Trump v Univision

 

It’s  3:00 a.m in Paris, and I’m awake owing to a cat-related incident. After realizing that no, I wasn’t going to be able to fall asleep, I checked the news. As one does. Headlining: Donald Trump kicked TV’s most influential Latino newsman out of a press conference. Oh, I thought. Is this really the most important thing happening in the world right now? To judge from the headlines, you’d think so. Here’s the first part of the exchange:

And here’s the second:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7_HaEOIJhM

Two quick observations:

1) The Washington Post says, “The lasting image will be that of Ramos — who serves as Univision’s lead anchor and is effectively one of the (if not the) most powerful newsmen on Spanish-language TV — being hustled out of the room after trying to ask Trump a question.”

Perhaps. But that may be because that’s the easiest image to find. You have to work a bit harder to find the images of Ramos coming back and asking his questions. It’s not impossible. We looked for it backstage and it took us about five minutes. But clearly the Post and many other news agencies quickly decided what the “lasting image” would be and furnished it: In most of the videos in the headline news, the clip ends with Ramos being hustled off.

As you can see from the second clip, however, that’s not where the story necessarily ends. So I’m not sure the Post is correct about what the “lasting image” will be.

2) As we were looking for the full clip — not the “lasting image” clip — I said, “From abroad, it feels as if Trump is already the president.” It wasn’t a deep thought: It was just something that occurred to me. Nachtgedanken, so to speak. The Yeti said, “You should post that.” To which I responded that I wasn’t sure what I meant by it:

Claire: He gets more news coverage; he seems larger-than-life.

Yeti: I assume it means that Trump is suffocating every other candidate’s media oxygen.

Claire: Not only every other candidate — but the seated president.

I don’t know if that observation is meaningful. All I can say is that those words occurred to me while reading the news at 3:00 am in Paris.

And now I can’t sleep.

 

Published in Elections, General, Politics
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  1. Mike LaRoche Inactive
    Mike LaRoche
    @MikeLaRoche

    What I see is a pushy foreign national trying to conduct his own personal filibuster during Donald Trump’s press conference. From the clip above, Trump appeared quite gracious and willing to honestly answer the questions asked of him.

    • #1
  2. Claire Berlinski, Ed. Member
    Claire Berlinski, Ed.
    @Claire

    Hold on, wait — I’ve screwed up, that’s only the second part of the clip. I need to find the full thing, start to finish.

    • #2
  3. David Sussman Member
    David Sussman
    @DaveSussman

    I was the first to say Trump was done after his McCain crack… Obviously way wrong.

    So, to borrow a term from Wall Street, I’m capitulating. Trump probably just secured votes from some Hispanic group that hates Ramos and we will surely see his numbers grow. It’s come to this.

    Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!

    • #3
  4. Mike LaRoche Inactive
    Mike LaRoche
    @MikeLaRoche

    Okay. ;-)

    • #4
  5. Claire Berlinski, Ed. Member
    Claire Berlinski, Ed.
    @Claire

    My apologies: Now you’ve got the whole thing — I think.

    • #5
  6. BrentB67 Inactive
    BrentB67
    @BrentB67

    The fact that we have ‘Spanish language TV’ is part of the reason Donald Trump is going to be a burr under the saddle for a while.

    • #6
  7. Leigh Inactive
    Leigh
    @Leigh

    Not from here, it does not.  It feels as though we are spending some time in fantasyland where it is fun to pretend Trump is President.  It’s still August.

    No major candidate wants to be the first to take on Trump, but somebody will.  It’s one thing to read that Trump manufactured in Mexico.  It’s another to see that picture Brian Watt posted on the Member Feed, with some of his quotes playing in the background.  It’s one thing for Trump to casually praise healthcare in Canada and Scotland.  It’s another to see that quote before and after a few details about how that system actually works, and maybe a personal story — closing with the question of whom you want tackling Obamacare.  It’s sort of funny for Trump to say he learns about the world “from the shows.”  It’s not so funny when you’re considering mushroom clouds.

    That’s what SuperPACS do. He won’t be President.

    • #7
  8. Eugene Kriegsmann Member
    Eugene Kriegsmann
    @EugeneKriegsmann

    Trump is replacing tact, not political correctness, with pompous bluster. He is the epitome of the self-made man who worships his creator. He is glorying in the controversy and in the adulation of people who do not know the difference between statesmanship and demagoguery. He is no more prepared to be president of the United States than Obama was, perhaps, even a bit less. For all of Obama’s petulance, he doesn’t carry on Twitter wars with news people who he feels insulted by. These latest tweets against Megyn Kelly, when that whole thing had died down and to all appearances with no longer even in the rear view mirror, are the actions of an adolescent whose ego won’t be healed until he has totally demolished someone who he felt was disrespectful to him. He lacks the ability to rise above the fray, to be noble, to be mature. He only knows how to attack and attack and attack until he feels he has been vindicated. Is this the kind of man we want in the White House? Is this the kind of man we want to represent the United States of America? Is this the man we think belongs in the same position as Abraham Lincoln? I don’t think so.

    • #8
  9. Mike LaRoche Inactive
    Mike LaRoche
    @MikeLaRoche

    Just watched the whole thing.

    My prediction: pain for the ethnic grievance lobby.

    • #9
  10. Mike LaRoche Inactive
    Mike LaRoche
    @MikeLaRoche

    Are you not entertained?!

    • #10
  11. Luke Thatcher
    Luke
    @Luke

    Mike LaRoche:Are you not entertained?!

    why yes… yes i am…

    • #11
  12. Claire Berlinski, Ed. Member
    Claire Berlinski, Ed.
    @Claire

    Mike LaRoche: What I see is a pushy foreign national trying to conduct his own personal filibuster during Donald Trump’s press conference

    Ramos is a US citizen.

    • #12
  13. Ansonia Member
    Ansonia
    @Ansonia

    I’m not a Trump fan but he was more than fair with that jerk. As for how it looks, or how it can be made to look, how did Bernie Sanders look letting those kids take over the stage at his rally? Trump insisted this man would ask his question when he was called. Good for him.

    • #13
  14. The Cloaked Gaijin Member
    The Cloaked Gaijin
    @TheCloakedGaijin

    Trump to reporter: “I have a bigger heart than you do.”

    I guess this reporter is supposed to be somebody.  He means nothing to me.

    An Hispanic Alistair Cooke?  I’ve never seen him on TV.

    • #14
  15. Rodin Member
    Rodin
    @Rodin

    Trump is giving me schizophrenia: Part of me is saying “Go get ’em.” The other part of me is saying “We have had enough ‘cult of personality’ already.”

    • #15
  16. Jimmy Carter Member
    Jimmy Carter
    @JimmyCarter

    Claire Berlinski, Ed.:

    Mike LaRoche: What I see is a pushy foreign national trying to conduct his own personal filibuster during Donald Trump’s press conference

    Ramos is a US citizen.

    An “Anchor Anchor?”

    • #16
  17. FightinInPhilly Coolidge
    FightinInPhilly
    @FightinInPhilly

    My lasting impression is that for the first time Trump said something that pleased me. When Ramos said “no person can be illegal”, Trump waved his arms and said “Welll…when they cross the borders, from a legal standpoint…they’re illegal if they don’t have their paperwork.”

    I’m not a Trump fan, but listening to someone pushing back against an obnoxious reporter and simply insisting that words have meaning is quite pleasant

    • #17
  18. Mike LaRoche Inactive
    Mike LaRoche
    @MikeLaRoche

    Claire Berlinski, Ed.:

    Mike LaRoche: What I see is a pushy foreign national trying to conduct his own personal filibuster during Donald Trump’s press conference

    Ramos is a US citizen.

    True, but perception is reality. Optics.

    • #18
  19. Claire Berlinski, Ed. Member
    Claire Berlinski, Ed.
    @Claire

    Mike LaRoche: True, but perception is reality. Optics.

    “… LaRoche entered his surprising postmodern phase in the summer of 2016.”

    • #19
  20. Great Ghost of Gödel Inactive
    Great Ghost of Gödel
    @GreatGhostofGodel

    FightinInPhilly:My lasting impression is that for the first time Trump said something that pleased me. When Ramos said “no person can be illegal”, Trump waved his arms and said “Welll…when they cross the borders, from a legal standpoint…they’re illegal if they don’t have their paperwork.”

    Exactly. I remember the

    bumper-ebay-skateboarding-is-not-a-crime

    bumper stickers in Venice Beach 20 years ago, and thinking “Um, it is if there’s a law against it.” I feel exactly the same about illegal immigration.

    • #20
  21. Great Ghost of Gödel Inactive
    Great Ghost of Gödel
    @GreatGhostofGodel

    Claire Berlinski, Ed.:

    Mike LaRoche: True, but perception is reality. Optics.

    “… LaRoche entered his surprising postmodern phase in the summer of 2016.”

    I thought it was in the 1960s.

    Oh, wait. That was LaRouche. Carry on.

    • #21
  22. Mike LaRoche Inactive
    Mike LaRoche
    @MikeLaRoche

    Claire Berlinski, Ed.:

    Mike LaRoche: True, but perception is reality. Optics.

    “… LaRoche entered his surprising postmodern phase in the summer of 2016.”

    Being of French ancestry, I reckon it was inevitable. ;-)

    • #22
  23. blank generation member Inactive
    blank generation member
    @blankgenerationmember

    As of right now on SFGate:

    Headline:
    Trump has Univision anchor removed from news conference

    First paragraph:

    DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump engaged in a prolonged confrontation with the anchor of the nation’s leading Spanish-language network during a news conference Tuesday, first having the well-known news personality removed before allowing him back in.

    • #23
  24. Mike LaRoche Inactive
    Mike LaRoche
    @MikeLaRoche

    Great Ghost of Gödel:

    Claire Berlinski, Ed.:

    Mike LaRoche: True, but perception is reality. Optics.

    “… LaRoche entered his surprising postmodern phase in the summer of 2016.”

    I thought it was in the 1960s.

    Oh, wait. That was LaRouche. Carry on.

    Crazy old Uncle Lyndon. The family will never live that down.

    • #24
  25. Ryan M Inactive
    Ryan M
    @RyanM

    I’m assuming he was talking about Megyn Kelly when he said “no, she should be apologizing to me.”

    Get some sleep!

    • #25
  26. Tuck Inactive
    Tuck
    @Tuck

    Eugene Kriegsmann: Trump is replacing tact, not political correctness, with pompous bluster.

    Watch the video.  Trump was brusque, but polite.  When Ramos came back into the room, Trump welcomed him back and engaged with him.

    What I saw was a rude journalist getting the boot.  Given the low opinion people have of journalists, I don’t think Trump’s going to be hurt by this.

    And Trump looked pretty damn commanding.  No weakling he.

    • #26
  27. Misthiocracy Member
    Misthiocracy
    @Misthiocracy

    Claire Berlinski, Ed.:

    Mike LaRoche: True, but perception is reality. Optics.

    “… LaRoche entered his surprising postmodern phase in the summer of 2016.”

    Postmodern rhetoric feels an awful lot like pre-Socratic rhetoric.

    • #27
  28. Joseph Eagar Member
    Joseph Eagar
    @JosephEagar

    I think Walter Russell Mead has it right: Trump is a nihilist populist, and I’m embarrassed to say: man do I find that appealing.  I’m sick to death of being treated like dirt by America’s neoaristocracy.

    Why can’t any of our other candidates talk this way?  We need a real candidate.

    • #28
  29. Umbra Fractus Inactive
    Umbra Fractus
    @UmbraFractus

    On one hand, while I’ve not been shy about my anti-Trump-ism, it’s pretty obvious even from the short clip that Ramos was speaking out of turn and trying to prevent another reporter from asking a question. Even I can’t find much to complain about here…

    …except for the fact that it’s been almost three weeks and he’s still whining because Megyn Kelly asked him a difficult question?! Is this what the Trumpistas mean by, “He fights”?

    • #29
  30. EThompson Member
    EThompson
    @

    “Sit down. You haven’t been called.”

    Honestly, how many of us have been waiting for years to hear that one?

    • #30
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