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[webfact]

Trump's defense chief says has no problems with media

By Phil Stewart

REUTERS

 

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis speaks at the opening of the 53rd Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, February 17, 2017. REUTERS/Michael Dalder

 

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Sunday distanced himself from President Donald Trump's assessment of the media as "the enemy of the American people," saying during his first trip to the Middle East that he had no problems with the press.

 

Mattis, a retired Marine general seen as one of the most influential voices in Trump's cabinet, did not mention his boss by name. But asked about Trump's Tweet on Friday that branded the media as America's enemy, Mattis took a different position entirely.

 

"I've had some rather contentious times with the press. But no, the press, as far as I'm concerned, are a constituency that we deal with," he told reporters traveling with him in the United Arab Emirates.

 

"And I don't have any issues with the press, myself," Mattis added.

 

Since his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump has fiercely criticized various news outlets that have reported unflattering revelations of dysfunction or other problems in the White House.

 

He has described them as "lying", "corrupt" and "failing," and late on Friday he said the news media was "the enemy of the American people."

 

Asked about the latest salvo, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus told CBS's "Face the Nation" program, "I think you should take (Trump's Twitter statement) seriously."

 

"Certainly we would never condone violence. But I do think that we condone critical thought," Priebus said, adding the media, in some cases, needed to "get its act together."

 

"HOW DICTATORS GET STARTED"

 

Mattis spoke after talks with European leaders at a security conference in Munich, Germany, where U.S. Senator John McCain warned that suppressing the free press was "how dictators get started."

 

"If you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free and many times adversarial press. And without it, I am afraid that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time," McCain told NBC's "Meet the Press" program on Sunday.

 

On Friday McCain told the Munich forum that the resignation of Trump's national security adviser, Michael Flynn, over his contacts with Russia reflected "disarray" in Washington.

 

But Mattis played down any concerns about the reshuffling within the administration.

 

"Welcome to democracy. It's at times wildly contentious, it's at times quite sporting. But the bottom line is this is the best form of government that we can come up with," he said.

 

Mattis added that the military was very ready to "hold the line" as the political process played out.

 

"We don't have any disarray inside the military and that's where my responsibility lies," he said.

 

(Reporting by Phil Stewart; Additional reporting by Jonathan Landay and Andrea Shalal in Munich and Andy Sullivan in Washington; Editing by Mark Potter and Jeffrey Benkoe)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-02-20

[canuckamuck]

Of course the media is not the enemy, just the big names are, like Reuters and the other giants.

[LannaGuy]

32 minutes ago, canuckamuck said:

Of course the media is not the enemy, just the big names are, like Reuters and the other giants.

CNN is so biased sometimes I shudder when I see their panels and all it does is make me feel affronted (and insulted) and makes me have a little sympathy for Trump whose policies are far removed from mine. Deep State is working away to destroy Trump but it might backfire.

[ilostmypassword]

17 minutes ago, LannaGuy said:

CNN is so biased sometimes I shudder when I see their panels and all it does is make me feel affronted (and insulted) and makes me have a little sympathy for Trump whose policies are far removed from mine. Deep State is working away to destroy Trump but it might backfire.

ANd politifact, and factcheck and snopes, they're also massively prejudiced against Trump?

[mtls2005]

CNN is so biased sometimes I shudder when I see their panels and all it does is make me feel affronted (and insulted)

 

Do you understand the difference between news and opinion?

 

Why would you watch CNN if it causes such physical and emotional responses?

 

Many feel the same way when they watch Fox & Friends, do they whine about it? I guess some do.

[LannaGuy]

17 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

CNN is so biased sometimes I shudder when I see their panels and all it does is make me feel affronted (and insulted)

 

Do you understand the difference between news and opinion?

 

Why would you watch CNN if it causes such physical and emotional responses?

 

Many feel the same way when they watch Fox & Friends, do they whine about it? I guess some do.

I do but they rarely have a balanced panel and allow all their major anchors throughout the election to spew out Dem ideology and they got it WRONG yet even now they say they got it RIGHT - disingenuous!  apart from their political bile I like CNN  :)

[ilostmypassword]

3 minutes ago, LannaGuy said:

I do but they rarely have a balanced panel and allow all their major anchors throughout the election to spew out Dem ideology and they got it WRONG yet even now they say they got it RIGHT - disingenuous!  apart from their political bile I like CNN  :)

"and they got it WRONG yet even now they say they got it RIGHT" Huh?

[boomerangutang]

43 minutes ago, LannaGuy said:

CNN is so biased sometimes I shudder when I see their panels and all it does is make me feel affronted (and insulted) and makes me have a little sympathy for Trump whose policies are far removed from mine. Deep State is working away to destroy Trump but it might backfire.

CNN is doing a good job. Yesterday it interviewed Carl Woodward of Nixon's Watergate fame. You got a problem with that?  Trump and his sheeple are cornered by truth seekers, and are showing how inept they are in handling issues.  Trump wants to shut down the biggest news outlets.  Stalin would grin knowingly at that notion.   Perhaps Trump would like the media controlled as tightly as it is in N.Korea? 

[Traveler19491]

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president... is morally treasonable to the American public." Theodore Roosevelt 

[LannaGuy]

2 minutes ago, boomerangutang said:

CNN is doing a good job. Yesterday it interviewed Carl Woodward of Nixon's Watergate fame. You got a problem with that?  Trump and his sheeple are cornered by truth seekers, and are showing how inept they are in handling issues.  Trump wants to shut down the biggest news outlets.  Stalin would grin knowingly at that notion.   Perhaps Trump would like the media controlled as tightly as it is in N.Korea? 

never heard of Carl Woodward or did you mean Democrat Bob Woodward who helped bring down Nixon 45 years ago?  did a great job back then

 

You are comparing Trump with the murderous communist butcher Stalin?  

[LannaGuy]

Just now, ilostmypassword said:

No, they don't see it's within a margin of error. That's what you say. What they do say, is that the polls on average showed Clinton winning the popular vote by 3 percent. She won by 2.1%

they said she would win those Dem States and win the Presidency and the Polls were WRONG yet they flip and flap why not just be honest?  you think I like Trump?  I'm pro choice and pro cannabis and totally left of Trump yet i hate the LIES

[ilostmypassword]

1 minute ago, LannaGuy said:

they said she would win those Dem States and win the Presidency and the Polls were WRONG yet they flip and flap why not just be honest?  you think I like Trump?  I'm pro choice and pro cannabis and totally left of Trump yet i hate the LIES

Be honest about what? That the polls were wrong? I've seen explanations of why the polls were wrong. How are those lies. And was it only CNN's polls that were wrong. Wasn't Fox's poll wrong too? Virtually all the polls were wrong. How is this the media's fault?

And you still haven't explained why sites like politifact massively show that Trump is a liar unlike any other politician we've ever had.  How do you explain that away?

[LannaGuy]

1 minute ago, ilostmypassword said:

Be honest about what? That the polls were wrong? I've seen explanations of why the polls were wrong. How are those lies. And was it only CNN's polls that were wrong. Wasn't Fox's poll wrong too? Virtually all the polls were wrong. How is this the media's fault?

And you still haven't explained why sites like politifact massively show that Trump is a liar unlike any other politician we've ever had.  How do you explain that away?

of course they will 'explain' after the Polls were totally wrong... it's their bread and butter and you are right virtually all the Polls were wrong yet we see new Polls nearly everyday, from the same organisations, still saying 'this and that' - you trust them?  Deep State is active

 

I don't believe Trump intentionally lies - to suggest that The President does so is an insult to the Office - Nixon lied, Clinton lied Trump just makes amateurish mistakes and is hotheaded

[mtls2005]

of course they will 'explain' after the Polls were totally wrong... 

 

Late-breaking news...

 

Trump won the election, semi-bigly

 

Time to let those pre-election slights go and move on. Or don't.

 

 

[ilostmypassword]

2 minutes ago, LannaGuy said:

of course they will 'explain' after the Polls were totally wrong... it's their bread and butter and you are right virtually all the Polls were wrong yet we see new Polls nearly everyday, from the same organisations, still saying 'this and that' - you trust them?  Deep State is active

 

I don't believe Trump intentionally lies - to suggest that The President does so is an insult to the Office - Nixon lied, Clinton lied Trump just makes amateurish mistakes and is hotheaded

"I don't believe Trump intentionally lies - to suggest that The President does so is an insult to the Office "  This is just nuts.

This makes a much sense as saying "I don't believe that Richard Nixon lies - to suggest that is an insult to the office"  You are definitely suffering from an extremely bizarre case of doublethink. You just cited Nixon as a liar. Do you read what your write before you post it?

Donaldis the guy who just pleaded no contest to a civil fraud suit. The evidence was massively against him.Look up his business history and see the trail of broken promises.  He has issued absolutely contradictory statements about his dealings with the Russians and Vladimir Putin. Do you believe something magical happens when someone is elected to be president? Or does that apply only to someone named Donald Trump?

[boomerangutang]

19 minutes ago, LannaGuy said:

never heard of Carl Woodward or did you mean Democrat Bob Woodward who helped bring down Nixon 45 years ago?  did a great job back then

You are comparing Trump with the murderous communist butcher Stalin?  

      Two of CNN's panel of experts compared Trump with Stalin - in the sense of Trump wanting to stifle and/or shut down the media (Trump specifically hopes the largest, most prestigious newspapers/cable news outlets go out of business).  Calling them "the enemy of the American people."

 

         That's basic 1st Amendment stuff.   Similarly, whenever some non-praising news comes out about Trump, what does he do?  Does Trump try to find what the problem is and fix or investigate it?  No, Trump immediately wants to criminalize those who are reporting the stories.  Dictators worldwide, past and present, would understand that completely.  

[Srikcir]

1 hour ago, LannaGuy said:

You are comparing Trump with the murderous communist butcher Stalin?  

Start with Trump's chief political strategist Steve Bannon who calls himself an avowed Leninist: “Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that’s my goal, too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.” Bannon claims the the media is the “opposition party.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/who-is-steve-bannon-1479254631

http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/steve-bannons-war-on-the-press

 

Lenin was a mentor of Stalin. https://sites.google.com/a/torahacademy.org/joseph-stalin/influences

Stalin took Lenin's ideology to the extreme where Trump has yet to tread. Under Bannon's tutelage Trump is beginning to embrace a more radicalized Leninist ideology similar to Stalin and now Putin. So a comparison between Trump and Stalin is from an ideological viewpoint appropriate.

[mike324]

1 hour ago, LannaGuy said:

they said she would win those Dem States and win the Presidency and the Polls were WRONG yet they flip and flap why not just be honest?  you think I like Trump?  I'm pro choice and pro cannabis and totally left of Trump yet i hate the LIES

They predicted polls wrong, so you call them liars. Its a prediction, it goes both ways. Yet Trump lies on purpose and finds excuses when pressed or fact check - saying the media twists his words, yet you don't bash him. Amazing right....

 

[elgordo38]

5 hours ago, LannaGuy said:

CNN is so biased sometimes I shudder when I see their panels and all it does is make me feel affronted (and insulted) and makes me have a little sympathy for Trump whose policies are far removed from mine. Deep State is working away to destroy Trump but it might backfire.

If you think CNN is bad have a boo at Fox Media otherwise known as FAUX media. They make CNN look saint like. I pop into Fox for a 5 minute boo at most thats after taking a Valium. It just amazes me what people will say and do for a paycheck. 

[thaihome]

4 hours ago, LannaGuy said:

of course they will 'explain' after the Polls were totally wrong... it's their bread and butter and you are right virtually all the Polls were wrong yet we see new Polls nearly everyday, from the same organisations, still saying 'this and that' - you trust them?  Deep State is active

 

I don't believe Trump intentionally lies - to suggest that The President does so is an insult to the Office - Nixon lied, Clinton lied Trump just makes amateurish mistakes and is hotheaded

The polls were not totally wrong. In the 4 or so swing states that gave Trump his electoral victory was within the margin of error that accompanied every published poll.

 

To say that Trump does not lie intentionally is disgenous on huge scale.

TH 

[dunroaming]

I don't think that there is any question that the media in general are keen to highlight Trumps rantings and criticise his unexplainable rhetoric.  I also think that CNN are pushing the envelope in their quest to bring him down and for the USA to get back some credibility in the world.  I feel that Fox News are desperately pursuing their role as the nutcases that they clearly are.  If you take those two out of the equation and focus on actual news channels throughout the world then you will find that universally they all ridicule Trump but with a sense of fear attached. 

 

 

Edited February 20, 2017 by dunroaming

[Berkshire]

7 hours ago, LannaGuy said:

 

I don't believe Trump intentionally lies - to suggest that The President does so is an insult to the Office - Nixon lied, Clinton lied Trump just makes amateurish mistakes and is hotheaded

Trump is far and away the biggest liar I've seen in my lifetime.  He's way worse than any previous US President, including Nixon.  In fact, the only reasonable comparison I could make would be people like Putin, Mugabe, Amin, the Iraq Information Minister during the Iraq War...that level of deceit.  If anything, I believe the US media needs to expose more of Trump's lies instead of trying to be so objective for fear of his loonie supporters.  The media needs to call out Trump and his lies and do it in plain English without being so freakin polite.  Heck, US comedians are doing a better job!  Give me Colbert, Oliver, Meyers, Noah, Maher, Stewart, etc.       

[thaihome]

2 hours ago, dunroaming said:

I don't think that there is any question that the media in general are keen to highlight Trumps rantings and criticise his unexplainable rhetoric.  I also think that CNN are pushing the envelope in their quest to bring him down and for the USA to get back some credibility in the world.  I feel that Fox News are desperately pursuing their role as the nutcases that they clearly are.  If you take those two out of the equation and focus on actual news channels throughout the world then you will find that universally they all ridicule Trump but with a sense of fear attached. 

 

 

Both CNN and Fox are 24 hour news networks. They both do a reasonable job of reporting hard news. The problem is there is not enough news that they can cover to fill up 24 hours in a day. So, they both fill in some 60-70% with "analysis" where they both use personalities with individual bias to perform that analysis. People like Don Lemon and Anderson Cooper are no different then Hannity or O'Riley.  Neither network apprently makes it plain enough for some people (including Trump) that most of the content of their individual analysis programs consists of opinions.

 

There is little doubt that CNN has made a financial decision to put on non-stop critical analysis of the Trump administration.  Fox did the very same thing for 8 years with Obama and made yuge profits doing so. CNN is going to ride the wave of ant-Trump feeling by about half the US population. Personally, I wish them great success. 

TH

 

 

[boomerangutang]

Fox News is trying to appear journalistic.  They're better now than months/years earlier, probably because Herr Ailes is sidelined.  Even so, today I watched three Fox journalists interviewing K.A. Conway. They didn't toss her softball questions.  No, instead they tossed her powder puffs with whipped cream.  I wouldn't expect right-wing viewers to want unvarnished truth in their news, but that's the way I like it. 

 

How soon will Americans see Trump's taxes for the past 5 years?  It wasn't long ago that Trump declared, "I would love to release my taxes, believe me."   Should we believe him?  Can we believe anything he asserts?

[Traveler19491]

On 2/20/2017 at 9:18 AM, LannaGuy said:

 

I don't believe Trump intentionally lies - to suggest that The President does so is an insult to the Office - Nixon lied, Clinton lied Trump just makes amateurish mistakes and is hotheaded

 

I have to take issue with that statement. One can not legitimately argue that Trump does not issue falsehoods daily, typically several times daily. That being the case, there are two possibilities. 1) He is conscious that these are falsehoods, or, 2) he is not conscious. If 1) is true, then he is deliberately attempting to misinform and delude the public, which is the dictionary definition of a lie and he is absolutely lying. If 2) is true, then your assertion is also true, however, he is delusional, mentally unstable, and in need of psychiatric help. In either case, he is unfit to hold the office and needs to either resign or be removed.

 

In support of my belief that 1) is true, I submit: 

* Trump exerted pressure on the Director of the National Park Service to find photos that supported his claim regarding the size of the crowd at the inauguration. Only someone desperate to confirm his conscious misrepresentation of the facts would engage in such an act.  

*Trump claimed on Feb. 16 that the media have a lower approval rate than Congress (untrue. Congress 9%, media avg. 20%).

*Trump claimed on Feb. 8th that the murder rate in the US is the highest it's been in 47 years (untrue. Historic high 24.7k 1991, 2105 15.7k).

*On Feb. 7th he claimed that he was responsible for saving $700 million on the F-35 (untrue. Savings already in the works).

*Feb. 6th,   "Terrorism and terrorist attacks in the United States and Europe have gotten to a point where it's not even being reported." (blatantly false)

*Feb. 6th, says " 109 people out of hundreds of thousands of travelers" were affected by the immigration ban. (closer to 60,000)

 

(source: Politifact...taken from page one of 27 pages of lies, half-truths, and deceptive manipulation of the facts. http://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/statements/)

 

Many statements Trump makes can be reasonably argued to originate from his "unique" interpretation of facts, or refusing to accept information from anywhere or anyone but sources who agree with him and are therefore not "lies" as he genuinely believes them to be true. However, self-deception, while it may have been engaged in for so long that it is now habitual and unconscious, is still a lie. A rose by any other name...

[Credo]

He is a narcissist; he doesn't really lie, he doesn't listen and when he does listen he hears what he wants to hear.   Once he says it, in his mind it is a fact.   Those that don't agree with his facts, are fake.   

 

A little like the emperor and his clothes.