If you want to understand how Trump won, you have to start with one glaringly obvious fact. He is an absolute master when it comes to manipulating the media. His ability to play the biased, mainstream, press generated millions of dollars’ worth of free airtime, deflected scandals, probably clinched the primaries, and went a long way toward forever burying the spectre of a Hillary Clinton presidency.
Guess what. He's still doing it.
Over the weekend, the flap was all about the size of Trump's inaugural audience. Because the left is petty, it’s deeply concerned with petty issues and they thought this was a pretty big deal. No one, aside from political wonks and members the nation's media machine, cared in the least.
That didn't stop the various news channels from leading with the "story," and it was front and center on the Sunday shows as well. ...And while the media focused the sum of its attention on crowd size, it pretty much ignored the fact that President Trump gutted his predecessor's "signature law":
President Trump signs executive order against Obamacare
They reported it, sure, but then they spent the next two and a half days running comparisons of side-by-side stills of the National Mall. This was the crowing achievement of the last eight years, and it was de-fanged with the stroke of a pen. Yet, all of the outrage you'd expect to hear from the left was directed not at the destruction of the ACA, but at something completely meaningless.
Then we had a Monday morning presser where Sean # eviscerated the media for running a host of fake stories.
Sean # Vents to the Press: It’s ‘Demoralizing’ When You Keep Trying to Undercut Trump
Predictably, the news nets spent the remainder of the day "debunking" #'s claims, denouncing his defense, and railing against his claims of media bias.
Rather than acknowledge the point # made, about media narratives and hostility, they continued to discuss the crowd sizes.
While they did so, Trump withdrew the United States from the TPP trade deal, froze federal hiring, and reinstated the "Mexico City policy" on abortion.
President Trump signs order withdrawing U.S. from TPP
Again... crickets.
Later in the day, Trump met with congressional leaders and reiterated his claim that, if 3-5 million illegal ballots hadn't been cast, he'd have won the popular vote.
Of course, the Press went into a complete meltdown...
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Trump Claims 3 to 5 million Illegal ballots cost him the popular vote congressional meeting
If you watch all of that clip (and believe me I understand why you wouldn't) you'll actually hear one of AC360's talking heads make the point that no one outside the beltway gives a rat’s rear about any of this. The press may be apoplectic, but the story has no impact on everyday Americans. Still, it was the lead on multiple newscasts this morning.
...And, true to form, as the media was screaming that "Trump should grow up," the President was enjoying Mike Pompeo's confirmation, preparing to advance the Keystone XL and Dakota pipelines, and simultaneously corralling support for Rex Tillerson, Ben Carson, Elaine Chao, Wilbur Ross, and Nikki Hailey.
In short: the press keeps whining, and Trump keeps winning.
So please, media. Don't learn. Keep doing what you're doing. Ignore the substantive issues and events. Focus on the petty, on the inconsequential, and on the trivial. Make yourself increasingly irrelevant by reporting on stories that have zero impact on your audience.
You're doing us a huge favor.
