mainstream media

Marjorie Taylor Greene 2, Media 0

~ Mr. Rantastic ~ Leave a comment

If you were wondering whether the media learnt anything from four years of Donald Trump, the answer is ‘not much.’ Freshman Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is the proof.

Greene has said some pretty politically extreme things and associated herself with political calls to action that are borderline criminal. The Democrats are outraged. The Republicans support her. The Dems punish her. Ok, granted, it’s a story. But Greene has made it much more than that.

Firstly, Greene has been able to take a story that might last a few news cycles and keep it front and center for over a week.

Secondly, every story the media runs about her includes a photo. And she has been smart enough to wear a mask with a different proactive political slogan on it every day, doubling her media impact.

Either Greene is brilliant media strategist or the media has learnt nothing from their experience with Trump. It is probably 1/3 the former and 2/3 the latter.

Maybe Greene’s next mask should read, “Media. So sad.”

The Hangover, Part D

~ Mr. Rantastic ~ Leave a comment

The country is about to have a massive hangover. It’s been on a 5 year stimulation binge, fueled by non-stop tweets and righteous outrage from the left and right. The tweeter-in-chief will keep it up once out of office, but the media coverage and shit-stirring will (hopefully) drop down a notch.

Binge drink for a night and you wake up with a hangover. Binge on tweet-crack for 5 years and you end up with the shakes, or worse.

Fortunately, there is already a name for the condition that is associated with withdrawal from 24×7 Donald Trump.

I suppose you could just call it the DTs.

Voting Twice For Trump

~ Mr. Rantastic ~ Leave a comment

Many of Donald Trump’s supporters voted for him twice. Without cheating. First they supported him with their ballots. Then they supported him with their checkbooks.

Trump has sent out over 400 fundraising emails since the election. “Help me defend this election and democracy.” They’re working – he’s hauling in the cash.

As usual, the mainstream media is missing the story. The media seems obsessed with reporting on how dimwitted Trump supporters are. The media writes stories about how they are being duped – the fine print gives Trump the right to use most of the money any way he wants, not just to challenge the election results.

The truth is that they are not being duped. They don’t really care how Trump uses the money, they just don’t want him to go away. They send money to show their support for him. Another vote for Trump.

The story the media should be covering is how many people still fervently support Trump even though he lost. But the media never understood Trump supporters and prefers to think of them as the ignorant white working class.

Isn’t it time for the media get it head out of its elitist arse and do its job?

Finally, Some Lies

~ Mr. Rantastic ~ Leave a comment

It is less than two weeks before the US election and the mainstream media is finally starting to use the word “lie” with reference to Donald Trump. It only took four years.

Previously, the media only used euphemisms. “Falsehood”, “untruth”, “misspoke”, “incorrect”, etc. It’s no wonder respect for the media is so low.

It will be interesting to see if the ban on the ‘L word’ has finally been breached or whether this is just the media getting caught up in the election fever.

Especially if Trump wins.

Fake News Wins

~ Mr. Rantastic ~ Leave a comment

Donald Trump has won the battle of fake news. The battle wasn’t to get the media to publish ‘truthful’ news. The battle was to give Trump’s supporters a justification for ignoring any news Trump doesn’t like, truthful or not.

Recent polls show that 85% of Trump’s supporters believe that the media is rife with fake news when it comes to Trump. In fact, 45% of the general population believes the same. Trump has effectively armored himself against anything the mainstream media can throw at him.

The battle is over.