Trump uses Twitter for "script injection" into the news media.

[gulliver]

In software security, there is an attack known as "script injection." In effect, the attacker gets a website to pass bad JavaScript language code to the user's browser. It's probably why we have only limited markup (bold, italics, link, blockquote, etc.) here on DU. The site will scour out any true JavaScript language code that a member tries to put into the text of a post. That protects the users who view the post.

Trump, whether by luck, instinct, or design, is injecting his "English language scripts" into the news media. Unfortunately, they are playing them.

For example, think about this latest case where he refers to himself in the third person as "Trump." His first sentence is as follows:

"This memo totally vindicates 'Trump' in probe,"

What will happen is that the news media (anchors and so forth) will read the sentence above verbatim in order to quote Trump. They will say something like the following:

"President Trump tweeted today that the Republican memo vindicates him. According to Trump, 'This memo totally vindicates Trump in probe.'"

He has just gotten a news anchor to say "This memo totally vindicates Trump in probe." People who aren't listening closely may think the anchor is the one saying the memo vindicates Trump, not Trump himself. That's good for Trump. It wouldn't work if Trump had referred to himself in the first person.

Obviously, I can't say for sure that is what he is doing or that it actually plays out as a true security exploit at the human media level. But it does look familiar from a software security standpoint. It looks like a hack.

[Phoenix61]

1. He's definitely a hack who has successfully

manipulated the media for years. Narcissists excel at manipulation.

[marylandblue]

2. That's exactly what he is doing

You'd probably be interested in the work of George Lakoff, who says that a repeating alie, even to deny, just causes the brain to remember it.

[Docreed2003]

3. His greatest skill

Is his ability to manipulate the media towards his own means.

[dewsgirl]

4. I have to say he is good at one thing, that is

Controlling the narrative. Although it often blows up in his face, not on Fox news of course. This week has been a perfect example of that, most of the public have missed many important stories driving the destruction of our democracy this week, because they were buried, due to this ridiculous memo narrative. We are living in truly scary times and it's only getting worse.