A Different Perspective

It’s no secret that in Trump’s America we deal with an extraordinarily biased mainstream media.  And while I agree the president’s ‘photo op’ in front of St. Johns church at the start of the protests and riots was rather clumsy and ill orchestrated, the media’s reporting of the matter lacked any semblance of honest or analytical journalism.

The talking heads at CNN and the writers at NY Times knew due to the worsening situation in Lafayette Park the Secret Service advised the president to move to the White House bunker.  Of course, a president can overrule the USSS, but historical precedent reveals that’s unlikely to happen during an actual field situation.

Nonetheless, CNN and others seized upon the opportunity to create a false, unflattering and dangerous narrative by describing the leader of the free world as “hiding in a bunker.”  I’m sure there were several reasons for the “photo op,’ but the most important was to send a message to Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jung Il and the rest of the world that the President of the United States and his chief advisors  would not be cowed by cowardly rioters.

Having said that, I never understood the purpose of waving the Bible and what message that was supposed to send?  And frankly, I don’t think waving a Bible made a whit of difference to Putin or Xi or the Iranian mullahs because the message was clear; that social unrest and rioting in the streets would not cow this administration.  So when viewed through the lens of international politics the president had little choice but to make that walk from the White House to St. John’s accompanied by his top advisors and have that “optic” beamed around the world.

The perception of strength takes many forms.  It’s one thing to have strength and power, but it’s quite another that one’s adversaries know you’re willing to use it.  And from the first days of his presidency Trump has been clear with Assad, Putin, Xi, the Mullahs, NATO, our trading partners and allies such as Canada, Japan, and the EU that he, and by extension the United States, would not be pushed around.  And he was certainly telling the world he was not going to be ‘pushed around’ by a bunch of anarchists.

In many ways what played out in front of St. John’s church was a microcosm of the Trump presidency.  The president projected the right image to the world, i.e., he was in control and not cowed while the national media depicted him as a craven coward hiding in a bunker—despicable! 

The reality is from an international perspective the president did what was best for the nation.   Yet the hate-Trump media chose to focus on the awkward optics of the situation, which then becomes the narrative instead of the real narrative showing resolve, control and stability.  If Trump loses in November it won’t because of his policies; rather it will be due to distorted optics magnified by a dishonest and hateful media.

Quote of the day:  “Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups” — George Carlin