Last night's Newsnight began with Evan Davis asking the question, "Is the President on the verge of a nervous breakdown?"
This was followed by a clip of Donald Trump saying:
But I'm having a good time. Tomorrow they will say "Donald Trump rants and raves at the press." I'm not ranting and raving, I'm just telling you you're dishonest people. But I'm not ranting and raving. I love this, I'm having a good time doing it. Tomorrow the headlines are going to be, "Donald Trump rants and raves". I'm not ranting and raving.
Evan Davis then continued:
There was an extraordinary press conference this evening. It sounded a bit like ranting and raving, as President Trump tried to show his administration is on the right track.
Then came another clip of Donald Trump:
Politically, it would be unpopular for a politician to make a deal. I can't believe I'm saying I'm a politician, but I guess that's what I am now.
Evan continued:
We'll ask if it was as strange as it looked, or if this is just the new way of doing things. Then, at the other extreme, there is the Theresa May approach to communication - not to have any. She's keeping remarkably quiet. It's a going dark strategy. We'll ask if that looks business-like, or simply leaves a news vacuum to be filled.
Evan continued further:
Hello. We all know that President Trump's way of communicating breaks the normal conventions. This was a bit different - a bit weird...80 minutes of press conference that, at times came across as paranoid or meandering. There were, buried within, some substantive messages. He said his administration is a fine-tuned machine, the travel ban was introduced smoothly, he knows of no contact with Russia by his campaign staff. Also, he's achieved a lot for jobs and security. But the core was not all that, it was him lashing out at the press, fake news, the leaks, judges, the Democrats, the state of the world that he inherited, and the press some more. I'm not sure how well short sound bites capture it, so here's a longer taste.Later, he said:
Now one thing he did - a little strange in itself - was hark back to his election victory.And his first question to Sebastian Gorka was:
Do you think his press conference was a bit unhinged, Mr Gorka?
Being at something of a loose end this morning, I viewed the whole of the Trump press briefing. My own view is that his opening remarks were far too long, and indeed often somewhat rambling. I would suggest he would be well advised in future to 1) keep his comments short and succinct, 2) concentrate on what his administration has done and its plans for the near future 3) never again comment about his election victory (including comments on numbers of electoral college votes, etc), 4) avoid commenting on how biased the media is (most of them are), and be more subtle by not taking questions from the main culprits. That'll do for now, but others may add other things, perhaps. I speak as one who would have preferred Ted Cruz, but think Trump can do well if given a chance.
ReplyDeleteHe's Trump not Cruz. I thought Cruz was v. weird. Trump's approach is not to everyone's taste but it is effective in wrong-footing the media.
DeleteTrump will be judged on war/peace and the economy. If he succeeds, then the media will be neutralised.