Mediaboss Marketing

This creates a terrible dilemma for Trumps opponents: How do you run against a defeated president without noting the highly relevant fact that he was, ahem, defeated?

A new CBS Poll underlines the dynamic. The top-line numbers, with Trump ahead of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis by 58 to 22 percent nationally, arent all that different from the latest Fox News poll of the Democratic race, with President Joe Biden leading Democratic candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., 62 to 19 percent.

CBS also asked what attributes Republicans would like to see in a nominee. Sixty-one percent want a candidate who says Trump won in 2020. That desire among Republican voters inherently favors Trump, since no one is going to be as adamant and outlandish in maintaining that Trump won than Trump himself.

Among voters supporting Trump, three-quarters say a reason that they are backing him is that he actually won in 2020.

It wasnt crazy to think that this view would fade over time after the 2020 election, as passions cooled and as Republicans felt less defensive of the former president. Perhaps most Republicans dont think that there was honest-to-goodness fraud in 2020, and instead merely believe the rules and the press coverage were unfair in other words, their answers to pollsters should be taken seriously, not literally.

Even if this is so, it will still require finesse on part of Trumps opponents when addressing 2020. And it may well be that Republicans are simply being literal.

Insisting the election was stolen and convincing his party of this claim has worked for Trump on multiple levels first and foremost, as a salve to his ego; in the immediate aftermath of the 2020 election, as the rationale for trying to overturn the result; and ever since, as the necessary condition for his come-back (if thats the right word, since he never left).

Trump has ruled out of bounds one of the most telling critiques of him for Republican primary voters. Throwing at him that he lost a winnable election in 2020 should be the easiest criticism to make. It doesnt require departing with him on substance or attacking his character. It neednt involve condemning him for January 6. It should have, in theory, equal appeal to Trump fans and Trump skeptics, all of whom have a shared interest in defeating Biden. The argument can be swaddled in warm sentiments: You did so much good and were such a brave fighter as president, Donald, so its a real shame you lost. But you did. And we cant afford to lose again. Sorry.

Trumps contention that he actually won, and his intense bond with his supporters, creates the real possibility that making this case against him will boomerang, though.

On Trumps terms, which are widely accepted in the party, admitting the legitimacy of the 2020 election marks someone as a sell-out to the establishment, a political moderate and a weakling rather than a fighter. It also constitutes an affront to Trump, and therefore a kind of personal attack.

The broad feeling among Republicans is that they dont want to hear anything disparaging about Trump. In the same poll, CBS News asked what voters would want to see in the 2024 GOP nominee if he or she isnt Trump. Only 7 percent said they want someone who criticizes Trump. Another 56 percent said they want someone who doesnt talk about Trump, and 37 percent said they want someone who shows loyalty to him. A crushing total of more than 90 percent of Republicans want silence or acquiescence from a GOP nominee when it comes to his or her predecessor.

This makes trying to get by Trump in the GOP primaries not just a balancing act, but the political equivalent of performing Philippe Pettits walk between the Twin Towers while playing Yankee Doodle on a ukulele.

The presidential candidates opposing Trump have to choose whether to accept Trumps version of 2020, to avoid talking about the matter, to dodge by saying the election was rigged without calling it stolen or to tell the truth. The temptation to pull up somewhere short of the last option will be strong, but its hard to see how anyone defeats Trump without going there.

If its accepted that Trump supposedly beat Biden in 2020, well, then, hes basically owed another shot at it, and, as a two-time winner of presidential elections, theres not much of a case that he has an electability problem.

DeSantis has talked lately of the GOPs culture of losing, an oblique, if obvious reference to Trump. If the governor feels he has to pull his punches before he actually gets in the race, thats understandable. To deal with this issue only indirectly would be a mistake, though. Trump alienated swing voters, lost his last election and has grasped at any conspiracy theory to try to cover his tracks. DeSantis attracted swing voters, won his last election and doesnt have anything he needs to feel ashamed about. Thats an enormous difference, and it should figure prominently in the governors campaign.

Give Trump this: He doesnt necessarily accept public opinion as it is but tries to shape it. Although thered be widespread Republican doubts about the 2020 election no matter what he said, the belief that it was stolen wouldnt be as deep and pervasive without his persistent (and deceptive) advocacy. Hes changed the landscape in his favor, and his opponents simply accept it at their peril.

For Trump to lose the nomination, what should be his chief vulnerability needs to be a vulnerability and his Republican opponents must try to make it one.

Original post:
Opinion | Trump's Election Denialism Is Already Winning - POLITICO

US news

The network and Trump had a difficult relationship when he was in office, but the event could goose both of their ratings

The announcement that CNN will host a New Hampshire town hall event for Donald Trump was met with widespread criticism on Monday.

Angelo Carusone, chief executive of Media Matters for America, a progressive watchdog, said: The transparent attempt to goose their ratings does feel at least a little odious. But all the more reason that they need to get this right.

Judd Legum, author of the Popular Information newsletter, said: First, CNN systematically purged anyone on the network who was deemed too anti-Trump. Now this.

Keith Olbermann, a Trump critic and former MSNBC host, said: I think we can say Chris Lichts conversion of CNN into a political and journalistic whorehouse is complete.

Licht took over from Jeff Zucker as CNNs chief executive last year, with a mission to remodel.

Announcing the event to be held at St Anselm College on Wednesday 10 May, CNN said: The former president and 2024 Republican presidential candidate will take questions from [anchor Kaitlan] Collins and a live audience of New Hampshire Republican and undeclared voters who say they intend to vote in the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary.

Trump and CNN were at odds throughout Trumps run for the White House and his presidency, over what he deemed its hostile coverage and liberal slant. Collins, a morning show anchor, formerly worked for the Daily Caller, a website cofounded by Tucker Carlson, the far-right anchor fired by Fox News last week.

In polling regarding the Republican nomination next year, Trump enjoys commanding leads.

He continues to peddle the lie that Joe Bidens victory in 2020 was the result of electoral fraud. On 6 January 2021, he used that lie to incite an attack on Congress now linked to nine deaths and carried out by supporters seeking to block Bidens win.

More than 1,000 arrests have been made and hundreds of convictions secured, some for seditious conspiracy. Trump was impeached a second time but acquitted when Republican senators stayed loyal to him.

He now faces a federal investigation of his election subversion and incitement of the Capitol attack, as well as a state election subversion investigation, in Georgia, in which indictments are expected this summer.

In New York, Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges over a hush money payment to the porn star Stormy Daniels. In the same state, a civil rape case brought by the writer E Jean Carroll is at trial while a civil lawsuit brought by the state continues, over Trumps tax and business practices.

Jack Smith, a federal special counsel, is also investigating Trumps retention of classified materials.

CNN said it had a longstanding tradition of hosting leading presidential candidates for town halls and political events as a critical component of the networks robust campaign coverage.

It also said the Trump event would be the first of many in the coming months as CNN correspondents travel across the country to hear directly from voters.

Carusone said: Donald Trump is the frontrunner for Republican nomination; it benefits no one to pretend otherwise.

But this is risky business and CNN should go into this clear-eyed: Trump will lie and he will attack. Trump has been repeating the same torrent of lies in his speeches and interviews with rightwing media figures for months. Nothing he will say will be new.

So if CNN lets him get away with it unchallenged, they have no excuse. CNN isnt being graded on a curve here.

Carusone also pointed to cable networks struggles since Trump left office.

I cant help but notice that this comes just as Foxs ratings are in freefall and CNNs shift hasnt borne any fruit, he said.

David Rothkopf, a Daily Beast columnist and author of Traitor: A History of American Betrayal from Benedict Arnold to Donald Trump, called CNNs decision irresponsible.

The town hall, he said, would be a sham if it does not lead with the question, You lead an insurrection against the government of the US, why should any American voter support a candidate who sought to undermine the constitution, institutions and values he was sworn to uphold?

A CNN spokesperson said: There is certainly a lot of news to cover with him and well do that next Wednesday.

{{topLeft}}

{{bottomLeft}}

{{topRight}}

{{bottomRight}}

{{.}}

Continued here:
CNNs planned town hall with Donald Trump faces pushback - The Guardian US

It was March and former presidentDonald Trump was aboard his plane with a gaggle of reporters following a campaign rally in Waco, Texas. He started off in good spirits. But then a line of questioning from NBC News reporterVaughn Hillyard, who suggested that Trump had in recent days seemed frustrated by Manhattan DAAlvin Braggs investigation, began irritating the former president. Dont ask me any more questions, Trump said. About 10 minutes later, as Hillyard continued to ask about the investigation, Trump snapped, grabbing the reporters two phones and chucking them to the side, according to a source familiar with the matter. Get him out of here, Trump told his aides, according to a recording obtained byVanity Fair.

View more

The incident occurred a few days before Trump would be indicted by a Manhattan grand jury for his role in hush-money payments made toStormy Daniels.Some of Trumpscomments on the plane have beenpreviouslyreported, such as when he responded to reporters questions about Braggs probe by attacking it as a fake case that theyve already dropped.The Guardiannoted how Trump lashed out at Hillyard when the NBC News reporter asked whether he was frustrated by the investigation. Trump denied the notion, insisting, We did nothing wrong, and saying, This is fake news, and NBC is one of the worst. Dont ask me any more questions. Hillyard himselfsaid Trump avoided specifics and called the press fake news. But the full scope of Trumps tirade, including his throwing the reporters phones, has not been previously reported. Hillyard declined to comment.

Axiosreported that Trumps 2024 team is running a more professional operation than that of his previous runs, with seasoned political operatives intending on running a disciplined campaign. Yet the incident demonstrates Trump's hostile relationship with the press remains unchanged. Trump was notorious forlashingout at reporters while in the White House. On the campaign trail, he regularly turned the ire of the crowd toward the press, famously coining fake news as a rallying cry.

Hillyards questions revolved around Trumps posts on Truth Social at the time; the former president hadwarned that there could be potential death and destruction if he was indicted. When Hillyard again tried to clarify Trumps version of events around the DAs investigation, the ex-president said, I dont want to talk to you. Hillyard tried to ask another question. Do you hear me? Youre not a nice guy, Trump said, turning to take a question from another reporter. When Hillyard tried a third time to get a response, Trump lost it. Alright, lets go, get him out of here, Trump said. Outta here. Outta here, Trump said, as Hillyard kept trying: The special counsel, sir. A deeper voice, apparently belonging to a Trump campaign aide, can be heard saying, Vaughn, were done.

Trump then picked up one of the phones recording the gaggle and asked, Whose is this? Hillyard replied that it was his. Trump picked up another phone and asked the same question. That ones mine too, Hillyard said. The former president tossed both phones out of his sight, onto the seat next to him; the thud of one of the phones hitting a surface can be heard in the recording. Someone then asked to talk about congressional support, but an aide said that the gaggle was over. Other members of the gaggle included AxiossSophia Cai, theDaily MailsRob Crilly, RSBNsBrian Glenn, and Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci.(At one point in the recording, Trump praised Vucci as handsome, telling the plane, look at the arms on him.)The GuardiansHugo Lowell had beenexpected to travel with the president for the Waco trip, but was bumped off the trip a day before due to a story hed written about Truth Social being under a money-laundering investigation.

The Trump campaign appears to have reduced mainstream press access as a result of what happened on the plane back from Waco. The only reporters on Trumps plane for last weeks trip to New Hampshire were from friendly conservative outlets:Henry Rodgers of The Daily Caller andDaniel Baldwin of OANN. Baldwin, in hiswrite-up of the trip, wrote of the warm and welcoming former president, Its clear Trump values the opinions of everyone he surrounds himself with, whether he agrees or disagrees. He even turned to me and said, You really know your sports. In a surprising turn, Trump isslated to participate in a town hall on CNN next week.

Trump campaign spokesmanSteven Cheung did not respond to a question about Trump tossing the phone, but did speak to the campaigns press availability.

We extended invites to four other mainstream reporters/outlets and they all said they could not due to either [White House Correspondents Dinner] events that week or because their editors refused, Cheung said in an email regarding the New Hampshire trip without specifying which outlets received those invites. But weve had a ton of media requests to ride on Trump Force One to the upcoming Iowa rally and we will do our due diligence on who to bring.

More here:
Get Him Out of Here: Donald Trump Tossed NBC Reporters Phones During Tirade Aboard Campaign Plane - Vanity Fair

E. Jean Carroll, the writer who has sued former President Donald J. Trump, accusing him of rape, completed three days on the witness stand Monday in a civil trial in Manhattan federal court, with a lawyer for Mr. Trump continuing to try to show up inconsistencies in her testimony.

The stage was set for Ms. Carrolls lawyers to call additional witnesses to bolster her case.

Monday was the second of two days of cross-examination of Ms. Carroll by lawyer Joseph Tacopina about her allegation that the ex-president raped her in a dressing room in a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s.

Mr. Trump, who has avoided coming to court, has denied all wrongdoing. On Monday morning, the former presidents lawyers filed an unsuccessful motion for a mistrial, arguing that the court had made pervasive unfair and prejudicial rulings.

Ms. Carroll says she visited Bergdorf Goodman one evening in the mid-1990s. As she was leaving through a revolving door, Mr. Trump entered and recognized her, the suit says, and persuaded her to help him shop for a gift for a female friend. She has accused the former president of going on to attack her in a dressing room in the lingerie department.

Mr. Tacopina, in his questioning, focused on Ms. Carrolls memory of what happened that day some 30 years ago. On Monday, he used his cross-examination to point out inconsistencies between her testimony and her previous interviews and depositions, trying to suggest that she had benefited from making the allegation.

Mr. Tacopina asked about her 2019 appearance on an episode of a podcast called The Maris Review, during which Ms. Carroll said her life was fabulous.

It is the way I present myself to the world, Ms. Carroll testified. I do not want anyone to know that I suffered, she added.

Mr. Tacopina also focused on her testimony that she had been fired from Elle magazine after Mr. Trump denied her allegation in 2019 and called her a liar. Mr. Tacopina questioned Ms. Carroll about an email exchange in which she suggested she was fired because she published an excerpt from her book in a competing outlet, New York Magazine.

Ms. Carroll acknowledged that Nina Garcia, the editor in chief of Elle magazine, was very angry at her, but added that she took a hit when Mr. Trump called me a liar for three straight days.

My trustworthiness was exploded, Ms. Carroll said. It was like just crumbled, the foundation on which the whole column had rested for 27 years.

Mr. Tacopina appeared to struggle to get into any sort of rhythm during his cross-examination, with Ms. Carrolls lawyers frequently objecting to questions and the judge sustaining those objections. At times, Mr. Tacopina struggled to even get his team to display evidence for the court.

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan denied a motion filed by Mr. Tacopina asking him to declare a mistrial.

Among other complaints, Mr. Tacopina argued that the judge mischaracterized evidence to favor Ms. Carroll and improperly bolster her testimony; allowed her to note that Mr. Trump had two tables worth of lawyers while prohibiting the defense from noting she had a similar number; and wrongly sustained argumentative objections to his questions.

There comes a point where the cumulative effect of its one-sided rulings manifests a deeper leaning towards one party or another, Mr. Tacopina wrote.

Since lawyers gave their opening statements last week, Ms. Carroll has been the main witness. She related her story in graphic detail, testifying that she told two friends within a day of the attack. One told Ms. Carroll that what she had experienced was rape and that she needed to tell the police. A second told her not to tell anyone because Mr. Trump was powerful and his lawyers would bury her.

She kept silent for decades before writing about the event in a 2019 memoir.

Ms. Carroll sued Mr. Trump in November under a law that grants adult sexual abuse victims a one-year window to bring civil lawsuits against people they say abused them.

Her lawsuit asks that a jury find Mr. Trump liable for battery and defamation, order him to retract statements questioning her truthfulness and award her monetary damages.

The jury will determine how much, if anything, to award Ms. Carroll based on the suffering jury members believe she experienced.

Its unclear who will testify next. Shawn G. Crowley, a lawyer for Ms. Carroll, said last week that the jury would hear from the two friends that Ms. Carroll confided in immediately after the alleged rape, Lisa Birnbach and Carol Martin.

Ms. Crowley also said the jury will hear from several other witnesses, including Dr. Leslie Lebowitz, a clinical psychologist and trauma specialist; a professor who is an expert in sociology and communications, Ashlee Humphreys; and two other women who have accused Mr. Trump of sexual assault, Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff.

Originally posted here:
Day 4 of the Trump Rape Case: Carroll's Cross-Examination Is Complete - The New York Times

Former U.S. President Donald Trump is in Scotland to open a new golf course at his resort near Aberdeen

By

MEG KINNARD Associated Press

May 1, 2023, 8:31 AM ET

3 min read

Former U.S. President Donald Trump traveled to Scotland on Monday to open a new golf course at his resort near Aberdeen, in his first overseas trip since he was indicted in New York on criminal charges in a hush money scheme.

Trump and his son Eric were greeted by two pipers, a red carpet and a 10-vehicle motorcade at Aberdeen International Airport as they stepped off his private jet with an American flag painted on the tailfin.

Its great to be home this was the home of my mother, Trump said. His late mother, Mary, was born on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides before immigrating to the United States.

Trump's trip coincides with the second week of a Manhattan civil trial over accusations he raped former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll in a department store dressing room in 1996. He denies the allegation and has not attended the trial, which is expected to last through the week.

It's his first trip abroad since he became the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges. He pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a court appearance last month. No travel restrictions were placed on him as a condition of release, provided that he shows up in court for required appearances.

The hush money case is just one of several investigations that could result in criminal charges for Trump as he campaigns for a return to the White House. His 2024 bid was top of mind as he previewed his trip to Aberdeen on his social media site.

Will be meeting with many wonderful friends, and cutting a ribbon for a new and spectacular second course in Aberdeen, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. Very exciting despite the fact that it is make America great again that is on my mind, in fact, America will be greater than ever before.

Trump's visit to Scotland comes shortly after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, considered his top rival for the 2024 presidential nomination, returned home from his own international trip. DeSantis, looking to burnish his foreign policy credentials, visited Japan, South Korea, Israel and the United Kingdom along with his wife, Casey.

As he nears a presidential bid of his own, DeSantis' trip differed from Trump's in that it was aimed at generating lucrative business deals and also boosting the governor's diplomatic resume ahead of an expected presidential run.

While some allies initially believed DeSantis might wait until as late as early summer to enter the race, they now expect him to announce as early as this month. Florida's GOP-dominated Legislature recently gave approval to a measure that would tweak state law to allow DeSantis to run for president without resigning from the governorship.

When he leaves Scotland, Trump will head to his golf course in Doonbeg on Irelands west coast.

During his presidency, Trump came under intense scrutiny for frequenting properties he owns and profits from, giving them taxpayer-funded publicity and running up millions of dollars in taxpayer costs. In 2019, then-Vice President Mike Pence stayed at Trump's Doonbeg hotel at taxpayers' expense, defending his decision by saying it was a logical choice because of "the unique footprint that comes with our security detail and other personnel.

___

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP

Go here to read the rest:
Trump travels to Scotland to open golf course amid NY trial - ABC News