Fox and Friends---->Trump

Covfefe was here.:sunglasses:

Even back during the campaign, Trumps staffers and advisers often found it more useful to appear on FNC than talk to Trump directly.

When Trump hears/see’s something on TV, he seems to pay much more attention to what is being said.

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I don’t think President Trump is smart enough to do it any other way. It has to be some kind of TV show. I don’t think he could even take the information that advisers give him and process it

It kinda reminds me when Obama learned everything from a newspaper.

You’re one of trumps biggest apologists here

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So that’s an interesting point. Obama used it as an excuse, Trump seems to be relishing in it though. When your own admin needs to address you via the television set well you might be watching too much tv

I think the President communicates more through his tweets and rallys than by television. I think he learns what the topics of the day being discussed out here by the general public are through Fox. Then he tweets out his responses and appears to be very effective through this medium.

that bolded part is 100% correct.

I actually posted about this after the Waffle House shooting, when Trump took far too long to recognize the real life hero who went after the shooter for weeks. Of course @WildRose made all sorts of excuses for why the WH hadn’t done so yet, but then honestly tried to do exactly what he’s doing now.

You and I have actually gone back and forth on this issue before. Do you remember? Pepperidge Farm remembers. You flailed around all over the place trying to argue points that no one was arguing to try to discredit the idea that Trump watches A LOT of Fox and Friends, and gets a lot of his news from them.

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Grandpa makes some strong points after listening to the tv people.

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Donald Trump advertised himself as a business genius and a whole lot of Trump Republicans here pushed that.

Anyone still believe that?

Or “Watching the News”.

His own national security staff seemed to miss the rise of ISIS as a threat till they heard about it on CNN.

I’ve said it before and will say it again. People give far too much credit to talk radio and cable news.

I did a Google search. Rush has about 14 million weekly listeners. Fox news gets about 3 million in the evening, less during the day. It’s probably safe to assume many of the same people who listen to Rush then watch Fox at night.

That’s not all that big an audience considering the population as a whole.

So to suggest Rush is responsible for shaping the R party is giving him way too much credit.

As to the OP, it seems very clear Trump does watch F& F. Some of his tweets that happen after the show will be related to something they were talking about.

You don’t think that narrative filters down through all the other digital news and various sources? Sure seems like it does when I look around. Even if it is simply people on Twitter, even memes will be created and flying around in hours based on those narratives.

I don’t know. I guess that is possible. But the vast majority of people do not pay a lot of attention to politics. They tend to become more engaged as an election approaches, but even then, only about 50% of people bother to vote.

Rush shaped the Republican Party into what it is today because he’s been doing it for so long. For 30-40 years Republicans were afraid to cross him. He was the de-facto leader of the Republican party. That’s just the way it is.

In today’s fragmented media world, 14 million or so is a very strong base upon which to build a sphere of influence. 14 million people thinking in lockstep can easily become a dominant force. If you can count on a base of 14 million people to think…and vote…the same way all the time regardless of situation, you’re going to have HUGE political influence.

Think of Trump himself. In a fragmented field of 17 candidates, he turned a very small advantage over the other 16 candidates into first the Republican nomination, then the Presidency.

I dunno, politicians are vulnerable to forces like Rush and Hannity because their listeners are so much more engaged than normal. They vote, in generals and primaries.

And perhaps more importantly, they’re very vocal and are the type to phone up their congressman and write them letters, or even write to the local papers. All of which can have much more impact than expected.

Oh, and it’s not just the tweets that follow from watching F&F’s, it can literally set the agenda of the President for the day.

"Kelly has done away with “meeting crashers,” the West Wing aides who showed up for meetings uninvited, according to a White House aide, but he has not been able to curb Trump’s practice of adding and subtracting advisers to meetings throughout the day or of turning scheduled gatherings into freewheeling discussions of subjects that suit his interests — including those suggested to him by his coterie of outside advisers, including Fox News host Sean Hannity.

“He comes down for the day, and whatever he saw on ‘Fox and Friends,’ he schedules meetings based on that,” said one former White House official. “If it’s Iran, it’s ‘Get John Bolton down here!’ … If he’s seen something on TV or [was] talking to Hannity the night before, he’s got lots of flexibility to do whatever he wants to do.”"

This has nothing to do with the discussion at hand, but I wanted to pluck this quote out of the story you posted to give Trump a little credit, and hope he’s learned something about future appointments.

“They have blinders on,” the president has said, arguing that they “don’t understand anything except for military tactics” and “they’re not businessmen,” according to a Republican close to the White House.

That’s right Mr. President…maybe ypu shouldn’t have appointed so many generals and former generals to key positions on your staff, then…As I said…hope you learned this for future appointments.

Seriously? You really need to get your head examined if you honestly believe that lunacy.