The press and the new administration (Page 4)

I think everyone has a mental checklist of their priorities on the political spectrum.  The two things you mentioned fall pretty far down that list for me.  I think the death penalty is usually a waste of court resources, but if some states want it that's fine by me.

But people look at all kinds of things.  Environment.  Guns.  Big Business.  Taxes.  Whatever.

I think Trump carried his win via his foreign policy views on immigration and protecting American workers.

I'd say Trump carried a large group of people for a lot of different reasons.  For example my number one issue is corruption, and fiscal conservatism and he espoused both of those.  Obviously there are many people like me.  I also agree that many liked him for his foreign policy views and immigration.

I felt Obama did a masterful job in 2008 of appealing to the masses.  He was also a populist candidate with a populist message to help everyone with his Hope and Change.  He had a lot of support from a lot of different people for different reasons because he touched on their "big issue".

As much as I disliked Obama's policies I felt and still feel he was a brilliant campaigner.  Trump tapped into the Obama book of politics and used it, and I'm quite shocked the DNC as a hole just threw the book away and went back to old school campaigning. 

Trump just announced he wants to "close up the internet" 

wtf

Did someone let him know that Twitter is on the internet?

http://billdownscbs.blogspot.com/2017/01/fascist-italy-and-nazi-germany-target.html

Stacers - question for you.  Where is the media coverage of the pro-life march going on right now in DC?  How come it doesn't get the massive coverage that the women's march got?  Is someone blocking the coverage?  Is President Trump blocking the media from reporting on it?  I've searched all over and can barely find a mention of it compared to the women's rights march.  Why?

Disclaimer - I happen to be pro-choice.  I'm just wondering how you justify the coverage based on your opinion that President Trump is the cause of media "blackouts".

I've seen a lot of coverage of it this morning, with major headlines on most news outlets and quite a few headlines in my facebook feed. I just pulled up CNN and it's the first headline at the top of the page, with Pence's speech playing live (edited to add that they are actually playing the whole thing on a live feed at the top of cnn.com). Maybe you're following the wrong news outlets

Does it get the massive coverage of last weekend's march? No, because it doesn't involve hundreds of thousands of women marching across the United States and major cities all over the world. The scale of the event is much smaller. It's also a march that happens regularly - this is not the first Right to Life March, they do one every year if I'm not mistake? But it is still headline news.

My beef with the Trump administration controlling the media is the amount of information they are not allowing to be shared from governmental organizations. Gag orders for USDA, EPA, Interior, controlling what government employees have access to, etc. This is a public event, so I'm not sure it's relevant to my irritation with the administration blocking access to goverment research and actions?

But I agree, btw, that the media has a liberal bias. I have a few friends who are journalists, and they got into the field because they were so fired up about human rights etc - I suspect that the type of person who goes into journalism tends toward liberal causes. Regardless, we do need to lean on our media to report facts on all sides, and seek out real information sources. I've had to hide occupydemocrats, upworthy, and all sorts of liberal sites from my Facebook feed, in addition to some of the right-wing sites - they spew fake news on both sides, and it's a major problem. I do not agree, however, that Trump's current method of attacking the media is going to be a successful way to combat the problem. 

During the election, I had a lot of conservative friends tell me that my opinions about Trump we shaped by the media's portrayal of him, and I had to repeatedly tell people that no, I actually developed my opinions based on things I actually heard him say in his speeches, in debates, on twitter. It's not 100% some vast left-wing media conspiracy to paint him as a jerk. If you listen to the guy, he really says that stuff - I have to explain it away when my kids are like, "wait, what???" So yes, I think we have a liberal leaning media and they haven't done the best job and the press needs an overhaul, but I'm not really feeling too bad for the Trump camp either. 

Fair enough.  And yeah,once Pence spoke they all covered it. 

I enjoy reading your opinions......you obviously are a thinker and have your own mind.....I respect that.  Your kids are lucky too!

CNN carried a piece last night, not sure if it's still up, on how open the first family has been with pictures of their family from inside the white house.  They called it unprecedented openness......go figure.

Yeah, I'm sure having Pence there helps the cause. Seems that a lot of folks who voted for Trump for that very reason.

And thanks LB - I appreciate the kind words and could say the same back atcha. I can tell your kids are lucky to have you, and I appreciate being able to disagree on certain things yet still discuss different aspects of the issues. 

I realize I come off as terribly liberal here because of social issues, but I'd really like to see our country governed by people who tend closer to the middle. All the arguing between the far left and the far right gets exhausting, and doesn't move us anywhere as a country. I really truly try to be informed, and I like discussing things with other people so I understand where they are coming from. Living in Colorado, I hardly know anyone who would admit to be a Trump supporter, so I've followed a lot of these threads on BT with interest, because they are more civil than the junk that goes around most social media. 

Oh....if we just leave it to social issues you and I will likely be very close.  I'm pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, pro LGBT rights, and I can't stand racists of any ilk (just to name a few social issues we probably agree on).  But I'm very conservative when it comes to governing.  I think our politicians and others are more than happy to just keep throwing money at problems like poverty, housing, education, health care, etc. with no REAL solutions even given a thought.  It's all about getting votes......and the best way to get votes from the masses is to throw them MY (OUR) money, while they sit there on a pile of cash actually making money off the backs of people they espouse to be helping.  It's laughable....and they prey on the uneducated....and there is nothing funny about that. It is my hope that President Trump creates jobs....period. I'll put up with his BS for that alone. Being able to be self-sufficient is the best way I know to allow those of us with less/no opportunity to catch up with those of us who do.

Thought of you Stacers when I saw this article this morning.  It's from a conservative point of view of course but Trump has quite a ways to go to catch up to Obama when it comes to press freedoms.

https://news.grabien.com/story-why-it-will-be-hard-trump-surpass-obamas-record-chilling-pre