David Frum: Trump Is Our ‘Punishment’ for Terrible Citizens Not Liking the News
Trump Derangement Syndrome is a very real affliction that plagues many in the liberal media and many in the anti-Trump crowd. During an appearance on CNN’s Reliable Sources on Sunday, David Frum, a faux Republican and editor for the left-leaning Atlantic, showed off how advanced his TDS was when he decried President Trump ahead of the historic North Korea summit as a cruel “punishment” against the American people for being irresponsible and hating the news media.
CNN host Brian Stelter originally asked Frum to comment on President Trump’s criticism of CNN while at the press conference at the G7 summit in Canada. Of course, Frum suggested Trump’s words somehow gave cover to dictators to abuse the press. He then shifted gears and started trashing Americans who were “fatigued” of the news.
“If your child is feverishly ill, it can be very fatiguing to sit by her bedside and take care of her but it's what you do because that's your duty and, I think, your responsibility and it's also a source of satisfaction to you,” he scolded the public. “If your country is ill, you have the same responsibility.”
According to Frum, “we got Donald Trump in the first place as a punishment for not being good enough citizens.” That’s right, Trump wasn’t elected because he spoke to Americans who felt forgotten and disenfranchised, it was because of those irresponsible Americans who didn’t want to listen to the liberal media. What a great message to the voters as we head into the midterms.
Frum also condescendingly lectured Americans on what he saw as their responsibility as citizens, including telling them not to whine about having to watch the news:
And you can't put your responsibilities on the press and say, “why didn't you make this easier for me, or more entertaining. Why didn't you make the news less frightening than it is? I would like—I would like a different truth, please.” The job of the press is to tell you the truth as it is whether it's good news or not. And then it's your responsibility as a patriot and a citizen to accept it and to internalize it and to act on it.
“And our ability to mitigate the harm he's going to do to institutions, to alliances, to the security of the world will depend on our -- as individuals, willingness to do be better citizens in the future and that means being informed citizens. And that's on us, not on the press,” he continued to opine.
Out of character for Stelter, he pressed Frum on whether or not it was appropriate for him to push his anti-Trump hate while the President was overseas and going into the North Korea summit (aka, the kind of stuff the left complain the right did with Obama). “Um. I don't even understand that question,” Frum blurted out. “And I don’t either,” mumbled Steven Brill, journalist, author, and creator of media outlet rater NewsGuard.
It takes a specially advanced case of Trump Derangement Syndrome for someone to rail against the public for not liking to watch the news and suggesting they were “punished” for it. With this kind of analysis, is it any wonder people hate watching the liberal media?
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN
Reliable Sources
June 10, 2018
11:08:10 AM Eastern(…)
BRIAN STELTER: David, how unusual is it for an American president to make fun of the press or criticize the press not just when he's home but also when he’s abroad.
DAVID FRUM: Um. When the President does these things he empowers every thug, every dictator around the planet.
You know, to your very first question about news fatigue. If your child is feverishly ill, it can be very fatiguing to sit by her bedside and take care of her but it's what you do because that's your duty and, I think, your responsibility and it's also a source of satisfaction to you. If your country is ill, you have the same responsibility. Um, you know, there may be things that news rooms can do differently or better to help people keep better track of the stories, but it's also your responsibility as a citizen.
And you can't put your responsibilities on the press and say, “why didn't you make this easier for me, or more entertaining. Why didn't you make the news less frightening than it is? I would like—I would like a different truth, please.” The job of the press is to tell you the truth as it is whether it's good news or not. And then it's your responsibility as a patriot and a citizen to accept it and to internalize it and to act on it.
In many ways, we got Donald Trump in the first place as a punishment for not being good enough citizens. And our ability to mitigate the harm he's going to do to institutions, to alliances, to the security of the world will depend on our -- as individuals, willingness to do be better citizens in the future and that means being informed citizens. And that's on us, not on the press.
STELTER: You wrote to a very bruising piece earlier today for The Atlantic about what happened at the G7 meeting. What I’m wondering, David, is whether you thought about keeping your powder dry at this moment in time when Trump is heading into this key meeting with the North Korean dictator. Is it appropriate right now to be so aggressive, to be so critical of Trump ahead of this summit?
FRUM: Um. I don't even understand that question.
STEVEN BRILL: And I don’t either.
FRUM: Um. I-I-I-I had a chance to get inside the meeting a little bit and to tell people what had happened.
STELTER: Right.
FRUM: Um. The Trump people want to, I think, suggest that just as the Canadians, although they didn't, burn down the White House, it will be Justin Trudeau fault if Trump's summit in Singapore isn't something Trump can package as a success. And I think of the things—and I've also written about this – people need to understand the difference between actual success that secures the security of the world and the peace of the world, and what Trump is going to pass off, which will actually be a tremendous, which is actually a series of concessions to the North Koreans that will make the United States less safe just for the photo-op.
STELTER: So you’re saying, don’t be fooled by the photo-op. But I think the broader issue is the idea of journalism and patriotism. Steven Brill, you've talked about this for many years. Journalists, American journalists, they still have a sense of patriotism. And I've heard people on TV saying we're all rooting for this to go well. That's what I mean when I say is it appropriate at this moment.
BRILL: There’s a difference between rooting for it to go well and saying it’s gone well when it hasn’t gone well. It’s like saying let’s root for victory in Vietnam as opposed to reporting “we’re winning, we’re winning, we’re winning in Vietnam” when we’re not. That’s hardly patriotic.
STELTER: Must tell the truth about what's actually happening.
BRILL: Yeah.
(…)
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