Breibart.com fights like Trump fights. Counterpunch and make it hurt
Breitbart is the web-based id of the Trump campaign, and now the Trump transition.
Fox News had been the mouthpiece and infomercial for Republicans. It still plays an important television role, but now it takes second place to Breitbart as the official media voice of Donald Trump. Some of their anchors began showing a tone of journalistic independence, with moments of pushback on Trump. Shepard Smith and Megyn Kelly are "on the Fox team" but they are Fox-style-journalists rather than pure and reliable fawning, gushing fans.
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Breitbart.com has heroes and villains. Breitbart is not careful or judicious; it is interesting and clickable. Trump is good, Hillary is dishonest, Obama is prejudiced for blacks and against whites, Muslims are likely terrorists, immigrants are crime prone, liberals are snobby hypocrites and fools. Some of their headlines and stories offend people, which is predictable because the site is intended to be clickable, and their stories to be forwarded around the conservative populist market for outrage.
This blog has observed that Trump sees politics as public persuasion through big body-language spectacle. He says big things. He uses big gestures--most recently taking a call from the elected president of Taiwan, sending a signal to China that they cannot take One China for granted. Policy wonks who tried in the campaign to discuss issues are misunderstanding Trump's arena. They came across as weak (Bush) or lacking stamina (Clinton.) They are bringing a knife to a gun fight, or more specifically, they are bringing a logical argument to a professional wrestling show, or policy white papers to a tabloid news stand.
Trump and Breitbart use each other.
Kellogg decided the site was too controversial, which is not surprising since in fact the site draws millions of viewers because it is intentionally controversial. Kellogg issued a statement saying they were dropping it as a place to advertise:
“We regularly work with our media-buying partners to ensure our ads do not appear on sites that are not aligned with our values as a company. We recently reviewed the list of sites where our ads can be placed and decided to discontinue advertising on Breitbart.com. We are working to remove our ads from that site.”
Breitbart demonstrates how Trump fights back. Now when internet browsers go to Breitbart they get the following popup:
Trump counterpunches. Breitbart counterpunches. Note that Breitbart turns Kellogg's prudence--or circumspection or desire to avoid association with controversy--into an act of disgraceful cowardice, an insult to free speech, and they convert their statement that the site is "not aligned with our values as a company" into a direct insult of the readers, not the site. Breitbart.com changed Kellogg's statement to read that Kellogg says "its 45 million monthly readers are 'not aligned with our values as a company."
Breitbart turns 180 degrees the consensus point of criticism of them, that they openly and joyfully promote prejudice and xenophobia, into an accusation that Kellogg is the one promoting prejudice and bigotry. It is the "Swift Boat" technique: attack the opponent at its point of strength and accuse it of being guilty of your own area of vulnerability ad guilt. Does this kind of persuasion judo work? Ask John Kerry, the Navy lieutenant injured under enemy fire who earned purple hearts and a bronze star who was described as a coward in comparison with Governor George Bush who served at the same time in the Alabama Air National Guard.
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| Steve Bannon |
Whether or not Kellogg continues its plan to end its advertising Breitbart has clearly signaled to its current advertisers that there are costs to abandoning Breitbart. They sent a signal. Don't cross us, or we will make it hurt.
Trump sent similar signals during the Republican primary election: attack me and I will attack you just like I attacked Weak Jeb and Zero Graham and then Little Marco. It affected the calculations of the various candidates on whom to direct their criticism. They attacked each other, not Trump. As each person dropped off Trump was the primary beneficiary.
Trump sent similar signals during the Republican primary election: attack me and I will attack you just like I attacked Weak Jeb and Zero Graham and then Little Marco. It affected the calculations of the various candidates on whom to direct their criticism. They attacked each other, not Trump. As each person dropped off Trump was the primary beneficiary.
Critics will observe this is heavy handed, ugly, disproportionate, and dishonest behavior by Breitbart. There are very legitimate reasons for a breakfast cereal company to want to avoid advertising in openly controversial sites but when they "took sides" that their leaving would hurt them. It is consistent with the Breitbart method: attack, attribute bad motives in the strongest terms, get clicks, draw an audience, and divide the world into good guys and villains. This isn't a court of law, with rules of access and fairness and disciplined argument. It is the internet. It is tabloid. It is the current state of the politics that wins 270 electoral votes.
Breitbart's founder now sits at the right hand as the "Chief Strategist" for the President Elect.
1 comment:
Of course if Trump resorts to strengthen libel claims against the mainstream media, then I imagine sites like Breitbart could be awash in law suits with the kinds of damages that would render them insolvent very quickly.
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