December 14, 2024

What the NYT is saying today under the heading "Trump Transition."

On the front page of the NYT website right now:

 

1. "Trump’s Night-Owl Tendencies Set Stage for After-Hours Diplomacy." When you click through, the  headline becomes "Trump’s Transition Business Largely Happens After Night Falls." I prefer the front-page headline because it focuses on Trump, the person. It's not just that "business... happens" after dark, it's that Trump has "night-owl tendencies" and these "tendencies" play out on a "stage." Perhaps you're not as sensitive to mixed metaphor as I am, but when I read the headline out loud to Meade, I added: "You know how all the owls are in the drama club." And I thought "tendencies" sounded archly disapproving. It reminded me of the once-common expression "homosexual tendencies." From the article: "One of his veteran staff members said Mr. Trump was known to leave voice mail messages in the middle of the night saying: 'This is your favorite president.' He sometimes follows up the next day, suggesting the person might want to share the audio with his friends and family."

2. "In Display of Fealty, Tech Industry Curries Favor With Trump/It was a week of frenzied activity as Silicon Valley billionaires and their companies brandished checks and compliments for President-elect Trump." If Harris had won and money for her inaugural festivities were flowing in, we wouldn't see phrases like "curries favor," "frenzied activity," and "brandished checks." They'd be saying "shows the love," "tingling excitement," and "lavished donations." But I'm talking about the headline. The article isn't negative toward Trump. It's got this quote from Marc Andreessen: "It’s morning in America.... People are finally poking their heads out of the frozen tundra of the culture and realizing that it’s actually OK to build things, hire on merit, celebrate success, and fundamentally be proud of the country and be patriotic." 

3. "Cajole, Plead and Flatter: Ukraine Makes Its Case to Donald Trump." There's a subheadline at the article page: "Using diplomacy, flattery and the occasional shot in the dark, Ukraine is doing everything it can to win over President-elect Donald J. Trump to its side." Speaking of metaphor... it's too close to the attempts at assassination to deploy the expression "shot in the dark." The article begins: "From desperate stabs at diplomacy to fanciful expressions of flattery...." Desperate stabs, eh? The article ends like this: "At the Trump White Coffee Bar — one of at least two Kyiv cafes named for Mr. Trump — customers said they wanted him to fulfill his campaign promise. 'I hope Trump will do what he promised — for peace to come to Ukraine.... This is the main wish of Ukrainians. I feel very sorry for the guys who died at war. I have friends who died and friends who are still fighting. My boyfriend is fighting. I want them all to come back home.'"

4. "The Trump Show Is Returning. Will It Be Triumph, Tragedy or Farce? TV has fixated on one person, as news, comedy material and dramatic subtext, since 2015. Can it do another four years?" The headline is pretty neutral, and the piece, by NYT TV critic James Poniewozik, displays some awareness of the shortcomings of anti-Trump media — there was some "painful... ham-handed satire." And "we might be better off, aesthetically and politically, without the cringier elements of Resistance Hollywood." Is anything new or subtle even possible?  Last time around, we did get "Succession" and "Yellowstone," which "felt of the political moment without directly referencing the president." Yeah, I'd say, generally, don't do politics directly. You're bad at it, and it's not even effective. 

30 comments:

Dixcus said...

I wonder if Ukraine would agree to investigate Hunter Biden, Joe Biden and their connections to Burisma in exchange for - er ... as a condition of ... receiving continued US financial aid.

And just remember ... people in North Carolina are sleeping in tents tonight, in below-freezing temperatures, because FEMA gave billions to illegal immigrants and we don't have any more money.

But there's money for Ukraine.

There's money for them/they.

Just not you.

Ambrose said...

“All after the sun goes down”. Hardly a put down during the time of year when the sun goes down before 5 pm.

Howard said...

I don't think we would ever see a headline referring to anybody currying favor with Kamala Harris.

Peachy said...

We've just suffered 4 years of tragedy and farce.

Where were you - hack Democrat Soviet press?

Jamie said...

some awareness of the shortcomings of anti-Trump media — there was some "painful... ham-handed satire."

The satire wasn't the problem.

Dixcus said...

They were covering the news.

With a pillow.

Mary Beth said...

If Biden had kept unorthodox hours, it would be described as recognizing the world isn't on U.S. Eastern Time. (I mean especially early or late. Biden's hours were unusual in that he had very short days. No one wanted to talk about how often they "put a lid on it" by 2 or 3pm.)

Dixcus said...

NY Times completely uninterested in Biden pardoning all the government thieves ... even a judge who was taking bribes to put KIDS in jail. Judge took $1.7 million over several years, sending kids to a juvenile prison. One woman stole $50 million from her town's coffers. Money taxpayers in that town are still struggling to pay back. They won't even ask how much Biden is being bribed to provide these pardons.

But yeah, let's focus on Trump.

ronetc said...

At least we know President Trump does not, unlike others we might mention, have sundowners syndrome,

RCOCEAN II said...

The real pressure on Trump to continue throwing $$ at Ukraine comes from the big donors, like Blackrock and Goldman Sachs. They're working with Zelenskyyy to "rebuild" Ukraine after the war, aka buy up farmland for pennies on the dollars and get all those "precious minerals" that Miss Lindsey is always blabbing about.

Usually the US Government just wastes money in fraud and abuse, but here our money got hundreds of thousands killed. Per Miss Lindsey that was the point: kill Ruskiees. So, well done Joe biden!

We've wasted hundreds of Billions of dollars on Ukraine. Usually the USA just wastes money, but here we used the money to prolong an unneccessary war and kill hundreds of thousands of people. Of course, as Miss Lindsey the whole point was to kill Ruskiees, so

RCOCEAN II said...

The MSM Meme: "here they go, bowing and scraping to Trump" is supposed make people feel bad for supporting Trump, and make us despise them. "Gosh, what cowardly phonies and suckups". Personally, I feel nothing but joy. that's what Trump is "Full of Joy".

Peachy said...

Here hack D-Legacy Media--- This is for you.

Jersey Fled said...

The more I hear from Andreessen the more I like him.

Wince said...

On the pardons, Biden is testing the distraction/resistance level using these outrageous pardons and drone scares, before he goes in for the mother of all pardons of his criminal clique.

Dave Begley said...

Biden quit working about noon and didn’t start until about 10 so, yes, it will be different having a full time President.

Dogma and Pony Show said...

I asked ChatGPT to name some presidents and other world leaders who were notorious for keeping late working hours. The first four names it come with were Jefferson, Lincoln, Churchill, and FDR.

Hassayamper said...

people in North Carolina are sleeping in tents tonight, in below-freezing temperatures, because FEMA gave billions to illegal immigrants and we don't have any more money. But there's money for Ukraine.

Got to keep the kickbacks coming.

It's astonishing to see the insolent, callous disregard the Biden administration and their cronies in Congress display for taxpaying American citizens, especially the victims of the disasters in Hawaii and North Carolina, while shoveling oceans of our money to corrupt dictatorships on the other side of the world and paying for the importation of hordes of foreigners who hate us and expect us to support them. It will not soon be forgotten, even by people who pay little attention to politics.

Thankfully it will all be changing very soon.

Hassayamper said...

I don't think we would ever see a headline referring to anybody currying favor with Kamala Harris.

Of course not. Cronies and lickspittles only "curry favor" in newspaper headlines when the politician receiving the currying and doling out the favors is a Republican. With Democrat's it's called "having a meeting with constituent groups".

William said...

Definitely. I saw a good chunk of the Bari Weiss interview. He comes across as good- natured, knowledgeable, and well-intentioned. As billionaires go, he's quite likable and approachable. He's not as charismatic as Musk, but he's definitely a better egg than Zuckerberg, Gates, or Cuban. He doesn't seem the least bit autistic which is unusual among billionaires.

Third Coast said...

Based on our hostess's interpretations, are there subtle hints that the NYT won't be all hair-on-fire when reporting on Trump this time around? Their whole staff must be mentally exhausted by now.

Hassayamper said...

The more I hear from Andreessen the more I like him.

He's always been one of the more moderate Democrats among the high-tech tycoons. I recall that he supported RINO Carly Fiorina in 2016, when everyone else in Silicon Valley was lining up to kiss Hillary Clinton's fat ass.

James K said...

One of those kids the corrupt judge put in jail committed suicide.

William said...

Who has the most excessive dislike of Trump: the news people , the entertainment industry, government bureaucrats, or academics. It's hard to quantify these things, but I think people in the entertainment industry are the frothiest. The news people and academics try to strike a pose of cool disdain, but the entertainment people, wow, their rage is foam flecked and sputtering. Robert De Niro goes full raging bull whilst discussing Trump. Luke Skywalker never got as upset with Darth Vader as he does with Trump......Perhaps that's because Trump was hatched in their nest and they see their own flaws manifest in his persona. Trump, like most people in the arts, is something of a narcissist. He feeds off crowds and applause, and he uses the madness of crowds for his own ends. Those ends aren't politically correct. He oppose DEI and markets cologne. It's crass and vulgar. Unlike them, he's not an artist pursuing art and using his charisma to enlighten humanity.

Lazarus said...

If you're a TV critic and are caught up in the political moment, you'll read the political moment into everything you see. "Succession" may have owed some of its inspiration and influence to Donald Trump, but the more immediate inspiration came from the Murdochs and Brexit. Connections between "Yellowstone" and Trump are harder to see. "Dallas" and "Dynasty" were the more obvious inspirations. One could expect the rich dysfunctional family shows to be rebooted when Republicans were in the White House and taken as a commentary on the times, but that's the typical shallow thinking of TV critics.

TV shows do well to avoid dealing with politics directly. The George W. Bush years gave us the forgettable "L'il Bush" and "That's My Bush." South Park wasted a lot of time on Trump when he first ran for president. TV doesn't do that much lampooning of Democrat presidents and candidates.

Patentlee said...

How long before Hitler is added to that list?

Randomizer said...

1. Trump has to be the hardest working president that we've seen in decades.

2. Tech leaders may be a little ashamed of how they allowed themselves to be used by the government against Trump. Watching them make peace has to be tough on journalists because progressives assumed that Tech belonged to the young and the young belonged to the Democrats.

3. Trump will negotiate peace in Ukraine, but many people won't be happy with the deal that is struck.

4. Will the Trump Show be triumph, tragedy or farce? We don't care. They can produce that show any way they want, nobody is watching. Cable news and political satire are dropping like a rock. President Trump is going to try to fix things that we know are broken.

There were plenty of other things going on in the last 8 years, but the creatives focused on being anti-Trump, so favored anything Trump was against. That put them in opposition, at least on some issues, to most Americans.

jaydub said...

Al Sharpton already did and made a million bucks.

Bruce Hayden said...

Except that, on a per capita basis, far more Ukrainians have died. Between those who have died, and those who have fled the country, to avoid the draft that would likely kill them, a large percentage of the fighting (and thus breeding) age males in Ukraine are gone. Sure, Russia has a similar problem, but much less bad, due to its larger population. It’s going to take generations to recover.

Two-eyed Jack said...

I, personally, look forward to once again reading about Trump in the sports pages and classical music reviews.

Bruce Hayden said...

I think that part of Trump being a night owl is that he just doesn’t sleep that much. I have a brother like that, who spent his career living on 4-5 hours of sleep a night. Not that he forced himself, but rather, that’s just the way he is. He used it to become the #1 patent inventor (>50 patents, including some valued quite highly) and #1 in published papers (>100) in Motorola’s Semiconductor Sector, and was proud that he never used work time with either accomplishment. I have heard several times that Trump is similarly affected. And, yes, that makes it easier to deal with foreign leaders around the world, because he can just pick up the phone during working hours for these foreign leaders. How different from Biden, who often seemed to be limited to an hour or two of work per day.