Uncritical, non-stop coverage of his campaign rallies has propelled Donald Trump to the Republican nomination for President of the United States.
Credit it where it's due; The Donald is a consummate showman. He knows what the people want, and he knows how to get the media to bring it to them for free.
Moreover, he knows that the media will then analyze him as a phenomenon, and bring him even greater attention. He can pretty much say what he wants, no matter how outrageous, no matter how untrue, no matter how contradictory. As long it's in keeping with his persona, in the vaguely political realm, he can just make stuff up and count on no one remembering what he said just five minutes ago.
And the media, particularly cable, dutifully reports what his lies and his boasts, takes it seriously, and presents it as an equal counterpoint to his opponents -- and reality.
He's a demagogue, of course. And he's learned well Joseph Goebbels "Big Lie" technique. But he's also a fabulist in the sense of Baron Munchausen, a fictional character who enthralls audiences with his impossible tales of spectacular achievements.
Or perhaps we give him too much credit, and simply say he's a bullshit artist, the kind of guy you can find in every working-class bar in America. Like Cliff Klavan, the know-it-all postman on the Cheers TV series, he is a font of useless and often untrue information, spouts nonsense with total self-assurance, bedazzles his beer-drinking buddies with tales of derring-do. Until they tire of his shtick and shut him up.
It's time. Someone needs to call him out. Ideally, it would be someone of unquestionable authority, but in this cynical age that leaves out political and media figures. Political opponents have raised doubts about even the Pope's political pronouncements. Conservatives even dismiss hugely wealthy figures like Mike Bloomberg for their liberal views on guns and public health.
But if Bloomberg, or Warren Buffett, or Bill Gates, were to point out that they really can buy and sell Trump, or actually set out to do it, they might incite him to panic, and raise serious doubts in the minds of his supporters.
There's one other possibility -- if an ordinary person, a person with no political ambition or pretense, were to somehow face him down, he might well be neutered for all the world to see.
He's a barroom bully, without the courage or resources to back up his boasts and his threats. He needs to be shamed and forced to leave the public stage.
Credit it where it's due; The Donald is a consummate showman. He knows what the people want, and he knows how to get the media to bring it to them for free.
Moreover, he knows that the media will then analyze him as a phenomenon, and bring him even greater attention. He can pretty much say what he wants, no matter how outrageous, no matter how untrue, no matter how contradictory. As long it's in keeping with his persona, in the vaguely political realm, he can just make stuff up and count on no one remembering what he said just five minutes ago.
And the media, particularly cable, dutifully reports what his lies and his boasts, takes it seriously, and presents it as an equal counterpoint to his opponents -- and reality.
He's a demagogue, of course. And he's learned well Joseph Goebbels "Big Lie" technique. But he's also a fabulist in the sense of Baron Munchausen, a fictional character who enthralls audiences with his impossible tales of spectacular achievements.
Or perhaps we give him too much credit, and simply say he's a bullshit artist, the kind of guy you can find in every working-class bar in America. Like Cliff Klavan, the know-it-all postman on the Cheers TV series, he is a font of useless and often untrue information, spouts nonsense with total self-assurance, bedazzles his beer-drinking buddies with tales of derring-do. Until they tire of his shtick and shut him up.
It's time. Someone needs to call him out. Ideally, it would be someone of unquestionable authority, but in this cynical age that leaves out political and media figures. Political opponents have raised doubts about even the Pope's political pronouncements. Conservatives even dismiss hugely wealthy figures like Mike Bloomberg for their liberal views on guns and public health.
But if Bloomberg, or Warren Buffett, or Bill Gates, were to point out that they really can buy and sell Trump, or actually set out to do it, they might incite him to panic, and raise serious doubts in the minds of his supporters.
There's one other possibility -- if an ordinary person, a person with no political ambition or pretense, were to somehow face him down, he might well be neutered for all the world to see.
He's a barroom bully, without the courage or resources to back up his boasts and his threats. He needs to be shamed and forced to leave the public stage.
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