Trump’s tweet has at least two problems, but Adam Schiff’s “response” is even worse.
Trump’s Tweet
- Trump’s tweet appears to suggest that the money spent by Russians on Facebook was the only money spent by Russians to affect the U.S. election—which was surely not the case, and
- That the Russians spent anything, anywhere to affect our election is bad whether or not billions of dollars’ worth of fake news were used in an effort to defeat Trump/elect Hillary, i.e., Trump compared two things that were almost totally unrelated.
Neither of these fumbles, however, undermined the fundamental reasons for Trump’s tweet. On the other hand, it is difficult to identify any substantive or fundemental reason (other than pandering to his followers) for Schiff’s tweet.
Schiff’s Tweet
Schiff’s tweet is even more ridiculous than Trump’s.
- The point of Trump’s tweet is to suggest that the effects the Russians had on the election were minuscule compared to effects of billions of billions of dollars of free assistance to Hillary’s campaign supplied by the Main Stream Media news. A relevant or rational response to Trump’s tweet would have pointed out how it is that the effects of Russia’s efforts were not minuscule compared to the efforts of the MSM, or make try to make a case that the MSM news was not fake. Schiff did neither of those things. So his comment missed the point.
- Schiff’s tweet is premised on the idea that Trump said what he did because he does not know the difference between fake news and foreign interference. Because nothing in Trump’s tweet supports Schiff’s premise, or abridges anyone’s right to freedom of press, Schiff’s bringing up free press in this context is irrational.
- Because calling out the MSM press for its biased, fake news (but I stutter.[i]) reporting in no way abridges anyone’s freedom of the press, Trump was merely exercising his freedom of speech, which is every bit, if not more important, than the freedom of the press. Schiff’s tweet shows that Schiff is probably clueless with respect to this point.
As such, Schiff’s tweet was more irrational than Trump’s.
Obviously both tweets are intended to pander to, and they hope grow, their bases. Note, however, that even if the two tweets were equally irrational, Trump’s tweet has the strategic advantage of driving leftists nuts. The more leftists show the public how nuts they are, the better Trump’s chances of winning a second term. Schiff’s irrationally on the primary point of Trump’s tweet (with its problems only as to details) is more likely to help Trump win his next election in the long run.
Trump’s tweet also showed that whereas the support Hillary got from the MSM press was free to her campaign, it was very costly to Trump’s (he would have won much more biggly had he gotten an equal amount of helpful coverage). Schiff offered nothing to defend the press’s misuse of it special privileges.
Moreover, for people in the press to deserve the special protections (“freedoms”) afforded to the press, the press should at least attempt to present the whole story about a new item (opinion pieces excepted).[ii] Trump’s tweet reiterates that the MSM news is not earning its freedoms.
One of the reasons Schiff vehemently opposes Trump is that he feels Trump is dumb. Yet Schiff’s responses to Trump’s tweets help Trump more than it helps Democrats. Which of the two comes off as the wiser in this skirmish?
[i] See “What is Fake News?”
