Donald Trump got quite the free ride from the corporate media for much of this campaign, getting away with one disqualifying transgression after another while reporters were locked into endless and aggressive coverage of Clinton's emails. Now that he is getting more sustained vetting, he does not like it one bit. His strategy: Pretend he's the victim of a media conspiracy.
Following is my tweetstorm about Donald Trump's laughable claim that the national media are conspiring against him and favoring Hillary Clinton.
1. Trump's tantrum about how media are "rigging the election" against him is manifestly absurd.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 18, 2016
2. There are copious examples of narratives and hostile postures to which Hillary Clinton has been subjected and Trump has not.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 18, 2016
3. The media have not mentioned any Trump story every day for over a year. (Hint: emails.)
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 18, 2016
4. Trump has not been repeatedly asked why he isn’t likable, despite the fact that he has abysmal approval ratings.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 18, 2016
5. Trump is not routinely said to feel “entitled” to the presidency, even though he complains bitterly about being vetted.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 18, 2016
6. Trump has not been called overly ambitious despite being wholly unqualified nor has he repeatedly been said to be seeking a "coronation."
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 18, 2016
7. Trump has not relentlessly been told to smile more. Or less.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 18, 2016
8. Trump has not been said, on numerous occasions, to remind a member of the press or the GOP of a nagging spouse.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 18, 2016
9. There are not endless thinkpieces admonishing Trump that he needs to “humanize” himself.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 18, 2016
10. No one appears to be especially interested in how much his clothes cost. Or how often he wears the same jacket.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 18, 2016
11. There have not been countless stories about “low enthusiasm” for Trump.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 18, 2016
12. None of Trump’s wins have been widely described as “feeling” like a loss.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 18, 2016
13. I don’t believe anyone has ever accused Trump of seeming “over prepared” or “too wonky.”
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 18, 2016
14. Trump has probably never had to read dozens of stories about how he is insufficiently inspiring.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 18, 2016
15. Trump has never issued a major policy statement which has been virtually ignored.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 18, 2016
16. Yet he is the one throwing a tantrum about how the media are trying to “destroy” him by influencing the public in his opponent's favor.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 18, 2016
17. Even though most of the negative coverage he has received lately is as a direct result of *his own words*.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 18, 2016
18. Trump does not have a healthy relationship w/ facts. But this claim is laughable, even by his own rock bottom standards of credibility.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 18, 2016
19. And then you've got jokers like Joe Scarborough agreeing (!!!) with Trump that the media's been unfair to him. https://t.co/FKGQiFua30
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 18, 2016
20. Much of the corporate media, not to mention his own party, failed to seriously vet Trump until very late in the game.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 18, 2016
21. If Trump, or anyone else, feels like it's a media pile-on now, that's only because he largely got a free pass for 18 months.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 18, 2016
22. And there still, for example, hasn't been a sustained drumbeat on releasing his taxes. It comes up; he bats it away with a lie.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 18, 2016
23. There simply hasn't been relentless, daily pressure on him the way there has been on Clinton with her emails.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 18, 2016
24. And now that Trump's experienced two whole weeks of daily coverage, generated by his own words, all he does is whine about it.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 18, 2016
25. What would Trump say if he'd been held to the same standards as Clinton by corporate media all along?
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 18, 2016
