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CNN's Brian Stelter Admits to New York Times Columnist: 'I'm a Donald Trump Addict'
Newsbusters ^ | May 15, 2018 6:29 EDT | Ryan Foley

Posted on 05/15/2018 11:02:27 AM PDT by ethom

During an appearance on CNN's Reliable Sources, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof admitted that the media has an addiction to covering President Trump, leading them to avoid covering other newsworthy topics. He flushed this argument out further in a recent New York Times op-ed titled “Our Addiction to Trump.”

Host Brian Stelter appeared to agree with Kristof, declaring that “I'm a Trump addict. I think I’m willing to admit that. I think all roads lead to Trump right now.” Kristof then admitted that he also suffered from Trump Addiction: “My wife and I, we find ourselves, our pillow talk is sometimes about Trump.”

Kristof acknowledged that many in the media saw Trump as an antidote to their old business model: “As long as we have our cameras focused on him, then audiences will follow.” Kristof also admitted that the media breathed a sigh of relief that “there was somebody we could cover that could generate these subscriptions.”

Stelter and Kristof then played footage of President Trump’s recent rally in Elkhart, Indiana, where he argued that despite their intense hatred for him, the “fake news media” does not want President Trump to sail off into the sunset, telling the enthusiastic crowd “when I’m not here, their ratings are going to sink.” While Stelter stated that “I don’t think that’s entirely true,” he did mention that The New York Times and other publications have seen increases in subscriptions in the age of Trump.

In his column, Kristof wrote: “I'm not arguing that we avert our eyes from Trump or mute our criticism. Far from it. But we have to figure out how to spare bandwidth for the genocide in Myanmar, opioids in America, and so on.” Kristof said that this task might be easier said than done because any network that decided to abandon their round-the-clock coverage of President Trump to cover one of these less appetizing and less scandalous stories would risk losing viewership to “a rival network that puts a Democrat and a Republican in a studio and has them yell at each other.”

Towards the end of Kristof’s appearance on Reliable Sources, he pointed out that “as a nation, we tend to have our worst policies towards issues that are difficult to talk about or that are invisible. We can be part of the solution. We can help leverage these issues and, you know, put them on the agenda. And it's hard, and we have to figure out how to build a business model for that kind of thing. But maybe a starting point is to have a conversation about that.”

Kristof cited the decline of American life expectancy as a result of suicide, drug and alcohol abuse and crises in work, self-esteem, employment, and living standards as examples of “difficult” and “invisible” issues.

By and large, it does not look like the media will take Kristof’s advice to dial down their coverage of President Trump and focus on the issues that affect “invisible America.” The love-hate relationship between President Trump and the legacy media will continue for the foreseeable future. It remains to be seen how many more journalists will follow Kristof’s lead and admit to their Trump addiction.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Political Humor/Cartoons; Politics/Elections; US: New York
KEYWORDS: addiction; tds; trumpmedia
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To: ethom

21 posted on 05/15/2018 11:43:28 AM PDT by Oatka (tHE)
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To: JudyinCanada

I agree. My borther, whom I always thought to be intelligent and reational, thinks Trump is a buffoon. Thanks to Trump his 401Ks and other investments are allowing him to retire early.

He has a cognizant inability to rationalize his feelings about Trump. In order to do so, he will have to admit at some point that he had been woodwinked, and he’ll look at some scape goat for his feelings.

I think just about everyone here in the beginning were not convinced Trump was legit. We were hopeful, and with each day mindful, but there was always this thing in the background that he was a fake.

FOR ME THE CHANGE CAME, WHEN HE DOUBLE DOWNED ABOUT HIS COMMENTS THAT WE NEEDED A WALL AND THAT MEXICO WOULD PAY.

I could see that this guy was speaking the truth, and was doing so without any speech writer.

Secondly, the way he handled the press. He spoke with everyone any place and at any time. His answers were quick and brief, like Truman and Kennedy.

Lastly, when he pulled up at his first stop in his plane, and his refusal to accept pac money and to use his own money to campaign, we knew he was the real deal.


22 posted on 05/15/2018 11:58:43 AM PDT by nikos1121
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To: ethom

“I’ve thought that too, the Democrats may see this and think they should convince Mark Cuban, Oprah or Moochie to run..they are so desperate”

On Nov. 9, 2016, my moonbat sister cursed out millennials for not voting, and screamed for Mikey O to run in 2020.


23 posted on 05/15/2018 12:01:42 PM PDT by treetopsandroofs
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To: simpson96

Reliable Sources????????


24 posted on 05/15/2018 12:07:47 PM PDT by Vehmgericht ( stop)
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To: simpson96

Is THAT Stelter??

Explains a lot. I think my gaydar just exploded.


25 posted on 05/15/2018 12:08:26 PM PDT by CrimsonTidegirl (Hello darkness my old friend. I've come to talk with you again.)
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To: nikos1121

I, unlike many, had never seen Trump in The Apprentice (I don’t watch much tv) and really wasn’t terribly aware of who he is.

When I saw that he had the GUTS to say what I would only think, I knew he had a backbone of steel was not intimidated by political correctness.

I have a neighbour who is moving to North Carolina because he’s been offered a great job (no doubt brought about by Trump’s America), but I can see him, like other fools, mocking the president while he’s packing up his family for a better future....not unlike your brother.

Intelligence and wisdom are two completely different things. I have a BIL who is highly intelligent, but he’s a complete fool. I also have a son who is very intelligent, but, sadly, he has fallen prey to the left and sounds like a fool. Wisdom, on the other hand, is from God. It’s a different kind of smart. Scripture says that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. If someone does not fear God, they may be intelligent, but they’re not wise. I’d much rather be wise.


26 posted on 05/15/2018 12:18:21 PM PDT by JudyinCanada
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To: mowowie
Jamie Stelter - traffic reporter at TV station NY1.
27 posted on 05/15/2018 12:18:35 PM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: ethom
“My wife and I, we find ourselves, our pillow talk is sometimes about Trump.”

Gross.

28 posted on 05/15/2018 12:22:49 PM PDT by hellinahandcart
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To: JudyinCanada

Then we each know how the other feels. I think there are many of us here who are experiencing the same thing.

My brother, doesn’t even acknowledge Trump. He’s in Jerusalem as we speak with some students. He’s oblivious to all the posters over there and the widespread appreciation that the people there hold for Trump.

I can’t think of many things Trump has done or said that I disagree with. I don’t quite understand why he backed the ethanol subsidies, but then again I don’t know the issues there. Seems to me, that the gov’t subsidies to make fuel out of food, is despicable, and favors only a few, and I here that ethanol is not good for cars, and costs more to make than it benefits.


29 posted on 05/15/2018 12:48:39 PM PDT by nikos1121
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To: oh8eleven

She’d be fun for a few weeks in the summer but then i’d be calling for a lobotomy..


30 posted on 05/15/2018 12:56:08 PM PDT by mowowie
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To: nikos1121

Oh my, how I wish I had been in Jerusalem for this historic event! So sad that your brother was there and couldn’t appreciate what he may have been a part of. I’ve watched footage of the people celebrating in the streets and yearned to be there with them!


31 posted on 05/15/2018 3:03:46 PM PDT by JudyinCanada
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