985.

Johnston said the media should investigate Hillary Clinton’s private email server, but he complained that virtually no one had called attention to Trump’s “lifelong business dealings with Russian mobsters, con artists, violent felons, swindlers, and this big time cocaine trafficker.”

how many people have the slightest idea who the F Joseph Weichselbaum is

and WHY NOT?

[guillaumeb]

20. Thank you, And Judi Lynn, for this link.

Bengahzi, Benghazi, Benghazi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is why.

The San Jose Mercury News published a series of articles regarding the CIA and cocaine trafficking and the result was that the reporter was attacked for revealing an inconvenient truth.

[RandomAccess]

21. It actually went farther than that

They gave him approx. a billion dollars worth of FREE air time.

That does more than "normalize," that promotes.

[guillaumeb]

23. It promotes, normalizes, and validates Trump.

And yes, all for free. But as Leslie Moonves pointed out, it was great for his network even as it was terrible for the US.

[hibbing]

22. They certainly downplayed the racism

Instead they would claim "working class angst".

Peace

[guillaumeb]

24. Working class angst sounds better than racism. eom

[spanone]

25. Wasn't it $2 BILLION in free airtime that they gave trump

i'd say that's a significant contribution

[guillaumeb]

27. But it was great for the networks.

It helped them to sell advertising.

Ask Leslie Moonves.

[doc03]

26. Morning Joe gave him a free platform every morning nt

[guillaumeb]

28. True, former GOP politician Joe Scarborough

did give him plenty of exposure.

[loyalsister]

29. The only way for that to work is if viewers watch

Anyone who watches conflict driven infotainment on cable or the vile hate laden reality TV is to blame as well.

[guillaumeb]

31. True, but given that most people do not read newspapers or magazines,

that is not a surprise.

[loyalsister]

33. That is an educational and cultural failure

I think we are all responsible to a degree. We got lazy about how we get our news and lowered our standards to a point that we watch arguments about news as if they are sporting events.

[guillaumeb]

35. And the media also lowers standards when they treat politics as a soap opera. eom

[BadGimp]

30. They did the same thing for Hillary Clinton...

... the difference being that they set out to support and elevate a negative perception and caricature of her where they did the opposite for the GOP candidates.

[guillaumeb]

32. Very true.

The networks focused obsessively on emails and Benghazi and ignored Trump's entire life and behavior to focus on the image that he created and that the media eagerly accepted.

[DFW]

34. During the 2016 campaign, while we were in the Sates

My wife, who is German, noticed that the TV, especially CNN, ran whole segments of Trump, as in half an hour or more, and only tiny clips of Hillary, and wondered what was the rationale behind it.

[guillaumeb]

36. And we know that this represents massive free advertising,

and normalizing, and a subtle endorsement.

[DFW]

39. It's why Fox Noise gves the Republicans a huge handicap on each national election

They get a couple billion dollars in in free advertising before they have bought their first bumper sticker.

[jalan48]

37. Which is why I don't put a lot of faith in MSNBC including Rachel, Joy and Chris.

It's not MSNBC, it's the parent company Comcast, a huge media giant, calling the shots and setting the parameters for what is and isn't acceptable information for public debate.

[guillaumeb]

38. Agreed. As Noam Chomsky has frequently observed,

the media has strict parameters of which topics are acceptable and which topics are not allowed.

One such forbidden topic and example is the fact that the US is an empire, and that the US generally uses force to get its way. But in the corporate media, the US is always the victim.