Omarosa Manigault Newman is under President Donald Trump’s thin skin. Sales of her memoir “Unhinged” began last week and the Tweeter-in-Chief wasted no time living up to the book’s title, calling his former reality television peer and political aide a “dog” and “low life.”
“While I know it’s ‘not presidential’ to take on a lowlife like Omarosa, and while I would rather not be doing so, this is a modern day form of communication and I know the Fake News Media will be working overtime to make even Wacky Omarosa look legitimate as possible. Sorry!,” Trump posted on Twitter.
Sigh … . That tells us he knows how bad it looks, but just can’t help himself. Trump tweeted about the “fake news media” one day, but tweeted the link to a New York Post article favorable of him the next. He’s consistently inconsistent.
Omarosa spent the week making the rounds on news programs hawking her book, which is critical of Trump — and Trump spent the week tweeting insults. Ironically, his responses and the media reactions most likely are helping her book sales more than actual media appearances alone. She learned well from her former boss.
I had no way of knowing what would develop after last week’s column asking “Are those Twitter tirades news?” Last week’s topic developed after I saw comments from readers of an online news report about Trump deriding the intelligence of NBA star LeBron James via Twitter. One of those who commented said she wished the media would stick to reporting on what the president was actually doing, not what he was saying on Twitter. Though some disagreed, others were supportive of her comment.
I asked for reader feedback about whether it is news or not — the president routinely making disparaging comments about people who oppose him on Twitter. I received replies via email, Facebook and Twitter.
Here is what readers had to say:
“Unfortunately, I think what the president is saying directly to millions of Americans is news, especially since so much of what he says is untrue — deliberately so. Journalism is not the only line of defense against a political leader determined to lie to the people and to lower their resistance to lies for his own benefit, but since Congress refuses to do its job, journalists have to fill the void.”
“Yes, bad news!”
“Obviously, the tweets need to be reported in the news but the news media should not immerse themselves in them. If the news media would do that and just send one pool reporter and one camera to his campaign rallies, not show them live, and only report any newsworthy statements that might take place, I think it would go a long way to stopping him from acting out so much.”
“Regarding you column on presidential tweets and request for feedback, of course they are news, and should be treated as one would treat any presidential statement by any other method. My sense is that the Special Counsel will look at every tweet this president has made as he compiles his evidence.”
“Trump’s tweets are the norm now, mores the pity. Not news necessarily — but the expected braying of the resident jackass in the Oval Office. News? That would be that the spineless bunch of wretches who call themselves Republicans and PUBLIC SERVANTS — have so far, with a couple exceptions allowed him to rant and rave without yanking a knot in his tail publicly, forcefully and succinctly. There has never before been a Congress that is so complicit in the wholesale destruction and denigration of the American nation in the perception of the world at large as this one. They are charged by the Constitution to safeguard the freedoms and form of government bequeathed to the American people by the designers of our laws and the rights and privileges conveyed thereby to the citizenry. NEWS would be the reporting and publication of these facts AS WELL AS the activities of the jackass in the OFFICE. It needs to be done by every reporter, columnist, radio and other public media form extant now.”
“Tweets are okay. His Etch A Sketch work is soaring to fourth grade level.”
“Not news but newsworthy, only because it’s coming from the office of the President Of the United States — an office that has been tarnished by an idiotic, maniacal human being.”
So, yes, those tweets are news or newsworthy. Trump recognizes the power of Twitter as a tool for communication and uses it, knowing he won’t be ignored. The media will do its job and cover what he tweets .
Thanks for the feedback. It broadens my perspective to hear from readers.
Shea Wilson is the former managing editor of the El Dorado News-Times. Email her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @sheawilson7.