It is not about how many people showed up at the Trump Inauguration | Eastern North Carolina Now

   I almost named this post Dueling Pictures, but I am trying not to wear out 'the Dueling theme.'(too late?) It is the one and only original Idea I have had in the last few years. I also said I was going to scale back on the political post now that the election is over but I learned long ago not to make resolutions. I prefer to call them Self-Induced-Suggestions. That way you can't accuse me of lying.

    Most of the news media is obsessing over the Tweets and Sean Spicer, the White House press Secretary's assertion that more people saw the Inauguration than ever before. The argument is a tempest in a teapot based on pictures and ad hoc observations vs Spicer's assertion using numbers of online views, TV viewer and cable viewers. This could be the newest definition on what the meaning of VIEWERS vs ATTENDING. I am not sure if you should count replays in the total number but I think you get my point on how ludicrous this is.

    If anyone thinks that this was an over reach by the Trump administration as does most of the media, they have not been paying attention. The argument is not winnable on either side due to lack of credible evidence and head count. It is just a opportunity to chide the media into watching what they say and print. Where is Jack Webb when you need him?

    The main point is that the Trump administration is laying down the gauntlet to the press. "If you make assertions that are not factual we will hold you accountable." By using bombastic over the top superlatives he is mimicking the News Media's tease lines against them. People will believe whatever their current bias is on the numbers, but what is new is an administration that is willing to challenge the press on the bias. We all have a built in fact checker even if it is flawed and inaccurate. This FAKE NEWS thing is a two way street.

    Bias is in the eye of the beholder, so it is without a doubt that the media is biased. To which direction they are biased is a cottage industry within itself. There are many polling companies that make their profit by estimating and asking questions and then offering their analysis. Trump is apparently not a believer in too many polls. He has a gut feel on what works with the public and what does not.

    Just as the media tries to drum up excitement over any given subject, Donald Trump does the same with his tweets. What really seems to gall the media is he willingness to say almost anything and require them to report and run fact check on it. That gives his points more exposure and reinforces his base of people who operate on limited knowledge.

    Both the left and right use this technique but the Liberals have advanced it to an art form. Their overuse of Race, Gender, Sexual Preference and Rich bashing is used for no other reason than to excite their base. Trump did not steal their technique but I suspect he has read Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals."

    While we wring our hands and wonder what are we going to do with this big stallion who refuses to go quietly into his stall, he is making policy and asserting his vision on the government. It just may be that he is actually capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time. What a unique concept in Washington DC.

    There will come a point when he will need the congress to pass legislation and perhaps even a far-fetched time when he will need the press to spread his message. Bur for now he has Twitter, Facebook and may even have a YouTube page for the dissemination of his policies.

    He is simply challenging the "ACCREDITED MEDIA" to report facts or their version of the facts. One of the things I learned from Harper Lee's book To Kill a Mockingbird is a technique that I use with both the media and Donald Trump.

    Journalism is in a sad state of affairs as alluded to in a recent article on BCN. James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal

    One of the other techniques I try to follow is to keep a focus on the facts by ignoring Psychological misdirection. Below is an excerpt about that to illustrates the technique as described by Penn Jillette 1/2 of the magician and comedy team Penn and Teller.

    Physical misdirection is a well-known tool for the magician: he points at an object, a big gesture distracts, spectators fixate on a suddenly appearing dove. All are designed to distract from another movement that is vital for the trick.

    Psychological misdirection is much more subtle - a good example is the false solution. This is where the magician leads spectators to believe they've worked out how the trick is done. Once this 'solution' is suggested people are much less likely to notice the clues that crop up as to how it's really done. Instead people look for confirmation that their own theory is correct. When the magician finally shows this 'solution' is no such thing, spectators are left even more bemused. The false solution is, therefore, not just a happy coincidence, it is used as a distraction from the real solution. The Psychology of Magic

  I knew I was getting close to the truth when I saw Rachael Maddow on MSNBC state this during her show. Regardless of how you feel about her opinion, she is a smart analyst and user of the techniques of misdirection.

    It is entirely possible that he is thin skinned and narcissistic but I don't think I have ever seen a politician on the national stage who was not. In past years, they have followed the admonition about "Not getting into an argument with someone who buys Ink by the Barrel." Well, pardner, times have changed and there is a new gunslinger in town and he has no problem with a shootout at the OK Corral, the street, the alley or anywhere you want to have that fight.

    I admit that I did not get his Carnival Barker style and I am still somewhat concerned about him over reaching his authority as Chief Executive and his core philosophy on how much the Federal government need to be involved in everyday life of its citizens. I tried to explain it to myself in several post here on BCN:

   Why Donald Trump Attracts so Much Attention

    Are Politics and Physics really that much different?

    The current battle is not about facts and truth it is about power politics. Maybe we should all buy and read or re-read "The Art of The Deal" by Donald Trump. The funny thing about that is that could be the ultimate conflict of interest (from the Liberal View) to buy a book that will benefit a Sitting President. Most of them have the decency to wait until they get out of office before they get that big juicy book deal. Almost all candidates have published a book before or while running for office. That is a standard way to assert their identity in the public mind. However, I think that Donald Trump is the first to write the book Twenty-Eight years before he ran for office. (2016-1988=28). Of course those of us who did read the book in 1988 should have picked up on his thought process.

    "I like thinking big. I always have. To me it's very simple: If you're going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big."-Donald J. Trump
The Art of the Deal on Amazon

   Did I use enough quotes in this article?

ITS GOING TO BE A REALLY BIG SHOW

(42761)