President Trump has entered the eye of the storm. After a raucous first month of media blowback against his policies as commander-in-chief, Saturday Night Live has gone on a two-week break. The relentless Trump-attack vehicle has portrayed the President as a petulant toddler, his press secretary as a deranged lunatic and his chief strategist as the devil incarnate. The late-night comedy sketch TV show, which informs way more voters than it should, will do Trump no harm—at least until it returns on March 4.
If the show’s recent content is any indication, “March [will come] in like a lion,” flush with even more satire targeting the Trump administration. March will surely “[go] out” like a lion, too.
As humorous as the SNL sketches are, one cannot deny that they assume an overt political bias, which has the effect of misinforming the general populace. For this reason, Trump referred to the media, which includes SNL and many other outlets, as the “enemy of the American people.” Naturally, such a statement was delivered by the leader of the free world in 140 characters or less.
The tweet was made following a press conference last Thursday in which Trump bashed the media for their hypercritical coverage of his administration. The message Trump conveyed about the biased and misleading light shed upon him by the mainstream media was generally true; however from the opening statement to the concluding tweet, Trump’s speech was replete with missteps that open the door for media critique. Characteristic of any Trump address is a poorly worded conjecture that fills the headlines the following day.
In the past week alone, Trump stated that anyone who opposes the president is an “enemy of the American people,” fabricated a terror attack in Sweden to promote his narrative on refugee policy and neglected to condemn anti-Semitism when prompted by a reporter to do so. As to be expected, the media jumped on these missteps every time. Trump is justified when he calls out the media for their unfair treatment of his presidency; however, he shares in the blame. Trump’s lack of preparedness and cavalier attitude towards public appearance has put him in countless compromising positions.
If Trump really wishes to get across the points he is trying to make, he must plan out what he is going to say. He must write his speeches/tweets/responses with intention and discipline. For Trump, the enemy of his enemy is (his) pen.
If Trump takes the time to correctly word his message, then the media will have a more difficult time distorting his words and their inherent bias will become more apparent. For each of his aforementioned missteps in the past week, Trump has had to make amends because the media has been justified in their interpretations of his half-baked remarks. When Trump returns to the podium/camera/keyboard of his iPhone, he typically succeeds in correcting his previous statements, but the damage is already done. By that time, a plethora of articles making reasonable negative inferences about the words of the president have been published, read and shared. Trump needs to hold himself to a higher standard or he will continue to allow the media to paint whatever picture of him it likes. Trump must not give the media a blank canvas; he must be as explicit as possible, which requires foresight and planning.
Conversely, the “enemy of the American people”—the media—is aware of what Trump has not yet learned. It comprehends the power of written word. Whether it appears in print or it is read from a teleprompter, word that is prepared beforehand is more effective than word which previously only existed within the confines of one’s mind. Articles published by Trump-condemned outlets, such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, and words spoken on set by other such enemies of the state, like CNN and NBCNews, go through an extreme vetting process (of drafting and editing) before they may ever be read aloud. Adversaries cannot tenably construe these words to misrepresent the authors’ intentions and, as such, their messages remain clear and powerful.
Trump must take a page out of his “enemy’s” book, or at the very least look to history. His presidency has lasted only one month, and yet it seems like he has faced more media scrutiny than most presidents face in a four-year term. Much of the media attention is certainly due to the highly-polarized electorate, the advent of social media and Trump’s specific policies, but a lot of it also results from the fact that Trump improvises for a lot of his public interactions, which is unprecedented for a politician.
Should Trump follow in the footsteps of every politician before him, he will be significantly less susceptible to media attacks, especially since Americans’ trust in the media has reached an all-time low. However, should Trump continue to treat his interactions with the public lightly despite the gravity of his office, he will only augment Alec Baldwin’s fame.
Jacob Weiss is a Trinity junior. His column, “not jumping to any conclusions” runs on alternate Wednesdays.
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Jacob Weiss is a Trinity senior. His column, "not jumping to any conclusions," runs on alternate Fridays.