Trump as President and the Press
I’m not much of an historian, but given my limited knowledge, Donald Trump is unique as president of
the United States. Unique, alas, not in his sterling characteristics, but in
the multiple ways in which he is unpresidental.
This observation is hardly original, but serves as the introduction to the point I want to make. It is refreshing—though that’s not quite the word—that the press is so very frank about their views of Donald Trump. To put it succinctly, he is treated, day after day, by numerous writers, even in the sedate New York Times, with almost brutal frankness, stressing his unpresidential actions and pronouncements.
In short, Trump’s unpresidential behavior has also led commentators to
abandon the conventional deference to the highest American officer. Leadership
can pull you up; but it can also pull you down. The mid-term elections will
show whether Trumpism, supported by Republican whimpishness, is the country’s
future or whether we return to boring bi-partisan conventions.
This observation is hardly original, but serves as the introduction to the point I want to make. It is refreshing—though that’s not quite the word—that the press is so very frank about their views of Donald Trump. To put it succinctly, he is treated, day after day, by numerous writers, even in the sedate New York Times, with almost brutal frankness, stressing his unpresidential actions and pronouncements.
That is the price of publicity: scorn, envy, criticism....
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