Killed by His Own Words: The Media and Trump's Poor Communication Skills During the Coronavirus Briefings Jeopardized His Political Career

Volume 4, Issue 3, June 2020     |     PP. 103-119      |     PDF (202 K)    |     Pub. Date: June 19, 2020
DOI:    186 Downloads     5457 Views  

Author(s)

Aysar T. Yaseen, Arab American University-Palestine

Abstract
More often than not, the president in democratic countries is the role model for his people as they expect him to work for the welfare of the public and the welfare of the country and its institutions. Right from the outset of his presidency, president Trump evinced signs of ethnocentrism, discrimination, and love of power and authority. Furthermore, he showed affection and admiration for dictatorship governance. He fired a number of his aids after serving only for a short period of time in the White House, secretary of state Rex Tillerson for example. Trump enjoys playing the role of an omnipotent God. This was so prevalent since his inauguration. He downgraded countries. In his inauguration speech, he said: “We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our products steeling our companies and destroying our jobs.” The slogan “only America first” which carries racist connotations is repeatedly used by Trump on countless occasions. Trump humiliated journalists and downplayed their TV networks. He accused mainstream media of peddling “fake news”. As for correspondents, Trump seized every opportunity to humiliate and belittle them; on many occasions, Trump sarcastically answer their questions. He called many of them derogatory names such as, “terrible reporters”, “hush, you are a very bad reporter”, “your network is bad”, “you are fake”, “you ought to be ashamed of yourself”, and “I think it is a nasty question”. The mainstream media realized that it is evident Trump’s narcissism, racism, bigotry, misogyny, ignorance, and lack of empathy. Getting rid of this dictator in a democratic and well planned way became a patriotic duty and a priority of the American mainstream media. The media found in the White House coronavirus task force briefings the only opportunity to get revenge for the unfair persistent humiliation by president Trump. They facilitated and participated strategically in these briefings. They came to these briefings knowing that Trump’s poor communication skills along with his affection for power and authority will put an end to this nightmare.

Keywords
communication; media; briefings; jeopardize; ethnocentrism; narcissism.

Cite this paper
Aysar T. Yaseen, Killed by His Own Words: The Media and Trump's Poor Communication Skills During the Coronavirus Briefings Jeopardized His Political Career , SCIREA Journal of Sociology. Volume 4, Issue 3, June 2020 | PP. 103-119.

References

[ 1 ] Ceasar, J., Thurow, G., Tulis, J., and Bessette, J. (1981). “The Rise of the Rhetorical Presidency.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 11: 158–171.
[ 2 ] Cook, T. E. (1998). Governing with the News: The News as a Political Institution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
[ 3 ] Crockett, D. (2003). “George W. Bush and the Unrhetorical Rhetorical Presidency.” Rhetoric and Public Affairs 6: 465–486.
[ 4 ] Davies, B., and R. Harre. 1990. Positioning. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 21:1–18.
[ 5 ] Epstein, E. J. (1973). News From Nowhere: Television and the News. New York: Random House.
[ 6 ] Foote, J. S. (1990). Television and Political Power: The Networks, the Presidency, and the ‘Loyal Opposition.’ Westport, CT: Praeger.
[ 7 ] Harre, R., F. M. Moghaddam, T. Pilkerton-Cairnie, D. Rothbart, and S. Sabat. 2009. Recent advances in positioning theory. Theory & Psychology 19: 5–31.
[ 8 ] Jacobs, L., and Shapiro, R. (2000). Politicians Don’t Pander: Political Manipulation and the Loss of Democratic Responsiveness. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
[ 9 ] Kernell, S. (1997). Going Public: New Strategies of Presidential Leadership. 3rd Ed. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Inc.
[ 10 ] Kernell, S., and Baum, M. (1999). “Has Cable Ended the Golden Age of Television?” American Political Science Review 93: 99–114.
[ 11 ] Lustic, W., M., and Koester, J. (2010). Intercultural Competence: Interpersonal Communication Across Cultures. Boston: Allym & Bacon.
[ 12 ] Mansfield, H., Jr. (1989). Taming the Prince: The Ambivalence of Modern Executive Power. NewYork: The Free Press.
[ 13 ] McCoombs, M. (1976). “Agenda-Setting Research: A Bibliographic Essay.” Political Communication Review 1: 1–7.
[ 14 ] Mesthrie, R., Swann, J., Deumert, A., and Leap, L. W. (2009). Introducing Sociolinguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
[ 15 ] O’Hair, D., Wiemann. M., Imrich, D., Teven, M. J. (2015). Real Communication: An Introduction. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
[ 16 ] Rogers, E. M., and James W. Dearing. (2000). “Agenda-Setting Research: Where Has It Been, Where Is It Going?” In Media Power in Politics, edited by Doris Graber, 68–86. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.
[ 17 ] Ryfe, D. M. (2005). Presidents in Culture: The Meaning of Presidential Communication. Peter Lang Publishing: New York.
[ 18 ] Sigal, L. (1973). Reporters and Officials: The Organization and Politics of News making. Lexington, MA: D.C.Heath.
[ 19 ] Smoller, F. T. (1990). The Six O’clock Presidency: A Theory of Presidential Press Relations in the Age of Television. Westport, CT: Praeger.
[ 20 ] Skowronek, S. (1997). The Politics Presidents Make: Leadership from John Adams to Bill Clinton. 2nd Ed. Cambridge: Belknap Press.
[ 21 ] Solomon, D., and Theiss, J. (2013). Interpersonal Communication: Putting Theory into Practice. New York: Routledge.
[ 22 ] Tannen, D. (1998). The Argument Culture: Stopping America’s war of words. New York: The Random House Publishing Group.
[ 23 ] Tulis, J. (1987). The Rhetorical Presidency. Princeton: Princeton University Press.