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2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumMedia’s gift to Trump: Low expectations and, therefore, the ease with which to surpass them
http://www.salon.com/2016/07/16/medias_gift_to_trump_low_expectations_and_therefore_the_ease_with_which_to_surpass_them_partner/by Neal Gabler, at Bill Moyers.com
"SNIP...............
When Trump instead issued a restrained message, expressing a need for moderation, you would have thought he had assumed the mantle of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., although under the circumstances, this is precisely the kind of statement any normal politician would make.
These media responses are important because I believe they are harbingers of the coverage we are likely to get in the upcoming presidential campaign. The basic rule of media coverage of any personality, political or not, is that coverage always adapts to expectations even though the expectations are themselves, to some degree, media creations. That rule already benefits Trump since expectations for him are so low that he is more likely to exceed them, as he did after Dallas, or continue to play within them, in which case his egregious behavior and pronouncements cease to be news. Anti-Semitism? Well, to the media thats just another day in the Trump campaign, certainly not anything about which to hyperventilate.
Since most of us dont know public figures personally, just about everything we feel about them is based on their portrayals by the media. This is how personae are formed, through broad brushstrokes a few decisive characteristics, adjectives, behaviors and comments. Its what we mean when we say that Tom Hanks is a good guy, that George Clooney is civically engaged, that Caitlyn Jenner is brave, that Jennifer Garner is a loving mother or whatever image has hardened around the celebrity. This is big stuff PR firms are paid millions to purvey positive images of this sort.
....................
But this much is clear: Low expectations help more than high expectations do. By stringing two sentences together in a debate when there was some doubt as to whether he had mastered the English language, the media anointed George W. Bush the second coming of William Jennings Bryan. Just remember that when Trumps preposterous pronouncements and behavior are reported as just Trump being Trump, or as the media begin to adore him for not seeming to be as racist as he had purported to be, that is what we may be encountering in the 2016 election a media gift of low expectations to The Donald.
................SNIP"
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Media’s gift to Trump: Low expectations and, therefore, the ease with which to surpass them (Original Post)
applegrove
Jul 2016
OP
This is so true. Justin Trudeau did nothing to dissuade the growing belief he was
applegrove
Jul 2016
#1
applegrove
(118,927 posts)1. This is so true. Justin Trudeau did nothing to dissuade the growing belief he was
a lightweight and ran away with the election when it turned out he could think fine and feel what canadians were feeling. Trump does neither but low expectations will give him a win if and when he appears 'normal'. Remember George W. Bush won based on the same low expectations before debates and such. That's why we need to include all information including polls when Trump is doing well, to steel us to the idea he is a formidable opponent and we dig deep and reach out to each other during the GE.
Drunken Irishman
(34,857 posts)2. The media has been doing this for YEARS
They've done it with nearly every nominee the GOP has put up since Reagan.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)3. And thanks to that, Trump will be able to claim he made a "huuuuuuge" showing in November...
...if his vote share gets into double figures...