Re: Will Donald Trump Destroy the Presidency? (Part 1 of 2)
[...]...the famous 'anonymous sources' (so unsubstantiated in reality, rumor mongering) this is not factual reporting of political news, [...] They've destroyed their own credibility in this process, self inflicted damage.
I don't share your sentiment. But, on the other hand, I don't automatically assume a narrative is correct, either, without checking on different sources, viewpoints, and so forth.
Now then,
Whenever a journalist does not reveal a source, it's because the source has requested anonymity, and they have an
obligation to respect it, for if they did not, sources would dry up.
Most journalists on WaPo, NYT, MSNBC, etc, use the 3 source rule. They can still get it wrong, but this idea it's "fake news", is fake propaganda promulgated by Trump, and you're playing into his game plan, if that's where your sentiment comes from. If that's not where your sentiment comes from, well, it has, for many.
Moreover, most of the "news" is not news, it's pundits giving their opinions, and so you cannot conflate the two.
If you watch CBS, NBC, ABC, you'll see a lot less of it than you would on CNN, MSNBC, Fox, etc.
I understand that when pundit gives an opinion, it's goes through his or her personal POV filter, so I watch a lot of shows, to get different takes on the same story, and form my own opinion. I'm always open to new facts I may have overlooked, if it is, indeed, a fact, which counters the narrative I'm accepting.
I also get opinions, for example,. on the Middle East by talking directly to officers and enlisted personnel who have been to the middle east, as I encounter them in my work, and I live in a town that have 9 military bases.
Trump has done many things, said many things, which, in my view, warrant contempt, and if the press at large, share that contempt, I'm okay with it. But there are fair minded conservatives who share that sentiment, as well. Its not a complete left thing. Shep Smith, of Fox, is a straight shooter on that channel, so I'll listen to him, and I'll listen to Scarborough, Schmidt, Wallace, Will, to get the conservative viewpoint. Most of the crazies on Fox are alt-right guys, and they are just not credible, given their propensity to promote debunked conspiracy theories, Hannity in particular. If there were ever an enemy of the people, he fits the bill.
I know he loves to troll the left, does it just about every day. I do see, however, how Putin would do it to America. In fact, Putin is gaslighting America, I'm sure of it, in Trump!
Yes, Trump trolls the left, all the time. Sometimes deserved, and sometimes not and probably more than he should (as it too is a source of divisiveness in the electorate), but Trump isn't Putin's Manchurian candidate, any more so than Obama was Soro's.
Well, how many times have I heard a right winger accuse Soros from being responsible for everything on the left? Not from the sensible, but from the right wingnuts, as I like to call them. You don't seem to be in that category.
The reality of recent campaigns and Russian connections is that both the right and the left, the Trump campaign and the Hillary campaign had connections to Russians. Not only as campaigns, but prior to the presidential campaigns as well. It seems that Russian connections reportage is distinctly one sided.
Let's make a distinction here. It's not illegal to contact Russia. It would be, if the purpose was to aid Russia in it's espionage and active measures. There is no evidence of that with Hillary. For Trump, there is only probable cause for a Special Counsel investigation, so we have to wait until Mueller is finished, to find out what the facts are.
Fabian. A new term to me. Looked it up. What I found was:
So I am unsure how you are applying this with a fascism modifier.
From wiki
The Fabian Society is a British socialist organization whose purpose is to advance the principles of democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow.
The term "Fabian" is usually associated with creeping socialism. I've just borrowed it for fascism.
I'm not seeing how this is applied to Trump. While, yes, there are some Trump supporters who foolishly claim that Trump can do no wrong (this is the same foolishness which made this same claim about every previous president as well), this is ridiculous as every human is a flawed human with their own strengths and weaknesses that they bring to every situation.
There numerous examples of Trump exhibiting alarming authoritarian impulses, more than any president in my 67 years of observing presidents. Therefore, fear of creeping fascism, which I call "fabian fascism", is, therefore, not unwarranted, because it's more than a flaw, it's cause for concern.