"... they can't not cover Trump if they want to be watched, if they want to be read, if they want to be listened to," said Rush Limbaugh on his show yesterday. And I'm reading
the transcript this morning because Limbaugh is
the prime example of a phenomenon I mentioned in
the previous post: "many people seem to love Donald Trump out of a weird sense that they somehow
are Donald Trump." Limbaugh's weird sense has been on display for months now.
Trump says something like this temporary Muslim moratorium, [the media] get [livid], they get outraged, they can't stand it, and they assume everybody else is. Their moral superiority leads them to believe that they represent the majority thinking in this country. And if they don't represent it, they can make it. The media has always believed they can make and break people, that they determine the outcome of events. And in large numbers, they've been correct. When it comes to Trump, all that's out the window, and that's why they're frustrated.
This tracks the way Rush has talked about himself for years. The media regularly snatch onto something he's said, go after him, flaunting moral superiority, as if
this time, they will bring him down, and he keeps on going, getting stronger, making those who love him love him more.
... It's a dichotomy for them because over here you have their moral superiority where they believe they represent the majority thinking of people in the country, and if they don't represent the majority thinking, that they can create a majority of opinion. And now the Trump phenomenon has happened, and they don't have any of that ability. They realize they're not representative of a majority of thought in the country and that they can't convince people to agree with them that Trump is a reprobate. And this is causing absolute, sheer panic. And not just in the media. It's causing sheer panic in both parties....
They want to take somebody out... There are only a couple, three instances where they're unable to do it, and when those instances pop up they never understand why they're unable to do it.
A couple or three... One is Trump. The other is Limbaugh. And maybe a third? That's just Limbaugh refraining from exulting
Me and Trump, we're the only 2! Why the restraint? I think he's delighting in what he'd like to think is the
destruction of mainstream media. After the destruction, they won't be able to take down anybody.
They just don't understand. And if they do understand, they're in a state of denial, but either way they're panicked and both parties are panicked because none of this makes any sense to them.... The media is fuming over Trump's media campaign and command. And the Democrats are fuming over Trump's media command...
And politicians who have relied on the media to do their dirty work feel even more helpless now, since their army (i.e., the media) can't take out their enemy. They don't have the slightest idea what to do....
The media, in their own minds, controls the political horse race. By virtue of their polling and their daily reporting, they have always thought of themselves as having the power to make or break candidates. Somebody like Todd Akin comes along and says whatever it was he says, the media says, "We're gonna take him out," and they did. Somebody like Christine O'Donnell comes out and wins in Delaware, "We can't have that. We're gonna take her out." They did. Sharron Angle, Tea Party candidate in Nevada, "What a kook. What a weirdo. We can't have that, we're gonna take her out." And joining with the Republicans and all three of these candidates, they did. They have this power. They were able to take out Mitt Romney with lies, distortions, and the help of Harry Reid....
Finally, he gets around to himself:
So now they're covering the horse race, but they've lost total control over who wins it. And they're in abject panic. You add to it the fact that it used to be much easier to do this when they had their media monopoly. But that media monopoly was blown up beginning in the late 1980s with the arrival of this program. There's a reason why these people in the media and the establishment try to lump Trump with me or vice-versa. Because they also believe they have eternally forever damaged me.
So they think they can do that to Trump. They haven't. They have not made one impact on this program and me and you, my audience. They have not had one iota's worth of impact, whether they know it or not. And the fact that they can't do what they've always been able to do with Trump, and the fact that the Republican Party leaders, the Democrat Party leaders have always relied on the media to do this for them, by the way. Now in all three branches of the establishment -- Republican, Democrat, media -- there is sheer, abject panic.
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Limbaugh's audience isn't soap opera women. The MSM's is.
Maybe they need him to help Hillary Clinton get elected.
Islam is not a religion, it is a political system. A system at odds with our own. A system that does not accept the legitimacy of democracy, after all, the Koran already has all the laws we need.
Why we have to allow Muslims here en masse out of some misguided sense that we are protecting freedom of thought and religion when in fact we are endangering it, is just beyond me. Trump is not afflicted with this particular pathology.
A couple or three... One is Trump. The other is Limbaugh. And maybe a third?
A third example was Reagan. He was vilified as old and out of touch, a warmonger who would destroy the world, yada yada yada. The press hated him, the establishment hated him, but they couldn't destroy him no matter how hard they tried. And believe me, they tried.
"...many people seem to love Donald Trump out of a weird sense that they somehow are Donald Trump..."
I see that a lot of people identify with his 'screw PC' attitude, but I'm not sure they necessarily have a "weird sense that they somehow ARE Donald Trump." (emphasis added).
I would like to see Althouse provide more examples of these people (I agree with her regarding Limbaugh) to better understand her statement.
I am Laslo.
I think you can add Ann Coulter to that list too.
The media has a lot of power over low information voters. To them, if all they have heard about somebody like Rubio is his "yacht"; they form a negative opinion. Trump comes into the campaign already famous and well liked by the kind of people who like "reality shows". These are quintessential low information people. The media cannot really change minds but they can fill-in empty space--they can get you to form an opinion where one did not originally exist.
I presume that Trump conducts internal polling. Every time he blows up the narrative he gets a bump. And competent individuals like Perry and Walker and Jindal fall by the wayside. I hope that the polls we're being fed aren't some dirty trick, some ratf#%k, but I know better by now.
I don't have a preference anymore, other than Santorum, but I am enjoying the ride.
The other candidates propose new tax policies, which cause little discussion among ordinary people. Such policies are complicated.
Trump proposes provocative policies that ordinary people can discuss. Anybody can express an opinion about canceling all visas for Moslems. Since practically everyone is talking about that proposal, the mass media must report about it.
None of the other candidates ever propose any policies that provoke so much discussion among ordinary people.
The MSM has never understood Rush or his audience or, by judging them on the stupid assertions they make about his program, have even listened the the Rush Limbaugh Show. All these idiot juicebox journolisters asserting that he "spews vile hate filled rhetoric" for three hours a day may make some heads nod in Manhattan and DC but anyone who has ever listened to Rush for even on hour knows this is utter bullshit. A made-up MSM myth designed solely to signal how virtuous they are -- to eachother -- the other ignorant nabobs.
On one side you have the media, the Democratic and Republican establishment, and on the other side you have Trump, Limbaugh, and white supremacists. Lines are being drawn.
"No, (standing)I am Donald Trump!"
These days, Rush spends 98% of his show shilling for Trump. The remaining 2% is spent denying he is shilling for Trump. My personal theory is that Rush thinks Trump will repay him in some way for the daily worship.
Larry J is right. In particular ccan look at George W. Bush. The media have succeeded in painting him as an ignorant dolt in many, perhaps most, people's minds. But it's obviously easier to get a degree from Harvard Law than a Harvard MBA.
I would imagine a great deal of Limbaugh's audience is Blue Collar just based on when it is on and who would be able to listen to it. Truckers, guys in machine shops and auto shops. Also, I would guess they are more entrepreneurial than most because they are going to be in small businesses where tuning in a radio station is more likely to be allowed than in a large organization.
Of course these days there is the Internet and pod casting, so time and place isn't such a big factor, but when Limbaugh started it was.
And Trump's appeal is also Blue Collar. He says what ordinary citizens (at least large numbers of them) are thinking. They don't see keeping Muslim's out of the country as racist, they see it as prudent. They have been in the service and seen what Muslim culture is like in the Mideast and Afghanistan or talked to their friends and relatives who have. And a lot of them believe that illegal immigration is causing them to lose their jobs and depress their wages. And guess what? They are correct. Brick laying is a skilled trade that used to pay well. I know someone who retired from that trade. These days if you go to at work site in the area I live in, where bricks are being utilized in construction, the brick layers are all Hispanic. Been that way for years. And the trend for other construction trades is more of the same.
In the last couple of days I saw a poll that shows that about half of 18-29 year olds think that the American Dream is dead. The number of people not in the work force (meaning pretty much never going to work again unless something drastic is done) is over 90 million people. The only reason we aren't having riots like in Greece is because we can still afford the welfare state by borrowing boatloads of money that will never be paid back. Oh, wait a minute, we are having riots worse than in Greece over perceived police brutality. Add to all of that an education establishment whose primary focus these days seems to be fleecing money from students, parents, and the government while providing indoctrination instead of education, journalists whose mission is to obfuscate instead of inform. and a political class that has stopped even pretending to represent large segments of the American public and people wonder why Trump is so popular.
If it wasn't him, it would be someone else. Perhaps someone much worse.
In fact if the GOP does manage to deny the nomination to Trump through a brokered convention or other nefarious means I predict that there will be someone much worse.
"I think he's delighting in what he'd like to think is the destruction of mainstream media."
Not sure he's going that far, but if he is, it's wishful thinking.
@LJ: "The press hated him, the establishment hated him".
Right. Limbaugh could have said the same thing in the 80s, minus talk radio and the Internet of course, but even then the supposedly conservative turn proved a temporary interlude. Progs don't "panic." They just keep at it, until the next election, the fifth Supreme Court vote, the next irreversible piece of welfare legislation, etc. Cons can stand athwart history yelling "stop" all they want; Progs just wave. And of course, Trump isn't even "conservative" in any meaningful sense, apart from believing in American greatness. The MSM don't "panic" either -- they love the ratings, love to feign outrage, love to bait the proles into supporting the billionaire populist.
Love him or hate him, the persistence of Limbaugh shows that it's still a free country.
Bonus thought for the day:
Q: How is Donald Trump like ISIS?
A: They both are filling vacuums left by Barack Obama.
I was listening to Rush yesterday and maybe the day before, and he seemed to be spending a lot of time on this issue. And, I don't think that he is wrong. Both of them seem to be able to speak over the heads of the MSM who are trying to keep their messages from reaching their targets.
I love the way that Trump seems to do it. He makes an outrageous statement, then gets called on it. And, when he starts explaining it, it starts sounding reasonable. Take the Muslim immigration issue - he clarified that his idea was to ban their immigration until we got the vetting down right. Until we could make sure that ISIS and al Qaeda couldn't use this to sneak terrorists into our midst, which, of course, they have told us they are doing. What is wrong with that? But, notice what has happened - the MSM exploded at him in response to something this out of the mainstream. They thought that they really had him this time. Deep down, they probably knew that they were being suckered. But, they couldn't resist, because this might mean that they helped do the impossible - take Trump down, which would mean that they were again in charge and in power. Of course it failed, but they will likely jump in next time he sets them up, just as quickly.
I thought Carlos Slim owned the media.
Trump is a vortex. A vortex is where (preexisting, larger, unseen) currents collide to drain turbulence out of a system. Politics is based on laminar flow, the nudging of small differences, deal-making. Trump sees a much bigger deal is needed here, because the laminar flow has broken down. Progs have gone way over there, Cons/Libertarians have gone way over here. It's a crunch moment. See also Richard Fernandez at his "Belmont Club" blog today, posting about Gessler's Hat.
Here is something about trump from Scott Adams: The Trump Immigration Surprise - the Trap is Half-Sprung
On one side you have the garage mahal, garbage, and steaming piles of shit. And on the other side, you have people that steer clear of those.
Sadly, Trump is sucking all the air out of the room while Hillary skates. Nothing new as the pro-democrat hack media would cover for her anyway.
Clinton Foundation Donors Got Weapons Deals From Hillary Clinton’s State Department
http://www.ibtimes.com/clinton-foundation-donors-got-weapons-deals-hillary-clintons-state-department-1934187
As Colombian Oil Money Flowed To Clintons, State Department Took No Action To Prevent Labor Violations
http://www.ibtimes.com/colombian-oil-money-flowed-clintons-state-department-took-no-action-prevent-labor-1874464
Clintons And Foundation Raked In Cash From Banks That Admitted Wrongdoing
http://www.ibtimes.com/clintons-foundation-raked-cash-banks-admitted-wrongdoing-2010404
Hillary Clinton Was A Top Recipient Of Wall Street Cash Before 9/11 Attacks
http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/hillary-clinton-was-top-recipient-wall-street-cash-911-attacks-2185516
She Lies.
http://nypost.com/2015/12/09/hillary-clintons-most-repugnant-lie/
It's interesting to see Rush's narrative for how we got to this point. I see it differently.
I saw the nomination of Mitt Romney as marking a low point in the influence of Limbaugh. His prior racial, NFL comments had earned him skepticism among sports fans. His drug addiction revelation was giving his enemies like Jon Stewart lots of ammo. Rush and Levin and Ingraham and Savage pushed alternatives to Romney, but the alternatives were weak and Romney became the guy despite their efforts. Then Romney lost to Obama. That "proved" that the Republican "establishment" was evil and in bed with the Democrats when in reality it was just a failed, best effort.
I think Rush was determined to regain his former influence - influence diminished in part due to the copy cats he inspired. The political Left saw how being objective was no way to grow an audience, and so John Stewart and Steven Colbert and Bill Maher and others did their own variation of witty commentary that mocked the opposition and flattered the audience.
Since Romney was the representation of Rush's influence low ebb, the way to prevent a repeat would be to kill the rise of anyone looking like Romney this cycle. Thus the repeated, concentrated attacks on the hapless Jeb, who hasn't proven to be half the candidate that Romney was but still draws regular attacks as he sits at 3%. But destroying Jeb was too easy. Not only must the "establishmnent" preference be destroyed, the only acceptable choice is someone the "establishment" finds unacceptable. That that unacceptable choice is a guy cut very much from the Limbaugh cloth - a guy who makes his statements in a deliberately provocative, attention-getting, but divisive way - that is sweet, sweet icing on the cake.
Rush is sorta right you know. But I think it's being a fat blowhard that's the attraction.
I was struck by the commentor stating that Rush's thoughts only appealed to blue collar types. Just FYI they appeal to me and I was taught Constitutional Law by Supreme Court Justice Kennedy and have both Law and Computer Science degrees (purple collar, actually). This type of post is why I read Professor Althouse. She spots wisdom wherever it may lie (Limbaugh, in this case) and presents it extremely well, as one would expect from an excellent law professor. I trust that laudatory comments are allowed to make it through the moderation.
One other reason that "establishment" Rs freak out over the prospect of Trump facing Hillary is that they don't "get" him. They fear Hillary so much and buy into her "credentials" because it fits their insider worldview. They can't imagine anyone except maybe their best-of-the-best E-types (Bush) beating Clinton so they are unable to imagine Trump doing it.
Trump said his proposed halt of muslim immigration was temporary. NBC in their fervor to take him out, truncated his remarks. Gee thats odd /sarcasm.
They did not think they had him in a flub. They thought they got him.
What does ANY of this have to do with "white supremacy" Garage? When you choose to live in a house with no doors I'll accept your open borders bullshit. Meanwhile sane Americans are happy someone is finally pointing out the obvious: we need to pause our immigration juggernaut and vet muslims more closely because we just had an awful real-life example of a huge hole in the K1 visa program.
Or did Farook's wife actually get in under the K9 waiver?
Oops my human supremacy showing.
Trump is not my twin, but he is my loyal friend for working so hard to save the American experiment from sneak attack after sneak attack streaming out of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Just knowing that my grandchildren will not be enslaved to poverty and false gods is enough to follow his leadership.
Limbaugh was truly a media pioneer. Before him, news was generated by the NY Times, and then filtered through the nightly news casts of Dan Rather, Peter Jennings, & Tom Brokaw.
To circumvent this narrative, one had to have extreme curiosity and diligence. I remember going to the library just to read the Op ed pieces in the Wall St Journal. Subscribing to the WSJ was just too darn expensive back then.
Limbaugh and talk radio changed all this, and, then, of course, the internet exploded it. All good, in my view.
The problem with Limbaugh is what to do now? He already has $500 Million in the bank. What's his next act?
He is flirting with Trump, but denying the flirtation, as Bushman noted above.
Myself, I find Rush to be unfocused. What's his objective?
My objective (from the peanut gallery) is to deny Hillary the Presidency. That means, if she loses to ANY Republican, life is good. The only questions is, Who is the best candidate to beat Hillary in the General. I doubt it's Trump.
Trump speaks to the concerns of the people of the middle. The people between the two left leaning political bastions on each coast.
Washington DC has left the debt tap on. They've left the illegal immigration tap on. They've left ISIS tap on. The people caught in the middle have been calling out to the people in charge,"hey. can you turn off the tap. Waters getting kinda deep here." And Trump is the only one who has agreed to turn off the tap.
I don't particularly like Trump as a person, but there are worse people to have in the White House. Hell. There is a worse person in the White House.
So. Will he be good for the country? If he follows through with what he promises he'll do OK.
I was struck by the commentor stating that Rush's thoughts only appealed to blue collar types.
I did not state that Rush's appeal was only to blue collar types. I said that a great deal of his appeal was, and it is. That doesn't mean he cannot appeal to others. And I also wouldn't under-estimate the intelligence and canniness of a blue collar worker. In fact, I would be inclined to credit a plumber or electrician with far more intelligence than any grievance studies major.
Sebastian: ...but even then the supposedly conservative turn proved a temporary interlude. Progs don't "panic." They just keep at it, until the next election, the fifth Supreme Court vote, the next irreversible piece of welfare legislation, etc. Cons can stand athwart history yelling "stop" all they want; Progs just wave.
True, and well said. Where I'd disagree with you is your implication (correct me if I've read you wrong) that getting behind a Rubio (or preferred non-Trump whomever) is a first step in the right direction for a conservative "Long March" to take back the institutions. It isn't.
And of course, Trump isn't even "conservative" in any meaningful sense, apart from believing in American greatness.
The GOP hasn't been "conservative" in any meaningful sense, either, since forever. Both parties are globalist parties, and globalism by its nature is anti-conservative, even in the narrowest, crudest economic understanding of "conservative". Which is why all the bickering about "real conservatism" these days is so comically academic.
I don't trust the conservative media.
Rush's enemies consistently underestimate him. Make no mistake about it ; he is a shrewd and original analyst (his opponents can barely analyze anything) who is not only frecuently right, but right first. And RL can be very funny.
I was reading SE Cupp today he basically says now she is going to take her ball and go home if Trump wins.
This just makes me want to vote for Trump even more. Because now she is threatening 50 years of Democrat rule if Trump is elected.
I just want to shout, screw you! I voted for Arnie in California because you idiots told me he was the only acceptable candidate. I voted for McCain, I voted for Romney. I've stayed on the Republican plantation because they were the more acceptable choice even though my candidate didn't win.
And now, because its happening to you, you take your ball and go home?
May the Republican party be destroyed if this happens. Screw you.
Rusty said:
Trump speaks to the concerns of the people of the middle. The people between the two left leaning political bastions on each coast.
Washington DC has left the debt tap on. They've left the illegal immigration tap on. They've left ISIS tap on. The people caught in the middle have been calling out to the people in charge,"hey. can you turn off the tap. Waters getting kinda deep here."
Very well said. Hear, hear, Rusty.
Because so many of us have seen the big media lie to us, over and over and over. Many of us do not trust our local media, either, for various reasons.
Your wish may come true Eric.
Eric.
The speed with which prominent Republican officials and conservative spokesmen condemned Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States revealed the true stakes in the 2016 election. The future of the GOP as we know it is in question—not the party’s political future but its ideological one. Donald Trump’s candidacy is already intensifying party divisions. Nominating him would alter the character of the Republican Party in a fundamental way.
So atypical is Donald Trump’s profile that it is impossible to say where the party will find itself when caucuses are held in Iowa on February 1. It is very possible, even likely, that the party will reject him and retain its identity as the party of Reagan and Bush. But the 2016 election has been, to say the least, unusual. And the crises of international order and domestic governance that give Trump strength are real.
garage mahal
On one side you have the media, the Democratic and Republican establishment, and on the other side you have Trump, Limbaugh, and white supremacists. Lines are being drawn.
Is that so? Then how do you explain the following?
Muslim woman attacked at Indiana café by drunken Bernie Sanders fan yelling ‘white power.’.
Black ministers attend prayer meeting with Donald Trump.
Don't quite fit your narrative, do they, garage? Garage has given us one more example of ignorant sneering coming from the lib/prog camp. Sneer, sneer, sneer, that's what libs/progs do. Sneering beats trying to learn the facts: much easier on the intellect.
Trump as three great advantages in withstanding the non-stop MSM attacks:
1) The Low-information voters know Trump from TV and like him. That not only gives him name recognition, it means they've seen him on TV treat everybody white, black, male, female, without prejudice.
2) He's a Billionaire and doesn't need "the donors" to be in favor of open borders or big business to keep campaigning.
3) He's dealt with the media and liberal Democrats all his life. He knows how to deal with them. He was the first Republican who figured out that when the media attacks you as racist/sexist/bigot/homophobe you don't apologize and grovel - you counter attack.
Limbaugh fails to consider the possibility that Trump is shilling for Hillary. If Trump is nominated, Hillary wins.
I would say Reagan is a good example of someone the media went after but he just kept getting more popular.
He was right about the Soviet Union and they were wrong. And they were pissed his administration was able to help turnaround the economy.
They spent a ton of time and ink and pixels on Iran-Contra and no one gave a shit. Hillary Clinton is in awe of Reagan's ability to just slip by any scandal.
Reagan, like JFK, is still well regarded by the public. The media don't even bother trying to tarnish his legacy and reputation. He won, they lost.
Blogger hombre said...
Limbaugh fails to consider the possibility that Trump is shilling for Hillary. If Trump is nominated, Hillary wins.
The only possible way Hillary has even a ghost of a chance to become president is if Jeb Bush is nominated. Or everyone else dies.
The only people that even rremptely like her are die hard femminists and lesbians and I'm not sure if they're one and the same thing
Hillary is a joke.Nobody likes her including the people likey to vote for her. Occupy Democrats are going to come out massively for Hillary. All two dozen of them.
@Owen -- thanks for mentioning Richard Fernandez. The clip he includes from CNN in this piece is pure gold.
https://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2015/12/9/choose-your-fascism
So is the post at @BruceHayden's link.
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