Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Donald Trump, hater of "fake news," once served as a source for stories in the National Enquirer, even had his own byline.

This comes from a rather expansive story in The New Yorker focused on Trump's relationship with the CEO of American Media, and publisher of the National Enquirer,  David Pecker: 

In the eighties and early nineties, Trump was something of a fixture in the Enquirer, thanks to his multiple marriages. A typical headline from 1990 read “trump’s mistress cheats on donald with tom cruise.” But, once Pecker took over, critical coverage of Trump vanished. “They have an agreement where David would not write anything that damages Donald,” a senior A.M.I. official from this period told me. 

One employee said that Trump was also a frequent source for Enquirer stories. “When there was something going on in New York, David would talk with Trump about it. Trump provided David with stories directly,” the employee said. “And, if Donald didn’t want a story to run, it wouldn’t run. You can put that in stone.” Indeed, early in the 2016 campaign Pecker simply turned over the pages of the Enquirer to Trump, allowing the candidate to write columns under his own byline. 

So apparently NBC, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, are all hotbeds of fake news, but a magazine that once ran the headline "sociopath’ Hillary Clinton’s secret psych files exposed!" is perfectly respectable?

In fact as it turns out the Enquirer is essentially Trump's own supermarket propaganda outlet:  

Throughout the 2016 Presidential race, the Enquirer embraced Trump with sycophantic fervor. The magazine made its first political endorsement ever, of Trump, last spring. Cover headlines promised, “donald trump’s revenge on hillary & her puppets” and “top secret plan inside: how trump will win debate!” The publication trashed Trump’s rivals, running a dubious cover story on Ted Cruz that described him as a philanderer and another highly questionable piece that linked Cruz’s father to the assassination of John F. Kennedy. 

It was even tougher on Hillary Clinton, regularly printing such headlines as “ ‘sociopath’ hillary clinton’s secret psych files exposed!” A 2015 piece began, “Failing health and a deadly thirst for power are driving Hillary Clinton to an early grave, The National Enquirer has learned in a bombshell investigation. The desperate and deteriorating 67-year-old won’t make it to the White House—because she’ll be dead in six months.” On election eve, the Enquirer offered a special nine-page investigation under the headline “hillary: corrupt! racist! criminal!” This blatantly skewed coverage continued after Trump took office. Post-election cover stories included “trump takes charge! success in just 36 days!” and “proof obama wiretapped trump! lies, leaks & illegal bugging.”

We of course already knew some of this, but what we did not know is that Trump and Pecker are such close friends that Pecker used to be a frequent guest on Trump's private plane, and that he has been covering for Trump for years.

This is what he told the Gus Wenner, of Wenner Media: 

"He told me very bluntly that he had killed all sorts of stories for Trump. He hired a girl to be a columnist when she threatened to go public with a story about Donald.”

Pecker then denied that he had ever admitted that, however the writer of this article, Jeffrey Toobin, asked about it point blank and this was his response:

When I asked Pecker about McDougal, who was Playboy’s Playmate of the Year in 1998, he told me that he first met her when she modelled for the cover of Men’s Fitness, another A.M.I. magazine. “When her people contacted me that she had a story on Trump, everybody was contacting her,” he said. “At the same time, she was launching her own beauty-and-fragrance line, and I said that I’d be very interested in having her in one of my magazines, now that she’s so famous.” But Pecker had a condition for hiring her: “Once she’s part of the company, then on the outside she can’t be bashing Trump and American Media.” 

I pointed out that bashing Trump was not the same as bashing American Media. 

“To me it is,” Pecker replied. “The guy’s a personal friend of mine.”

Now all of this might seem a little frivolous, after all who takes the National Enquirer seriously?

However currently Pecker is working out a deal to buy Time Inc., which would put him at the helm of Time, People, and Fortune magazines, which he would of course then turn into propaganda outlets for Trump as well.

Also keep in mind that this is not the ONLY media CEO that Trump plays footsies with, he has a similar relationship with Rupert Murdoch of Fox News, and of course we know where Stephen Bannon of Breitbart News currently spends his days.

Essentially Trump has taken what Roger Ailes did to insert partisanship into news coverage and amplified it.

So now consumers have a choice, they can either tune into Trump truths, or instead consume fact based "fake news" reported by ethical journalists.

And let's face it, a whole lot of Americans simply cannot tell the difference.

18 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:33 AM

    Trump is sly as an old fox! Still say, he needs to be eliminated from the office he is currently holding.

    Trump is harmful, mean, nasty, evil, driven by his ego, a racist, vile and worse yet - lies constantly!

    He is setting himself up to be reelected and we have to fight the fucker every step of the way. Don't purchase ANY of those magazines which will lower their viewership and income to the owners. Work to make them go broke! Remember, Donald is suppose to hate the media!

    We need to impeach him, but need the help of Democrats and Republicans! Hopefully, they get moving and start the action. He will bring our country down and is already doing so - - - -

    Are you proud to be an American under this 'supposed' leader? I'm not!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous12:01 PM

    National Enquirer is trying to buy Time Inc. which means Trump will have his pumpkin head on the cover each month with endless stories of how fabulous he is.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous12:21 PM

    Yes and off the coast of California is an island that trump and buddies held underage parties, fundraisers, etc. This is where the 13 yr old claimed to be raped by trump and buddy the lawsuit article said.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:43 PM

      Trump's ass has been covered since he was a teenager...he was unruly then (declared by his own father who shipped him off to military school) and still is today. He doesn't think he has to follow the rules. Also known as a "BULLY"!

      I just want to deck his fat ass every time I see or hear of him daily.

      Truly surprised no one has tried to clean his clock (probably has too much protection and security around him!) since he took the oath (that he's not following!)!

      I don't see how he'll ever make it through his first term much less a second.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous12:24 PM

    The same rag that denied Shailey Tripp her justice after they got the information.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous12:27 PM

    As I stand inline at grocery store, I turn all national enquirer backwards. The nasty dirty lying wipe sucks.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous12:38 PM

    Trump is a bastard and does not have a clue how to be the leader of our country.

    We should all be embarrassed about and for him and his rear end should be impeached as soon as possible. He truly is un-American and does not represent me!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous1:01 PM

    No bands, photo ops or pats on the back for Trump

    TRUMP FAILS AGAIN

    The Hill
    Senate Republicans are delaying their effort to vote on legislation repealing ObamaCare until after the July 4 recess after a number of members said they opposed the current bill.

    Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told members of the decision on Tuesday at a closed-door meeting.

    "He simply said I think we need more time to work on it, we don't have the votes right now," Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) told reporters after the meeting.

    A BUNCH OF LOSERS

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous3:51 PM

    OT? NOT! CRIMEa
    http://www.rawstory.com/2017/06/revealed-paul-manafort-received-17-million-acting-as-an-agent-for-ukraine-group-before-2014/

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous3:53 PM

    "rump appeared to flirt with a female reporter during a call with the Irish Prime Minster Leo Varadkar Tuesday." “Go ahead, come here, come here. Where are you from? We have all of this beautiful Irish press.”HELL-o

    http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/339701-trump-praises-female-reporters-nice-smile-on-call-to-irish-pm

    http://www.rawstory.com/2017/06/i-bet-she-treats-you-well-trump-interrupts-call-with-irish-pm-to-flirt-with-female-reporter/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous4:35 AM

      The fatty potus is gross.

      Delete
  10. Sarah "fucking liar" Huckleberry just use JAMES O'KEEFE as proof that CNN was fake news. No, I'm not kidding.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/reporter-unloads-deputy-press-secretary-white-house-briefing-205320836.html

    "“I think it’s the constant barrage of fake news directed at this president probably that has garnered a lot of his frustration,” Sanders replied before quickly pivoting to a new video — released by conservative provocateur James O’Keefe — that appears to show a CNN medical producer saying the network’s coverage of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential election is “mostly bulls***.”

    The deputy press secretary encouraged viewers to seek out O’Keefe’s footage even though she was unsure of its accuracy.

    “There’s a video circulating now — whether it’s accurate or not I don’t know — but I would encourage everybody in this room and frankly everybody across the country to take a look at it,” Sanders said. “I think if it is accurate I think it’s a disgrace to all of media, to all of journalism. I think that we have gone to a place where if the media can’t be trusted to report the news, then that’s a dangerous place for America.”"

    What. The. Fuck.

    And why hasn't someone, anyone, been able to prosecute O'Keefe and lock him up for a while? Sue him into bankruptcy?

    Can no one rid us of this fake news charletan?

    How much of a hypocritical lying piece of shit is Sarah Huckleberry? You judge:

    "“If we make the slightest mistake, if a word is off, it’s just an absolute tirade from a lot of people in this room,” she said. “But news outlets get to go on day after day and cite unnamed sources.”

    Earlier Tuesday, Sanders relayed a statement to pool reporters asking about the White House’s surprise warning that Syrian President Bashar Assad may be planning another chemical attack on its citizens.

    She asked that the statement be attributed to “a White House official.”"

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous4:22 PM

    Trump: America's limp dick-tator

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous5:20 PM

    David Pecker. A fake news buddy of Trump's. The Onion will have to work hard to outdo our brave new reality.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous3:38 AM

    The closest I've ever come to "The National Enquirer" has been time spent standing in line at the grocery store. Over the decades they have predicted the imminent demise of Queen Elizabeth at least every three months. And they've dissed just about everyone in US politics especially if they are Democrats multiple times a year. That is, everyone but Trump or his family. The deference to Trump is so blatant that it is laughable. I suspect, though, that the Fox News watchers, who also stand in line at the grocery store, lap up every word as they creep forward in line. I wonder if they've ever wondered how Queen Elizabeth has eluded death all these decades.
    Beaglemom

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous4:34 AM

    What? Sarah sueing? Where she get money?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous5:04 AM

      Seeking $75K in damages. Must really have a strong case. Pathetic.

      Delete
  15. Randall7:31 AM

    The National Enquirer
    Jerry Springer
    Pro Wrestling
    Duck Dynasty
    Real Housewives of ...
    Honey Boo Boo
    Fox News
    Breitbart
    InfoWars
    Glen Beck
    Joel Osteen
    Rush Limbaugh
    Dr. Phil
    Creflo Dollar
    Dr. Oz
    Falwell
    Benny Hinn

    ...you are what you consume.

    ReplyDelete

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