We know one
thing now; the Donald cannot handle the scrutiny of the media…at all. Trump
threw a 40-minute tantrum against the media that would make my two-year old
think he was being a loser. I can’t say I’m surprised by this outburst. Trump
has been attacking the media for his entire campaign because he and his
supporters feel the same way; the media is a liberal machine that is only there
to tear down the good name of Trump (or in the case of the past 8 years, the
entire GOP). I didn’t realize that liberals has a strangle hold on evidence and
truth…I just feel silly now.
What I
truly don’t get is that the reporters and journalists that Trump cried foul
about were only focused on one thing and one thing only; truth. To be honest,
the truth is something Trump has left by the wayside long ago and has been
forging ahead with his own form of augmented reality. Whatever he says is his
truth and no matter what actual facts get tossed back at him, Trump is easily
able to redirect the conversation in a way that benefits him more. It is an
impressive ability that Trump has demonstrated time and time again during this
primary season.
Trump
missed a Republican Presidential debate back in January because he had already
committed to a fundraiser for veterans in Iowa. For me, this was one of those
rare moments where I was in agreement with Trump. If he was dedicating time to
help raise money for our veterans, and he had already said he was going, good
on him. He made a commitment to help raise money for veterans charities and he
stuck with it. That’s a really great cause to skip a debate for, and he earned
a little respect from me. Not that he cares that he got my respect, but it was
nice to think of Trump as a human being rather than an inflated orange plastic
garbage bag with some humanoid features.
On January
28th, 2016, when the Republicans were holding a Trump-less debate,
Trump was doing his communication with the masses via Twitter. He tweeted these
out after the fundraiser:
- "It is my great honor to support our Veterans
with you! You can join me now. Thank you! #Trump4Vets http://www.DonaldTrumpForVets.com" Tweet
- "An unbelievable night
in Iowa with our great Veterans! We raised $6,000,000.00 while the politicians
talked! #GOPDebate" Tweet.
I do not
care who you are, when you boast about an accomplishment such as raising $6
million for Veterans charities, and you are a Presidential nominee, journalist
and reporters are going to want some hard figures and verification that you are
doing what you have just said. Trump was more than willing to tout these
figures right after the fundraiser. Even stating that he had included a
personal donation of $1 million dollars that night, which is part of the $6
million total. Please remember that this is back on January 28th! It
will be important later on once some of you Trump supporters start lumping me
in with the liberal propaganda machine.
This is
where the respect I had for Trump crashed back to earth from its perch high
atop a child’s step stool. When asked four months later in May of 2016 by a few
Washington Post reporters about how
much money was raised that night in January, and when it was distributed, Trump
refused to provide details. Wait…what?! The guy who had raised…well, said he
raised…a whopping $6 mil is now not giving details of his incredible gift?
If I was the one that was able to raise
$6 million and gave it to veterans groups, I would have every name of every
charity memorized and the amount of money each one got. Why? One, it would be
awesome to give in that capacity to people I greatly admire and respect for
their service to our country. Second, because I know that if I’m running for
the President of the United States and I make a massive claim about getting $6
million for veterans, I’m sure as shit going to be ready to have every detail
laid out when they are asking for hard facts about what I did with the. I would
have spread sheets and PowerPoints at the ready with animations and everything.
Why? Because I don’t want to look like an asshole who just said I raised $6
million and then have to get a phone call from a reporter asking where the
money went, and all I can do is stall for time while I start to panic at the
fact that I didn’t do what I said I was going to do FOUR FREAKING MONTHS AGO!
Guess who
started panicking? That’s right, good old Trump had nothing to give reporters.
His campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski did though, and that didn’t go very
well. A few days before the Washington
Post got Trump’s reply, Lewandowski gave a statement. He said, “The money
is fully spent.” And it get’s better! He also said, “Mr. Trump’s money is fully
spent.”
I’m no
English major, but when someone says that “The money is fully spent,” and we have been
talking about a fundraiser in which $6 million has been raised, I would come to
the conclusion that that statement would mean that ALL of the money, Mr.
Trump’s $1 million contribution included, was given out to the charities
already. If only it would have been that simple.
Lewandowski
also said that only $4.5 million had been raised, while Trump said that it was
$5.5 million. Okay, why isn’t that number $6 million like Trump said back in
January…shouted it actually at the attendees of the fundraiser? It’s at this
point where most of you should be going, “What the hell…” If you aren’t, hold on,
because you are about to have a tightening feeling in or around your sphincter
area.
Trump was
completely defiant about providing any records to the Washington Post about the disbursement of said $6 million. The
kicker to all of this is that on the day the he was contacted by The Washington Post, Trump made his own
personal donation to the charity of his choice later that evening…On May 24th…four
months after he said that he had made is own donation. WHAAAAAT? I think we
have a Scooby-mystery on our hands here!
Yes, I’m
fully aware that Trump said that he did not want attention for his charitable
donations, and it was the main reason he used to defend himself during the
press conference he called to talk about the fundraising that he didn’t want
people to know he did in the first place. But, if Trump didn’t want recognition
for his fundraising, why did he present not one, but TWO gigantic checks to two
different organizations for $100,000 each on January 30th and 31st.
That seems to be an action that would draw attention. Or the fact that he was
tweeting about how much he had raised for the veterans. Trump seemed to be
pretty open about that the night of the fundraiser. Just the fact that he was
mentioning it before the event and drew attention to himself because he was not
going to be at a Republican Debate shows that he was not trying to be anonymous
about his fundraising actions.
The big
picture in this is not that Trump was trying to raise money quietly for the veterans.
It’s that he has been caught lying before and now as the Republican nominee for
President of the United States, the microscope of scrutiny is so narrowly
focused on his actions, that the press is required to verify those brash claims
he makes. There is no free pass for the Donald anymore just because he is the
Donald!
Did the
press go beyond their requirements? NO! In fact, I applaud The Washington Post for asking the simple questions that Trump
fumbled through and then called a press conference to berate the media about
their constant questioning. It’s like Trump was asking the smartest kid in the
school to come over to his house for a study session just so he could beat the
shit out of him and tell him to stop being so smart because she’s making Trump
look bad. No one makes the Trump look bad! Especially a smart woman!
As the
evidence has shown, Trump was not fully honest about the money raised in
January, and he surely was not honest about the fact that all of it was given
out prior to May 24th. The
Washington Post, and NPR found that
$1.9 million of the supposed $6 million was distributed after May 24th.
That’s one-third of the money Trump claimed to have raised and given out back
in January. That’s a large chunk of change to be unaccounted for, especially by
a savvy businessman like Trump.
Making any
Presidential nominee accountable for their boasting is the job of the media. If
Hillary Clinton had said the same thing, that she had raised $6 million for
Veterans, you sure as shit can bet that reporters would be on that faster than
Trump can put his name on a new luxury high-rise condo building. Just because a
candidate said they did something, does not mean we can believe them 100%. I
thought that was a given provided how much we mistrust politicians as a
collective society in the United States, but I guess it only applies if the
person saying those things is not your candidate. It’s the job of the media
(even if you think it’s lame stream, or liberal) to uncover the truth and
figure out what really happened, or what is happening.
Trump
should have been able to simply shrug this one off. He could have easily
provided the amounts, the charities, and the dates of the donations. But he
didn’t. He chose to take the opportunity to spin this into another “The media
are very bad people,” event, where he verbally gave a stern spanking to all
journalists in the country. His supporters rallied around Trump, too. It was an
ingenious move on Trump’s part. He’s not at fault because he didn’t release any
of the details; the MEDIA is at fault because they asked questions. How in the
hell is this the new norm? It’s completely bass ackwards.
If you are
a Trump supporter, I know none of this will change your mind. But the media
isn’t out to show how Trump is a liar; he does that himself just fine on his
own, just look at Politifact. The
whole Presidential campaign is a game, and Trump has shown to be the master at
it and is re-writing the rules. The media is there to protect us, the citizens,
from what politicians say is true, and what the facts show to be true. If the
facts are different from what Trump says, then the media is doing it’s job and
Trump is the one that should be responsible for forgetting that people aren’t
as stupid as he thinks they are.
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