Donald
Trump has been the center in a powerhouse called "Fake News" ever
since he started his election campaign. Whether he wishes to be the center or
not, many illegitimate news sources create articles, fabricate stories, and
spread out-and-out lies with his name in the headline, just to make a buck or
to stir the public. So far, some of the news stories have worked. But what
happens when Trump is the one creating fake facts (alternative facts?)
According to
alternet.com, Donald Trump became the “voice among the Birthers, a group of
racists and Islamophobes desperate for any reason to delegitimize the first
black president.” This was an easy role for him to settle into because most
Birthers seem to be white men, and Donald Trump fit that label. Not to mention
he is wealthy (which leads to an image of power and knowledge) as well as persuasive
to some people.
Trump was known to
have bouts of rage and a need to vent his thoughts onto twitter. On August 6,
2012, Trump tweeted, “An ‘extremely credible source’ has called my office and
told me that @BarackObama’s birth certificate is a fraud.” This may have been
the start of his then ongoing thoughts about Obama not being a legitimate U.S.
citizen. Another common topic Trump would talk about is that Obama “fabricated”
his experience at Columbia University.
Now as Trump is
president, this particular time in his life may be working against him. He was
forced to resign commenting for the Birthers during the election, but that
didn’t stop people from asking about it. And what did Mr. Trump do? Put all of
the blame on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. In an article by The
Washington Post, they quoted Trump saying, “Hillary Clinton and her campaign of
2008 started the Birther controversy. I finished it. I finished it. You know
what I mean.” He then finished this quote by stating clearly that former
President Barack Obama was indeed born in the U.S.
While Trump is
constantly asking for honest news, it’s interesting that he would generate fake
news of his own. The problem in this is more than just Trump going back on his
own words, but rather what it means for minorities in America. Sure, nobody is
truly going to believe that Clinton started all of this Birther noise (though some
may in their blind hatred for her). But now that Trump is president, what does
this mean for Muslims? African Americans? Just to name two minorities.
Trump is proving
himself to be a force to be reckoned with, turning back nearly every policy
that Obama set in place. Add this claim that Clinton was the one supporting
Birthers and it gets to be a bit terrifying. If Trump has this many supporters
and this much power, will he create fake news again? Will the general public believe him?
Let’s go back to what it means for minorities. He could create fake news for
his own agenda; fake military information on Islamic countries, stage fights/conflict in notoriously African American cities, show inaccurate
data on rapes executed by Hispanics (because he thinks all Mexicans are
rapists).
Trump is a force to
be feared, because of what we in the public have seen in his past with the
Birthers, as well as his current state of throwing his doings onto others who
are blameless in that context. What other fake news will he present to the
world?
Good start here.
ReplyDeleteInteresting how you describe the current president as a "force to be feared;" as he might just agree with that assessment. You do a nice job reviewing some of the rumors that Mr. Trump has associated himself with - most notably the whole "birther" movement. It is important to recognize that he has, although without much fanfare, publicly stated that President Obama is a real citizen. The Clinton connection, by the way, was a reference to Mark Penn - HRC's campaign chair from 2008 - who appeared to hedge on a question regarding then-Senator Obama's qualifications to be president. The Internet community picked up on his comments quickly, and the birther movement was born. Mr. Trump was simply one of the highest-profile individuals to have involved himself.
It can be dizzying to try to keep track of the way the press covers Mr. Trump. One of the most insightful ways of looking at this relationship was written by Pittsburgh-based columnist Selena Zito - who suggested that the adversarial press takes Mr. Trump "literally, but not seriously;" while his supporters take him "seriously, but not literally." This smallish distinction really seems to explain a great deal about Mr. Trump's success and the frustration expressed by the mainstream media.
Be careful of suggesting that everything Trump says is factually suspect. Consider the idea of the "shiny object" that Trump seems able to drop in the path of the media at a moment's notice - sucking all the oxygen away from whatever else is being discussed. It happens so often that one might wonder if it is a deliberate tactic on the part of this president.
Good start here - but still quite broad. Let me know how I can help!