Media parrots Clinton campaign attack on Trump speech – “dark”
Seek to change the positive perception of actual viewers in a script written by the Clinton campaign.
Donald Trump’s acceptance speech last night was a hit with viewers, as Yahoo News reported:
The majority of viewers who watched Donald Trump’s speech to the Republican National Convention on Thursday night said it made them more likely to vote for him in November, according to a CNN/ORC instant poll.
The poll found that 56% of speech viewers were more likely to vote for the New York businessman after seeing him formally accept the Republican nomination.
32% of viewers said his speech had little effect on them, and 10% said it made them less likely to cast their vote for Trump in November.
Overall, 57% of viewers said they had a “very positive” reaction to Trump’s speech. Meanwhile, 18% said they were “somewhat positive” and 24% said it had a “negative effect.”
https://twitter.com/realDrOlmo/status/756476686993022977
Instant polls are just immediate responses, and a self-selected group of people who watched the speech. So follow up coverage is critical. That is how most people will learn of the speech. However many watched it, far more will simply hear a soundbite as filtered in headlines and news stories.
As soon as Trump’s acceptance speech was over, however, the media set out to change the perception and create a narrative.
The talking heads on CNN immediately began to describe the speech as “dark.”
Van Jones went ballistic:
Van Jones on CNN going ballistic on Trump speech, "I'm terrified by it" — so I guess it was good https://t.co/MRhDqV7pdF
— Legal Insurrection (@LegInsurrection) July 22, 2016
Jake Tapper used the phrase as well:
When I asked if the speech painted too dark a picture of life in the US, campaign chair @PaulManafort said Trump told the truth
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) July 22, 2016
https://youtu.be/H-HNCVIF9DU?t=24s
On Twitter, “dark” was the media word of the night. Almost simultaneous coverage, such as this post at Buzzfeed at 10:17 p.m., used the headline “dark”:
WaPo had virtually the same headline:
Same with the NY Times:
And Rolling Stone:
And The New Yorker:
And The Nation:
HuffPo managed to find a former Bush speechwriter you’ve never heard of who used the word in a tweet, and built a story around it:
And there are many, many more that are being spread by syndication in local newspapers, like this Chicago Tribune columnist run in The Orlando Sentinel:
Bloomberg News issued an Editorial in the same vein:
The term “dark” was used repeatedly in network coverage, such as at NBC:
"It was an extraordinarily dark speech," @chucktodd says of Trump's speech on NBC
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) July 22, 2016
Here is the video NBC produced to show this “dark” speech — sounds like a hard-hitting thumping of Hillary, but I guess that passes for “dark”:
Other networks painted the same picture in live coverage:
The theme was amplified on social media:
The dark, resentful voice behind Trump’s speech: https://t.co/4fZeI98gmv pic.twitter.com/bp16j5STVW
— Slate (@Slate) July 22, 2016
Trump goes dark, appealing to anger and frustration https://t.co/fNNPsD1wlK
— Rick Klein (@rickklein) July 22, 2016
You get the picture. Media working off the same script instantaneously.
Wonder where that script was written? That is the meme spread by the Clinton campaign immediately after the speech:
Hillary Clinton’s campaign panned Donald Trump’s speech accepting the GOP presidential nomination, arguing the country can do far better than “prejudice and paranoia.”
“Tonight, Donald Trump painted a dark picture of an America in decline. And his answer — more fear, more division, more anger, more hate — was yet another reminder that he is temperamentally unfit and totally unqualified to be President of the United States,” campaign chairman John Podesta said in a statement shortly after Trump wrapped his lengthy address at the Republican National Convention.
I don’t like Trump, never have, never will. But I hate the media. I have a feeling that’s a feeling shared by more people than the media cares to admit.
[Note: The title was changed after publication.]
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Comments
The major reason the country is in this dark state is the consequence of the continuous media manipulation, Joseph Goebbels would be proud.
And all I learned this week from the press is that plagiarism is a bad thing.
It’s kind of DARKly amusing they still think they can get away with this unnoticed, and so flagrantly.
They always have.
Between the internet generation and trump ignoring them and calling them out, their influence is coming to an end.
That the viewers liked it doesn’t mean it wasn’t dark. Because it was pretty dark.
It’s always darkest before the dawn. When Trump is inaugurated it will be morning in America.
I doubt that.
By the time T-rump “wins”, there will be YUUUUUUUGE buyer’s regret.
Shortly after T-rump is inaugurated…if he ever is…there will be mourning in America.
Which will be the condition in America regardless of which Collectivist wins the race for POTUS.
We only have the choice of shit sandwich on rye or wheat.
For years I was a Fox regular. Now I can’t even stand to watch that due to their 24-hr worship and adulation of the orange sun god. However, it makes me very mad to see the utter twisting and outright lies about his speech by people on the left with a microphone or keyboard. News blogs such as yours and the ones your recommend over on the right of the page are now my only news outlets. Thank you, Professor for your zealous coverage of all things that affect America.
The right (Federalist, Commentary) Made a similar assessment this speech. Trump didn’t attempt to present a positive view of the US (or our allies). Obviously dystopia resonates with some people…
Calling it dark is not inaccurate. It’s noteworthy too because it’s a departure from past presidential speeches.
Is the media biased? No question about it. However, if you don’t want to see headlines about dark speeches, don’t give dark speeches. Trump either doesn’t mind to be seen this way or doesn’t know how to work the media, possibly both.
Living in a dystopian times often creates a mind-set that has a difficult time seeing the coming dawn or envision hope. This is America today, whether the media wants to see it or not…
Given the media love for the Obama narrative they’ve created, including how great the change he’s encouraged in both racial and economic terms for the country, their use of the Democrat language to define their opponent–and make no mistake, no matter who the GOP nominated, the media would begin to demonize immediately–is a given.
I’m not a Trump fan, but I despise Clinton. My concern is that a non-principled Trump will be a continuation of the Obama regal presidency mode…all the pomp and consequence of Democrats and the Wall Street love of the elitist GOPe.
We do not live in dystopian times. Not by a long shot. Imagining ourselves living in a dystopia can be a self-fulfilling prophesy.
Perhaps I’m wrong…
–The rich (our “one percent”, which includes the tech leadership, Hollywood leading ‘lights’, MSM owners and ‘journalists’, Clinton, and soon, Obama) get to define what is culturally, morally and politically correct while ignoring the laws upon which the the poor and middle class would be jailed and convicted.
–The urban poor get to collect tax dollars while they ignore the laws they don’t like so long as Democrats and the “one percent” are the arbitrators (see BLM, Occupy) of ‘acceptable behavior’, while the rural poor are ignored and have their ‘dirty’ jobs destroyed.
–The middle class pay the taxes to support both poor and rich but can’t get ahead economically due to Federal bureaucrats (such as EPA, FCC, NLRB, IRS) anti-capitalist, anti-American attitudes and the PC mentality of the one percent.
–Whites are morally responsible for the failure of black families to raise responsible children. Blacks carry no socially bound expectations–not even, don’t kill your children at Planned Parenthood or on the streets.
–Foreigners can enter the country illegally without consequence under the guidance of Democrat and elitist GOP ‘leaders’ of morality while concurrently destroying the middle class and replacing one underclass (urban blacks) with a new underclass (foreign labor…as practiced by Saudi Arabia).
So, since the bureaucratic controlled economy of the USA hasn’t quite reached the desperation of the socialist Venezuela, perhaps we aren’t quite dystopian…
Maybe that’s what Democrats should run on…elect Hillary cause we’re not quite dystopian, yet.
Meh. My grandparents survived Stalinism and WW2.
Dark. Dark Side. Dick Cheney was Darth Vader. So I guess Trump will be Kylo Ren, maybe Darth Maul. No matter what, the media will make the Republican nominee out to be the most evil individual to walk the Earth. Still not a Trump supporter, but definitely not a Hillaryite.
If you don’t already think the MSM takes their talking points directly from the DNC, this is pretty much the hanging-on-the-rim, nutsack-in-the-face” slam dunk proof it exists.
No surprise there. Whatever Trump said would have been spun that way. Watch what the Obamedia say about the speeches at the DNC next week, even the hate fest against the cops fueled by the mothers of Trayvon “Lean” Martin, Saint Michael “hands up don’t shoot” Brown and the Bland woman.
I thought Trump knows how to work the media.
Edge ;
For a while here recently I thought you were continuing to do what you do for attention.
Now I just think you don’t get it. What Trump is doing with the media is what I’ve been recommending to republicans they should do for years. Republicans simply wouldn’t do it.
Why do you think the media is doing what it’s doing? Trump has them reacting to anything he does. By definition given they’re reacting, they’re on the defensive. If you’re reacting, you’re not advancing. Trump is advancing.
You just can’t see that, which show’s you just don’t get it.
Which is why you lose.
Not my downclick.
Yes, I know Trump’s way is to do something outrageous. It works for reality TV, it works to get a small minority of electorate roused up and go out of their way to nominate him. And yet, his convention ratings were at Romney’s level. Trump specifically made it his goal to draw a record-breaking audience for the convention.
What Trump is doing is not bad for his brand, though.
Van Jones? The guy is a walking leftist absurdity in a five thousand dollar suit.
The speech should be dark. A Hillary presidency is frightening.
She’s wrong about everything in foreign policy, and her foundation has been selling the accumulated wealth of the middle class over two centuries to foreign governments for pennies.
And what happens in the cities after a Democrat wins an election by encouraging black people to riot in the streets?
“Dark” is a bad thing? Isn’t that racist?
Anyhow, I reject the categorization of the speech as “dark.” These people are so far left that they’ve lost touch with reality. “Up” is down, “black” is white, “good” is evil in their glossary ~
np, I was thinking about Al Sharpton the same time you were so I did not see your comment till I was done.
Or, I could just say that I was channeling you as I was plagiarizing you — apply two Hillary talents at the same time!
The best the MSM can come up with is a vague word like “Dark?”
Should “Dark” be considered a racist description (it has negative implications as used on Trump) by whomever it is who labels words racist?
The media is viewing the world from the dark fringes of the penumbra. They should embrace their advocacy for class diversity (e.g. racism), selective exclusion (e.g. “=”), progressive wars, and the “final solution” (e.g. abortion rites).
Our country does have a lot of issues and while it’s
necessary to point them out and (hopefully) deal with them, Trump sounded like a banana republic dictator.
Vote for me and you’ll be safe and get a pony!
If you’re looking for a kick, check out Jeffery Goldberg’s Atlantic piece. Here’s a guy who has not only served as Obama’s bulletin board but was a willing yodelor in Ben Rhodes’s echo chamber, (and was rewarded for his servility by being outed by the latter.)
Now Goldberg differs from his ilk and tells us that Trump isn’t Hitler, he’s Putin! (My guess is that Hitler comparisons are only for low rent lefty writers.)
Meanwhile, not peep one from this fake as Obama played rope-a-dope as Putin annexed Crimea, recolonized Syria, and slept while the Green Army invaded Ukraine.
Putin already has a buddy in the White House. For the record, here’s Goldberg:
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/07/clinton-trump-putin-nato/492332/
It’s not the media I am concerned about.
Trump was smart to set up his night with speeches from his very capable, very balanced children. A mad man doesn’t have such a solid entourage of kids and friends. As for his speech, he wasn’t screwing around. People who don’t believe we’re in bad shape should visit inner city America and/or small town America. Both have been walloped, and both need relief, not the usual hope-changey feel-good hucksterism served up by the Democrats.
As Rush would say, it’s the new script for the Democrat daily soap-opera: Dark!
You can bet Hillary’s speech will be described with words like ‘uplifting’, ‘inclusive’, ‘unifying’, ‘a new vision for America’…anything the opposite of ‘dark’.
The MSM is lost. I don’t believe anything they say.
They are simply the propaganda arm of the Democratic party… Orwell’s “Ministry of Information.”
Every time I put on ABC news I start yelling at the TV.
ABC News putting George Stephanopoulos, who donated $100,000 to Clinton, in charge of coverage of the Republican convention is like putting a fox in charge of coverage of the hen house.
You can COUNT on derision, mockery, and spin from the MSM for high-visibility Republican event.
It’s simply who they are.
I watched it on CSPAN. No commercials. No idiots trying to spin it to influence my interpretation. And the music was good between speakers. Highly recommended.
As I was watching it, the word “dark” never entered my mind. I can see how one person might make that assessment, but for almost the entire media herd to gallop in lockstep simply proves the lack of independent critical thought and how much collusion is going on. It’s groupthink. Except this time the Clinton campaign told them what to think.
Latest full-of-fail media meme? “Trump’s campaign is dark and full of terrors.”
Poor, pathological, thin-skinned narcissist Der Donald…
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2016/07/trump-takes-a-victory-lap.php
He simply has no control. It’s crazy to put this puke in power.
“The only thing we have to fear is Trump itself.”
“Trump’s campaign is dark and full of terrors.”
So said the creditors reflecting on Trump’s bankruptcies.
So said the woman losing her house to Trump.
So said Lady Liberty.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/07/22/trump-buries-bitter-rival-cruz-in-farewell-to-cleveland.html
Wrong headline.
It should read “Donelle T-rump Cannot Keep From Showing His/Her Ass Before Leaving Cleveland”.
The Reverend of the Progressive Right RNC Church spends all of his time on pettiness trying to protect his eggshell ego.
Why are we so obsessed with Cruz anyway? I thought his political career is over.
Shouldn’t Trump focus on Hillary instead?
One would think… But Der Donald just HAS to swing at the Tar Baby.
Trump is just putting the last shovel full on Cruz’s dead career as a politician.
Trouble in Texas.
1. wanna bet?
2. is killing off GOP senators who are conservatives what you think is part of T-rump’s job?
3. is making himself OBVIOUSLY the stupid bully and adolescent little girl the media would LOVE him to be “smart”?
The guy’s an out-of-control thug.
No, no bet.
You’ll know next year. Will the RNC provide ted with any support? Will his donors still be with him? Will a primary opponent appear with support and money?
I don’t know the answers, but killing a conservative senator from Texas is not what I want. An alternative conservative senator would be just fine.
No need for ted to continue making enemies however. This is politics and that is what he did. Ego. Ego did him in. It would have been so easy to just sit the convention speaking out, or simply say the choice is clear between the R nominee and a crooked witch. Christian Ted cannot forgive and his ego made him think he could create a positive for himself. He failed. How high will the price be? Look around.
Dark? What will they call four days of the Democrats calling Trump the new Hitler and Republicans a bunch of racist fascists?
“Change and Hope”?
(See what I did there?)
…but I thought plagiarism is bad?
So, is it, or isn’t it? I get so confused…
Plagiarism is terrible, awful, the worst! (When Trump’s wife does. Lawrence Tribe, Doris Goodwin and Fareed Zakaria? Not so much.)
Clarence Page at the Chicago Tribune got the memo from Journolist:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/page/ct-trump-speech-dark-side-page-perspec-0724-md-20160722-story.html
“Darkness”.
Liberals are getting pushed back into the twilight zone and they don’t like what they created. The projections of darkness come from the innermost recesses of their conscience.
Democrats response – the only thing we have to fear is freedom itself.
Steve Deace @SteveDeaceShow
Must say I am shocked to see millions fewer people watched Trump’s acceptance speech than McCain’s. Would’ve never predicted that.
1:14 PM – 22 Jul 2016
112 112 Retweets
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Huh. That hasn’t been reported by Hannity…
I left this until I could check out the “rest of the story”…
Might be true, might not. This is data from neilsen ratings only. Trumps neilsen rating is higher than Romney, lower than McCain.
However, the neilsen ratings do not include c-span or internet viewing. This would be true of McCains speech as well of course. OTOH, 2016 probably has more viewers watching via those two outlets than in 2008. Plus youtube.
It is not determinable who had the largest number of viewers.
So, the “story” leaves out the truth.
They did not count the millions like me who watched on CSPAN and streaming video to avoid having to listen to the Talking Heads talk over and cut out the speakers they deemed not worthy of coverage, like the Benghazi families and survivors.
I watched gavel to gavel and never once turned on a network or cable news channel
I may have watched 20%, but when I watched, I watched on c-span or online for the reason you stated. My wife watched much more, maybe all, and all on c-span.
I looked briefly before I posted and cannot find any numbers rating c-spans viewer numbers, so it is undetermined. And online is not measureable either.
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2016/07/22/trump-melts-down-n2196375
Apparently Ivanka and Pence can’t keep him from raving.
Puuuurrrrr, puuuuuurrr adolescent girl Donelle T-wamp!
I’m still amazed at how all of these media outlets and the DNC all settle on the same dark interpretation of any Republican’s words. It’s like they all work for the same… Oh, yeah. They do.
It might be. I could be. It is! Holy Cow!
I see it now within the neon orange glow of Trump!
The rise of Trumphalism is a delayed reaction by a tribe of insecure males and those women who need insecure males. Trumphalism is a reaction to Clenched Hand Feminism and not much more.
Why look at Trump’s opponent Hillary. She is running on a “I am a Women” ticket. She has no credibility and yet she has stirred the sleeping gonads of millions into action!
Why look at the new found barbarism in the Trump ranks! it all makes sense now!
Jennifer…are you normally crazy?
Trump 2016
By November her head will explode. As an alternative, the men with the white jackets may visit first.
Why does Donelle T-wamp feel he/she needs to lie and attack Ted Cruz AFTER he/she accepted the nomination the night before?
This reveals…again…some deep (dare I say “dark”!) pathologies.
https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2016/07/levin-memo-to-trump-the-primary-is-over-youre-running-against-hillary
So much simply bizarre lying. Why?
Why do you feel a need to act like a 5th grader?
Attacking me makes any one of Donelle T-wamp’s lies true, just how?
T-rump sucking cultist.
Rags doesn’t need a reason to act like a 5th grader. It is his natural condition.
In this particular case however Rags is angry at the USA for not agreeing with his opinion about Cruz. Therefore like a good 5th grader he seeks to punish America for its disloyalty to him. In his mind the best way to punish America for having the temerity to not do what Rags wanted is to help elect Hillary president. Her destruction of the country, constitution, and supreme court is his ultimate desire because to him that is the punishment America deserves.
Its like a small child that wants to punish his parents for not getting him the toy he wanted by thinking “I’ll just burn the house down. That will show them”. Fortunately for most parents it never goes past the thinking stage. Rags is the exception. Rags is fully committed to doing everything he can to help elect Hillary Clinton. “That will show them”.
You’re just another lil’ bung-sucking T-wramp cultist.
Lying about me doesn’t answer the questions I posed (above) you little sack of shit.
Does it?
Instead of lying…some more…try answering the questions about your little yellow god’s acting like a mean little junior high bitch. Which he has on numerous occasions.
Or don’t, and show you can’t. I’m good either way.
https://pjmedia.com/trending/2016/07/22/trump-campaign-releases-mike-pence-hostage-video/
Poor Mike Pence…
I read an interesting twist on this Trump has a “dark” vision of America (imagine if the right used that term . . . RAAACISTS!). The left, starting with Hillary, is now doing what they do best: projecting their own vision for America, one they know is anathema to Americans, onto Trump.
She’s claiming that Trump implies (and he does, by the way) that Americans are “helpless” and need a single person to “rescue” the American people and our country. That, of course, is the entire premise of the progressive agenda (remember “Julia”?), but she knows that when presented factually, it is loathed by Americans . . . so she notes that Trump believes this (and he does).
Although Trump does indeed believe this and did indeed reveal this in his speech and does in his campaign speeches, Hillary’s cynical use of what she knows to be a bipartisan progressive view of Americans and of America is galling.
“(and he does, by the way)”
Fuzzy, this is what happens when you get your information from anti-trump websites instead of listening to what trump says, and has said repeatedly over his entire career.
Trump has repeatedly made the case for the greatness of Americans. Nothing about being helpless is implied. What he has said, and is true, is the uniparty has created a rigged system that harms the American people. That system is broken and must be fixed.
Barry, you may think little of me, but surely, even you cannot believe that I “steal” my ideas or get them from “anti-Trump websites.” That’s just a ludicrous comment. One of the things that you can count on is that I am a free-thinker, and I don’t care what anyone says about anything. Heck, Cruz could whole-heartedly endorse Trump tomorrow, and I would remain, firmly, #NeverTrump.
That aside, Trump’s RNC acceptance speech was full of ways that America needs to be “saved” by his presidency. He’s said this all along; heck, that’s his appeal to his most rabid base. Look, Trump has made it crystal clear all along that he is going to put his great ideas for creating jobs via better trade agreements, rebuilding America’s infrastructure (shovel-ready jobs, anyone?), forcing American companies to stay in the U.S., and assorted Trump fantasy job-creating projects. The bottom line is always the same: in Trump’s mind, the GOVERNMENT creates jobs. Listen to him, take off your furry orange Trump earmuffs and listen. Government–HIS government–has the answers to everything from student loans and the LGBTQ community to “being a champion for the people.” Are you freaking kidding me? America doesn’t need a champion; WE, the people are the champions. Government needs to get out of our way and stop crushing us with taxes and entitlements and disastrous regulations.
One of my enormous pet peeves about the left is their insistence that they will “Fight” for Americans. Seriously? Fight for us? Against whom? The political elite (i.e. themselves), that’s who. It’s illogical on its face. Get. Out. Of. Our. Way. And yes, that goes for Trump, too, who is all fired up about how he’ll “fix” education and health care from the top down. I don’t want a president who “fights” for me or sees him or herself as be “my champion,” the very idea makes my skin crawl.
Trump has been part of the system you say needs to be fixed for decades. He’s part of the problem. He brags about his power and influence in state and federal government as a powerful and moneyed mover and shaker. You do not, under any circumstances, put the recipient of government corruption and favors in the White House. Well, maybe you do. I will not have a part in that.
There is no evidence Trump a private citizen EVER been the recipient of government corruption. None ! You are a liar.
There is tons of evidence that Hillary has personally received 100s of millions in government corruption.
It is a binary choice. Hillary or Trump between those two which has been the recipient of government corruption. The choice is abundantly clear except to those who are willfully blind. You support Hillary plain and simple. You like Rags want to see Hillary elected and you act accordingly.
You clearly have no idea what you are talking about, but you are new to LI, and I can make allowances.
No evidence? How about this: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/08/19/donald-trumps-abuse-of-eminent-domain/
Or how about his own words in which he states, clearly and precisely, that he buys politicians: https://youtu.be/e4tHW9_bb08
But hey, don’t let the facts get in the way of your Trump cult worship.
It is not corruption to make a legal contribution to a politician plus Trump as the payor of the contribution is NOT the RECIPIENT.
Legal use of eminent domain is NOT corruption.
Hillary has received at least 150 million in bribe money often to sell out USA interests.
There is a binary choice. Hillary or Trump.
I’ve been here long enough to know that you suffer from TDS and knowing what your talking about or even knowing yourself isn’t applicable to your writing.
Donald Trump correctly believes that out of the 4 persons running for President he is the only one who can save the country from Hillary and the progressives. That he is the only one of those four with the vision, energy, determination and leadership skills who can accomplish the change the country so desperately needs. He expressed this in his acceptance speech. He is correct.
Naturally Hillary supporters twist this into the LIE that Trump believes he is the only one in the world who can do what he can do. He absolutely is the only one running for President who can save us from Hillary and the dems AND from the nation building interventionist globalist Bush neocon GOPe. He absolutely is the only one running who will never cave to the dems, GOPe and globalist mega donors.
http://www.newsmax.com/politics/trump-donors-ryan-mcconnell/2016/06/01/id/731691/
Such a dupe! The GOPe don’t really have to co-opt Mr. Establishment. He comes pre-co-opted. It’s just who he’s been all his long, lying, corrupt, crony life.
Watch and see, moron. He LUUUUUUURVES Priebus and the boys from the Beltway. He calls Priebus “Mr. Switzerland”, and that’s not because there’s a gun behind every rock.
He’s also signaled to the REST of the Collectivists that he can be “worked with”. That is who he is. It’s who he’s been. It’s who he will be in power.
If it’s dark outside, the rights assessment if it’s dark outside, the right thing to say is that it’s dark outside. You don’t say it’s a bright sunny day.
Idiots.