BRYCE ON THE MEDIA
– People hear only what the media wants them to hear; take the Trump interview for example.
(Click for AUDIO VERSION)
To use this segment in a Radio broadcast or Podcast, send TIM a request.
I have always marveled at the power of the press and how they can manipulate public opinion (or is it spin?). People hear only what the media wants them to hear. To illustrate, I’ll use Donald Trump’s recent interview at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa on July 18th. You know, the one that allegedly cast aspersions against Senator John McCain.
First, let’s be honest, did you hear the nine second sound bite the press used, or did you listen to the full interview? Click HERE for the full interview. Most people have only heard the short sound bite and are unaware of what was truly said. Instead, they relied on the media’s interpretation of the interview with the inflammatory remarks.
Here is the media’s nine second sound bite –
TRUMP: “He (McCain) is not a war hero…”
INTERVIEWER: “He’s a war hero. Five and a half years in a POW camp…”
TRUMP: “He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured, okay?”
Now let’s compare it to the full version with the section referring to John McCain (3:24) –
INTERVIEWER: “…but referring to people as rapists; referring to John McCain, a war hero, five and a half years as a POW, you call him a dummy. Is that appropriate in running for president?”
TRUMP: “You’ve got to let me speak though Frank as you interrupt all the time. So, No, I know him too well, that’s the problem. Let’s take John McCain. I’m in Phoenix. We have a meeting that is going to have 500 people at the Biltmore Hotel. We get a call from the hotel, it’s turmoil. Thousands and thousands of people are showing up, three or four days before. They’re pitching tents on the hotel grass. The hotel says we can’t handle this because it’s going to destroy the hotel. We move it to the convention center. We have 15,000 people, the biggest one ever, bigger than Bernie Sanders, 15,000 people showed up to hear me speak, bigger than anybody, and everybody knows it. A beautiful day with incredible people that were wonderful, great Americans, I will tell you. John McCain goes, ‘Oh boy, Trump makes my life difficult, he had 15,000 crazies show up.’ Crazies; he calls them all crazy. I said they weren’t crazy, they were great Americans, these people, if you were to see these people, you…; I know what crazy is, I know all about crazies, these weren’t crazies. So, he insulted me and he insulted everybody in that room, and I said, somebody should run against John McCain who has been, you know, in my opinion, not so hot, and I supported him, I supported him for president. I raised a million dollars for him, it’s a lot of money; I supported him, he lost and let us down. But, you know, he lost. So, I never liked him as much after that because I don’t like losers. But Frank, let me get to it…”
INTERVIEWER: “But he is a war hero; he’s a war hero…”
TRUMP: “He is not a war hero…”
INTERVIEWER: “He’s a war hero. Five and a half years in a POW camp…”
TRUMP: “He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured, okay? I hate to tell you. Do you agree with that?”
INTERVIEWER: “He is a war hero…”
TRUMP: “…because he was captured. Okay? Perhaps he is a war hero, but right now he has said some very bad things about a lot of people. So what I said is, John McCain I disagree with him that these people are crazy, and very importantly, and I speak the truth, he graduated last in his class at Annapolis. So I said, nobody knows that, I said he graduated last or second to last, he graduated last in his class at Annapolis, and he was upset. I said, Why? For telling the truth? See, you’re not supposed to say that somebody graduated last or second to last in their class, because you’re suppose to be like Frank says, very nice. Folks, I want to make America great again; we want to get down to brass tacks. We don’t want to listen to his stuff with being politically correct, and everything…, we have a lot of work to do. Frank, the other day Hillary Clinton got up, and she said ‘I didn’t like Mr. Trump’s tone.’ We have people, Christians, having their heads cut off in the Middle East. We have people dying all over the border, that’s where I was right, 100% right. We have all this like Medieval times and she said, ‘I didn’t like his tone.’ And you know who else said this? Jeb Bush, ‘I didn’t like his tone.’ What does it have to do with tone? We want results; this group wants results, they don’t want tone.”
So what did we learn from the full interview? First, Trump had a positive relationship with McCain in the past, even going so far as to donate $1,000,000 to McCain’s presidential campaign in 2008. Second, the relationship soured when McCain made the “crazies” comment. Third, Trump made a flippant comment about McCain as a war hero. If you listen to the audio section carefully, you realize Trump was trying to be entertaining as he had through most of the interview. None of this came through the nine second sound bite, which was the effect the media was hoping to achieve. Trump may not be the most articulate speaker, but as a businessman he wants results and the audience reacted positively in this regard. Bottom-line, this incident was much ado about nothing, and the media turned it into something to suit their needs. I’m not sure who owes who an apology, but I suspect it is the liberal press to American voters.
The liberal media has a love/hate relationship with Donald Trump. Because they are working for the Democrats, they certainly do not want him as president, but they love him for increasing their viewership. Think about it, without Trump there would be little to talk about regarding the Republican presidential race. Trump is even overpowering Mrs. Clinton’s public image, as well as the rest of the Democrats. He has single-handedly preempted their exposure as candidates. Any attempt by the other GOP candidates to criticize Trump is a desperate attempt to ride his coattails for publicity. This all makes for great political theater. No wonder Trump’s standings in the polls keep rising.
If Trump’s tactics of no-nonsense straight-talking succeeds, he will change the dynamics of political campaigning. Frankly, he has a chance as people are tired of political correctness and desperately want leadership and results.
One last note about the Ames, Iowa interview; did you know Trump received a standing ovation for his remarks? No, I didn’t think so; the press didn’t want you to know about it. Nor do they want you to know the truth about a lot of things. As we should all know by now, whoever controls the information, controls public opinion.
Keep the Faith!
Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.
Tim Bryce is a writer and the Managing Director of M&JB Investment Company (M&JB) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at [email protected]
For Tim’s columns, see: timbryce.com
Like the article? TELL A FRIEND.
Copyright © 2015 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.
NEXT UP: WHY THE LEFT HATES DONALD TRUMP – And, No, it has nothing to do with his hair.
LAST TIME: THE USDA’S SYSTEM SNAFU – Another example of government waste and incompetence in building systems.
Listen to Tim on WJTN-AM (News Talk 1240) “The Town Square” with host John Siggins (Mon, Wed, Fri, 12:30-3:00pm Eastern); WZIG-FM (104.1) in Palm Harbor,FL; and KIT-AM 1280 in Yakima, Washington “The Morning News” with hosts Dave Ettl & Lance Tormey (weekdays. 6:00-9:00am Pacific). Or tune-in to Tim’s channel on YouTube.