Trump keeps banging on about "fake news" but there's plenty of fakery about him. His complexion is unnaturally bronzed - as if he applies foundation cream each morning. Then there's his weird hair. Once it was dark brown but now it's kind of blonde and it balances on his head like a Scottish sporran. Just occasionally you get tantalising glimpses of the baldness beneath the sporran. But what about his teeth? A row of ultra-white porcelain veneers that must have cost him a fortune. These are certainly not the natural teeth of a seventy year old man.
And what about his marriage? Even that seems fake to me. The Slovenian immigrant Melania languishes happily in New York City whilst "The Donald" plays up to the cameras in Washington D.C.. And whenever they meet her body language speaks volumes about the repulsion she feels deep inside. They're just playing at being President and First Lady.
One of the things I really don't get about the "fake news" accusations is that America's press and news services are pretty conservative and tend towards The Republicans. Surely it would have been in Trump's own interest to placate them and bring them on board. But at every opportunity he denigrates them just like his laughable pipsqueak of a White House press secretary - Sean Spicer.
Great to see Spicer lampooned brilliantly on "Saturday Night Live" by Melissa McCarthy. Go here.
Actually a lot of the American traditional media is liberal (Democrat leaning). Those are the ones he is accusing of printing/airing fake news. It's the same in Canada and I think even in Britain, is it not? The papers that lean toward inclusion, globalization and, I might go so far as to say, socialist ideals, are what we here in North America call liberal, and they are shredding Trump and eating him for breakfast every day.
ReplyDeleteThe only significant newspaper in Britain that occasionally demonstrates socialist leanings is "The Guardian". All the rest are right wing - often owned and directed by self-interested moguls like Rupert Murdoch.
DeleteAhh. I didn't realize that. The Guardian is the only one I've ever read. You have others?
DeleteP. S. He needs a new spray-tan advisor. Yes, yes yes ...
ReplyDeleteThey seem to avoid the area around his eyes. He's like a human panda.
DeleteI think that's from the little goggles you have to wear when you're being sprayed. The only reason I know that is from TV, by the way. Honest!
DeleteTrump is playing to his supporters who think the press purposely misquotes and skews all news.
ReplyDeleteHe uses the "fake news" cry like a smokescreen.
Delete"One of the things I really don't get about the "fake news" accusations is that America's press and news services are pretty conservative and tend towards The Republicans"
ReplyDeleteYes...and no. If you believe that reality and truth have a liberal bias, and the US media is still interested in reporting facts and uncovering the truth, then that would be incorrect.
However, if you believe that the US media prioritizes ratings and spectacle and celebrity, that they'd rather air live footage of Trump's empty podium than cover one of Hillary Clinton's speeches and you believe that the networks gifted Trump $3 billion worth of news coverage (and he says the media is the enemy? of whom?) and that even though the talking heads claimed to be horrified by his rhetoric they could not stop talking about him for even one hour or you believe that the media moguls conspired to elect Trump because a (historic but otherwise standard) Clinton presidency would have been "boring" and bad for ratings (as the president of one network put it "It may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS.")
...then yes, the US media is almost certainly Republican. Especially when you compare the rating of progressive-leaning MSNBC to the unapologetically conservative Fox News.
You have illustrated my point far more convincingly than I could have done myself. Thank you Chris.
DeleteJust watched the clip YP - very funny and almost hard to believe the way things are in the world at the moment isn't it?
ReplyDeleteYes it is. A world in which law abiding grannies have parking tickets slapped on their windscreens by prowling stormtroopers.
DeleteLet us remember that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Whatever we think of the press (and the quote applies as much to them as to political leaders) we need them as a check and balance. Trump's attempt to get rid of the one's he dislikes is a dangerous move on the road to dictatorship.
ReplyDeleteTrump seems hypersensitive to criticism. This is in stark contrast to President Obama's dignified keeping of distances.
DeleteHere's some real news. Trump has spent 3 of his 4 weekends so far at Mar-a-Lago. It costs taxpayers $10 million every time he does this. It costs $500,000 a day to keep his wife in a tower. I would like to know if Congress has been overcome by an attack of Body Snatchers. Where are the fiscally responsible Republicans? Probably hoping for an invitation to Florida. I've never seen such blatant hypocrisy in my life.
ReplyDeleteThank you for showing us a different angle on Trump's behaviour Jan. I doubt that he understands the very concept of hypocrisy - it's just FAKE NEWS by the failing NY Times and CNN.
DeleteIt's his tower.
DeleteThen let him pay his own damned expenses to keep his wifey there. Before the election he was bragging about having his own security people. Congress can set a budget for ALL presidents to stay within and apply it equally. I will have to, resentfully, pay my taxes soon, and I don't want a penny of it to go to this classless, privileged pissant.
DeleteI don't understand why he doesn't terrify traditional conservatives, who are supposed to be devoted to freedom and individual liberty. The man is inherently authoritarian, spouting the equivalent of bad Soviet propaganda and dismantling responsible government!
ReplyDeleteI would disagree that most media is Republican-leaning. Fox News and some publications (The Washington Times) tend to be quite conservative, but other networks and print outlets (The New York Times, the Washington Post) tend toward liberalism. And that's not a bad thing -- it's inherent in questioning the status quo and speaking truth to power, which is the job of a responsible press.
well you know more about American newspapers than I do Steve so I bow to your judgement... but I never read a single American newspaper that appeared to espouse anything marginally resembling a truly socialist viewpoint.
DeleteAbout his teeth, it seems that every other person one meets on the streets these days sports these dazzling white veneers on his or her choppers. It's a sore point with me, a pet peeve. Besides being very, very expensive, they look unnatural even if all the celebrities have them. Whatever happened to the terms "ivories" and "pearly whites"? That's what human teeth should look like. Rant over.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that one can judge someone's wealth by the whiteness and straightness of their teeth but gradually they seem to look like the teeth of cartoon characters - so unreal, fake teeth.
DeleteIt's a problem when negative views are described as false news. People should get different points of view and then make a judgement for themselves and therein lies the problem. Making a decision about something - even the news; it's all too hard.
ReplyDeleteAlphie