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The Press and the President’s Daughter
The general rule guiding the press and the offspring of a sitting President is hands-off unless the child has reached adulthood. Then everything is fair game, especially when it comes to that adult child’s chosen profession.
But the President is still a father, no? So, what happens when that fatherly instinct takes over? What happens when the President of the United States threatens a Washington Post columnist with physical harm?
What should you do with a President that is so unstable, so undeferential to the role of the free press in our society that he would have the temerity to write this to the columnist:
It seems to me that you are a frustrated old man who wishes he could have been successful. When you write such poppy-cock as was in the back section of the paper you work for it shows conclusively that you’re off the beam and at least four of your ulcers are at work.
Some day I hope to meet you. When that happens you’ll need a new nose, a lot of beef steak for black eyes, and perhaps a supporter below!
If you’re a Democrat you stand up and cheer. Wait … you don’t understand why the Democrats are cheering? Because the President I’m speaking about isn’t Donald Trump, it’s Harry Truman. The excerpt above is from a letter Truman wrote to Post music critic Paul Hume in 1950 after Hume reviewed Margaret Truman’s singing.
Margaret had a pleasant enough voice but tended to be a bit flat. Hume simply told the truth.
Amazingly, looking back at it from today’s perspective, Hume not only chose not to respond, The Post declined to publish the letter. It only came to light when Hume told a colleague about it, which he said he always regretted. Today it would dominate the news cycle for days.
Margaret continued singing throughout the 1950s with mixed success. She was a frequent guest on “The Big Show,” a 90-minute variety show that was NBC’s last gasp at keeping radio relevant in a television world. Its host, the actress Tallulah Bankhead, praised her performance skills. But, of course, they had a bit of “spiritual” connection, too. Her father, William Bankhead, was swept up in the Roosevelt tidal wave in 1933 and spent the remainder of his life representing the 7th District of Alabama, and for the last six as the 42nd Speaker of the House.
This morning, President Trump is taking heat for Tweeting about retailers severing ties with his daughter Ivanka and her clothing line. Now all we have to do is find out if Ivanka can sing.
Published in Culture, Politics
As Lewis Grizzard said, Eugene you genius! While the Trump tweeting is not itself bothersome to me, I would agree that the underlying tone of unfairness does get tiring.
Yes, but then the fault would be on the Post for publishing private correspondence. Instead of Trump being unpresidential, it would then be another example of media bias.
I love it when you mention me in your posts.
You’re just the best dude.
No letter sent to a newspaper is private correspondence. Whether it is from me or Bill Gates or Donald Trump. If you send a letter to a newspaper, it is fair game for publishing.
Sorry, but this is not acceptable behavior. Ivanka is an adult and allegedly a sophisticated and experienced business person. She doesn’t need her daddy’s help.
Once again, I have to ask: what would be your reaction if Obama did this? Be honest!
He may have the ability to ‘adapt’ if he decides its in his best interest to act differently. People around him need to help him see this, I think.
Interesting fact (to me) our current narcissist president and my own narcissist dad share the same first name. Now I may go off and flatter myself that I resemble his oldest daughter! (in my dreams…lolz)
That is a good intellectual exercise. I confess I would tend to have sympathy for any Dad wanting to protect his daughter. After this, I’m inclined to ‘forgive’ DJT for the inappropriate tweet.
That’s assuming it was a simple business decision, “your line is not making money”, etc.
There’s no doubt that this is a direct political action against Trump.
I like the fact that he stands up for his supporters when they’re attacked, even when the supporter is his daughter.
quoting Althouse:
http://althouse.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-woman-must-be-destroyed.html
Try not condescending with the all caps ‘be honest’, you think you’re talking to blindly biased mental midgets?
If Obama did this about his child I’d say he was a thin skinned narcissist just like I said about Trump. The difference between the situations, besides the difference between Obama’s narcissism and Trump’s narcissism, may lie in the enormous attacks that are occurring from nearly every angle imaginable.
I’m sure Trump was ready for it and planned on acting exactly this way, for better or worse. Sitting back and being attacked isn’t in his nature
Lol, I don’t think that at all, was only trying to inspire a bit of introspection. But point taken. I have edited the comment to make the question lower case.
Well, if I were a member of the White House Correspondents Association I would probably Tweet out what a wonderful father President Obama was and what a glorious example he setting for the nation’s fathers.
If you look back over the original post and the comments that followed you won’t find any excuses made on behalf of the current President. On the contrary you’ll find quite a bit of criticism. You don’t have to throw a chair through the front window of the downtown Starbucks to register the proper level of disagreement.
Is this like pole vaulting or limbo dancing? If you don’t exceed the expectations of wherever the bar has been set it’s disqualifying?
Not throwing a chair, I just want the President to start acting like one.
Agree, but I wonder why that is? Could it be it’s because in addition to being President he’s also the King of Unforced Errors?
Then he’s in the wrong job.
Oh. For some silly reason I thought there was a question addressed to the membership.
Like this?
I love that movie. Never occurred to me until recently that it might actually be a documentary.
I know I don’t doubt it. But a good businessman deploys the best response. Tweeting out lamentations is not it.
Nordstrom’s solution to their ‘problem’ was likely a mistake as well. His supporters are not exclusively walmart shoppers.
I’ll give you a serious answer though. We’ll never know how we would react in such a situation, because it will never happen. No son or daughter of a Democratic president ever gets any negative press, nor any organized criticism of any sort.
We’re not in Kansas any more Toto. Our President is a reflection of our current culture. Us.
Nope:
Any GOP would be attacked mercilessly by the fully functional death star of the Soros machine, the media, the eurotsocialists, the entire educational establishment and Hollywood.
The attacking from conservatives comes from both his odd personal characteristics and his policies they disagree with plus I suppose some level of haughty amazement that the president isn’t one of the cultured class despite his wealth.
Chelsea Clinton looks and talks like a horse with rabies. There, I’ve said it!
I can’t think of any recent Democratic president that had adult children running large businesses while in office. Can you?
That said, the adult siblings got plenty of criticism: Billy Carter, Roger Clinton, and Ted Kennedy all got criticized (and all deserved it).
There also appears to be evidence that she embezzled money from the Clinton Foundation. A charity… she embezzled from a charity. Imagine the coverage if that had been Jenna Bush.
My understanding is that Nordstrom pulled the line because of lagging sales. What is the evidence that this was anything but a normal business decision?
Timing. Not only is Nordstrom only one of several retailers suddenly making the same decision, all within the space of a week, but there was also a retreat of major Democratic donors who discussed a full on assault on Trump, across many different fronts.
Think about it… she will be far more visible now than she was before any of this started, therefore her and her clothing line will be getting much more attention. That’s the sort of things that retailers typically are happy about.
Man, where have you been? I think we’ve been living this movie for years!
This.
Everything, and I mean everything, needs to be interpreted as if it’s malicious right now.