Pelosi, on Trump & the press: "May I say something you're not going to like?"

[kpete]

@soledadobrien

She is correct. The media cannot figure out how to not cover the goose that lays their golden egg.


@HotlineJosh

Pelosi, on Trump & the press: “May I say something you’re not going to like? I think the press loves him. All day on TV —and I don’t even watch TV, except sports. But he says somebody had a horse face —all day we hear about that. You just give him all day”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/19/magazine/nancy-pelosi-house-democrats.html …

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[brush]

1. She's spot on.

[katmondoo]

2. Not turning on the news any more during the day

Only Rachel and Lawrence at night

[volstork]

26. I haven't watched it since Inauguration Day.

I knew they would act like everything was normal, and I was having none of it.

[justhanginon]

7. Yes, she usually is. I admire her greatly for the job

she has done and will do for our country. Not constantly on TV like some but when she speaks, she speaks with the authority of knowledge gained by her many years of service and hopefully people listen.

[Bfd]

9. They created him. 24/7 since the day he announced his candidacy.

Media failed America.

[True Blue American]

47. You are so right. Now,they act as if his every tweet is so

Precious they play his ignorant tweets all day long.

[iluvtennis]

61. Agree with both of you. They treat him like he his some rock star. Just on this past Saturday

the media showed his plane approaching the airport, taxing the runway, and hsi dissent down the steps, etc, etc. Enough of the bullshit. Media keeps feeding this monster.

[Grasswire2]

3. NOT HELPFUL, Nancy.

Geez.

Does she not realize the intentions and strategy of the White House here?

I am shocked by this. She's undercutting the seriousness of attacks on her own House members. Turning blame on reporters.

[Pacifist Patriot]

8. Truth is awfully inconvenient sometimes, isn't it?

[Grasswire2]

11. strategy can be more helpful; timing is everything.

She just undercut every reporter covering this White House and damaged the fight to preserve access that is being waged by news outlets. This is a battle against tyranny, at core.

And she's interfering by criticizing those who are defending the press.

Unreal.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

22. Woosh. Not criticizing defenders of the press. She didn't undercut anybody except tRump.

Reports can still cover the White House. They can still report what he says. Commentators are not reporters. Commentators, anchors, and pundits don't have to spend all day every day repeating ad nauseum comments like "horse face".

Reporters are NOT the problem and she doesn't say so. She says "the press" meaning of course "the media". She's not criticizing the reporters. She's criticizing the executives and producers who keep focusing on shit. Reporters don't speak into anchors ears and say "switch to RW pundit now".

Pelosi did NOT criticize anybody defending the press.
Pelosi is not on the side of tyranny.
Pelosi did not damage any Democratic strategy.
Her timing is fine with this.

The only unreal thing is all the stuff you are reading into it that is not there.

[True Blue American]

48. Thank you!

Nancy told the truth and people are fed up.

[Eliot Rosewater]

51. You I am getting to like

[Bernardo de La Paz]

77. Thank you Eliot. I've always liked Vonnegut :) . . . nt

[iluvtennis]

62. +++ agree

[Pacifist Patriot]

68. This! Thank you.

[onit2day]

83. Well said Bernado. I'm sick of seeing his face constantly that I just turn him off

Media execs will see this is the result of constantly covering this moron. We won't watch

[uponit7771]

87. +1

[Progressive Jones]

78. No she didn't . She just dissed the circus. nt

[brush]

12. Seriously? Saying that the press created the monster that is trump...

is playing into trump's anti-press playbook?

I don't think trump's going to run to publicize that negative of himself.

[VOX]

13. She's correct. A compliant media can't get enough of Trump's bullshit...

Last edited Mon Nov 19, 2018, 10:07 PM - Edit history (1)

Because his histrionics generate ratings. (At least his power in that department seems to be slipping.) Over the past few years, every major network has given Trump a platform to spit out his toxic ideas and delusions by running (often uninterrupted) coverage of those goddamned “rallies.”

He is spreading nothing now but his own ignorance, but media coverage still feeds the beast.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

18. Yup. Exactly right. . . . nt

[Bernardo de La Paz]

16. No. You miss the point. . . . nt

[HopeAgain]

30. Do you not realize the intentions and strategy?

There's no such thing as bad press for Trump. He won being a spectacle and voters, who never voted before 2016, will keep voting for this spectacle. People who vote for Trump are only emboldened and rally around his crassness. They aren't political, they are racist and bitter. They are constantly being fed Trump by the 24 hour news stations. I believe the press is playing right into his hand.

[Dave Starsky]

53. When the media can quote him about raking the forest...

To prevent wildfires, like they do in Finland, and no one in the media will tell him to his face that he said the stupidest fucking thing that anyone in any position of national authority has ever said on any subject, it's pretty clear that the press is on his side. They could shut his dramatic shitshow down immediately, but they take the brakes off of their usual incisive journalism and just let him go.

Drama keeps ratings up. It keeps website views up. It keeps Facebook likes up. Drama delivers. It delivers an audience, and it delivers advertiser money.

[NBachers]

36. You forgot the sarcasm thingies, in case people make a mistake & think you're actually being serious

[Iggo]

44. Yeah! Shut up and dribble.

[obamanut2012]

55. She is being 100% right and helpful

epic fail

[Honeycombe8]

75. The press can't win for losing. If they don't make a big deal out of something outrageous he says...

people point to the media and say, "They are not pointing out how outrageous and insane he is! They are normalizing his behavior!"

If they do, then people say, "Why do they give his outrageous statements air and print time? That just feeds the monster!"

Seriously...I've seen the former complaint multiple times here in DU. And now we're seeing the latter complaint.

Part of the press's job is to report on the President. What he does, what he says, his reactions to everything. They do that.

In fairness, if a person hears the same thing all day long, they are watching too much tv. The reality is that it is covered on each separate program. So if you watch 3 programs, you've seen the same thing covered 3 times.

(I wonder how Pelosi knows it's on tv all day long, if she doesn't watch tv except for sports, as she said.)

[uponit7771]

86. Yes it was

[Arkansas Granny]

4. She's exactly right. The more outrageous his utterances, the more coverage he gets.

His twitter feed seems to drive news cycle. It's hard to discern the actual news from the sensationalist bs that comes from the White House on an everyday basis.

[Zambero]

41. Three years of oxygen starvation and counting

Trump sucks it all up 24/7 and all facets of the news media have been at his beck and call every step of the way. Occasionally it is appropriate to go ahead and speak the obvious for the benefit of those who may not have not been paying attention, or have been lulled into a false sense of "new normalcy". Well said, Nancy Pelosi!

[CatMor]

5. She's so right about it ....

that is why I stopped watching TV news starting during the campaign and still can't bring myself to watch it because of trump. I can't tolerate his hideous face and annoying voice or his complete stupidity.

[duforsure]

6. I agree

The media is complicit for this with trump now, and they continue to promote his propaganda and lies and accusations non stop now, instead of refusing to show him or others lying , and repeating them over and over again, all for profit over people.

[Mr.Bill]

10. I know it may not be as easy for the media,

but they need to report on the results of what he says and does, not just what he says and does.

[wryter2000]

17. You would not believe what I heard on the news on our local liberal station this morning

The 9:30 news snippet covered the Schiff/Schitt thing and reported that Shiff said it was "good" for Trump to substitute the f's with t's. The "good" was sarcasm, and they reported it straight. The didn't even mention that Trump made a 7th grade joke about Schiff's name. They only mentioned Schiff said it was good.

This is the kind of idiocy "journalism" we have today, and yay for Nancy for calling them on it.

[Grasswire2]

14. Wow. The perfidy (or thoughtlessness) expressed here is very alarming.

Do you know there's a Russian-funded push right now to urge news outlets to boycott WH briefings?

[Eliot Rosewater]

52. No I am UNAWARE entirely of RUSSIA wanting our press to consider rump non credible

I have NEVER heard of Russia doing ANYTHING other than support that vile pile of human garbage traitor.

[BamaRefugee]

15. TV is a for-profit business, Trump gets eyeballs, eyeballs get ad revenues, it's not rocket science.

I have long advocated for Pelosi to be the Speaker, and work her magic behind the scenes, while having a SPOKESPERSON who goes out and addresses the media, so that the right wing can't put her words and image up as a tool for their propaganda!
Get a young up and coming Dem to be the spokesperson so they get plenty of air time and become familiar to the public, speaking in strong plain language that even tRump's base can understand, and watch that person's career take off.

[haele]

21. Adam Schiff, Ted Lieu, Maxine Waters...

Lots of Congressional Dems get out in front of the camera and speak strong language. However, since the Reagan era, the press likes to paint them as sore losers or angry, radical dems - not to be taken seriously...
Our policies cut into media corporate profits as well as ad revenue from companies that have a GOP agenda, and perhaps from the sheep that follow the social manipulators that are definitely aligned with the current GOP.

So if we aren't Blue-Dog, 3rd-Wayfarers, we are the enemy; we need to "lose".

Haele

[BamaRefugee]

25. Yes they are in front of the camera AS THEMSELVES, I just want to stop letting the right wing use

Ms. Pelosi as their poster child for hate. Let her work nonstop, but NOT go out and say things that they will again use endlessly to foment hate against her.

Of course, we can just do stuff like we always do, and be out of power for 6 years going on 8.
Why not DO NEW STUFF?

[jayschool2013]

19. Read

We're not perfect, either, but read print media, please. Online, newspaper, news magazine. You pick.

Read. Don't watch.

[Iggo]

45. Read don't Watch.

Totally agree.

[IronLionZion]

20. Like a boss!

That's why Nancy deserves to be speaker

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

23. And they'll ride Ds all day when the slightest thing goes 'wrong'.

Who owns them? Nuff said.

[leftofcool]

24. Nancy is correct.

[JI7]

27. especially when they normalize him afterwards when discussing serious policy issues

as if the fucked up stuff he says and does didn't happen.

[lilactime]

28. Well, *I* sure liked what Nancy said!

[samnsara]

29. well some of the shows are refusing to cover his stupid rallies..

..so thats a start. And Michelle Wallace flat out says shes doesnt carry his stuff cuz they are all lies.

[Cirque du So-What]

31. It's the fascination with the 'bad boy'

From personal observation over decades of unobtrusive behavior on my part:

Paraphrasing girl in group: 'Who is that obnoxious jerk over there anyway...he's so interesting...'

[LenaBaby61]

32. She's not wrong.

I can recall CNN and even MSNBC a time or two covering an empty damn podium thinking Fatso would come calling and make one of his rambling, incoherent speeches et al and he never showed up. Meanwhile, Hillary or Bernie had won a primary state and they were speaking LIVE and thanking everyone who put in the hard work etc., and CNN/MSNBC cut away to the above mentioned EMPTY podium or Hillary/Bernie SHARED a split screen with an empty-ass podium.

MOST in the corporate media like Mrs. "But her emails" Greenspan can go take a flying leap.

And Chuck toad. YUCK

[ProfessorGAC]

57. One Of Those Empty Podium Events....

...had CNN cut away from HRC'S economic policy speech.
They cut away to an empty podium, 12 or 13 minutes
HRC's speech lasted only 10 more minutes
They could have shown the whole speech, then still showed the podium with their breathless anticipation

[Mike Nelson]

33. Partly, I agree...

… he gets too much coverage. But stuff like the "horseface" comment should get covered... like all the dumb things he said yesterday. Mostly, I see the comment about the Admiral he criticized. This stuff needs to get airplay... it gets Democrats elected.

[MontanaMama]

34. The truth hurts.

Well said Madame Speaker!

[pdsimdars]

35. Wow! I didn't know she was a carpenter too. I mean, she hit that nail ON THE HEAD!!!!

[moondust]

37. Perpetual train wreck

--> perpetual dumbfounded audience --> perpetual ad revenues.

Good government competently doing its job in the background is boring; not enough darting squirrels to attract a large audience craving entertainment.

[DeminPennswoods]

39. +1

nt

[DeminPennswoods]

38. She is correct. The media is hooked on what will the next outrageous

thing Trump say or tweet be. It's like that when drivers slow down to gawk at an accident. People cannot bring themselves to look away.

That's what make Maddow so different. She focuses on what Trump and his admin do and not what they say or tweet.

[SammyWinstonJack]

40. One comment claims tRUMP IS charismatic? Seriously?

[Gore1FL]

43. In the same way Charles Manson was...

I don't get it, but there are clearly people who swoon for Trump.

[FakeNoose]

42. Trump knows how to play their game

I think it bothers the good guys (like Nancy Pelosi and other high-ranking Democrats) that they can't beg, borrow or steal free airtime. But Trump gets it 24/7 and the media is FINE with that!

We have to learn how to do the same thing. We have to create controversy and get them to notice and they'll come knocking on our doors. Trump is a miserable failure in just about everything, but hogging the TV screen is something he does very well. It's his only talent, really.

[Raven123]

46. Right on cue

Of all her comments, the one about Trump gets the attention. Point made

[Oneironaut]

49. This is what we have been saying since 2015.

Trump found an “exploit” in the media that allows him to:

A - Force them to cover him
B - Trick them into accidentally motivating his base
C - Dictate what can and can’t be covered on the news.
D - Create a separate version of reality that his base operates on, and maintain control of their minds like any effective cult leader would.

He sets the confines of what the news can talk about, and they operate from within those confines. They are stuck on his talking points, and it’s absolutely genius.

It’s really simple - the media loves a circus. It’s not a matter of just acting stupid - Trump is extremely talented at media manipulation. He has gotten it to the state where the media is purely reactionary / on the defensive, and he always has the floor.

In short, Trump is an evil genius. He is not stupid or incompetent. He knows exactly what he’s doing, and he’s very good at it. People mistakenly ask, “Why doesn’t Trump speak to all of us / try to unite us?” The answer is, he doesn’t need us, and will need us even less as he consolidates power.

How Do We Fight Back?

You can’t. By fighting him, you’re playing his game. He’s waiting for you to jump into the pit with him, and he always wins there. On the other hand, if you blow him off or don’t fight him, he wins by default. So, what to do?

The media needs to stop being what makes it so terrible. Stop repeating Trumpisms. The outrage-for-ratings model actually unintentionally broadcasts his message far and wide. Seeing our rage, his base is even more emboldened. They want to see us angry - it gets them fired up. Remember Godzilla? By nuking him, you’re making him grow.

Here’s what I propose - We do nothing. We report the figures and metrics, and stop repeating Trump’s tantrums, faux pas, racist statements, tweets, and insults. We stop treating him like we love to hate him.

Will This Happen?

Not a chance. There is a greater chance of you being abducted by aliens tomorrow, which, given the current state of affairs, may be a coup de grace. So, what happens now?

Trump remains invincible. Through the media, his power grows. Our only hope is that our seldom-tested governmental structure can contain the monster. If not, this is not a country I would want to live in. Basically, get on your knees and pray to all non-existent Deities that the media stops loving ratings and money.

Final Comments - A Word of Warning

This issue will not stop with Trump if we defeat him. The genie of out of the bottle. We may very well see “President Milo Yiannopolis” in the future, or “President Gavin McInnes.” Ignore this issue at your own peril. As long as creating outrage actually boosts a candidate’s numbers, it becomes a viable tactic. This is no bottom to this crevice (where you survive, that is). The only way to avoid falling is to not go near it in the first place.

[erronis]

50. Bravo+++. Ignore it and its tantrums. Ignore the fact that this PoS is the POTUS

How about a media blackout period (a day/week/month) where the ignoramuses name (and especially face) is not reverberated by the media?

[Amimnoch]

54. Drilling it down further, don't forget, we make that egg golden.

By watching, and increasing the ratings they get.

I read articles here, without clicking the links now. In the mornings, when MSNBC starts covering a Rumpus story, I change the channel, and have started watching BBC world more.

Just like in the voting booth.. WE make it either a golden or rotten egg for them to cover.

[Butterflylady]

56. I wonder if the press didn't cover him

might they get an even bigger audience. We stopped watching because of their coverage. How many others feel the way we do, 10 to 1 pretty many.

[pecosbob]

58. Cut the cable. They can't influence you if they can't reach you.

You like Rachel, you say...download her pod cast. It's not worth sitting and watching Repub 'analysts' expound ad infinitem why Dems are bad and stupid and losers and Rs are good and campassionate and wise. Corporate-owned media will always act to normalize criminal and anti-social Republican behavior...because they're Republicans. It's that simple.

[pansypoo53219]

59. why they pimped his fat ass the moment he rode down his stupid escalator.

they dallied w/ democracy for RATINGS! a pox on their house.

[Prof.Higgins]

60. Satirical Michelle Wolf at White House Correspondents lunch: ",,,. You love Trump."

“You helped to create this monster, and now you’re profiting off of him, “ Wolf asserted.

Michelle’ Wolf’s satirical speech was the most incisive and gutsy calling-out of the White House Correspondents’ collective culpability since Stephen Colbert pretended to praise and encourage W. Bush’s worst decisions. The immediate attack of Wolf by the Trumpians and FoxPropaganda was to falsify what Wolf said about Sarah Huckaby Sanders. Wolf joked that Sanders “burns facts”, but the Trumpian b.s, was that Wolf had said Sanders “burns fat”. This, like nearly all of the Trumpians lies, could be easily fact-checked.

[pwb]

63. Thank you Nancy

[calimary]

64. She has a point. A GOOD one.

It infuriated me to see how many times the press was taken in by this CON artist.

He’ll, they’re just barely dragging themselv s toward the use of the word “lie”. The VERB. As in “to lie through his teeth.”

I’m STILL not over when the fawning media was NEVER able to call a lie a lie throughout bush/cheney. Not EVER! Even when it came to all the lies about the Iraq War, all the lies about Saddam being responsible for 9/11, all the lies about the purported “weapons of mass destruction,” all the lies about “extraordinary rendition” (which was nothing more than a fancy way of NOT using the word “torture”). You know what finally went onto the front page about all of of that? A pathetic kids d-glove tippy-toe dance of a headline that “wondered” “Prevaricating President?”

I found that utterly INFURIATING!

[flibbitygiblets]

65. She's right. And so is Rachel, who also refuses to replay the daily "Trumper Tantrums" on her show

You don't reward that kind of behavior by giving it attention. The media created this mess by giving that egomaniac all the free press during the Republican primaries. They've either learned nothing, or they just can't resist. Either way, FUCK THEM.

Nancy is right to call them on their complicity.

[Ferrets are Cool]

66. Nothing more true has ever been said. nt

[bitterross]

67. LOVE HER!

I want her to be the President after impeachment. Just a dream.

[Meowmee]

69. Agree

Unfortunately it is a big problem instead of attacking him and his fascism non stop, many sit around discussing him as if he werent crazy etc.

[ismnotwasm]

70. Exactly Nancy

Nailed it

[llmart]

71. More Dems need to be calling the media out in this fashion.

And we as the public need to stop watching it! I do not and have not watched any of it since the campaigns because what I saw during the debates made me sick to my stomach. His whole stupid schtick like pacing around behind Hillary as she spoke, trying to intimidate her, the godawful crap that spewed out of his mouth, etc. etc. I will not be a party to aiding and abetting this media shitshow even if it is only just a speck on their viewership.

I do not have cable and even the few channels that I do get with my antenna, I refuse to watch the major networks nightly news. As another poster on here said, READ.

Nancy Pelosi - I thank you for saying this. I also love that you stated you don't watch TV.

This country would be better off if more people would just put down the damned remote and read more.

[Marcuse]

72. Former CBS head Les Moonves, Spring, 2016:🐍

[link:https://fair.org/home/trump-bad-for-america-good-for-cbs/|

Man, who would have expected the ride we’re all having right now? This is pretty amazing…. Who would have thought that this circus would come to town?
But, you know—it may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS, that’s all I got to say.
So what can I say? It’s—you know, the money’s rolling in, and this is fun.

Yeah, [Trump’s] getting a lot of free media, but all that’s happening out there, there’s a lot of money in the marketplace, there’s a lot of money in the marketplace….
They’re not even talking about issues. They’re throwing bombs at each other, and I think the advertising reflects that. Most of the ads are not about issues; they’re sort of like the debates. They’re saying, he did this or he did that. Doesn’t say what I stand for.
I’ve never seen anything like this, and this is going to be a very good year for us. Sorry. It’s a terrible thing to say, but bring it on, Donald, go ahead, keep going.

I said that at another investor conference, and the next day some blog put out, “Moonves Supporting Trump Wholeheartedly.” I said, no no no, I’m not taking any side. I’m just saying, for us, economically, Donald’s place in this election is a good thing.

[Joe941]

73. Yup. Media will do anything for ratings...

And we know half of tRumps antics is so he can brag about the ratings he generates.

[Honeycombe8]

74. Soledad, a journalist, split her infinitive....

My grandpa used to tease us all the time when we'd do the splits or cartwheels, "You'll split your infinitives!" We didn't know what that was, but found out later, when Mom told us and I learned about it in school.

Just surprised a journalist would split her infinitive. Things like that are so ingrained in writers, I thought.

[ooky]

76. I've turned it off since the election was over. I still DVR

Rachel and Lawrence, and that's it. I decided my head was going to explode if I had to listen to one more M$M interview in which most anything can be said without being challenged. That, and the non-stop Trump feeding frenzie has chased me away from the cable news shows. I can go on line when I want news updates without having to endure M$M blaring never ending nonsense and "Progressive Insurance" and pharma commercials.

[SunSeeker]

79. K & R

[DFW]

80. Make Porky Pig president, report on him 24/7, and cartoon lovers will watch TV all day

Advertisers LOVE people who watch TV all day.

[marieo1]

81. Nancy Pelosi is the one!!

Nancy Pelosi is one brilliant lady. Unfortunately, DJT knows exactly how to play the media and the media does exactly what DJT wants them to do. He makes crazy comments and we hear about it forever. Why don't the media report how he is doing absolutely nothing to benefit the citizens of the USA.

[Time for change]

82. Most of the press coverage of Trump I've heard, including his mysogenist remarks

are highly critical of him. Much more so than of any U.S. President of my adult life (starting from LBJ).

I say that as someone who hates Trump about as much or more than anyone I've ever known.

And although I realize that even that negative coverage helps to rile up his base for him, I also believe that the exposure of his many lies, corruption, etc. has helped many millions of Americans to see him as he really is, which is a major reason why his approval rating has remained consistently negative with no exceptions, from the third week of his presidency, and for the blue wave that resulted in as many as 40 or more net flipped seats in the House.

[Dorn]

84. Very good point Nancy -- bring back the fairness doctrine

If you are 35 yo or younger read about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FCC_fairness_doctrine

[uponit7771]

85. AMEN!!

[JCanete]

88. "May I say something you're not going to hear?" I think we should be blunter than that about our

media.


"Too often you don't do your job. Your job is to inform the American public on issues that will affect their lives and our democracy. Do your job."