Taking Trump at his word

In September 2016, Salena Zito, who was then covering voters in The Heartland, wrote of the then-candidate Donald Trump, in a column for The Atlantic: “the press takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally.” The phrase quickly slipped into Trumplore. Trump allies, such as Peter Thiel, invoked it to argue that while reporters and fact checkers obsessed over the fine print of Trump’s pronouncements on, say, banning Muslims from the US and building a wall at the southern border, his supporters were hearing more general pledges to, say, reform immigration. Trump critics, such as Dara Lind, then of Vox, complained about the moral and factual slipperiness of such logic—criticisms that were vindicated when Trump moved to literally ban Muslims and literally build his wall almost as soon as he took office. Ever since then, the literally/seriously motif has echoed, Zelig-like, through the press. We’ve heard of Trump being taken seriously and literally, seriously but not literally (by the media this time), and neither seriously nor literally—the latter because, as The Atlantic’s David Frum put it last year, the president’s “words are as worthless as Trump Organization IOUs.” In large part, the phrase and the many variations thereupon are hard to pin down because Trump himself is hard to pin down. Since taking office, he’s said literally tens of thousands of things that aren’t true while also pursuing his more extreme campaign... Continue reading at 'Columbia Journalism Review'

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-08-03 12:05:46 UTC ]
News tagged with: #open internet #british government #finance minister #news corp

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Taking Trump at his word'


Orion to take Incident Room to Harrogate

Orion's immersive events space The Incident Room will run in tandem with the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival's main programme to deliver exclusive events with some of the publisher's authors, including Ian Rankin and Steve Cavanagh.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-05-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Spread the Word calls for trade to invest in under-represented writers

Spread the Word has urged for greater investment in under-represented authors from the trade, as it reopens its London Writers Awards. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-05-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Dialogue Books to take authors on UK tour

Dialogue Books is taking eight of its authors on a tour of the UK in May and November, kicking off with dates in Bristol, Leeds and Glasgow. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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White Supremacists Take Over D.C. Bookstore Reading

White supremacists briefly took over a reading by author Jonathan Metzl at the flagship location for Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, shouting “this land is our land” and marching through the store yelling the name of a group that helped to organize the 2017... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'This generation is different'; Frances-White says women will take trade's top jobs

Almost 200 people attended the first official Conduit event, as host Deborah Frances-White spoke of how soon the industry’s top jobs will “routinely” be taken by women as this generation smashes the glass ceiling. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-04-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Is Lululemon poised to take on Under Armour? Here's one analyst's view.

Lululemon may be known more for yoga pants than for athletic shoes or outfitting male athletes, but that might change over the next five years. The brand outlined long-term goals this week that would place it more firmly in Under Armour’s long-held territory, a plan some see as intensifying... Continue reading at Baltimore Sun

[ Baltimore Sun | 2019-04-25 20:15:00 UTC ]
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Tolkien estate takes stand against biopic

J R R Tolkien’s estate has reportedly condemned the forthcoming biopic starring Nicholas Hoult as The Hobbit author. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-04-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rick Reilly wants the public to know the truth about President Trump's golf game

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[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-04-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Mueller report isn’t just a legal document. It’s also the best book on the Trump White House so far.

Review of “Report on the Investigation Into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election” by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2019-04-19 20:30:51 UTC ]
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Airhead by Emily Maitlis review – up close with Trump and the Dalai Lama

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[ The Guardian | 2019-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Powers takes the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

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[ The Bookseller | 2019-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Trump, immigration, dystopias are topics on last day of L.A. Times Festival of Books

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[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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National Enquirer up for sale after Trump, Bezos scandals

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[ Advertising Age | 2019-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Titan takes on collection of novellas from Henry

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[ The Bookseller | 2019-04-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Trump pushed out Nielsen to get ‘tougher’ on border, but how much further can he go?

After more than two years of trumpeting draconian policies that by his own measure have failed to deter U.S. immigration, President Trump now says he wants to take an even “tougher” tack on border security policy. Trump pushed out his second Homeland Security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, on... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-04-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Donald Trump Fires Back At The Late Barbara Bush: 'She Should Be' Nasty To Me

People on Twitter erupted in anger after the president went after the former first lady. Continue reading at The Huffington Post

[ The Huffington Post | 2019-04-05 10:43:47 UTC ]
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Stephen King Nails Why The College Admissions Scandal Is ‘Normal’ In The Age Of Donald Trump

"Are you surprised that rich parents are bribing their rich kiddies into top schools? Shocked, even? Don't be." Continue reading at The Huffington Post

[ The Huffington Post | 2019-04-05 08:06:32 UTC ]
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Weekly E-Book Ranking: Hunter takes down This is Going to Hurt

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[ The Bookseller | 2019-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Vogue’s Digital Director Takes Us Inside the Brand’s Cross-Platform Strategy

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[ Folio Magazine | 2019-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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We need another hero: Feminist takes on fairytales gain traction

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[ The Bookseller | 2019-04-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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