Every president manipulates the media, but no one does it quite like Donald Trump. On Friday at 3:31 p.m., Trump called The Washington Post’s Robert Costa to announce that the American Health Care Act was going to fail. Costa was by no means expecting this phone call and was reluctant to pick up a blocked number. But when Costa finally answered the phone, he heard the president’s voice, saying “Hello, Bob. So, we just pulled it.” After the news broke, several commentators were holding U.S. House speaker Paul Ryan accountable for this failure. Later that day, there was a post-mortem press conference in the Oval Office, where the president explained the failure of the bill. He repeated the phrase “I don’t blame Paul” several times. This is where it gets interesting. After that press conference, Trump tweeted:
Watch @JudgeJeanine on @FoxNews tonight at 9:00 P.M.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 25, 2017
I watched Jeanine Pirro to see what all of the fuss was about. Low and behold the first sentence she uttered in her prime time program was “Paul Ryan needs to step down as the speaker of the house.” In her entire opening statement, she basically demolished Ryan. I don’t think Trump has ever tweeted about Judge Jeanine before, so why now? Why would Trump try to boost Judge Jeanine’s viewership on this particular night?
It seems a little too obvious that Trump took this opportunity to convey his message and his opinions through Judge Jeanine. Outwardly at press conferences, Trump is saying that Ryan is not to blame for the failure of the bill. But when the press gaggle is gone, Trump is simultaneously endorsing via Twitter those who demand his resignation. The public can infer that he wants Ryan to fail. Now, the alt-right communities are giddy because of this. Several alt-right groups hate Paul Ryan. They are praising Trump, saying that he is playing a massive game of “4D” chess with the media and he is winning. Frankly, this isn’t 4D chess. It’s checkers. He is literally manipulating the media by using blatantly obvious and somewhat petty techniques akin to subtweeting. The reason why this is so shocking is that usually when politicians manipulate the media, their techniques are more sophisticated and subtle. I imagine it to be like “House of Cards,” where the general public follows the narrative the politician crafts without necessarily knowing the politician’s motives. Trump is changing the game because with him, there is simply no consistent narrative, and his motives seem very clear. The only thing that is consistent is the constant barrage of outlandish tweets, scandals and lapses in traditional decorum.
The media is at a hard place. On one hand, it’s necessary to report on the president and what he’s doing. But on the other hand, this president seems to be committed to distracting the media and constantly shifting their focus, perhaps in order to delegitimize the fourth estate. The overly sensationalized and ultimately disappointing episode of “The Rachel Maddow Show” a few weeks ago is an example of this. In this episode, Maddow had a few pages of Trump’s tax returns that essentially revealed nothing. I believe that Trump leaked his own tax returns with the hopes of sowing chaos and distracting from the American Health Care Act because they were labeled “client copy,” and the timing of the release seemed a little too calculated.
All throughout human history, politicians have manipulated the media. I’m not saying it’s always good, but it’s a political reality. A relationship with the press is a pathway for politicians to get their message across, and it is Washington as usual. However, Trump is forging a relationship that is infuriating, at times confusing and exhausting to follow. I wonder what his goal is. What does he expect from all of this ruckus? Because most of the time he comes off as an incredibly petty individual. An important thing to remember is that in Washington, everything is calculated. Whatever Trump is doing is totally intentional, and as the public, we must be relentless in calling him out.
