http://flavorwire.com/573601/what-donal ... tizen-kane
'...it almost seems as though Trump is subconsciously channeling Charles Foster Kane. Kane trash-talks opponent Boss Jim Gettys at every turn (much like Trump regards “Lyin’ Ted” or “Little Marco”), and boasts that “Every straw vote, every independent poll, shows that I’ll be elected” (ditto), but that’s all he can offer in a campaign speech; he skips policy promises by insisting, “I’d make my promises now, if I weren’t too busy arranging to keep them,” which is a good deal more artful than Trump’s hilariously vague promise that “We’ll have so much winning, you’ll get bored with winning.”'
Ted Cruz framed Donald Trump’s triumph as the result of “a handful of network executives … manipulating and deceiving voters” — whoever could he mean? — and agreeing with Beck that a Will Smith/Angelina Jolie ticket seems more plausible now than it did a year ago. Trump’s celebrity appeal has gotten oddly lost in all the heavy breathing about populism and nationalism. He wouldn’t have won without the agenda he had, but an unknown “outsider” running on that same agenda, with none of the media reach Trump had, would have been crushed early in the primaries. What Trump proved this year is that, if you have the “right” politics and can draw round-the-clock media attention, you can compete with better-organized professionals at the highest level. Any celebrity with political ambitions would be nuts not to at least consider running after this. A mega-celebrity like Oprah, I think, would be formidable before she made her first hire.
Glenn Beck: Can a conservative win happen today with the media the way it is?
Ted Cruz: This election will be studied, in particular for the role of the media, and in particular the decisions of network executives in terms of promoting those candidates that they wanted to win. For example, Trump received over three billion dollars worth of free air time, and that has a dramatic impact on the polls when every network becomes, in effect, the Superpac for the candidate that they want to win the nomination. It’s a very dangerous dynamic that we have now.
There’s no doubt about the power of celebrity, and by any measure, Donald Trump is a phenomenon, and it’s a phenomenon heavily fueled by media executives who have run him 24/7.
The Nation:
The media are corporate shills for making money off of the quivering political corpse that now lies supine on the floor of history.
With a pre-fab reality star to draw attention and boost ad revenues, corporate media (and I include the NYT and WaPo in this group as well as the TV channels) gleefully plastered his name and every controversial statement he made in a 24/7 frenzy of Trumpmania. It's not that his supporters are all misogynistic bigots and racists or idiots - it's that he was given the most attention, thanks to his pre-existing name-brand recognition. Trump is the triumph of our revenue-driven corporate media.
The most significant pass the MSM has given Trump is his is current and main criticism of the Iraq War (and I paraphrase) which is: "...our leaders are so stupid...We didn't even get the Iraqi Oil... I would have gotten their oil". This is one of Trump's biggest distortions of reality about the Bush-Cheney Iraq War, and it also provides insight on how he might conduct his foreign policy, in the same way as Bush-Cheney. In fact, Trump is an exact replica of Bush-Cheney.
The only reason the US invaded Iraq was to access and profit from their vast (estimated at 25% of the world's known oil reserves) oil fields, which was denied to the US, under Iraq's President. Contrary to Trump's assertion that we didn't get the oil, Exxon-Mobile, Chevron, Halliburton and others, are currently exploring these vast Iraqi oil fields, and planning development for their profit, after US taxpayers financed their mega 6 Trillion dollar government subsidy, not to mention all the taxpayer dollars that support our military's protection of Big Oil interests, and the consequent ravages and instability around the globe (including global warming).
Fear and anger are controlled by the reptilian brain, and who better to reach into that part of the medulla than another reptile.
Meanwhile, the Democratic race goes on, but as was noted last month:
Clinton’s coalition is wider than Sanders’s. Sanders has won only in relatively small states where black voters make up less than 10 percent of the population. That’s not going to work this year when black voters are likely to make up more than 20 percent of Democratic primary voters nationwide.
Also,
Clinton’s Superdelegates Are Ultimate Firewall to Block Sanders:
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/artic ... ck-sanders
But then...
This is one weak nominee: Hillary Clinton’s problem isn’t Bernie Sanders. It’s Hillary Clinton:
http://www.salon.com/2016/05/14/this_is ... y_clinton/
Because Clinton has been far from dominating in the primaries and caucuses, the true “political reality” is that she will need superdelegate support to secure the nomination. Fortunately for Clinton, she appears to have the support of an overwhelming majority of superdelegates, but those allegiances can change up until the time of the convention vote, so Sanders is alive as long as the race comes down to a fight over them.
