Monday, January 16, 2017

Press To Play

To call it going down a rabbit hole would be a salacious attack on bunnies everywhere. Our newly "elected" president had his first news conference, and it made news. Just not the kind we are used to reading about when it comes to presidential press conferences. Where was the discussion of the economy? Discussion of world events and development of nuclear weapons by our enemies? The way we get stuff done with a political transition? What kind of dog will the new First Family have in the White House? Sure, there was some talk about intelligence, but mostly it was lacking. Intelligence. President Elect Barack Obama's first press conference some eight years ago, included all those elements, including intelligence. Of course, it was broadcast on C-SPAN, and so it may not have received the kind of attention that President Elect Twit garnered when he stood up for his first meeting with the press in one hundred sixty-seven days. 
This is the ironic part: By maintaining this fractious relationship with the fourth estate, Mister Twit guarantees himself more attention because everyone from C-SPAN to TMZ wants to show up and see what gets mentioned. Instead of the convivial welcome that might have occurred in an alternative time stream, Twit vehemently denied unverified opposition research reports that he has been compromised by the Russian government and scolded media organizations that published the information. "It’s all fake news. It’s phony stuff. It didn’t happen," he said. "I think it was Russia, but I think we also get hacked by other countries and other people."
If you are currently confused because you thought that hacking was no longer an issue and Russia was our friend and colleague in the effort to rebuild the world's nuclear stockpile, then hang on because it is not the strangest thing that was said in the course of this briefing. The idea that a foreign country, even our partner in nuclear escalation, has evidence of personal and financial activities by the man who would be our president hovered over the gathering like the smell of fresh meat in a lion cage.
What did we learn? The media is to blame. President Elect Twit is a germaphobe. "We had a great News Conference at Trump Tower today. A couple of FAKE NEWS organizations were there but the people truly get what's going on." Thanks to Twitter, we know the truth.
I didn't cry when Barack Obama gave his farewell address. I waited until after that first press conference. Yeesh. 

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