REICH COMMUNICATIONS

A PR Rookie Mistake

 

The new White House communications director has let himself get caught up in a mistake only a PR rookie might make.  He spoke to a reporter and never confirmed whether the conversation was on or off the record. 

So of course, with no off the record restrictions placed on him, the reporter quoted the new comms guy as he blasted his fellow White House execs and cursed like a sailor in a very disgusting and undignified way.

Had Scaramucci been working in the corporate world, his actions would have gotten him reprimanded or possibly fired.  But the Chief Executive where he now works didn't say a word.  By remaining silent, the president condoned both the disparagement of fellow White House staffers and the use of language unbefitting someone representing him and the American people.

Of course,this came in a week where the president himself embarrassed his office  and those he represents with totally inappropriate and off-color remarks to a group of 12-year olds at the Boy Scout Jamboree, followed by offensive remarks to police officers that drew the rebuke of police chiefs nationwide.  For the first time ever, the head of the Boy Scouts felt compelled to issue a public statement apologizing for remarks given by a U.S. president at its biggest youth gathering.

It will be interesting to see if the new communications director can get the president to stay on message and avoid embarrassing himself. Also, will "the Mooch" be able to tone  down his own language and has he has learned not to make the rookie mistake of spouting off to a reporter without a promise of off-the-record confidentiality? 

My bet is "no" on all counts.

 

 

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Talking to a reporter on sensitive internal subjects without avrrporyersbassuranebth, followed by stnutbus off the tevord

Disgusting

 

The president and his associates seem to have no bounds when it comes to decency and moral limits.

“Disgusting” is the only word that can be used by his turning an appearance at the Boy Scouts Jamboree into a political rally where he started with profanities in front of 12-year olds, before rehashing his election results and then telling impressionable youth the blatant lie that the media report fake news.

He boasted how large a crowd had gathered to see him.  Actually, the scouts had no choice – they came to see him as a featured speaker as part of the day’s Jamboree events.  When I was a Scout, I went to the Jamboree in Colorado Springs, where we all gathered to hear a few words of greeting and inspiration from then President Eisenhower.  He didn’t talk politics.  He didn’t use the platform as a chance to advance a political agenda or attack his political adversaries.  He encouraged us to work hard, honor the Scout Law and be good citizens.  

Ironically, Trump quoted a few of sections of the Scout Law, which begins with “A Scout is trustworthy, loyal….”   Unfortunately, I think many scouts’ parents would not use those two words to describe the current president.

The lack of class, which seems to start at the top in the White House, extends to others in the administration.  The new guy, communications director Scaramucci, started with a classless bang by publicly calling out his underling, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, for her looks, saying in an interview that he’s having her meet with a hair and make-up consultant.  No problem with doing that, but what purpose is served by publicly commenting negatively on her physical appearance?  I suppose we should not be surprised by more inappropriate sexism in the White House.

Just more disgusting words and actions coming from the White House, which is becoming swampier day by day, tweet by tweet.

Good luck to an American hero ...

Where does "fake" news come from?

 

I think a lot of us are getting tired of hearing about fake news.  The president calls anything he doesn't like "fake news."  Russian President Putin denies his nation has had a hand in creating and disseminating fake news to influence voters here and our president takes him at his word.

Fake news continues to exist and it continues to shape opinions, mainly of hard-core conservatives who rely on and believe what they see on FOX and Breitbart and similar sites, as well as powerful conservative talk radio programs.

It is a very sad commentary on the current state of the administration that many of us doubt what we hear from the president and the White House.  With slightly differing stories of the meeting between the president and Putin, I must admit, crazy as it seems, that I tend to put a bit more credibility in Putin's account of the meeting than in what our own Secretary of State reported.  I heard similar admissions from some news commentators as well.

I recently saw a few accounts of how fake news stories began and how they spread.  I think it bears repeating.  This is from a source that is definitely NOT fake news.. The New York Times.

Jack Posobiec is someone known for pro-Trump tweets and spreading dubious conspiracy theories including the crazy “pizzagate” hoax that claimed Hillary Clinton was at the heart of a kidnapping and sexual slavery ring operating out of a pizza parlor in D.C.

After the Comey hearings where the former FBI director testified, Posobiec tweeted that Comey had testified that Trump never asked him to halt any investigation.  In fact, that is not true.  Comey did not say that. 

But truth seems to matter little to Posobiec nor to the many other widely-followed right-wing media and social media, who reported the tweet as fact and even expanded the falsehood.  This included, within a few hours of the initial false tweet, Brietbart News, followed by GotNews.com, a site that has frequently misrepresented media reports to put the president in a favorable light.  A day later, the false news appeared on InfoWars, the site by Alex Jones who has called the 9/11 attacks “an inside job” and also questioned whether the 2012 attack that killed dozens of children at Sandy Hook in Connecticut really happened.   

It eventually made it into commentary, repeated a few times, by Sean Hannity on FOX News.

For those who rely solely on conservative media, they have no way of knowing that the fake news is fake.  And the repeated attacks by the White House on legitimate media like the networks and credible papers like The Times and The Washington Post encourage these folks from reading or believing reports that counter or correct intentionally false news reports.

So yes, there still is fake news… lots of it.  But it’s not coming from the major media who work hard to uphold standards of good and honest journalism.  It’s coming from unscrupulous sources who bend and twist and outright lie about news to further their own agenda.  Repeat it enough, it seems, with encouragement from a president whose own credibility is dubious at best, and you can see how so many people can be misinformed and misled.    

The legitimate media allowed much of this to happen during the campaign when they didn’t question the Republican candidate as he continuously lied and contradicted himself.  Now that he is president, they are doing their job – asking questions and pointing out contradictions and lies.  And now, for doing their job, the president of this country is calling them fake.

We, as intelligent people, need to look at what is really fake and what’s not.  Before it’s too late.

Happy 4th ... Still Great!

 

As we celebrate the Fourth of July, it's important to remember that our great nation does not need to be made "great again."  It is great, although we should always strive to make it greater still. 

 

It seems the minority who would make it "great again" would like to take us back 50 - 60 years when, for some, things were great, but for many others among us, not so great.  Think of the advances we've made in racial, religious and civil liberties.  Think of the various programs that help the less fortunate among us survive.  Think of laws and policies that help protect us and our environment from selfish or unscrupulous businesses and business interests.  Think of the many freedoms we have that should never be taken for granted.

 

So this July 4th, we should reject policies and rhetoric that would divide us and make us less great.  Instead, we should celebrate all that we have that already makes us great.

 

Happy birthday America.