If The Media Treated Trump Like Other Candidates, Yesterday Would Have Ended His Campaign

[WhiteTara]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-media_us_574f07c1e4b0ed593f12e5d0

On Tuesday, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee had the kind of day that, for any other candidate, would be a political nightmare. It started with a press conference in which Trump made misleading statements, attacked reporters for applying relatively routine levels of journalistic scrutiny, and questioned the impartiality of a federal judge presiding over a lawsuit against Trump University.

The day ended with newly unsealed documents from that same lawsuit that revealed credible, if contested, allegations of shady business practices at the for-profit adult education program. The trove included a Trump University “playbook” that taught salespeople how to coax registration fees, which could run into the tens of thousands of dollars, from those desperate to get rich. One sales manager called the enterprise “a fraudulent scheme” that “preyed upon the elderly and uneducated to separate them from their money.”

That’s explosive stuff. But will Tuesday’s news still be a topic of discussion a few days from now? Will it be the subject of endless analysis and meta-analysis, and become a permanent part of the campaign narrative, the way it would be for almost any other presidential candidate — especially the likely Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton?

Or will Tuesday’s events quickly become an afterthought — forgotten or at least rationalized away by pundits and political professionals, demonstrating once again that Trump has figured out how to manipulate media coverage and shape the national conversation in ways that give him an advantage?

[Press Virginia]

1. Thats why I'm supporting a Giant Meteor in 2016

j

[annabanana]

2. I heard the Trump/Media relationship described as abusive.

They are addicted to the ratings and will take any punishment to get them.

[0rganism]

5. i think there's another edge to the ratings sword

if there's one thing that gets ratings more than celebrities, it's a fallen celebrity.
at some point, possibly after the conventions, i think the media at large will remember this and do its part to ... uh... generate ratings.

[HuckleB]

3. K & R!

[gratuitous]

4. Trump even whined that the media was making him look bad

This after all the ridicule for Democratic candidates whenever they showed any impatience or empathy or compassion or anything else that could be portrayed as weakness. You can still hear it whenever someone in the media uses the word "malaise" or says "I feel your pain." The subtext is pretty plain: Wimpy Democrats!

Yesterday, in so many words, Trump complained that the media were making him look bad with their nosy questions about his personal integrity. Well yeah Donald, when people can't trust what you're saying, they're going to wonder if what you're saying is total bullshit. You've earned that distrust; it would be an insult to you not to mistrust your word. Will Trump's plaintive "you're making me look bad" become pundit shorthand? Magic 8 Ball says "Liberal Media Booga Booga!"

[TreasonousBastard]

6. My problem isn't with Trump or the media...

Assholes like Trump are always around waiting for their chance to screw things up, and the media is always looking for a way to sell papers, even if there aren't any papers any more.

But, WTF is the populace doing encouraging this asshole and buying into "news" that's one step up from the latest Kardassian pukage?

[Stuart G]

8. K and R for exposure..needs to be read by all