Well, that didn’t take long. Apparently some attendees at Donald Trump’s “off the record” meeting with the press yesterday have failed to grasp the meaning of the phrase, as more details have leaked out about what was said behind closed doors.
The New Yorker published an article in which they claim to have interviewed several members of the press who were in attendance at Trump Tower yesterday, where President-elect Trump address them in what was suppose to be an “off the record” meeting. According to these sources, some journalist had their feelings hurt and are “deeply emotional” after Trump gave them a stern talking too.
This accounting of the meeting seems to align with the New York Post’s article yesterday, in which a source told them it was a “f−−−ing firing squad”.
Although the sources admit, Trump never actually raised his voice and kept an even tone throughout the meeting, they must not have been use to being on the receiving end of criticism before…ever.
For more than twenty minutes, Trump railed about “outrageous” and “dishonest” coverage. When he was asked about the sort of “fake news” that now clogs social media, Trump replied that it was the networks that were guilty of spreading fake news. The “worst,” he said, were CNN (“liars!”) and NBC.
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The over-all impression of the meeting from the attendees I spoke with was that Trump showed no signs of having been sobered or changed by his elevation to the country’s highest office. Rather, said one, “He is the same kind of blustering, bluffing blowhard as he was during the campaign.”
Another participant at the meeting said that Trump’s behavior was “totally inappropriate” and “f-king outrageous.” The television people thought that they were being summoned to ask questions; Trump has not held a press conference since late July. Instead, they were subjected to a stream of insults and complaints—and not everyone absorbed it with pleasure.
“I have to tell you, I am emotionally f-king pissed,” another participant said. “How can this not influence coverage? I am being totally honest with you. Toward the end of the campaign, it got to a point where I thought that the coverage was all about [Trump’s] flaws and problems. And that’s legit. But, I thought, O.K., let’s give them the benefit of the doubt. After the meeting today, though—and I am being human with you here—I think, F-ck him! I know I am being emotional about it. And I know I will get over it in a couple of days after Thanksgiving. But I really am offended. This was unprecedented. Outrageous!”
It seems the delicate “snowflake” members of the press are not use to being put in their place and spoken to honestly by a strong politician who isn’t afraid to tell them exactly what he thinks.
By the way these journalists describe the meeting, you would have thought that Donald Trump went into a rage by yelling, screaming and hand gestures, but as the source admits, that was not the case at all.
Participants said that Trump did not raise his voice, but that he went on steadily at the start of the meeting about how he had been treated poorly. “It was all so Trump,” one said. “He is like this all the time. He’ll freeze you out and then be nice and humble and sort of want you to like him.”
Someone should inform these sources from the meeting that the majority of the public seems to agree with Donald Trump, as 75% of those polled said the media favored Clinton, while only 7% said they preferred Trump. Maybe this journalist, who was so “emotional” over Trump’s honest appraisal of their biased performance during the election, can report to the 7% of people who still believe them.
What this really boils down to is a politician making a stand against the eternally liberal, biased press. It isn’t about “critical” coverage of Donald Trump, but instead it’s the complete fabrication of data, pushing skewed poll numbers and encouraging vile narratives of Trump’s voters being “racists“. It’s not about the First Amendment, as this journalist would have you believe, it’s about the media turning into straight up propaganda in attempts to influence voters.
So while these “emotional” members of the press were highly offended by some brutal honesty, I imagine the 75% of Americans who believed the press was bias and in favor of Hillary Clinton would agree with Donald Trump.
The media needs someone to tell them that they are hopelessly biased, as they are no longer doing the American public a favor as they should be by presenting facts and allowing them to come to their own conclusion.
People are tired of a biased media, and that’s probably why alternative news sites like Breitbart are seeing record breaking traffic. Yes, as a journalist you have to be fair and tough, but you must apply that to all candidates, instead of focusing all their wrath only on Donald Trump while Hillary Clinton was being propped up and idolized by the press.
Meanwhile, while some journalists may be busy in their safe spaces trying to get over the emotional stress of being “offended” yesterday, Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway gives an entirely different version of events.
“Fairness is actually not having presumptive negativity written about you and always assuming the worst about you. And I think that Donald Trump has faced an unprecedented avalanche of critical coverage when he was running and frankly I think, in part, he owes his victory to that. There was a backlash against the elites, a backlash against those who were telling Americans what is important to them.”
The press may not realize that Donald Trump doesn’t need them, as he has his own avenues of reaching directly to the people via social media, which will deliver his messages without any liberal bias applied to them.