How To Beat Trump At His Own Game: GRAY

What does U.S. President Donald Trump love the most?

Not a difficult one this … attention.

So how do you drive him nuts? Don’t give him any unnecessary attention. Just write the most important things he says concisely and forget anything else. It’s easy.

Narcissists love attention and Trump is one big narcissist. He will say anything, lies included, to get media coverage. So here’s how to stop him.

White House correspondents have been the governing body to decide who gets access to the U.S. president. However, Trump wants a piece … a big piece … of that action. Traditional media organizations are correctly appalled. You can see how this works. Rather than the New York Times having access, instead you get Clem’s Blowhard MAGA Peanut Brain Podcast covering Trump. And if Trump doesn’t like what Clem says, he’s replaced on the White House circuit by the Proud Boys Truth Podcast.

You get the idea.

Trump wants the maximum of attention but he doesn’t get that with the Los Angeles Time, CNN and MSNBC missing. The president is creating his own worst nightmare.

Here’s how you play Trump to foil this plot.

Many years ago when I was feature editor at the Winnipeg Free Press, one of our sports reporters was punched in the face by a member of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Apparently, the player didn’t like the coverage he was getting and this was his way of telling the journalist his opinion.

So the sports editor called the Bombers and said the paper wasn’t covering the football team that week. None of the pathetic daily features out of the practices, no pre-game analysis, no game story. Nothing.

The Bombers were furious. They didn’t like the coverage they were getting but take it away and it hits them right where it hurts … in the wallet. On game day, we ran some tiny six-point agate on the statistics page of the score. That was it. No gamer. No pix. No nothing.

Then we went back to our usual coverage. But the threat was there and the Bombers didn’t forget it. You muss with our people and we ruin you. Things went swimmingly after that.

That was the last time a Free Press reporter was punched out by a Bomber player.

Something similar happened to one of my people. I sent a reporter out to get some colour from a David Bowie concert at old Winnipeg Stadium. The promoter gave the reporter the wrong pass and security (bar bouncers and motorcycle gang members) when my reporter was where the pass didn’t let him, He was beaten up badly.

I immediately got on the phone and asked what happened? The promoter said he gave the reporter the wrong pass. “So beating the crap out of him is how you solve the problem?”

The promoter repeatedly apologized but I was having none of it. “If you ever touch one of my people again, you’ll have to find a new city to put on your little shows. We won’t cover your concerts at all.”

Then I hung up.

An extremely long bootleg copy of the aforementioned David Bowie concert in Winnipeg.

He was the biggest promoter in town, regularly bringing in acts that drew more than 30,000 people.

The promoter called back on a conference call with his head of security.

“Why are you calling back? Did I not make myself clear enough? There’s nothing to talk about.”

Then I hung up.

What I didn’t know was that his head of security was the top man of one of the two motorcycle gangs in the city. Uh oh.

Nothing happened to me but I sure was nervous for a few days. However my reporters were never bothered again.

So back to Donald Trump. If he wants to thug around dictating coverage, ignore him.

His people will be begging conventional media to cover the president again. Respectable media have the audience. The Proud Boys Podcast does not.

Remember, the only real power the media has is deciding what topics will be discussed. We don’t change people’s minds.

If Trump isn’t a topic, it drives a narcissist bananas, particularly with a media-hungry sick man like Trump who has to be the big man on campus, That strategy works. Trust me.

Ken Gray

Bulldog editor Ken Gray has been a journalist at five major Canadian newspapers over a career that has spanned four decades.

For You:

What Will Trump Do? It’s All Right Here

No Gag Order On TransitNext Deal: THE VOTER

LRT: Huh? WHOPPER WATCH

Bookmark The Bulldog, click here