Katy Tur was encouraged to recount her adventures on the Trump campaign and the result was "Unbelievable." The voters knew everything they needed to know to make a better choice, but many just didn't care. Katy Tur didn't set out to be Trump's shadow, but circumstances conspired against her.The story alternates between election day and various significant events. during the campaign There is a lot about Trump much of which you have already been told, but may have forgotten because there was so much unbelievable. A reporter in this campaign, Katy found herself in a very unique position. Never before has a candidate spent so much time insulting and intimidating. Trump for all his faults used members of the press for his own purposes. Despite his public hostility towards Katy he consented for interviews.
From my position insulated from the actual campaign, Katy reinforced many of my prejudices. Trump lies and lies and lies some more. He sometimes puts it that he engages in harmless hyperbole and that offends my educated snobbery. He insults. He doesn't really approach discussing issues, but seems to know what his followers expect.
Katy recounts how Trump intruded into politics with his birther claims. Most of us acknowledge that underneath it all was racism. Talking to some of his followers without admitting to it confirmed the link. Lyndon Johnson once said "If you can convince the lowest of white men he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket." Hitting out at established prejudices such as the Chinese don't play fair, Iran is playing Americans for suckers, Mexicans are stealing jobs and bringing in drugs, etc. his base didn't care about his shortcomings.
Katy pointed out that Trump for all his bombast only made one change to the Republican platform. That was to strike out plans to arm the Ukrainians. We are still learning more about the links from the Russians to Trump.
Just before one of the presidential debates NBC discovered the infamous Hollywood Access tapes. Katy was the one who notified the Trump campaign that they had the tapes and would be publicly releasing them. This seemed like a stunner, but not for long as Trump managed to round up a few Clinton accusers and brought them to the debate. One of them was a woman that Hilary Clinton had defended her accused in a rape case in Arkansas. The issue was soon neutralized with lots of voters offering their support. It did spur some other women to publicly accuse Trump of sexual assault, but again he weathered that storm.
For anyone who took a good look at Donald Trump there was enough evidence that he was totally unqualified to be president. It was easy to spot, but enough people loved his antics and with a few fortuitous events he pulled it off. One of the fortuitous events was the Electoral College, heavily influenced by slave owners meant that he won despite getting almost 3 million less votes than Hilary. James Comey, soon to be fired actually helped nail the coffin. Who fully understands what the Russians (and other outsiders) were up to, but they didn't want Hilary to win and had tools to diminish her chances.
There was a personal toll on reporters. Katy, at the beginning had a happy relationship with a French man while she worked at an enjoyable job in London. At the end she was planning a marriage to a fellow traveler on the campaign trail and moved back to New York.
Two links to other Donald Trump blogs: http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2017/07/trump-enablers.html
http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2017/02/trump-and-media-or-media-and-us.html
No comments:
Post a Comment