The Media Will Be Trump's Enemy as Long as He's President

[David Morris]

http://prospect.org/article/media-will-be-trumps-enemy-long-hes-president

Trump got to the White House on a campaign that presented itself as an
assault on entrenched power, both economic and political. He would storm
the castle on behalf of ordinary people, then throw out those whose boots
had been on the little guy's neck for so long.

But here's the problem: Once you've become the most powerful person in the
country (not to mention the world), shaking your fist at the powerful
becomes rather awkward. You can't decry "Washington" when you run
Washington.

So Trump needs an enemy to use as a foil, [and]  the press is the natural
choice, because he's already been railing against it, it has obvious power,
it's going to be critical of him (or at least critical enough that he'll
have something to point at), and it can be cast as part of the elite
without any suggestion that, like the economic elite, it's actually in
cahoots with him.

But this is a fight that Trump can't win over the long run, even if he's
being cheered on by his supporters. The media has an even bigger megaphone
than him—indeed, they are the megaphone—so they'll always be able to push
back, even if they don't always do it as skillfully or thoughtfully as they
should. But more importantly, when Trump rides into battle against the
media, he's not doing it on anyone's behalf but his own. He can't say, "I'm
attacking the media in order to help you, the people"—or maybe he can say
it, but it won't be very convincing. It's a pure expression of his
narcissistic self-absorption.

But we're going to get a lot of that in the days to come. And since Trump
would satisfied with nothing less than an American version of Pravda spread
out over the entire news media, he'll never be pleased, and he'll never
stop fighting those who report on him.
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