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He’s the master of insults,” says our in-studio guest Salim Mansur, “and that is a good thing.” US President Donald Trump has pioneered the social media of Twitter in a way that resembles “the Haiku of American politics,” notes Salim. He predicts that in the future we should not be surprised at the emergence of “a serous and academic discussion on tweeting.”
No doubt, Donald Trump would have to be the primary subject of that serious and academic discussion. Trump has successfully taken control of the “news reports” surrounding his presidency by mastering the art of tweeting, and in so doing, has amassed a following on Twitter that dwarfs that of the “established” media news outlets.
What have been called “outbursts” and “undignified comments” etc., penned by Trump’s tweets, are, upon closer examination, very calculated and effective methods of communicating with the public at large. Once again, Trump towers above his media opponents in every respect – from being effective at getting his message across, to the size of the audience following him on Twitter. It is an unprecedented revolution.
But that’s only half the story. As repeated experience has been demonstrating, it turns out that it is Trump, and not the media, who appears to be the guy who’s telling it like it is to the American public.
It’s also clear that if left up to the so-called “establishment media,” members of the public would never have a means of discovering anything about what president Donald Trump has been doing and actually accomplishing since taking office.
Fortunately, emerging and growing numbers of alternate sources of insight and perspective – including real news outlets – have become accessible to the public. Increasingly being seen as less and less credible, the establishment media has been striking out against Trump in an irrational frenzy that even further implicates that media in a conscious act of fraud.
In this context, the dictionary defines being “right” as being “conformable to truth or fact” – which can only be objectively tested against a metaphysics of reality and an epistemology of reason.
No reasonable person expects any single news media outlet to be “perfect” or even to present “balanced” coverage. To establish and maintain a level of credibility and trust, one must consistently be dedicated not only to an accurate reporting of the facts that are relevant, but to the pursuit of truth beyond the mere facts. That’s what makes the story. And that’s what makes it Just Right.
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