{"id":39212,"date":"2018-09-20T15:37:14","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T22:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=39212"},"modified":"2018-09-20T15:44:57","modified_gmt":"2018-09-20T22:44:57","slug":"trumps-video-confessionals-bring-the-white-house-one-step-closer-to-the-reality-tv-presidency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=39212","title":{"rendered":"Trump’s Video Confessionals Bring the White House One Step Closer to the Reality TV Presidency"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few months ago Trump brought Bill Shine<\/a><\/strong> into the White as his Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications. In other words, Minister of Propaganda. Shine is the former Fox News President who was fired due to his handling of sexual harassment at the network by Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reilly and other big shots. Now he is handling the PR for a president with his own history of being a serial predator<\/a><\/strong> and whose nominee for the Supreme Court is battling similar charges.<\/p>\n

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The presence of Bill Shine in the White House is unmistakable. His fingerprints are all over Trump’s public appearances and rallies that are now stage managed more carefully. They are located in more photogenic environments. And the access of the media is constrained<\/a><\/strong> to insure positive visual imagery, or at least political sterility. Shine is a veteran TV manipulator who learned his craft at the knee of Fox’s Godfather, the late Roger Ailes.<\/p>\n

Shine’s propaganda pedigree is long-established. Before taking the reins of the network as president, he was the producer of Sean Hannity’s program. Hannity was so reliant on Shine that when rumors erupted about his imminent termination, Hannity exploded<\/a><\/strong> and whined that Shine’s departure would be “the total end of the Fox News Channel as we know it.”<\/em> If only.<\/p>\n

In his new position, Shine is exploiting the assets of his “star”<\/em> whose resume is mainly littered with the gossip pages and reality TV. Trump spent fourteen years as the “host”<\/em> of The Apprentice<\/em>, so don’t let anyone fool you into thinking that he was a busy real estate magnate. No authentic billionaire businessman has that much time to spare on television pablum. The Apprentice was Trump’s job. So Shine is putting that experience to work by casting Trump in short films that have little substance or news value.<\/p>\n

The closest thing that these presidential clips can be compared to are the moments in reality TV shows where a character is separated from the herd and speaks directly to the camera about some personal observations regarding the other cast members. On Thursday one these confessionals was posted to Trump’s Twitter feed that whined about China taking advantage of America on trade issues. Trump complained that China looked at the U.S. as “very soft touches.”<\/em> And he made the point that he doesn’t blame China, he blames America. It’s the “Blame America First”<\/em> doctrine.<\/p>\n

The day before that, Trump posted a video of himself declaring his devotion to the victims of Hurricane Florence in the Carolinas. Never mind that the victims of Hurricane Maria that devastated Puerto Rico are figments of a “deep state”<\/em> cabal<\/a><\/strong> to manufacture a fake death toll. This video features Trump’s pseudo-sincere ramblings set to an inspirational music sound track.<\/p>\n

The day before that, Trump posted a clip thanking the first responders to Hurricane Florence, which he described as “a tough hurricane. One of the wettest we’ve ever seen from the standpoint of water.”<\/em> Okay, so Shine isn’t perfect. But look at who he has to work with.<\/p>\n

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pic.twitter.com\/G0BjCXEnaX<\/a><\/p>\n

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 18, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n