Not News

In the old days – pre trump – when the President spoke, media listened. The assumption then was a President’s message was important for the whole nation to know. Such instances were rare. TV networks broke into their normal programming to cover such events. Those interruptions were few and few minutes in length.


Not today. It seems rare that a film clip of trump misses a single day. Or a mention on a newscast.

And then there are the Tweets.


Oh yes, the Tweets.  Never has a President had a social media presence while in office. Facebook, Instagram or Tweet. Webpages were reserved for official campaign relations.  Of course, prior to trump, social media was not a thing. It is still a new phenomenon.


This President seems to think his opinion is needed on all things. Social, sports, personalities, public taste in current events far removed from governance. Every waking minute we seem to know what the trump thinks, feels and is certain about. Only this is opinion and feeling, not fact or logic.


The largest economy in the US is the entirety of the state of California. The most population, too. And yet, a state that returns so much to the nation as a whole – economically, socially, artistically, natural landscapes, etc. – is belittled because of natural disasters like forest fires? Somehow this is a state’s duty to manage when the bulk of public lands are owned and managed by federal agencies?  The state gets the blame from trump on not instantly managing the problem, and threatens to withhold federal dollars to pay for help?  And yes, the bulk of those dollars have been paid into the treasury from taxing Californians and their companies in the first place.


One wonders if the trump will blame California on its next major earthquake?


Blame. Always someone to blame, and not him. Always a finger pointing away from him and excoriating someone for the problem. Yet, let water-swamped Florida properties get deluged with more rain and hurricanes, the federal treasury is opened. No blame there, right?  The trump knows his own properties in Florida are sited on prime ocean front land and will need help repairing storm damage.


Obviously, there is trump and everyone else. If you support him, he tends to support you and avoid blaming. But blame he does. It is one way to remove heat from himself and what he doesn’t do to help the situation. Only worsen it. Fog up the news with empty words and non-action.


He is the newsmaker in chief. He is the creator of fake news all the while claiming all other news is fake. Only in his mind. Only in his mind.


The nation loses from this stupid handling of the news. Just because the trump says something, it is not news. In fact, hindsight informs us just the opposite is true. If fact checking is a strength of the media, then news programs ought not cover the president at all unless the facts bear out. Now, wouldn’t that be refreshing?  A day without trump in the limelight? Perhaps a week of silence on the Great Cheeto?


Well; one has hope. Yes. One can hope.


November 5, 2019