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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
Fair enough. The next month or two will tell the tale about such collective efforts. Please keep an open mind ( the last two words are a friendly joke, but I avoided all caps).
There was a time in my life I wouldn’t have believed in a million years that a business would make a decision that was not in their bottom-line interest. Alas – Hollywood destroyed yet another dream.
I know the word “virtue signaling” is one we’re all getting sick of – at least I am. But it’s within the realm of possibility that Nordstrom is counting on gaining some points there and willing to take any possible loss on a (possibly) bad business decision?
Yes, because people always tell you the exact truth about their motivation.
Please, those Nordstrom buyers were dying to get rid of this brand. (side note, I worked at Norstrom in my college days, and know the kind of people we’re talking about. They’re not bad people, but they are just the kind of people to go to the Women’s March and feel they’ve made a difference for doing so.)
@blueyeti, why must I react to President Trump as I would to President Obama?
I voted for President Trump because:
1. I had a slim hope that he could be persuaded to advance an agenda that would be more in line with what I consider good.
2. I thought that a Trump’s administration would be more transparent because the media would not protect him as they would for Mrs. Clinton would.
I took a gamble. So far, a solid Cabinet and a great nomination to Supreme Court count as winning for me. And it doesn’t appear as though Mr. Trump’s bad deeds will go unnoticed.
I voted for President Trump despite his boorishness, which was evident throughout the campaign. I had no expectation that he would suddenly change and behave differently. Thus, even though his behavior is indefensible, (I certainly will not defend it), I can’t get too upset with him for being him.
Life is full of tradeoffs; I made my choice. I am still comfortable with the cost benefit ratio. At this time! I didn’t get any benefits from President Obama administration, why should I have to pay the same cost?
Believing that they are free to do it does not preclude being upset when they do.
Why do I picture you at the poker table with a pile of human organs in front of you?
Intellectual honesty. Failure to do so would be blind partisanship. An action or a statement is either good or bad regardless of who says it.
You know, in a way what Norstrom did was worse than say they were listening to their customers and just drop the brand in response to the hashtag campaign. They said they’d like to keep it, but it sucks. Its a pretty big insult. (That said, I’m not sure about the quality of that brand. To be fair – most of that ‘celebrity name brand’ stuff is generally marginal quality. But Nordstrom sells at least half a dozen of those types of brands, including stuff with the Kardashian name and Jessica Simpson’s as well – so they’re not picky about these things)
Because some people understand that its a 24×7 media street fight and some people don’t.
Nordstrom headquarters is — if I’m not mistaken — Seattle, Washington and I’m willing to bet in a district that didn’t vote overwhelmingly for Orange
Hitler Genghis Khan Bubonic Plague Strep Throat, Lex Luthor, Boris Badenov, Thanos the DestroyerRealtor.OK, fine — I’ll take your word on that. My issue isn’t what Nordstrom’s did — it was her father’s reaction to it, which I feel is inappropriate for a President and for the father of an adult child who’s running a worldwide business. And I bet Ivanka does too.
Great OP, EJHill. Thanks for adding some perspective for those who seem to me to be constantly wanting to engage in hyperbolic over reactions to anything Trump does.
I consider those who continue to stoke the fires of discord, to be direct contributors to the violent protests going on around the country, as well as, as the resulting/related injuries, deaths, and damage. And they bear the responsibility for same.
Who cares?
If Ivanka has a problem I’m sure she’ll tell her dad.
Other than that I’d say it’s a big, fat no big deal. Certainly not warranting an ALL CAP comment.
Probably.
I agree with you that an action is good or bad regardless of the actor. I did say that President Trump’s certain behavior is indefensible, did I not? I don’t agree that I have to react the same way to the same behavior, regardless of the actor. Is that a moral failing on my part?
We do not charge more for CAP COMMENTS.
Hey, President Trump – nice work punishing Nordstrom’s:
Try charting Nordstrom’s stock since December 8th, 2016 – it was at ~ $61.00.
Did I miss the part where he said he wanted to punish Norstrom?
Then what would be the point of the Tweet?
I don’t tweet much, but when I do it’s not to punish. Register outrage, disagreement, agreement. Sharing. If he is the boogeyman so many want to believe he is, and he wanted to punish Nordstrom, surely he could something a little more painful than a tweet?
I guess he was registering disagreement so his supporters wouldn’t shop there? Just as many will probably choose to and Pres T is no dummy, so I’m sure he saw that going in.
If a president really wanted to harm them, he could even do something completely outrageous like use the IRS against them.
Of course they explicitly deny it. Doesn’t make their denial a fact.
Hey … I can still read what you said.
@susanquinn describes this malady on the Main Feed. Good reading.
One of Ivanka’s fall hat collection which Nordstrom customers will now miss out on.
From what little I have seen so far, Ivanka is a class act. Maybe some of it will rub off on her father.
I’d also guess that she is one of the few people on the planet who can get him to tone it down.
I am old enough to remember Trump talking about how he will cut all business ties and have no conflicts of interest. And today he also maligned an American business.
I’m at the point now where I wish he would have just confined himself to tweeting out pique on his personal account, instead of biatching about it on the official POTUS account. It’s all reality-TV drama – cue the ominous music, zoom in on the shocked face of the person who just got dissed, cut the music, three beats of silent, angry oh-n0-they-did-nt retort, bring up the music, whooshy sound cutting to logo, commercial.
It’s all so Kardashian.
Sad!