opinion

Schneider: Media keep falling for Trump's mind control tricks

The city of Madison is loaded to the gills with colorful fringe candidates who run for offices at every level of government. Among them is self-described “futurist” Richard H. Anderson, who routinely ran on an “anti-mind control” platform, believing the government had planted a cybernetic chip in his brain.

I admit, I've always wondered what a debate between a “pro-mind control” and “anti-mind control” candidate is like; presumably, the “anti” candidate would get up to speak, the “pro” candidate would glare and point his finger at his opponent, and the “anti” candidate would sheepishly sit back down without saying a word. (After a state Assembly race in which Anderson garnered six votes against future U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, the Progressive Capital Times newspaper magnanimously said Anderson had “made a good impression.”)

In 2016, a similarly fringe candidate named Donald Trump happened to win a small office we like to call the U.S. presidency. And while Trump's stance on planting cybernetic chips in local eccentrics is as yet unknown, his belief in mind control is unquestionable.

But in Trump's version, it is he who is controlling other peoples' brains — most specifically, he is directing the hive mind of the American media, bamboozling them into covering superfluous nonsense while his actual policies evade proper scrutiny.

His detractors often chalk up Trump's erratic behavior to lack of impulse control and a shortage of maturity. And sure, it is hard to deny Trump exhibits those traits — there are likely plenty of 1980s comedy writers who are shocked to find their rejected "Kid President" scripts have become a documentary.

But Trump's Spielberg-like direction of the national media is too predictable merely to be an accident. Promote a controversial secretary of state nominee. Start a Twitter fight with actress Meryl Streep. Start whipping through executive orders with as much scrutiny as you give an iTunes terms of service contract. Start a fight with the media about the crowd size at your inauguration that literally lasts a full week. Propose a new tax to fund a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. Send out your chief strategist to tell the media to "keep its mouth shut."

And of course, Trump knows the best way to throw the news media off the scent is to insult the fourth estate itself. Trump's condemnations are like catnip to media-types — they just can't help but fire back.

It is true, there is no singular "media" (the word itself is plural), but Trump knows they will shift into high dudgeon to protect their profession. There is nothing members of the media love doing more than writing about how vital the media are to democracy. It's like why La La Land — a love letter to the film industry — just received a record number of Academy Award nominations.

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But when journalists wail about Trump's wild misstatements, they are getting the "story" but missing the "news." Certainly, Trump's mistaken belief that between 3 million and 5 million people voted illegally is worth covering, as it indicates the president might be living in a world of delusion — but it very well could be a smokescreen to obscure other actions that actually matter far more.

Certainly, Trump's attempts to demonize the media wouldn't actually work if journalism were more popular. Conservatives still don't trust the national media to be fair and impartial, and Trump is laying a trap for reporters to prove him right.

In order to restore the trust they deserve, the media should show more discipline in responding to Trump's lack of it. Ultimately, the best-case scenario for Trump would be for the media not to keep their mouths shut, but to keep talking — about exactly what he wants them to.

Christian Schneider is a Journal Sentinel columnist and blogger. Email cschneider@jrn.com. Twitter: @Schneider_CM