The Media Should Pull the Plug on WH Briefings
All week the Washington Post opinion writers have been talking about the lying, distortions, and pure misinformation pouring into Americans’ ears from Trump’s daily briefings diatribes. As we’ve all known from the beginning of his run for the presidency, Trump’s trademark is his bombastic lying, but now such lying is actually killing people. From “it will disappear,” to “it’s completely under control,” to touting drugs that haven’t been approved or tested to now pushing to “restart the economy”, he’s gone from laughably moronic to downright dangerous.
It’s time for the media to pull the plug on Trump’s WH rallies. Bloomberg News has done that, showing the briefing WITH THE SOUND TURNED OFF recapping only factual information along with other market news. The other networks should start doing similar. Since Trump can’t do his idiotic rallies right now, the ONLY tools he has is Twitter and network television, so he dominates the briefings spouting bullshit and propaganda and muzzling healthcare experts. It’s got to stop and stop now. Governors (and Joe Biden) have stepped into the vacuum left by Trump’s idiocy and the networks should certainly carry those briefings.
At one of our most precarious times, voter stupidity has put a moronic megalomaniac in the most powerful job in the world. Other countries have leaders grappling with COVID-19; we have a clown thinking he’s running a television gameshow.
Not to mention they have cut off the last 10 minutes of Jeopardy every day for the orange turds 5 o’clock tv rally. If there was ever a perfect metaphor for this administration it’s interrupting a show based on knowledge for a show about a mentally deficient racist rambling about how unfair life is treating him.
1Mehdi Hasan and Jeremy Scahill on the Coronavirus, “the bailout,” and the 2020 election.
video: https://theintercept.com/2020/03/25/coronavirus-bailout-election-mehdi-hasan-jeremy-scahill/
2NPR in Seattle has shut him down.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/25/npr-member-station-wisely-bails-live-coronavirus-briefings/
3Think about it.
4The media is thinking about not covering the POTUS.
Because he is a LIAR.
And spreading misinformation.
I cant stand republicans
While I miss my local nightly news and weather, I’m warming to the in-depth stories on PBS Newshour out of Boston. Did it occur to local ABC, NBC and CBS affiliates that people who find something better may not be back?
5Maybe there is some hope:
“NBC and CNN producers say they’re through airing Trump’s virus pressers. “We might take it from the top and then cut away after the first lie, and return when the lies stop.’ ”
https://twitter.com/NoahShachtman/status/1242928863010848768
“Rather than broadcast Trump’s dangerously stupid briefings as is, the cable news networks should respond with journalism jujitsu: real-time split-screen bullshit-calling.”
6https://twitter.com/froomkin/status/1242922971104194560
Watching the ***king moron’s* daily campaign event and ego fluffing rally has never been and will never be something we’ll do. Hey cable networks, if you film a crime live are you complicit?
Pull the plug on cable TV? Meh. Been there, done that and still wearing the t-shirts. Try it. Seriously. You will feel so much better. If you have internet, you can have a smorgasbord of viewing with one of several devices to choose from and a subscription to Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and/or another content service. And, you save at least $100 over what you’re paying for cable TV every month.
El Jefe can set you up with which service best suits your viewing tastes and Sandridge can guide you through the plug it in aspects. Right guys? j/k If you can select a box of cereal and open it, you can do this.
7It seems like every time Trump speaks, the market dives.
8My local NPR station was carrying live both Trump and Gov. DeWine, who’s been doing afternoon briefings. They just announced they’ll continue covering the Gov. live in the afternoons. Trump will be linked from their website “for those who want it”. As usual, the big story is how the story is covered. MSM won’t be able to make the moron look “presidential” if he keeps opening his mouth.
9“A public radio station in Washington state, KUOW, will no longer be airing White House press briefings on the coronavirus “due to a pattern of false or misleading information provided that cannot be fact checked in real time.”
10https://thehill.com/blogs/news/blog-briefing-room/489439-seattle-radio-station-wont-air-trump-briefings-because-of-false-or
And yet, the Doofus’ ratings are rising.
11My beef is with the repulsives in congress and backing Repulsive Dimwit #1– did everyone quit school in the third grade??
How ’bout the repulsives in congress, delivering moral judgements as to whether the poors deserve money, and how much. This is familiar from past discussions of SNAP. My husband says the $ will be delivered to addresses having bank accounts. That lets out half the people in major cities who do not have bank accounts. Win-win: repulsives
We did and do not deserve this crowd of clowns and evil monsters.
Absolutely!
12Two TV stations here in Indianapolis are not carrying Trump’s news conferences / rallies. Good for them.
13YES! I was so proud of CBS the other day, but they didn’t cut it off for the local part of the news at 5, so we had to hear the orange turd. But the national news went on as usual not the 90-minute trump rally. I personally STILL hold the MSN responsible for having this creature in the WH – they covered every breath he took during the campaign and they are still NOT calling out his lies. I don’t know why they are scared of this petulant toddler.
14The only way to fix ANY of this is to mobilize the vote in November. You vote, your family votes all your friends vote and they all do he same until the GOP goes back to the hole from whence they came!
15I’ve given up on trying figure out what the media’s priorities are
16CNNPolitics ran a story yesterday afternoon that the military hasn’t run a single Covid 19 test for non-military-related civilians. They have 16 labs with the capability to process TENS OF THOUSANDS. A DAY. But even though the Secretary of Defense offered this help A WEEK AGO, it hasn’t been done because the H.H.S. hasn’t asked for their help. And from what I’ve seen so far, the only folks running the story are CNN. Once you scroll all the way to the bottom of the webpage and click on Politics. And then it’s the 15th story. Maybe it’s just me. But every network oughta be interrupting their normal programming once an hour to yell at the camera until H.H.S. gets off it’s ass.
Do you like the idea of having a roof over your head? Eating food? Not living like an animal?
House Democrats urged to remove ‘insidious attack’ on Social Security hidden within Senate coronavirus bill
Edit: Progressives are demanding that the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives prioritize removing a little-noticed provision in the massive Senate-passed coronavirus stimulus bill that would allow employers to stop paying into Social Security for at least the rest of the year—potentially threatening the program’s long-term financial health.
Section 2302 of the nearly 900-page legislation would let companies defer until next year their payment of the employer payroll tax, one of the primary funding mechanisms for Social Security. The bill would require that companies pay 50% of their owed 2020 payroll taxes by December 31, 2021.
While the section has thus far received little media attention, advocacy group Social Security Works said the language authorizes an “insidious attack” on the New Deal-era program and must be stripped out before final passage.
The House is expected to vote on the bill as early as Friday.
“The Democrats are walking right into the trap,” Michael Phelan, deputy director of Social Security Works, warned in an email Wednesday night ahead of the Senate vote. “If Trump and Republicans retain power after November’s elections, they will make sure that corporations never repay Social Security. Then, Republicans will use the reduced trust fund as an excuse to destroy our Social Security system.”
“The only way to escape this trap is to avoid stepping into it in the first place,” said Phelan. “That’s why the House must remove the cut to Social Security’s dedicated funding before this bill passes.”
Social Security Works urged the public to call their representatives and pressure them to remove the employer payroll tax deferral.
Social Security Works president Nancy Altman last week called on Congress to adopt a proposal introduced by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) that would increase by $200 the monthly Social Security benefit for all recipients through the end of 2021.
SocialSecurityWorks
✔
@SSWorks
The Senate bill would let corporations stop paying into Social Security for the rest of the year. But the House can still fix it.
Call your Rep. at 202-224-3121 TODAY. Tell them:
1.) Remove the cut to Social Security’s funding
2.) Increase Social Security benefits by $200/month
https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/house-democrats-urged-to-remove-insidious-attack-on-social-security-hidden-within-senate-coronavirus-bill/
17P.P., a few words, the short being Alex Azur. HHS has promised half of what’s in storage to the states. Maybe Alex is retaining the other 50% for an auction to the highest bidder? And, as you stated there are military facilities that could be running COVID-19 tests to assist the states.
But beyond the ***king moron* there’s a task force being led in opposing directions by the preying menace Pence and Jughead Kushner. The sports equivalent would be to replace two defensive tackles on the football squad with the two most diminutive members of the cheerleading squad.
The media? Those who are not quarantined/hostage to Orange Foolius* have apparently left town.
18megasoid, the first clue that Senate bill deserves to be killed was the Moscow Mitch grin. A happy Mitch? Definite sign we the people are about to get hosed. Again.
19Jane & PKM @19 I said yesterday that the dems were not aware of all of the provisions. SS Works was keen on that item. Hope certain parties didn’t sell out to GooPs for cash under the table.
20I’m surprised Trump hasn’t used the opportunity for more product placement than his MAGA hat early on.
He does make real snake oil salesmen look good though.
21The only problem with not paying attention to the VECTOR is that you have to keep your eyes on the business end of the snake if you don’t want to be bitten. He’s bad enough when we’re paying attention.
22Jane & PKM : Agreed.
23On a slightly different note, I just watched CNN for awhile to see if they were following up. Nope. Brianna Keilar interviewed a lady who talked about how the administration wants to classify counties in America by high, medium, and low risk in determining where to start relaxing social distancing. And they wondered how that would work given the lack of data due to the lack of testing. Perfect opportunity to bring up their own story, but no. But I’ll bet they’ll go ahead and classify every area based on another proven system.
They just need to get the repugnantcan version of Steve Kornacki to draw the map.
I hold little hope that most media will stop airing Trump lies. Ever since the orange moron was running for POTUS, we’ve used the mute button and hands in front of the eyes method. Hearing and seeing him does make us nauseated. We’ve had to replace the remote though because the mute button wore out. Maybe next January 20th we can hope he fades away.
24I’m sorry folks, but cutting Boss Tweet’s feed on any network but Faux Corp won’t change ANYTHING.
Until Faux Corp can put the safety of the nation, and their loyal consumers, ahead of the propaganda for Hair Furor, it’s wishful thinking…
25It’s all about ratings, and TV news was never about news. Faux News proved that lies and conspiracy get better ratings than truth and sobriety, so the other networks are just playing catch-up.
Here’s a nicely written little article by Andrew Kirschner that lists a few of his shortcomings, all of which the media should consider when deciding whether to broadcast his ranting:
https://kirschnerskorner.com/2020/03/24/the-final-hoax/
26Hoo boy! I see that I wrote “a few of his shortcomings” in my previous post as though they were Andrew Kirschner’s. My bad. It’s a list of Combover Crime Lord’s shortcomings.
27Biden has been mostly missing in action. Bernie Sanders has been holding round table discussions and raising 2 million dollars for the coronavirus cause.
28