This OP is your 666th post on usmb.
I think that the real issue here is that Trump supporters have been brainwashed into think that Trump is a paragon who can do no wrong. Anything that goes against Trump or shows him in a negative light is "fake", the "opposition", or the "problem."
This news story is old. Trump has been blasting from the hip with verifiably false information from day one. There is no way to change the mind of the zealots who follow him because anything that doesn't agree with their worldview...is wrong...or backed by George Soros...or whatever other reason somebody's twitter or blog comes up with that is accessible by Googling it.
The sad issue is that I don't think that there is a real good answer on how to educate his followers as their hive mind has reached a religious zeal that ignores all counterpoints. We have a hard journey ahead of us, and we don't have a hope of being the "United" States of America for a long, long time.
Let's be clear about that 'Trump supporters' think.
'Trump supporters' think that the president takes great delight in tweaking the tail of the press. 'Trump supporters' think that not being accurate about minutiae such as electoral college separations isn't worth 2 grams of ink, much less a 2 minute rant on national tv. Every time the liberal press screams and yells about some little piece of nothing, we giggle just a little. It's incredible how easily he makes you sit up and beg like little puppies. We watch the press intentionally misrepresent, misinterpret, or fabricate stuff in order to try to stir up a base so hungry for attention that they just bark and yap, and then roll over and wait for somebody to scratch their belly.
If, and when, the press catches Trump in a "lie" of consequence, then, we'll be concerned. Until then, we find the liberal overreaction of minor little issues to be both sophomoric AND humorous.
Just to point out your logical fallacy here, you accuse the press of "intentionally misrepresent, misinterpret, or fabricate stuff in order to try to stir up a base"...and you seem to have great issue with this. I, for one, agree that it is a problem and also have great issue with it.
So, the question remains, when Trump intentionally misrepresents, misinterprets, or fabricates stuff in order to stir up his base...why do you not have a similar issue?
There is a significant difference between intentionally trying to mislead the American people (the press) and throw-away comments about things of no import. As Trump himself said ... "somebody told me that". He obviously didn't care enough to check it out, he obviously didn't have a legion of puppy reporters validating it ... it was insignificant. He did not waste our tax money making sure it was true ---- because it WASN'T important. The press attaches significantly more import to the statement, than Trump did. It was an off-hand remark of no great value --- who the hell cares?
An example ---- if I asked you what mileage your new Jaguar (you do have one, right?) gets, you would tell me "... 19 mpg." Should I hold you up to national castigation because your Jaguar ACTUALLY gets 18.887 mpg? Should I insist that all business deals you make get greater scrutiny because you obviously aren't a person to be trusted? Should i yell from the roof tops that you are a person of low character and can't be trusted?
You assign him a malevolent intent that simply doesn't exist ... the press has malevolent intent in all it does. The press is NOT interested in giving us the NEWS. They are only interested in giving us their OPINION. I got a journalism degree from the University of Wisconsin (back when newspapers were still chiseled in stone). Our greatest sin was allowing our opinion to influence the words we selected. A well written assignment would be downgraded if our personal view was allowed to creep in.
Today, there is no such thing as a straight news piece - EVERY report is couched in a political philosophy. Take the time to compare
www.cnn.com and
www.foxnews.com .... see which stories are posted, and more importantly, which are not. Both are trying to further a particular political philosophy.
When Trump says he has the "largest electoral victory in history ... " (or whatever the hell he said), the American people say to themselves, "that's nice, but who cares?" It is of no significance.
When the press says Trump lies, or Flynn sold secrets to the Russians, people hear it and form opinions. When it comes out, finally, that it wasn't true, it was simply the press trying to generate headlines thru 1) exaggeration, and 2) publishing "fake news" for its sensationalism (a nice pseudonym for 'stuff that wasn't verified before publishing because we were too damn lazy and we saw that it furthered our political goals, so we didn't look a gift horse in the mouth").
So, in answer to your question, I do not see the parallels you profess, because the damage done is so titled to one side.
