“Never Trump” Media Slags President Trump with Grotesque Association with Killer Cult Leader
In a liberal media narrative which can only be described as grotesque, Newsweek compared President Donald Trump to notorious cult leader and murderer Charles Manson. Yes, really. Of all the shocking associations made to date, the “Never Trump” media really outdid itself this time. The once-respected news magazine, which used to have a worldwide circulation of millions, might have reached a new journalistic low.
A recent twisted click-baity hit piece penned by Melissa Matthews attempted to correlate how Trump and Manson both used similar “language to gain followers.” Matthews even dredged up a couple of experts to substantiate these claims. The core theme of this monstrosity: Trump uses empathy and targeting feelings of inclusion to attract a dedicated cult-like following. (Source: “How Murderer Charles Manson and Donald Trump Used Language to Gain Followers,” Newsweek, November 20, 2017.)
Advertisement
That dumpster fire of an article knows no bounds of decency. To make a case that President Trump uses specific language to attract supporters is a defensible position. To compare his technique to that of a killer cult leader is not.
Matthews could have chosen from hundreds of different business, political, or civic leaders in which to make this association. Perhaps someone similar to anti-establishment icon and seventh American president Andrew Jackson. Or, in recent political circles, perhaps outspoken Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.
But no, Matthews went so far over-the-top as to completely embarrass herself. The fact that she settled on Manson is the worst kind of flagrantly vitriolic nonsense. By inferring that Trump’s base are simply cult followers driven to Trump out of marginalization is completely disingenuous. Most Trump supporters support Trump’s political platform, not necessarily the man himself. Conservative voters view Trump as the cudgel needed to break up Washington’s corrupt establishment. He wasn’t voted in because he’s Mr. Congeniality.
Strangely, the progressive liberal media has yet to figure this out.
I’m also pretty certain Trump hasn’t asked anyone to carry out any psychopathic actions like murdering people to incite a race war. Nope, Trump is too busy trying to bring economic prosperity to people of color, strengthening the economy, and securing trade deals. (Sources: “Charles Manson, leader of murderous ’60s cult, dead at 83,” CNN, November 20, 2017; “The New Black Deal: Will Trump Pump Up Economic Prosperity for African American Small Businesses?” Elon Business Law Journal, June 30, 2017; and “U.S. Economy Notches Solid 3% Growth, Despite Hurricanes,” The Wall Street Journal, October 27, 2017.)
Psychopaths like Manson inherently manipulate people for personal gain, not for the benefit of society. That’s a key difference left out of the piece, beyond the small details like successful billionaire businessman versus lifetime felon.
But hey, who needs facts when you have a narrative to protect?
“Never Trump” Media Hit Piece Not the First, Nor the Last
The “Trump is Manson” hit piece is nothing new. Donald Trump has already been compared to Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Julius Caesar, and more. He’s disparaged by the mainstream media at every opportunity. Even taxpayer-funded ($224.0 million in FY2017) outfits like Voice of America (VOA) dedicate non-stop coverage spinning everything Trump does in a negative light.
Case in point: in February 2017, VOA interpreted Trump’s “Enemy of the People” declaration about the media as being in the same context as similar declarations made by historical mass-murdering tyrants Mao Zedong and Josef Stalin. This absurdity knows no bounds. (Source: “Trump’s Attack on Media as ‘Enemy of the People’ Has Historic Echoes,” Voice Of America, February 18, 2017.)
The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2017
Trump used the term to characterize the media’s coverage as being too one-sided, biased, and against conservative viewpoints in general. Somehow, it appears that the liberal media forgot that America still has something called the first amendment and the Bill of Rights. The dysphoric Communist utopias of Zedong and Stalin… not so much.
The context in which language is used is often just as important as the language itself. From that perspective, VOA’s article, like Newsweek‘s article this week, is utter dumpster-fire accelerant.
And who can blame Trump for coming out swinging anyway? Non-partisan fact tank Pew Research recently published a study which found that negative media coverage of the Trump administration has reached epic proportions.
Pew found that, in the first 60 days of Trump’s presidency, a whopping 62% of mainstream media coverage of the administration reached “negative assessments.” That compares with 20% negative coverage during Barack Obama’s first two months as president and 28% during both Bill Clinton’s and George W. Bush’s first two months. (Source: “Covering President Trump in a Polarized Media Environment,” Pew Research, last accessed November 21, 2017.)
|
Positive, Neutral, or Negative Media Coverage, First 60 Days in Office |
|||
|
President |
Positive Media Assessment | Neither |
Negative Assessment |
|
Bill Clinton (1993) |
27% | 44% | 28% |
| George W. Bush (2001) | 22% | 49% |
28% |
|
Barack Obama (2009) |
42% | 38% | 20% |
| Donald Trump (2017) | 5% | 33% |
62% |
(Source: Ibid.)
That’s not a coincidence—it’s systematic. The voluminous amount of negative coverage isn’t even disputed by the Left anymore; it’s simply justified as a “whatever it takes” mentality to thwart the Trump administration. The ends justify the means.
And so the slander rages on. No matter how kooky the comparisons, no matter how slanderous or sketchy the allegations, the hit pieces keep rolling in. The “Never Trump” media has an agenda to foment, and it appears to be following the old mantra “Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth.”
But the Internet age is the big equalizer. If the Left wants to get their message through, they have to up their game. 1940s-style propaganda techniques just won’t cut it anymore.
