TRUMP VS. ANONYMOUS SOURCES

I neither supported nor voted for Donald Trump.  Yet media “reporting” of his campaign, his win and now the government team he is putting together has been so negative, so antithetical to what I consider journalism, that I find myself continually defending him.

Here, as pulled from a blog by “Sundance” at theconservativetreehouse.com, is the latest reason why:

♦ NBC: “A senior U.S. intelligence official with direct knowledge confirmed to NBC News that the report on Russian hacking delivered to President Obama Thursday says that U.S. intelligence picked up senior Russian officials celebrating Donald Trump’s win.

The source described the intelligence about the celebration, first reported by the Washington Post, as a minor part of the overall intelligence report, which makes the case that Russia intervened in the election”. (more)

♦ WaPo: “Senior officials in the Russian government celebrated Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton as a geopolitical win for Moscow, according to U.S. officials who said that American intelligence agencies intercepted communications in the aftermath of the election in which Russian officials congratulated themselves on the outcome (more)

“Sundance” (his actual name is Mark Bradman) compares this to the original “Russia hacked the election” claim by saying “the MSM takes a politically manipulated original intelligence claim and pushes a political media angle within a manufactured story of their own creation.”

Tell you what:  he’s not far off…if he’s off at all.

A lot of people (including one I sleep with) do not like the fact that Donald Trump (whom I have never slept with) is conducting so much business via pithy little tweets.

I agree with them in principle.

But, I must admit, part of me loves the fact that Mr. Trump’s tweets continually put media – the same media which have given him nothing but the back of their hand from jump street – on the defensive.

This reversal of fortune – i.e. it is usually media on the offensive/ putting others on the defensive – is clearly upsetting to these self-appointed demigods.

Good.

The last five major approve/disapprove polls on Donald Trump average out to a 47% approval rating.  Two of the last three are at/above the 50% mark.  Not very good per se, but dramatically better than his low-30’s performance of just a half year or so ago.

By contrast, the latest Gallup data show only 32% of the country have “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of trust for media.  That not only is significantly lower than Trump’s approval rating (media haven’t been as high as 47% in 9 years) but the long-term trend is decidedly downward:

Maybe Donald Trump is onto something here.  Maybe bypassing an untrustworthy media which hates his guts isn’t such a bad idea.

Of course, all of this may change dramatically when he is in the Oval office.

We’ll see….