The Trump Press Briefer As Seen From a Journalist in Japan
It’s very confusing covering U.S. politics and the media coverage of it from overseas
It’s very confusing covering U.S. politics and the media coverage of it from overseas
(The following are my “in the moment” impressions from watching the daily White House press conference, the first time I’ve had this experience. I was trained at a top journalism school, USC, in the early 1990s and have lots of issues with what’s happened to the state of journalism in my lifetime. This post reflects that, but my opinion changed as I researched the topic some. I was also surprised that I ended up focusing most of the piece on the issue of North Korea.)
Mother Nature Comes to the Rescue?
First, all hail Mother Nature! Yes, I’m a Nature Boy and proud of it, so for me the very best thing to come out of this press conference was some research from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
In it, William Bryan, Under Secretary for Science and Technology at the DHS, detailed how their research indicates increased temperature, humidity and sunlight reduce the half life of SARS-CoV-2’s saliva droplets on surfaces and in the air.
This is in line with some of the research about how these things work on other viruses, including the deadly Spanish flu of the early 20th century. And it is, indeed, very good news, especially as the weather continues to warm up.
My own thoughts on how to protect myself from this virus have been, from the get-go, keep doing daily Wim Hof Method (breathwork, cold showers and meditation) and keep getting outside for my daily bike rides so I can be exposed to Nature. I’ll save a longer digression on that, but this research indicates to me that I was/am on the right track (and the science behind the Wim Hof Method had already suggested this, as it strengthens one’s immune system and from doing it for almost a year now, I’ve been extremely healthy, not getting sick once).
Back to the press conference…
My History Makes Me Skeptical of Both the Media and the Government
I’m not a conservative, nor a liberal, but I used to play a liberal on TV.
In all truth, I don’t really believe the political spectrum as defined (left and right) really has room for me: I’m off the left end so far that many of my friends are right wingers. That’s really true. You see, I’m friendly with most people and while I love a good discussion that can get heated, I don’t let my disagreements damage my relationships.
This means my writing tends to rile up some feathers. But not to worry, if I rile up your feathers today (what an odd metaphor that is!), tomorrow you may very well be cheering me on. I’m non-partisan and nothing will change that.
Anyway, I quit journalism in fall of 2000 and well before that I was suspicious of the corporate media. Outlets like CNN and the network news, not to mention right-wing talk radio and even so-called liberal newspapers like The New York Times, well, I read enough Chomsky, Zinn, back in those days to tell me that I needed to be skeptical of all of them.
It also taught me to be skeptical of the governments.
As journalistic legend I.F. Stone famously said: “All governments lie.”
That’s my way of saying that a part of me takes some pleasure in seeing Trump berate reporters for outlets like CNN. However…
Trump is a master of the psychological art of projection. He claims fake news but backs it up with murky comments. And his exchange about North Korea today is a great example of this.
Trump vs. CNN
I’m the kind of writer and journalist who prefers taking my time and writing longer pieces that don’t adhere to the needs of the Right Freakin’ NOW! News Networks.
My only gig covering politics was writing weekly articles for an award-winning alternative weekly in Tacoma Washington in 1999 and 2000. This 24/7 news cycle often leads to reporters getting facts wrong or just taking things out of context.
I bring this up because I had first written the following about Trump’s exchange with CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins: I thought Trump was mostly in the right in how he handled her questions.
But now, I totally disagree with that statement. God, times are confusing!
You see, rather than just sticking to that initial impression, which was mostly based on my distrust of CNN, I re-watched the clip several times, starting with the question that was asked that started it. (You can watch this exchange starrting at 53:40 on this clip on YouTube).
I am not sure who that reporter was, but he basically was trying to find out if Trump had made any contact with the North Koreans to get an update on the health status of North Korean leader Kim Jung Un.
Trump answered this question to boast about his international relation bona fides with some asides about the unfair way the media treated him (I don’t wit him during this segment).
He mentioned that right after he was elected, there were fears he’d lead the U.S. into wars with countries like North Korea but he hasn’t. And not only that, he’s reduced using the military as policemen of the world while building the military. (Personally, I don’t want the US to act as policemen of the world, but I’m skeptical that he’s really reduced it as much as he claims here.)
Then, the reporter tried again: “Have you been able to use (your) relationship (with Kim Jong Un) to find out more about his status?”
Trump’s answer was neither yes nor nor but this: “I think the report (by CNN) was incorrect, let me put it that way.”
He added “I’m hearing that it used old documents” and when that reporter asked when was the last time he’d heard from Kim, he said, “I don’t want to say.”
And that’s when Collins from CNN asked: “So you haven’t made any contact with (the North Koreans)?”
Again, Trump responds: “I don’t want to say.”
And here is the rub. He is accusing CNN of writing “fake news” but then refusing to clarify why he says that. Just saying you are “hearing” that the report was based on fake documents isn’t good enough. Who did you hear this from? What are the real documents? And why can’t you answer whether or not you’ve talked with the North Koreans?
Such evasiveness just adds to the speculation that is rampant these days. And often times, speculation just adds to the murk of the ocean of information we are swimming in.
U.S. Relations with North Korea Are Important to People in Japan
Rather than giving into my urge to speculate, I want to share this news story of when Trump made that surprise visit in June 2019 to become the first American president to set foot in North Korea. Watch the video of the meeting. It’s short. When I watched it just now, it actually made me feel a deep sense of happiness and gratitude to the president and Kim Jong Un.
You see, living in Japan with my wife and two children, relations between the U.S. and North Korea are actually rather important to me. I can remember an early summer morning in 2017, cooking some toast when my iPhone started squawking insistently. I looked down and there was a notice — all in Japanese — that I knew said something about North Korea and a missile. I spent a few nervous minutes using Google translate to find out that a test missile had been shot over the area where we live. It also said something about finding cover. WTF?
Again, that was in summer 2017. I remember writing: FUCK TRUMP on my Facebook page. I blamed him.
So I understand when Trump complains about how he has been unfairly treated with regard to this relationship. For whatever reason, he’s connected with Kim and there isn’t as much tension regarding North Korea as there was back at the start of his presidency.
I just want him to be more upfront with what he knows. And if he can’t do that, don’t go accusing the reporting of being based on false information and being fake news.
After all, it’s hard to really know what’s going on there. North Korea is one of the most secretive governments in the world. And Trump is loose with the facts and believes in the Norman Vincent Peale school of positive thinking, which I myself find appealing, but he takes it to an extreme, thinking he can always write his own script about reality, no matter what reality is telling him. And then he seems to think he doesn’t have to share with us citizens why he believes what he does.
That just doesn’t sit well with me. You see, part of my vision for the world is that, as citizens are increasingly losing privacy, we should be expecting that our governments and corporations become more transparent, too. So any president, doesn’t matter the party, who acts in a way that is not transparent, as Trump did here, better have some darn good reasons for it. And if they are evasive, they should definitely not be criticizing the media for publishing fake information.
Well, I’d wanted to write about the topic of the day, the Coronavirus, but my chattering fingers led me down this rabbit hole. And quite honestly, I’m very interested in covering the media coverage of these press conferences and giving voice to what I see. Let me know in the comments if you think I did a fair job, or what I can do better. Thanks for reading.
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