One of Trump’s few talents: media manipulation
The White House hype machine ran hot over the weekend.
This past weekend was a festival of Trump playing the fiddle and many in the mainstream media dancing to it.
One of Trump’s few talents is media manipulation. He knows the value of being the first to frame a news development. He knows that many in the media feel obligated to act like the president is telling the truth, even when the president is the most notorious liar of our time. And he knows how to change the subject.
On Saturday morning, Trump broke news by announcing on his Truth Social platform: “After a long night of talks mediated by the United States, I am pleased to announce that India and Pakistan have agreed to a FULL AND IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE.” The ceasefire agreement was real, as India and Pakistan quickly confirmed. However, Trump’s casting of the U.S. as the star player seemed a bit off. Pakistan said “three dozen countries” were involved in the diplomacy, among them Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. According to India, the ceasefire with Pakistan “was worked out directly between the two countries.”
In any case, the news was the ceasefire – not Trump. Yet Trump’s initial framing kept him front and center with many news outlets. Long after both warring sides confirmed the ceasefire and it was no longer necessary to attribute facts to Trump, the New York Times led its coverage this way:
I have no explanation for why the NYT feels a need to stick Trump's name into headlines when it’s not warranted. Maybe the Times thinks “Trump” is to news what MSG is to restaurant food – a flavor enhancer. Sticking “Trump” into headlines may boost story clicks, but it also boosted the White House’s efforts to claim peacemaking credit for Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and even Vice President JD Vance, who said two days earlier that the India-Pakistan conflict was “fundamentally none of our business.”
On Sunday, Trump had to deal with less positive news: his plan to accept a $400 million Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the Qatari royal family that he could use as Air Force One and that would later be donated to the Trump presidential library foundation, presumably for his post-presidential use.
The gift seems to violate the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause in a way that’s even more brazen than his previous schemes to cash in on the presidency. Yet the jetliner gift got clearance from Attorney General Pam Bondi, who failed to recuse herself on the issue despite previously earning $115,000 a month lobbying for Qatar.
Not all news outlets focused sufficiently on the impropriety. For example, NBC spent 34 words in a headline and subhead without giving any hint of the corrupt nature of the plan:
Even so, the Qatar jetliner story caught fire on Sunday, with a wave of criticism on social media, and the Trump regime took steps to change the subject. Trump rolled out an unrelated initiative with a hokey marketing tactic, issuing an announcement of an announcement of an announcement.
It started with this post on Truth Social: “My next TRUTH will be one of the most important and impactful I have ever issued. ENJOY!”
After creating the suspense, Trump made another post saying he planned to issue an executive order Monday that will mean “Prescription Drug and Pharmaceutical prices will be REDUCED, almost immediately, by 30% to 80%.” We know how worthless Trump’s claims are, but the Associated Press wrote a story headlined, “Trump promises to order that the US pay only the price other nations do for some drugs.”
Never mind the strong doubts about whether anything will come of the idea, considering the power of Big Pharma. By offering broad strokes Sunday on social media and holding a news conference Monday, Trump got two bites of the apple. And as the press got its first opportunity to ask him about the Qatari luxury jet, Trump made sure the main spotlight was on cheaper drugs for everyday Americans.
Sometimes the sneak peek approach is counterproductive, though. On Sunday, the White House issued a statement headlined, “U.S. Announces China Trade Deal in Geneva,” with no details. To many news outlets, it seemed to come from the same bag of hype as when Trump posted last week about a “full and comprehensive” trade deal with the United Kingdom but later revealed only a framework for an agreement.
Most media outlets avoided going big with the “China trade deal” and emphasized Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s more measured claim of “substantial progress.” Turns out, the U.S. and China had made a significant agreement to temporarily reduce their tariffs while they keep talking, as was announced Monday. So the Trump regime’s ever-dwindling credibility had a cost, at least with some news outlets. But to a large extent, Trump still gets to shape his own coverage.
I haven’t studied whether Trump’s media manipulation is worse during weekends, but I have my suspicions. This is not a slam against the savvy of weekend news crews. As someone who worked weekends for long stretches of my daily newspaper career, I understand the challenges. The experts on your staff aren’t always available. You have to do the best you can, sometimes with little consultation.
I think weekend reporters and editors are aware of what Trump is doing, but they may be less willing – and less authorized – to be interpretive. What’s the safest course? Report what people say. Let the fact-checking come later.
And that’s the way Trump likes it.
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"I have no explanation for why the NYT feels a need to stick Trump's name into headlines when it’s not warranted."
This is exactly right. Covering Trump when it's warranted is legitimate. Treating whatever comes out of his mouth as newsworthy and factual is not. Thank you, Mark Jacobs, for continuing to shine a light on the media's unnecessary and, frankly, problematic elevation of Trump.
One of the many exasperating issues with Trump is that after a decade of his deceptions, so many voters and media outlets won't wise up to his act. Remember "This is infrastructure week," or "We have a concept of a (health) plan." Early in his first term, he announced a deal that would require China to buy $2 billion worth of U.S. goods. The final amount was zero. So here we go again, media that should know better heralding his so-called deals with the disclaimers buried in the stories. Would these reporters and editors stay at a street hustler's stand and keep throwing away their money all day without realizing they're being had?