Da or nyet on Russian election meddling? It was the ninth day of US President Donald Trump's long Asia tour. He told the reporters travelling with him on Air Force One about his conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in Danang, Vietnam. “He said he didn't meddle,” Trump said. “I asked him again. You can only ask so many times... He said he absolutely did not meddle in our election. He did not do what they were saying he did.” And Trump added “I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it... I think he's very insulted, if you want to know the truth.” Trump also told the reporters that he believed Putin was “sincere” in his denials and described former intelligence officials, including James Clapper and John Brennan, as “political hacks”. That was last Saturday, November 9. The next day, the two former officials appeared on CNN and said that Trump is likely being manipulated, played by Putin and other foreign governments, and that Trump was trying to “delegitimise” the US intelligence community's assessment. In response to Trump's earlier words, the CIA issued a statement saying that Director Mike Pompeo “stands by and has always stood by the January 2017 Intelligence Community assessment... with regard to Russian election meddling”; and that position “has not changed”. Speaking at a news conference Sundayin Hanoi, Trump said he stands with the intelligence agencies on their findings. And in an effort to clarify his earlier remarks that he takes Putin's word he said, “What I said is that I believe [Putin] believes that,” he said.
US media and “brain-eating disease” Last week The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman said in a TV interview that President “Donald Trump is a brain-eating disease”. Friedman told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell: “I find from a journalism point of view Donald Trump is a brain-eating disease. He does so many outrageous things on a daily basis.” Describing the “disease”, Friedman said: “It's a real danger that Trump is going to suck the brains out of so many reporters and columnists because you spend four years outraged at him and you don't learn anything, and he's done so many outrageous things you can't even keep track of them anymore.” Also talking about the current media scene, Peter Hamby wrote an article in Vanity Fair monthly magazine entitled, “How Trump Brought the Political Media Class to its Knees”. In it, he said: “Trump and his team understand that for the political press, the only thing that matters is what's happening right now, not yesterday. And whether through his tweets or his surrogates in the briefing room, the president has been largely able to bait reporters into playing his game, because he knows what makes them tick.” Legendary CBS newsman and former moderator of “Face the Nation” Bob Schieffer (80 years old) recently spoke about the vital role of the media saying, “We are operating in a time like we haven't seen before in all sincerity. We're performing a service that's as crucial to democracy as the right to vote. Our job is to provide independently gathered information that citizens can compare with the government's version of events.” Schieffer added: “When we do that, we're performing a real service. But when people try to destroy our credibility, whether it's someone in the highest office in the land or if it's somebody in a dark corner of his mother's basement, I take that very seriously because they're attacking the very foundations of our democracy. But keep doing what you're doing because it's a very noble thing.” A poll conducted last month showed that nearly half of voters, 46 per cent, believe the news media fabricate news stories about Trump and his administration. This Politico/Morning Consult poll also showed just 37 per cent of voters think the media do not fabricate stories, while the remaining 17 per cent are undecided. According to this same poll more than three-quarters of Republican voters, 76 per cent, think the news media invent stories about Trump and his administration.
