OPINION - Shields and Brooks 2/17/2017

"Shields and Brooks on Trump using the press as a punching bag, Michael Flynn's sacking" PBS NewsHour 2/17/2017

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week's news, including President Trump's contentious press conference, National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's resignation, as well as the continued scrutiny over other potential contacts with Russia and more.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Now to the analysis of Shields and Brooks.  That is syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks.

Welcome, gentlemen.

David, to you first.

That was quite a report from William Brangham, two towns in Texas, two groups of people, both sides of the political aisle.  What does it tell you about just how divided this country is?

DAVID BROOKS, New York Times:  Yes, welcome to life in America these days.

For those of us who have been traveling around, that's reality.  And two things strike me.  The first is, politics is based on social identity, and so, again, there is going to be differences between rural and urban and between left and right.

But what's at the core, why is the chasm so wide between the two, and why are the two universes almost non-overlapping?  It's like whether we're just in-group, out-group, or is there some cultural or ethnic or racial divide that's at the bottom of this?  It's very hard to figure out what unconsciously is making people so fervently in one universe or the other.

But whether it's an identity politics thing, or just we that like to form groups and we like to unify our group by hating some other group, that's the world we're in.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  And, Mark, they couldn't have been more divided than they were.

MARK SHIELDS, syndicated columnist:  They weren't.  They were characteristically Texan.  They were outspoken.  They didn't hide their allegiance or their enmities.

And I thought a particular act of fraternal love was disabling the FOX News Channel when his brother came to visit over Christmas, not exactly a loving act, it would seem, but something that he boasted about to William on national television.

POLITICS - 'Sean Spicer Press Conference' 2/4/2017

"Sean Spicer's SNL Press Conference Is Glorious" Crooks and Liars, 2/4/2017



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TRUMP NOT FILES - Trump vs Press

"Will the Trump administration keep its promises to the press?" PBS NewsHour 12/22/2016

ANSWER:  Of course NOT.  He's hasn't kept any of his campaign pommies yet, why would he start now?  I would not be surprised that Trumps 'press' will mostly be Tweets and the rest will be handled by his Propaganda Team (aka Department of Lies).  Trump believes ANYONE, especially the "extremely dishonest press," are liers (even when there is video evidence).

"There's a lot of different ways that things can be done, and I can assure you, we're looking at that." code for censorship, and no question asked.  Whitehouse press briefings will become campaign speeches.

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  During the campaign and after, President-elect Donald Trump voiced his distrust of the media and held the press at arms-length.  On Thursday, he announced his communications team, including RNC strategist Sean Spicer as press secretary.  Brian Stelter of CNN and Jeff Mason of Reuters join Judy Woodruff to discuss what to expect about press relations once the president-elect takes office.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  President-elect Donald Trump continued to round out his White House team today, tapping two of his key campaign advisers to senior West Wing positions.

She's been one of Donald Trump's most visible advisers since taking over as campaign manager last summer.  Today, the president-elect named Kellyanne Conway to be White House counselor.

He followed that with word that Sean Spicer will serve as White House Press Secretary.  Spicer had been communications director for the Republican National Committee for five years.  Last month, he moved over to become chief spokesman for the Trump transition.

Now, Spicer, along with Jason Miller and Hope Hicks, will handle relations with the news media, and that could be a tall order.

DONALD TRUMP (R), President-Elect:  The people back there, the extremely dishonest press.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  As candidate and president-elect, Mr.  Trump has called out reporters in general, and at times, by name, like NBC's Katy Tur.

DONALD TRUMP:  They're not reporting it.  Katy, you're not reporting it, Katy.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  Last month, he retweeted attacks on CNN's Jeff Zeleny, after the correspondent reported on Mr. Trump's unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.  And during the campaign, the Trump team at times barred The Washington Post, Univision, Politico, and BuzzFeed from its rallies.

Reince Priebus, the incoming chief of staff, is signaling changes could be ahead for the White House press corps.

REINCE PRIEBUS, Incoming White House Chief of Staff:  Even looking at things like the daily — you know, the daily White House briefing from the Press Secretary, I mean, there's a lot of different ways that things can be done, and I can assure you, we're looking at that.

TRUMP - Art of Distraction

"How Donald Trump uses distraction and surprise" PBS NewsHour 11/21/2016

HINT:  Trump can't stand the heat of a news conference, he doesn't want his policies questioned.

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  As Donald Trump chooses members of his upcoming administration and begins to outline his plan for once he takes office, Judy Woodruff speaks with Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report and NPR's Tamara Keith about his avoidance of press conferences, his penchant for unpredictability and his first staff picks.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Time for Politics Monday.

I'm joined by Tamara Keith of NPR and Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report.

And welcome to both of you.

AMY WALTER, The Cook Political Report:  Thank you.

TAMARA KEITH, NPR:  Thank you.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  So, we just a few minutes ago saw this video the Trump transition team released, telling us what Donald Trump plans to do in the first — in the early part of his administration after he's inaugurated.

He talked about trade.  He talked about energy and investigating people who abuse their visas, trying to make sure people aren't here taking jobs away from Americans.

Amy, this is unusual, isn't it?  I mean, the election is almost two weeks ago.  He has not had a news conference yet.  He's done some tweeting.  We have seen him greeting people coming to Trump Tower, and now this.

AMY WALTER:  And now a video, where, obviously, you cannot do questions and answers.

The only thing he — interestingly he said in the video is the things he was going to do by executive order, not things that he would — here is what I'm going to work on with Congress in my first three days.  Here are the things that I'm going to do as President.

And, again, each President has come in with the ability for executive orders to roll back the previous administration's executive orders, right, because they're not a rule of law in the same way as if they were passed by Congress.

That said, to your other point about this being unusual, we have to stop treating Donald Trump like this is just a traditional, normal, political candidate who's now going to be a traditional, normal President.

The fact that he did tweet out this weekend, get in something of a fight with the cast of “Hamilton,” as well as the cast of “Saturday Night Live,” this now as president-elect, not just as a candidate, the fact that he's just using video, instead of having an actual press conference, so the role that Donald Trump carved out as a candidate is the same role that he's going to play as President.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  What does it tell us, Tam, about how he relates to the public and to the news media?

TAMARA KEITH:  Yes.  So, he hasn't held a press conference since July.

This goes way, way, way back to the campaign.  And he has not related to the press or the public in a traditional way ever.  And he's had an incredible skill at distracting, at creating — there was this movie “Up” and there was a dog who gets distracted, and, squirrel, squirrel.

That's what happens.  Every time there is a story that is not favorable to him, like settling the Trump University lawsuit for $25 million, suddenly, there is a Twitter fight.

Meanwhile, he has skillfully avoided sort of the type of environment that a press conference creates, the environment where you get asked a question, and then somebody else asks a question, then somebody else asks a question, it builds on it, and you really can't escape.

And so there is nothing like a press conference.  And his transition team is saying, well, you know, don't tell him what's traditional and what is conventional.  This is Donald Trump.

RUSSIA - Putin's Foreign Press Conference

More lies and spin from (in reality) a dictator.  'Me thinks he protests too much.'

"Putin expresses dismay toward West in meeting with foreign journalists" PBS NewsHour 5/24/2014

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  For more we’re joined via Google Plus from St. Petersburg by Paul Ingrassia, managing editor for the Reuters News Service.  He and a group of foreign journalists met today with Russian President Putin.  So, it was a very small audience, what are the headlines from this meeting?

PAUL INGRASSIA, Reuters:  Well, you know, it was an interesting meeting.  It was three hours.  And I think what really became clear during the whole meeting was that, you know, President Putin feels a real sense of aggrievement by the west.  And especially, I would say by the United States, you know, for not taking into account what he regards as Russia’s needs, Russia’s security interests, etc.  He said he does not want the resumption of a Cold War.  He said he does not want to recreate the former U.S.S.R., or anything like that.

But he also clearly feels that Russia’s entitled to the respect of his interests as he sees them from western countries.  He was, you know, clearly more oriented toward Europe and the European Union, reaching out to there more than to the United States.  At one point he was asked do you talk very often with President Obama and the answer, he sort of shrugged, and said, well, we talk occasionally, but I have to leave now, so I’m going to talk to Mr. Hollande and Mrs. Merkel.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  Everybody has got to have probably been asking him about the election coming up tomorrow and what that does for Russia and the troops that are right along the Ukrainian border.

PAUL INGRASSIA:  Yeah, he did say he would honor, respect the wishes of the Ukrainian people, but it wasn’t quite as simple as an answer, if you will, Hari.  What he did say was he’ll respect the results of the election, the decision of the Ukrainian people, but he thinks they’re doing it all wrong.  He said several times there was a coup d’état in Ukraine, and it’s basically an unlawful government.  He said he’s offered to have mediation with Ukraine, and that he’s been rebuffed about that.

You know, he maintained time and again, of course, that Crimea voted freely and independently to join Russia, and therefore, you know, the right to self-determination should be respected.  He said he believed that really the replacement, the deposement really of President Yanukovych of Ukraine was something that was outside of the bounds of law, and he’s the lawful president of the country.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  All right, was there anything that surprised you about the meeting?

PAUL INGRASSIA:  Well, I think, what did surprise me, honestly, was the intensity, if you will, of his feeling of aggrievement.  He really seems to feel that the west sort of willfully ignored Russia and relegated Russia to more of a second-class status over the last 20 years, and he thinks Russia’s legitimate interests were ignored.  And as he put it, we had no choice but to take decisive action to prevent independent Ukraine from joining NATO.  Just the depth of his feeling, about this aggrieved sentiment, was sort of surprising, actually.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  All right, Paul Ingrassia of Reuters News Service joining us from St. Petersburg via Google Plus, thanks so much.

PAUL INGRASSIA:  Okay, thank you.