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You are here: Home / Politics / America / I Will Be Treated Fairly Or Else: Lesley Stahl Explains The Application Of The Trump Doctrine To The News Media

I Will Be Treated Fairly Or Else: Lesley Stahl Explains The Application Of The Trump Doctrine To The News Media

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The President has had a long and largely unpleasant relationship with the news media since he declared his candidacy. As in he’s been unpleasant to the news media. A good chunk of this was set early on with his penning of reporters in at his campaigns and using them as foils, as well as his successful attempts to roll the cable, network, and print news media into treating him “fairly” or receiving an “or else”. He pulled this early and successfully in the primary season with Fox News when he demanded that Megyn Kelly be pulled from her moderator duties. When Fox refused, he scheduled a competing event.

At last night’s Deadline Club awards dinner, Lesley Stahl provided a very detailed explanation of how the President has applied the Trump Doctrine of “I will be treated fairly or else” to the news media. Talking Points Memo has the transcript:

“At one point he started to attack the press. And it’s just me and my boss and him, in— He has a huge office. And he’s attacking the press. And there were no cameras. There was nothing going on, and I said, ‘You know, that is getting tired. Why are you doing this? You’re doing it over and over, and it’s boring, and it’s time to end that. You’ve won the nomination (sic). Why do you keep hammering at this?’

“And he said, ‘You know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all, so when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you.”

Here’s the video, which is set to start at the 21:23 mark with her stating what the President told her regarding how he treats the media and why:

Whether the Trump Doctrine is the result of just gut instinct or forethought doesn’t matter. Here we have a first person recounting of the President explaining it in regard to how he deals with the news media. Eventually his supporters are going to get tired of screaming “lugenpresse” at the penned in reporters at his rallies. Or telling them to get out of their country like the lovely gentleman below. Eventually one or more will actually attack and most likely kill a reporter. I certainly hope the news media has thought out how it is going to respond when that happens. Hope, however, is not a strategy.

Stay frosty!

Open thread.

 

Reader Interactions

106Comments

  1. 1.

    TenguPhule

    “And he said, ‘You know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all, so when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you.”

    And worst of all, with the media’s own help, it worked.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    I call the NYT garbage so when they make up stories about Democrats, people will remember not to believe them.

  3. 3.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    “And he said, ‘You know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all, so when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you.”

    as I’m far from the first to observe: He never spoke that clearly or coherently. He may have spoken that second clause, never the first. Maybe “To discredit you”

  4. 4.

    TenguPhule

    Stay frosty!

    Its the start of summer. Our upwind neighbor has an active volcano dumping sulfur dioxide and ash into the air.

  5. 5.

    schrodingers_cat

    Not a Judy Woodruff fan, she is always drooling over R guests and asking tough questions of Ds (which I wouldn’t mind if she held Rs just as accountable).

  6. 6.

    TenguPhule

    Eventually his supporters are going to get tired of screaming “lugenpresse” at the penned in reporters at his rallies. Or telling them to get out of their country like the lovely gentleman below and will actually attack and most likely kill one of them. I certainly hope the news media has thought out how it is going to respond when that happens.

    News Producer: “My god, that’s brilliant! We have headlines and I don’t have to pay that overpriced idiot any more! Send in the next one, stat!”

  12. 12.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Baud: I saw that column when it came out. Barro has an unhealthy obsession with the Clintons in general and any woman who has any power in particular.

  19. 19.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @SiubhanDuinne: I think I may donate tonight

    Kornacki call KY-6 primary for McGrath. I will donate there, too.
    ETA: he says she lost Lexington to the former mayor, won rural Dems big, with turnout double what it was in the Dem presidential primary. Interesting

  20. 20.

    Schlemazel

    It would be nice to think this will be the final straw and the media will quit kissing the GOPs ass and finally just lay out the true criticism be damned. It would also be nice if Santa Clause would bring me a new, working, bladder so I could avoid surgery.

  23. 23.

    Davebo

    @Adam L Silverman: The guy never got past his summer interning for Grover Norquist.

    Yet, for reasons his education or work history don’t support, some people take him seriously.

  25. 25.

    Platonailedit

    When the msm stops kissing rethugs’ ass all the time, despite the 24×7 teeth kicking from the traitorous twit and starts questioning his stupid policies and thuggish tactics all the time, bw media hacks like stahl may get some of their credibility back.

  26. 26.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    McConnell-endorsed State House Leader loses primary to math teacher

    Daniel @ Taniel
    wow, in Kentucky: a high school teacher just defeated a prominent GOP lawmaker in the GOP primary (the state House Majority Floor Leader Jonathan Shell) in the context of big teacher protests against the state’s pension bill.

    Daniel (at)Taniel is a great follow for election nights, btw

  30. 30.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: I’m never sure how twitter links will post…

    TanielVerified account
    @Taniel
    Daniel Nichanian. Postdoc at the Univ. of Chicago in Political Theory by day (& night), tweeterer of all things political rest of time.

    ETA: ETA: here’s a link to his page

  32. 32.

    Peale

    @Davebo: I think a lot of never trumpers are coming home. Also, the influence peddlers realize that if what Cohen and Stone do to make extra money starts being prosecuted, they are dead in the water. Hence Penn’s Hill article yestderday. They can’t let this get out of hand.

  33. 33.

    Baud

    Pleased at the continued reports of high turnout. People’s nerves have been frayed lately.

  35. 35.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @Baud: Media elected Drumpf by endless bashing Clinton. Now they don’t want to take the blame. So like every abuser, they blame the victim: “look what you made me do!”

  36. 36.

    Baud

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Daniel

    @Taniel

    ·

    1h

    the DCCC marks Amy McGrath’s nomination in #KY06 by releasing an internal poll showing her up 15% against GOP Rep. Andy Barr. (Looks like a stretch, but I suppose national Dems want to show they’re serious about this Trump district.)

    The DCCC supported her opponent, so this is nice to see so quickly.

  39. 39.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Peale: Penn currently works for Republicans. His consultancy has done recent work for both Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney.

  40. 40.

    Peale

    @Platonailedit: yep. I think they spend time interviewing supposedly moderate Republicans off the record and think that those moderate republicans are the real heart of the GOP…just to timid to speak up. They love giving the impression that underneath all the public nastiness, there’s men with hearts who’d help DACA if they could. Or oppose these things they’ll vote for if they could. They’re carrying water for the GOP under Trump giving off the impression that what it says publicly isn’t true.

  41. 41.

    sdhays

    @Baud: I’ve read they favored her opponent because he’s a proven candidate, but they sat out the primary since she didn’t do anything to spook them like saying that she would rather have a root canal than live in Kentucky or something.

  42. 42.

    Brachiator

    “And he said, ‘You know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all, so when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you.”

    Trump protests too much. New York and New Jersey papers (and not just the NY Times) were amused by Trump. Maureen Dowd spoke about how early on she covered Trump for the society pages. She still seems smitten by him and never wrote anything too damaging.

    Trump always used them, manipulated them. They don’t seem to really understand how he has neutralized them.

  43. 43.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @sdhays:

    Teacher narrowly upsets Kentucky House GOP leader. A sign of things to come?
    Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/election/article211665879.html#storylink=cpy

    he’s a HS teacher involved in the recent protests about the KY state pension bill, and ran in the R primary

    Brenda said he had to thank God fiirst and then all his supporters. He said he not only got help from teachers but from state workers who were upset with the legislators and Gov. Matt Bevin “for what they did on the pension bill.

  44. 44.

    Baud

    @sdhays: I don’t know the details. The news is always hyping these establishment vs. insurgent contests into battle royales

  46. 46.

    Mnemosyne

    I was going to post video of a newborn baby goat gamboling around, and then I remembered that you people eat goats.

    Never mind.

  50. 50.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Peale:

  51. 51.

    Mary G

    @Baud: @sdhays: She is a great candidate – told at 12 she could not be a Navy fighter pilot and land on aircraft carriers, wrote her rep to complain, told to be a nurse, wrote Mitch McConnell – he ignored her. Made it to Naval Academy just as Bill Clinton said women could be fighter pilots after all. First female Marine to do it. Cute family, great voice, her mom is an MD who treats poor people, so she’s big on healthcare. I just started donating $5 a month – not much, but something. Why the DCCC didn’t back her is pure misogyny – Mother Jones story here.

    And she met with the highest-profile Democrat in the district—the popular, two-term mayor of Lexington, Jim Gray.

    “’You’re the man,’” McGrath recalled telling Gray when we met at her campaign office in April. “’You’re the Democrat in this area. Do you want this seat? Are you gonna run? ‘Cause if you are, I’ll do something else.’”

    When Gray, who had just come off an unsuccessful US Senate race, told her no, McGrath made it official.

    Then the DCCC twisted his arm and he ran anyway.

  52. 52.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @sdhays: trump and Connor Lamb both won by talking about defending Social Security. People want to know they, and their parents, will have a secure retirement. I think maybe the biggest gap between the Beltway (Entitlement Reform!) and real people is Social Security. George W Bush got his ass handed to him while he was still a “War President” when he tried to pass privatization, and that was IIRC during a bull market. It was the only issue (I think) Lamb mentioned in his very brief victory speech. I don’t remember hearing one pundit, even the liberals, point that out. It’s a truly bizarre blindspot among the political media.

  55. 55.

    sdhays

    @Baud: The writeup I read on TPM sounded like the DCCC was impressed with her campaign and that her message wasn’t “out of sync” with the district, so they didn’t really have a problem with her. Where the DCCC has gotten involved (from what I’ve read) has been that wacko race in Texas where that stupid lady is quoted as saying, essentially, “Texas is shit” and yet trying to be the Democratic nominee there and some places in California where the jungle primary is giving them heartburn.

    That Texas lady really pisses me off. I don’t give a shit how much I agree with her platform (or even her assessment of Texas), how dare you say that and then think you can be the Representative from there? I can’t begin to understand how Democrats in her district can even consider someone that arrogant when they seemingly have a shot at taking that district as long as they don’t have a throwaway nominee.

  57. 57.

    Baud

    @Mary G: I didn’t see the misogyny angle in the story. No matter now. We have a winner and I hope she carries the district.

  58. 58.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @MomSense: maybe the most surprising neverTrumper. I wonder if he thought he was gonna get a plum appointment?

  59. 59.

    Baud

    @sdhays: The media is really hyping her, but the media hyped Kucinich too so I don’t know if that means anything.

  61. 61.

    Mary G

    @Baud: No, but believe me I smelled it. I know a couple of women who are running locally who’ve had a lot of grief from the “experts” with “reasons,” including being addressed as “little lady,” so I am projecting. Some of the good old politicos even in CA are still uncomfortable with the surge in women candidates.

  63. 63.

    Tazj

    @Baud: The Democrat running for Congress against Chris Collins in my district just posted a picture on Twitter of the Clintons and the Trumps with the word FRIENDS across them. He also wrote “Break the machine, campaign finance reform now!”
    I guess he thinks he has to do this to win in this district, which is a majority Republican one, and he might be right. I’m not following him anymore.

  65. 65.

    sdhays

    @Mary G: Interesting. I hadn’t seen that before.

    The DCCC has a strong preference for people who have run before and demonstrated the ability to run a strong campaign. After all, apparently Gray won the district even as he was losing to Rand Paul. Sometimes, that preference bites them in the ass, but I suspect that other times it helps – we just don’t read about it since it’s a “dog-bites-man” story. This time, it seems, that we got an Obama-Clinton style outcome – the better candidate won and she’s better prepared for the general election.

    ETA: I don’t doubt that there’s a good-old boys network that was uncomfortable with her candidacy as well.

  67. 67.

    debbie

    @TenguPhule:

    I don’t think this has worked at all. Other than his diehard supporters, who is believing anything he says? Trump’s downfall (aside from actual criminal behavior) will be that he thinks his 30+% base will get him a second term.

  70. 70.

    NotMax

    Couple of things which caught the eye.

    #1 – Is pushback commencing at long last. Should the Senate vote in veto-proof numbers, would that be enough of an incentive to tip the House to do that same?

    Sen. Marco Rubio said Tuesday he would push for “veto-proof congressional action” to check the Trump administration’s reported deal to save Chinese telecommunications company ZTE.

    Hours later, the Senate Banking Committee separately approved an amendment proposed by Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., to limit President Donald Trump’s ability to remove sanctions on any Chinese telecommunications company. It passed through the panel easily by a 23 to 2 margin in a bipartisan rebuke to the administration’s possible plans. Source

    #2 – FYI, following up from an earlier comment.

    A federal court has canceled its inquiry into monitoring of attorney-client meetings at Guantánamo, and will instead permit a Pentagon review panel to tackle underlying issues that have paralyzed the USS Cole war crimes case.
    [snip]
    Now, the U.S. Court of Military Commissions Review can ask fundamental questions framed by the case judge, Air Force Col. Vance Spath. He wants the Pentagon review panel to decide his authority to send U.S. Marshals to seize U.S. citizens who refuse to appear before the court; to punish U.S. military members with contempt of court, rather than refer the question to a court-martial; and to overrule the chief defense counsel on a decision to release case attorneys of record.

    Under the CMCR’s briefing timetable, those questions could be resolved this summer, and pretrial hearings in the USS Cole case could resume — unless the civilian appellate panel once again finds cause to intervene. The appeals panel has set a May 29 deadline for court filings on the questions but has yet to schedule oral arguments.

    War court watcher Stephen Vladeck, a University of Texas Law professor, said Tuesday that perhaps the Justice Department or prosecutors “were afraid of a deep dive from that [civilian] panel at this point.”

    The Trump administration is not the first to reverse course to avoid a higher court review of fundamental questions that still linger over U.S. military detention authority in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Source

  71. 71.

    sdhays

    @schrodingers_cat: I had the misfortune of listening to Jim Jordan (I think) walk all over her, spouting all kinds of nonsense on my drive home today. He would just talk and talk and talk, saying lies about the FBI (the FBI “fired” Christopher Steel, numerous lies about the FBI’s submission to the FISA Court, etc.) and she would just move on to her next question.

  72. 72.

    Brachiator

    @Mary G:

    Some of the good old politicos even in CA are still uncomfortable with the surge in women candidates.

    Interesting observation, especially since there have obviously been a good number of successful women candidates here.

    It would be a wasted opportunity if the old politicos can’t be of better service to this new breed of candidates.

    ETA. I’ve seen a couple of political tv ads for Gavin Newsom, who is running for governor and leads in the polls. They seem to be a waste of money. They don’t really sell Newsom or make him stand out from other Democrats. But I bet some political strategist got a fat paycheck.

  73. 73.

    NotMax

    @jk

    Stay tepid.

    Chilly enough here (relatively speaking) that all the windows ar4e closed in order to keep heat inside.

  75. 75.

    Nelle

    My daughter is not quite earning a living down in Arizona as a freelance journalist and often strings for the NYTimes. It is rare that she has a byline, usually just a mention as a contributor while folks in NY write the article itself. She covered every Trump rally in Phoenix (as well as Clinton, Pence, and Kaine). She was in those pens and was screamed and cursed at. She’s still taking occasional assignments, but is turning her attention to writing a book (big transition). And not about the campaign. (She’s writing about those who go missing trying to cross the border.)

  78. 78.

    tobie

    @sdhays: @Baud: With 34% of the vote in, Lizzie Fletcher is trouncing Laura Moser (the Our Revolution candidate) in TX-07. It’s a pity the Dem primary had to go to a runoff given the cost of the additional campaign but hopefully people will be energized come November. The DCCC was likely right that Fletcher is a good fit for the district.

  79. 79.

    Mnemosyne

    @Brachiator:

    I’ve seen lots of ads where Newsom attacks Chiang and Villaraigosa, far more than any actual pro-Newsom ads. Just makes me more determined to vote for Chiang in the primary.

  83. 83.

    sdhays

    Did anyone see Colbert’s interview with Dean Baquet last night? Colbert asked him about the NYT headline before the election, “Investigating Donald Trump, F.B.I. Sees No Clear Link to Russia”, pointing out that the story didn’t really support the finality that the headline suggested, and the jackass went on to defend that headline, saying that “they thought they knew more at the time than they actually did”. WTF?? They thought they knew more than they put in the text of the story? What did they think they knew that didn’t warrant actually typing up? And then he had the gall to say that their subsequent reporting contradicted their own story and that they weren’t “cowardly” about pretending it didn’t exist. I guess we should thank Dean for not pulling the story from nytimes.com when it turned out to be horseshit and pretending it didn’t exist? Is that really the bar that he thinks he should have?

    The way he talks about the “invigoration” of journalism as it’s facing a potential existential crisis that it’s evidently not prepared for made me want to vomit. He’s not the only person to talk like this, but the way he talked about it – almost thanking Trump – instead of attempting a bit of self-reflection was irritating. Colbert was really, really nice to him, but that guy has his head so far up his ass…

  88. 88.

    sdhays

    @Omnes Omnibus: It’s supposed to be music – it’s my classical radio station, but for one hour in the evening on weekdays they feel their listeners should be subjected to more news than the normal 5 minutes from NPR at the top of the hour. But you’re right, it is my fault – I should have gone home earlier and thus missed it.

  89. 89.

    Peale

    @debbie: yeah. Our coalition though…ugh…some pretty weak voters. Those 5 million or so so voted for Obama, but who never came back to the polls. Could someone please find them? Soon? Suburban white women…could you please stay home if you’re planning to vote for a Trump supporting bigot? Come on, millenials…I hear you breathing. We’ve been waiting. And any day now, would the Hispanic American citizens pleeeze get pissed off enough to register to vote and come out in a wave?

  90. 90.

    Mary G

    @sdhays: That asshole has already admitted to Eric Wemple at WaPo both that they buried the lede on that story and that the headline was “off.” Ugh, I hate him and many of his political reporters. Nick Confessore has been on Twitter saying Hillary’s use of a private server was exactly the same as Trump’s use of unsecure phones.

  91. 91.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @sdhays: I refuse to listen to any news – even the five minute things in my car. If people start talking, I move to the CD changer or the IPod connection – old car. I just won’t do it. My car is a sanctuary.

  92. 92.

    sdhays

    @Mary G: Ok. If it’s “exactly the same”, then I want no less than 10 multi-year Congressional investigations into his use of unsecured cellphones, with news media talking about it breathlessly at least every week, even when there’s no new news.

    It IS “exactly the same”, right???

  96. 96.

    sdhays

    @Omnes Omnibus: Understandable. I will say, though, that some of the reporting on the Snooze Hour is good. It’s the expert panels and the interviews with Republicans that are aggravating. I’ve caught some of their reporting on Yemen recently and other in depth stories and it’s quality work. But I definitely understand not wanting to hear it while in the car.

  102. 102.

    rekoob

    @sdhays:

    For those not in greater DC, it’s worth noting that WETA-FM/WGMS-FM, which is the primary classical music station in town, broadcasts WETA-TV’s “PBS Newshour” from 7p to 8p Eastern every weekday evening. Usually, it’s not a soporific as I head south to Richmond…

  105. 105.

    Amir Khalid

    @MomSense:
    I have to ask, which Joe Walsh? The one who used to play in the James Gang and the Eagles and is Ringo Starr’s BIL is pretty cool.

  106. 106.

    Beergoggles

    This is the same media that wouldn’t stop covering emails and empty podiums. If only everyone else trusted them less…

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