Hey, Mainstream Media – Stop Feeding Trump’s Ego With Your Presence

Last updated on: August 3, 2018 at 9:42 pm by Susan Wright

Hey, Mainstream Media – Stop Feeding Trump’s Ego With Your Presence 2018-08-03T21:42:30-04:00 Susan Wright

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Well, this is a great idea, actually. I’m just shocked it’s coming from Fox News.

Ok, to be fair, Fox News’ actual news department tend to be rather fair minded. It’s their opinion shows – the Sean Hannitys, Tucker Carlsons, Jeanine Pirros – that are unbearable toadies to Trump.

Today, Fox News’ politics editor, Chris Stirewalt, spoke directly to the news media about the treatment they’ve been receiving from President Trump and his uncivil supporters.

Specifically, the president has been using social media and his rallies to promote the very authoritarian idea that only he holds the truth, and that the media is the “enemy of the people.”

The press gathers, filming the bizarre and grotesque that makes up the typical Trump rally, and with every rally, the petulant man-baby singles them out for abuse.

Stirewalt says enough is enough.

“We should stop having reporters at those Trump rallies,” Stirewalt said on Fox News’s “Outnumbered.” “Everybody should stop having reporters penned up like veal in the back of those things for the president to use as a prop, and then some of the reporters exploit that for their own personal benefit.”

Stirewalt added that “this is not helping anybody. Get out of the hall. Leave the cameras, get the reporters out of the hall. Quit letting him use you as a foil.”

Quit filming the freak show.

The issue came to a head earlier in the week, when CNN’s Jim Acosta was shouted at and harassed by Trump supporters at a rally in Tampa, Florida.

Acosta filmed the debacle with his phone and posted it to social media, saying that he felt that at some point, the raging, anti-press rhetoric by the president would eventually end up getting someone hurt.

He’s a bit of a princess and he gets a lot of heat for it, but I’m not prepared to say he’s wrong. For someone to support Trump in the first place, at least on the level of some of what we’re seeing at these rallies, they have to be a bit “unwell.” We’ve seen them go to extremes before. If Trump keeps painting the press as “enemies” and a hinderance to his master MAGA plan, how long before one of them acts in service to their liege?

Stirewalt wasn’t through giving advice.

Stirewalt also suggested an end to televised White House press briefings, calling them “counterproductive” and “showboat theater.”

“It has become a forum of personal achievement and political utility for the administration,” he said.

President Trump is a narcissist. He needs the spotlight. He needs adoration. And he needs to feel like a hero, fighting against a common enemy. In this case, he has weaponized his followers against the First Amendment and just common civility.

What you see at the Trump rallies is not patriotism. It is not America. It is a cesspool of the ignorant, vain, hate-filled, and destructive, no matter what their red caps or campaign signs say.

I get that this is a train wreck and it has become the media’s job to rubberneck and film the wreckage, but if they want to start regaining their power, they need to stop allowing Trump to put them in front of his nasty, nasty base.

Previous Post

August 3, 2018

QAnon - Pied Piper of the Low-Info Basement Dwellers (VIDEO)

Next Post

August 4, 2018 I'm Not the Liar! You're the Liar! North Korea Says U.S. Is Not Keeping Their Deal

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month December 2021 November 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz