Trump’s CPAC Speech: Narcissistic Blather And Incoherent Attacks On The Media

The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) for 2017 is currently in progress. And on Friday it featured its star attraction, President Donald Trump. Trump could have stayed home and just delivered a video from any of his campaign stump speeches. His speech (transcript) was entirely devoid of any new thoughts he might have had after being president for a month. Of course, that’s presuming he ever has any new thoughts.

Donald Trump CPAC

Trump began with a familiar topic: himself. He rambled aimlessly for several minutes about whether he had just received a standing ovation. And of course he rattled off false statistics about his allegedly record setting electoral achievements. Then, after a few minutes of right-wing boot-licking, he bragged about how much he is loved by the CPAC crowd. One of his boasts concerned how well he did in polling after his previous CPAC speeches. The truth, however, is that he lost most of the CPAC straw polls bigly. In 2015 he registered a pathetic eigth place finish with only 3.5 percent of the vote. Last year, with the presidential campaign in full swing, he finished a distant third with 15 percent.

Trump did manage to stuff in the usual conservative issues and wingnut applause lines. He promised to fight terrorism, repeal ObamaCare, deport Mexicans, cut taxes, and build a wall. And he would preside over the biggest military buildup ever, and spend a trillion dollars on infrastructure, while eliminating the national debt. As usual, he provided no details as to how he would accomplish any of those fantastical goals.

Much of the speech was focused on his infamous hatred for the free press, or as he calls it, the “fake news.” He opened this part of his address with a manic declaration. “I want you all to know,” he ranted, “that we are fighting the fake news. It’s fake. Phony. Fake.” Then he elaborated:

“A few days ago I called the fake news the enemy of the people. And they are. They are the enemy of the people. Because they have no sources, they just make ’em up when there are none. I saw one story recently where they said, ‘Nine people have confirmed.’ There’re no nine people. I don’t believe there was one or two people. Nine people. And I said, ‘Give me a break.’ Because I know the people, I know who they talk to. There were no nine people. But they say ‘nine people.’ And somebody reads it and they think, ‘Oh, nine people. They have nine sources.’ They make up sources.”

Indeed, Trump railed about the media as the enemy of the American people. That’s a phrase that maligns the First Amendment, and has its roots in Mao’s China. But his mad ravings about the “nine sources” is especially puzzling. That’s because he’s referring to a story in the Washington Post about his former National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn. The Post reported that they had nine sources affirming that Flynn had inappropriate discussions with Russian agents during the campaign. As a result of that story, Trump fired Flynn. Is he now contending that he fired his top national security aide because of a fake story with no sources? Who knows? And it doesn’t get any more comprehensible from there:

“They’re very dishonest people. In fact, in covering my comments, the dishonest media did not explain that I called the fake news the enemy of the people. The fake news. They dropped off the word ‘fake.’ And all of a sudden the story became the media is the enemy. They take the word ‘fake’ out. And now I’m saying, ‘Oh no, this is no good.’ But that’s the way they are.” […]

“They shouldn’t be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody’s name. Let their name be put out there. Let their name be put out. ‘A source says that Donald Trump is a horrible, horrible human being.’ Let ’em say it to my face. Let there be no more sources.”

Huh? First of all, without any sources there wouldn’t be any stories. And anonymity is necessary at times when the source is threatened professionally, financially, or physically. And, of course, Trump’s administration has its own anonymous sources that pass information to the press. Will he identify them all now? The only part of that that made any sense was the part about him being a “horrible human being.”

As for Trump’s assertion that he specified only fake news as the enemy of the people, he’s right. But his assertion that reports left that word out is nonsense. In most cases cases they quoted his tweet verbatim and showed it on screen or in print. Furthermore, his tweet accusing the media of fakery was pretty broadly stated. He explicitly cited the New York Times, NBC, ABC, CBS, and CNN. Apparently, Trump regards only Fox News, Infowars, the National Enquirer, and Breitbart News as non-fake. And he still isn’t through:

“They say that we can’t criticize their dishonest coverage because of the First Amendment. You know, they always bring up the First Amendment. And I love the First Amendment; nobody loves it better than me. Nobody. I mean, who use it more than I do? […] So just in finishing, I say it doesn’t represent the people. It doesn’t tell the – never will represent the people. And we’re going to do something about it because we have to go out and have to speak our minds and we have to be honest.”

Who ever said that he can’t criticize the media? Are the voices in his head shouting louder than the Fox News blowhards on his TV? And for someone who claims to appreciate the First Amendment, he has a funny way of showing it. Friday afternoon his press secretary explicitly banned several news organizations from an informal briefing. After admitting right-wing propaganda outfits like Breitbart and the One America News Network, Sean Spicer shut the door. He refused entry to CNN, the New York Times, Politico, The Hill, BuzzFeed, the Daily Mail, BBC, the Los Angeles Times, and the New York Daily News. This is in direct contradiction of a promise he made last December that he would “absolutely not” ban any credentialed journalists. So much for fairness and transparency in the Trump press office.

So just in finishing, WTF does Trump mean when he says that the media “doesn’t represent the people” and that he’s “going to do something about it?” What exactly does he have in mind? And does he think it’s the job of the president to make the media represent the people, as he defines it?

This CPAC speech was another in long line of embarrassingly maniacal orations that have come to epitomize the Trumpian sermonizing. They are filled with lies, exaggerations, boasting, and malice toward many. And to the extent that they can be comprehended, they are almost entirely lacking in substance. Yet somehow, his glassy-eyed followers cheer wildly as if he said something that wasn’t gibberish. That may be the saddest – and scariest – part of the Era of Trump.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

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22 thoughts on “Trump’s CPAC Speech: Narcissistic Blather And Incoherent Attacks On The Media

  1. if a news agency has anything good to say about somebody, especialy if they support president trump , then that news agency is regarded as LIARS….. ,from leftists perspective ……..THEN ,if a news agency BASHES President Trump and his supporters, that agency is regarded as FAKE NEWS… If Democrats take the oval office ,then the opposite is said from both sides…………………………….WHEN WILL YOU AMERICANS OPEN UP YOUR EYES!!!!!!!!!IT ISNT THE PRESIDENT OR THE GOVERNING PARTY THAT IS CRIPPLING YOUR COUNTRY!!.. IT IS THE MEDIA!!!!!

    • Randy, your allegiance to Trump is apparent. The media, particularly the big players, are looking for ratings. They are looking for conflict. They love Trump (just look at the disparity in coverage during the presidential elections).
      Trump hates being scrutinized. He cannot stand negative press. And he absolutely hates not having total control.
      The media are not crippling the country. Trump and his minions are trying to.

      • so im glad to know that in the last twenty or thirty years your country was RIGHT ON TRACK , and now President Trump is going to destroy EVERYTHING that has been gained…… Is that about right? , and by the way Mike , I do not have ALLEGIANCE to President Trump. I am a Canadian , so i really dont give a flying fuck about the man and his MINIONS, but i do understand RIGHT AND WRONG!!!, learned from my parents and my parents parents!!,so when i see things being said or portrayed in a way that they should’nt be, I voice my views. This station…NEWS CORPSE, spouting the hatred, because it allows ratings to climb, and it also allows a differing wave of reality…..and hence…….FAKE NEWS!!!!

        • I am not sure why you insist on showing both your ignorance and your devotion to Trump.
          You do NOT understand right and wrong. I am truly hoping you are 8 years old and will eventually know something about what you write about.
          First, learn about a topic before posting.
          Second, when replying to someone try to understand what that person was writing about.
          Third, learn grammar, spelling, sentence and paragraph construction. That way your writing can be understood.
          Good luck.

          • MIKE ….MIKE…. MICHAEL….Like our Prime Minister says ….I THINK YOU NEED A HUG!!!….. and dispel all that ANGER inside of you!!!, you must have gotten beat up alot in school when you were young huh!!!, its okay… im sure you will be alright …there are people that can give you a good shoulder to cry on….HEE HEE HEE!!!!

            • RANDY … RANDY … RANDALL.

              I think you need to phluck off — your opinion is irrelevant.

              Give YOUR PRIME MINISTER a hug — and leave American driving to us.

  2. CPAC now stands for Creepy Pathetic A$$holes Congregating. Which it always was, really….

    And Donald Trump once again proves he is EVERYTHING the FoxPods accused Barack Obama of being: a narcissistic, egotistical, pathological lying 5 year old who hates any form of criticism, and who now has the ego-boo he needs to push for a complete exclusion of all members of the press unwilling to kiss his butt and worship him as a god.

    If Obama had done this, the rush to demand his impeachment would have been overwhelming. They would have deemed any other president doing this, Republican or Democrat, to have committed unconstitutional acts!

    We demand impeachment proceedings be initiated. NOW.

    • yes KALI, im sure that WE will get immediate attention for his unscrupulous rantings !!!!, How dare he!!!

      • You know, dipstick, it might be useful if you would actually, I don’t know, READ THE FUCKING ARTICLE before you make your bs comments? Then, you might actually be able to make a point instead of ad hominem insults.

        But then, why break the habits of a lifetime, I guess…

        • oh i apologies for not READING THE ARTICLE. I know how much truth i missed ……SORRY!!!!

    • hope you are enjoying your latte!! heh heh!!

  3. Mark – any chance we can block Randy? He adds absolutely NOTHING constructive or even substantive to this or any other thread. Just curious.

    • awe come on you two, im laughing my ass off!!!, at how utterly spaced out in LA LA LAND YOU 2 ARE . HERE HAVE ANOTHER SIP OF KOOL-AID . HEE HEE HEE!!!, I feel very sorry for blind leading the blind, im sure there is help for you both!!!,great giggles!!,thanks alot you 2!!. You know what ….I have to apologies , I never thought that you would have anything SOLID to contribute, but ,…..I was wrong,………… You both are SOLIDLY FUNNY, thanks for the chuckle!!!

      • Thanks for proving my point, dummy. You just demonstrated you have NOTHING to add to this site, and we’ll be better off without you.

    • kali, I thought your PARTNER IN CRIME was named MIKE not MARK,………………………OR…………maybe you just didnt READ PROPERLY HAA HAA HEE HEE!!!!, FUCK THAT WAS A GOOD ONE!!!!

    • IS MARK YOUR INVISIBLE FRIEND!!!! HEH HEH !!!

    • Kali, I’ve been considering this already. From here on his comments will be moderated before posting. If they have substance or on-topic points, they will be posted. Otherwise they will be deleted. And if he has no substantive comments over time, he will be banned.

  4. Your ignorance is amazing. I do not need a hug. I am not an angry person. I never had a fight in school, probably due to my being on the football, wrestling, and track teams. And, I am done corresponding with you as you have proven yourself to be an ignorant liar.
    Have fun.

    • Hey Mike were you on the Ninja team also!!!!!!, Im sure you must have been!!!!,HEH HEH!! Oh yeah,it was probably the chess team that picked on you huh, because , I can sure tell ,you are not the brightest fellow!!!, Its okay though,…..A hug does everyone good, …as bad as you feel….just go and get a hug!!!!!

  5. The only fake news here is that WORTHLESS as*wipe, dump. Many of you NEED to accept that. Only an as*hole WOULD call media that points out his bullsh*t, fake.

  6. How about adding forwards like FB, Twitter, Email. Etc?

    • There are buttons to click for all of that at the top and bottom of the article.

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