Townhall.com
Ben Shapiro
June 14, 2017

There is a widespread perception among those on the right that President Trump's myriad foibles, vagaries and outright prevarications are somehow justifiable because he is The Great Destroyer of the mainstream media. His fans say he is running the media around in circles -- and that is its own reward. Are you still waiting for extreme vetting? For the border wall? For tax cuts, Obamacare repeal and a massive military buildup? Well, sit down and shut up. Just be grateful that Trump has the media hysterically following his tweets like a hormonal teenage boy frantically searching for internet pornography.

But this is wrong.

Trump isn't destroying the media's credibility. They already destroyed their own credibility, thanks to their allegiance to President Barack Obama.

Trump has the benefit of occupying the presidency after Obama. The media was highly critical of President Bill Clinton -- even they couldn't ignore the juicy scandals dripping daily from the White House in the 1990s. They were even more critical of President George W. Bush -- they were more than willing to misreport in order to undermine a war and destroy a presidency.

But then came Obama.

Obama was the first indicator that the media would simply refuse to cover stories they didn't like about a politician they did. The media covered Clinton's Chinagate and Travelgate. But they refused to cover the IRS scandal with the same level of vim as they would have under Bush; they downplayed the Obama administration's involvement in the botched "Fast and Furious" gun operation scandal; and members of the mainstream media openly mocked the right's anger over the administration's manipulation of the 2012 Benghazi terror attack. Obama had to be protected at all costs, including the cost of the media's credibility.

Meanwhile, the media savaged 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. They dug up a story from his high school days regarding him forcibly cutting a classmate's hair. They uncovered scandalous material about him strapping a dog to the roof of his car. They delved deep into his nefarious practice of investing in failing companies, and then cutting the dead weight to turn them around.

Then came Trump.

Trump didn't do anything aside from failing to comply with media's standards of behavior. He didn't pander to them or treat them with respect. And the media melted down. They treated Trump horribly, of course -- but they'd already treated Bush and Romney just as badly. More importantly, the media lost their ability to pretend having standards of honesty and decency after selling their souls to the Obama White House. It was difficult to take their cries of incipient tyranny seriously after they bent over backward to flatter a White House that cracked down on reporters from Fox News and the Associated Press.

Why does any of this matter?

It matters because conservatives would be wise to understand that Trump didn't destroy the media; he inherited the shell of a media ready to crumble. He tapped the shell, and it fell apart. But that's not enough. Trump now has a golden opportunity to promulgate an alternative narrative in place of the one pushed by the discredited leftist media -- if he can demonstrate credibility himself.

So far, he hasn't. And that means that his credibility will crumble at first contact from someone who hasn't already destroyed his or her credibility. Hence the media's renewed love for former FBI Director James Comey -- they believe that they can restore their own credibility by watching him destroy Trump's.

Trump can do significant damage to the media, but only if he tells the truth. Now would be an excellent time to start.

Link

good read and on point as usual

I am glad that Trump is the president, but in some respects I think he is his own worst enemy

his tweets I think are calculated to bait the media into wasting their time on trivialities and taking their eyes off what is really happening

I really hope that's true, and not an unintended consequence of his tweets

In general I like Ben Shapiro but he really needs to give up the Never-Trump crap.

quote:

Originally posted by EmpireState:
In general I like Ben Shapiro but he really needs to give up the Never-Trump crap.

I agree. I had to drop him from FB feed because of his shitty attitude about Trump.

Why not think over the points in the article, instead of who wrote it?

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
Why not think over the points in the article, instead of who wrote it?

...because braining is more harder than flogging.

quote:

Trump can do significant damage to the media, but only if he tells the truth. Now would be an excellent time to start.

So from this statement I am to believe Trump has been lying incessantly up until now? I used to be a huge fan of Shapiro's, but no more, given he seems to be on the wrong side of history right now.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
Why not think over the points in the article, instead of who wrote it?

But, but, … but, that’s so HARD!!!

My criticism of Shapiro was directly related to his criticism of Trump....in the article. He talks about the extreme vetting, borderwall, obamacare replacement and military build-up as if it is somehow Trump's fault this hasn't happened. He glosses right over the fact that the RINO establishment is to blame but Shapiro just can't manage to write the word Trump in a story without getting in some thinly veiled insult disguised as an intelligent point. He also metaphorically holds hands with Comey and calls Trump a liar. Its old and tired. Maybe you all didn't notice that....in the article.

I appreciate that he is willing for the most part to stick up for our side and debate leftists and usually has good logical arguments. He just needs to drop the "Never-Trump I'm so smart and truely conservative and if you didn't vote for Ted Cruz instead of Trump you're a moron routine". He sounds like a whiney brat and also disingenuously and falsely assumes that someone else could have beaten Hillary. Like we're all idiots and should have voted for Ted Cruz because he would have been a better President than Trump. Cruz may have actually been a better President....but Cruz was not going to be elected President. Its time for Shapiro to quit slinging mud in Trump's direction and focus on the people and groups who are truely a danger to this country.