Reporters should have dumped on Donald Trump this week over his pathetic PR ploy in a garbage truck.
The embarrassing episode exemplifies Trump’s declining physical health, in addition to his phony portrayal as someone who gives a damn about working class Americans.
Unfortunately, the news coverage stunk to the point of being garbage itself because the stories failed to emphasize Trump’s physical limitations and questionable cognitive acuity.
This silly PR stunt by Trump is the type of false testament which is the opposite of everything he stands for as part of the super-richest 1% of Americans. LINK TO VIDEO
What fool would fall for that, other than some of the news media covering Trump.
I spotted one good article in The Washington Post, albeit in the Style section. The Style section is not exactly the place for impactful news coverage. The following is an excerpt:
- “Trump’s costumes — a trash collector, a McDonald’s worker — are impactful, at least visually, because they show how his cartoonish impulses function.”
- “In place of his standard-issue Brioni suit jacket was a highly visible orange and yellow vest, the kind that trash collectors wear to do their dirty and dangerous work, layered over his shiny red tie and freshly starched French cuff shirt, which was studded with square pave diamond cufflinks.”
Trump’s recent sham photo-op pretending to work at McDonald’s was likewise offensive to working class people.
Meanwhile, Vice President Harris has consistently pledged to be a president for all Americans regardless of party affiliation, political ideology, race, religion or other factors.
The media could have reminded voters how Trump previously refused to pay the immigrant construction workers who built Trump Tower, along with his other properties in midtown Manhattan.
This non-reporting of significant related negative information about Trump also raises some questions:
- Why did the reporters fail to mention that Trump has a long track record of similar situations in which he stiffed working class people after they completed jobs for him?
- Why does the media continue to let Trump get away his asinine antics, rather than calling out the blatant hypocrisy with an editorial bullhorn?
Reporters and news organizations should not be intimidated by Trump calling them “fake news” and “the enemy of the people.” Trump will continue to castigate the media no matter how they cover him.
Trump’s awkward photo-op laboring to climb into a garbage truck was the visual equivalent of a homeless man getting into a Ferrari — it was stupid and nonsensical.
Questions the media should have asked Trump
Reporters had full access to Trump, who was sitting with the bright orange vest in the passenger side of the garbage truck, nonchalantly gazing out the open window.
Why did reporters covering the silly stunt fail to ask Trump some simple questions, such as these:
- When was the last time you took out the garbage at your Mar a Lago estate or in your gold-plated Trump Tower penthouse in New York City?
- Who takes out the trash for you?
- How many butlers and servants work for you?
- Do you know the general cost of kitchen trash bags at the supermarket?
Trump was doing what he always does: bobbing, weaving and blaming others to deflect an embarrassing situation that he caused in the first place.
Let’s remember that it was that lame vulgar “comedian” at Trump’s Madison Square Garden event— whom Trump conveniently claims not to know — who created the controversy by calling Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage?
The broadcast media should have widely reported how pathetic Trump looked flailing about like a fish out of water trying to get into that trash truck.
Video speaks for itself
Trump clearly had trouble climbing into the garbage truck, as the video shows. Let’s break it down…
Trump had stumbled in trying to grasp and secure the door handle before barely lifting himself up into the garbage truck’s passenger seat.
- First, Trump had major trouble trying to grab the door handle of the truck. It took him several times to secure the door handle when reaching for it.
- Second, Trump could barely pull himself up into the cab of the truck. He looked like he was about to fall off at one point. That’s when the Secret Service agents got ready to catch him or push him in.
It’s repulsive that the same snake-oil salesman who claims to be a billionaire — despite multiple bankruptcies and daunting debt — had the audacity to pretend he has anything in common with sanitation workers.
Trump’s pathetic PR ploy was a mission failure
The campaign advisors who convinced Trump to try jumping into the cab of that truck for a photo-op have likely been fired by now.
The goal was to advance Trump’s latest bogus claim that Vice President Harris thinks his MAGA base is a garbage, when those words never came out of her mouth.
Trump’s false accusation about Harris is based on a communications gaffe by President Biden which was seized upon by the media.
Moreover, Harris swiftly broke from Biden when the media asked her about this issue, stating that no one should be demeaned because of their political party or allegiance to a presidential candidate.
Trump’s pathetic ploy in the trash truck was the visual equivalent of President Biden spacing out in the presidential debate which caused him to end his candidacy.
Trump’s “Dukakis Moment”
I’m reminded of a presidential campaign of yesteryear plagued by a similar failed PR stunt. It happened about 35 years ago. I call it “The Dukakis Moment.”
It was 1988 and Democratic presidential nominee and Massachusetts Governor, Michael Dukakis, staged a photo-op riding in a tank. It was a fruitless effort to improve his public image as a commander in chief who would be tough on defense and supportive of the military.
The difference back then was the news media skewered Dukakis because he looked so awful and awkward with his big head and small frame riding around in that tank — and with a chin-strapped combat helmet with his name on it.
That PR nightmare was the beginning of the end for the Dukakis campaign, which at one point that summer was ahead in the polls by double digits over Republican nominee George H.W. Bush.
Dukakis was humiliated politically by the tank event, along with Bush’s attack ad about it. Dukakis’ public image fell into a downward spiral from which he and his campaign never recovered.
The fallout of “The Dukakis Moment” is political history, as Bush went on to win the presidency.
Final Thoughts
Trump tries to portray the image of a tough macho man who’s like a gangster or mob boss. That’s apparently why so many young men — the bros and dudes — are apparently so enamored of him.
But the garbage truck chicanery should have caused Trump’s tough guy propaganda bubble to burst, if only the media had lambasted him the way it did to Gov. Dukakis back then and would do to any other political candidate now.
The news media should have magnified the video of Trump, not shied away from it. Social media shared it widely.
No wonder why Trump has stubbornly refused to release his medical records, for which the media likewise fails to hold him accountable.
In essence, Trump loves to complain about how the media covers him. But reporters only repeat what Trump says. He should only blame himself for that.
Nevertheless, it seems like the media could be giving Trump a free pass in the final days of the campaign.
And that would be bad journalism.
Photo Credit: CBS News
- Will Senate Republicans Buckle to Trump on Recess Appointments? – by David Grinberg - November 19, 2024
- Why Biden Deserves Blame for Kamala’s Loss – by David Grinberg - November 19, 2024
- Why the Media Should Have Trashed Trump’s Garbage Truck Stunt – by David Grinberg - November 3, 2024