Conservative Media Also Changes its Focus
Yesterday's post reported on the front page of the Fox News website the dramatic change in coverage on Trump: they announced in unvarnished terms that Trump was down 7 points in the polls. No sugar coating. They didn't report the story by leading with the denial, e.g. "Trump corrects 'faulty poll' showing Hillary lead."
Today things are back to normal, and indeed even more disciplined than normal in the Fox/Breitbart world. Conservative media has a focus, but it is not the positive Trump agenda on jobs, trade, and American greatness. It focuses on bashing Hillary.
I show below in full screen this morning's Fox splash page. It is noteworthy because of its extraordinary message discipline. Read it yourself. Every story focuses on Hillary misdeeds. There is the headline story on the Wall Street speech and then eight additional stories.
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| Foxnews.com splash page this morning |
But notice what is not there. Nothing about Trump. Nothing about jobs. Nothing about how voters lives might be better if Trump is elected.
Meanwhile, Trump is confirming my description of him as "desperate". On stage in North Carolina Donald Trump dismantled a teleprompter saying it was faulty and, besides, he preferred free form speech, and then he abandoned his message on immigration, patriotism, trade, jobs, and American security to discuss his accusers. Breitbart described it this way:
"Donald Trump spent the majority of his campaign rally in Greensboro, North Carolina combatting what he calls "phony accusers"--reverencing several women who have accused him of groping and sexually
assaulting them.
It's a phony deal," Trump said, referencing the multiple news stories that have surfaced with women accusing him of the misconduct. "I have no idea who these women are".
"These stories are total fiction, he responded, during the rally at the White Oak Amphitheater, adding, "100 percent made up."
In North Carolina Trump struck out at multiple targets: the women who accused him, the media who opposes him, the owner of the NY Times, and the forces who are rigging the election, the unattractiveness of his female accusers and therefore the implausibility that he would approach them, that the accusations are "a total setup" and conspiracy to rig the campaign, and so on.
Click this link for a Time Magazine transcript and you can see how he starts with is jobs message, then wanders off into a re-focus onto the nature and motives of his accusers: Click here for speech transcript
Trump is becoming less disciplined and less willing to stay on a message that has widespread appeal, merging the white resentment that helped carried him to victory in the Republican primary plus the anti-corporate and anti-crony-capitalist message of the Sanders Democrats.
I consider this either extraordinarily effective strategy for Hillary or superb good luck. For one reason or another Trump has been led away from a strong argument to one that keeps his personality quirks the center of the campaign. Both mainstream and conservative media are going along with it. Trump is interesting, sex is interesting. Put the two together and it is ratings magic.
Neither Trump nor his media supporters are voicing a powerful argument for Trump's narrative, while Trump personally inadvertently documents the validity of her argument that Trump is temperamentally unsuited to be president. This remains a good moment for Hillary.
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In North Carolina Trump struck out at multiple targets: the women who accused him, the media who opposes him, the owner of the NY Times, and the forces who are rigging the election, the unattractiveness of his female accusers and therefore the implausibility that he would approach them, that the accusations are "a total setup" and conspiracy to rig the campaign, and so on.
Click this link for a Time Magazine transcript and you can see how he starts with is jobs message, then wanders off into a re-focus onto the nature and motives of his accusers: Click here for speech transcript
Trump is becoming less disciplined and less willing to stay on a message that has widespread appeal, merging the white resentment that helped carried him to victory in the Republican primary plus the anti-corporate and anti-crony-capitalist message of the Sanders Democrats.
I consider this either extraordinarily effective strategy for Hillary or superb good luck. For one reason or another Trump has been led away from a strong argument to one that keeps his personality quirks the center of the campaign. Both mainstream and conservative media are going along with it. Trump is interesting, sex is interesting. Put the two together and it is ratings magic.
Neither Trump nor his media supporters are voicing a powerful argument for Trump's narrative, while Trump personally inadvertently documents the validity of her argument that Trump is temperamentally unsuited to be president. This remains a good moment for Hillary.
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