My notes:
1.) I know nothing about Alexander Acosta who is President Trump’s new nominee for Labor Secretary.
2.) Rasmussen’s Daily Tracking Poll has President Trump with a 55% approval rating.
3.) President Trump calls out the NYC-DC-LA fake news Lügenpresse. He says they serve special interests.
4.) President Trump says we have to talk about the dishonest Lügenpresse. It is an “entrenched power structure.” It distorts the truth in order to propagate the Narrative.
“Many of our nation’s reporters will not tell you the truth,” Trump said.
“The press honestly is out of control,” Trump said.
“The level of dishonesty is out of control,” Trump said.
5.) President Trump says “I inherited a mess” at home and abroad.
6.) President Trump recounts the accomplishments of the last month.
7.) President Trump reminds the people he is keeping his promises. He contrasts his faithfulness to voters with dishonest politicians. The Lügenpresse is unhappy with these policy changes: killing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, extreme vetting in the refugee program, the Wall, etc.
8.) President Trump points out that federal judges are preventing him from defending the country.
9.) Dems are obstructing Senate confirmation hearings of Cabinet picks.
10.) President Trump takes credit for persuading American corporations to keep so many jobs in the United States. It was his hands on leadership that made this possible.
11.) President Trump fulfilled his promise to appoint a strong conservative to the Supreme Court.
12.) President Trump is holding a rally in Melbourne, Florida.
13.) The Lügenpresse has concocted the fake news Russia narrative in order scapegoat Russia for Hillary’s loss.
14.) Private conversations are being illegally leaked to the Lügenpresse. They should be ashamed of themselves for publishing classified information.
15.) President Trump says the failing New York Times published a discredited front page story.
16.) President Trump says The Wall Street Journal published a disgraceful story today. They also published a ridiculous story on PewDiePie.
17.) The Justice Department is now investigating the criminal leaks.
18.) President Trump: “So much of the news is fake …” “I don’t mind bad stories” as long as they are true. There is “so much anger and hatred on CNN.”
19.) President Trump says CNN “has a lower approval rating than Congress.”
20.) Wikileaks didn’t publish classified material from the DNC or John Podesta’s emails.
21.) President Trump says the tone of the Lügenpresse is “such hatred.” The panels on CNN are almost exclusively “anti-Trump” and full of “hatred and venom.”
22.) President Trump predicts the Lügenpresse will distort the news conference. That’s what they do.
23.) President Trump downgrades CNN from “fake news” to “very fake news.”
24.) President Trump says “the public doesn’t believe you anymore.”
25.) President Trump says Reince spends all of his time responding to fake news narratives. He would rather be doing other things.
26.) President Trump: “It would be great if we could get along with Russia.” “The false horrible fake reporting makes it much harder to make a deal with Russia.” “That’s a shame.” “It is a good thing to have a positive relationship with Russia, not a bad thing.”
27.) President Trump: “I’m the least anti-Semitic person … least racist person.” He calls it a “very insulting question.”
This not a laughing matter. I'm sorry, delegitimizing the press is unAmerican
— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) February 16, 2017
Press bashing may feel good to folks but when it's done by people in power, it's corrosive. Take off your partisan hats for a second
— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) February 16, 2017
Trump was right to point out to Jon Sopel, the BBC’s North American editor “You’re just like CNN.” I assume he meant the BBC were purveyors of Fake News. Quite true. The BBC hit back on their flagship
evening news programme NewsNight on Thursday http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08fqyzp/newsnight-16022017 The BBC’s reporting on Trump has been ludicrously biased for the last year.
Evan Davies opened the programme by asking “Is the President on the verge of a nervous breakdown?” He went on to describe Trump’s comments as “paranoid” and “meandering”. This was rapidly followed by an interview with Brian Stelter from CNN who obviously criticised Trump in every way possible. Then “for
balance” Davies interviewed Sebastian Gorka, Trump’s deputy assistant. Davies started by asking him if the President was “a bit unhinged”. To his great credit Gorka put up a tremendous fight but he had not been dealt much of a hand. A lot was made of Trump’s mistake about the size of his Electoral College win in comparison with recent wins by other Presidents. Trump was just wrong about this but Davies persisted in wanting to know WHY he got this wrong.
It’s ironic that Davies suggested that Trump has mental health problems when many people would say that Davies himself is very peculiar, based simply on his appearance.
I think Trump should drop these press conferences or make them a rare event. He’s not in his element and you can’t really ad lib. I don’t think his memory is particularly good. Virtually ALL the press will attack him and most are adept interrogators. He’s right that they will lie and cheat but it doesn’t look that way
to the cameras.
The BBC’s position makes it clear that it has links to the US Deep State and it is prepared to be fairly blatant about it. Trump needs to conserve his energy rather than wasting it arguing with wolves in the Press who will NEVER give him a fair hearing. It looks like the Deep State will be arguing that Trump is nuts and that this has made him oblivious to the terrifying threat from Putin, or that he is actually an asset, therefore he should be impeached. They are also applying pressure in every imaginable way, including the appalling political, personal and commercial attacks on members of his family.
Trump needs a quick win. Something that shows his Presidency’s more open
attitude to Russia can bring practical benefits. He should ask
Tillerson to start talks with Lavrov about ways to reduce the US/Russian
cyberwar. Specifically they should start talks on finding ways to
reduce cyber attacks on businesses (either State or private) that
emanate from their territories. The basic agreement would look something
like “We won’t hack your businesses if you don’t hack ours.” This would
have to be overseen by the American/Russian Joint Cybercrime Prevention
Commission (or something). US-into-RU attempted hacks would be handed
to the US side to investigate, prosecute and eliminate while RU-into-US
attempts would be handled by the Russian side. There should also be some
sharing of tracking and anti-hacking technology. Does this sound plausible?
Nicely done Hunter. No mention of DACA? Problematical issue.