One proposal on dealing with the media that was pitched to President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team calls for drug testing the White House press corps.
Trump’s attacks on the mainstream media were a cornerstone of his campaign and last week he called BuzzFeed a “failing pile of garbage,” but forcing reporters to undergo random drug tests would provoke a media meltdown.
The pee-in-a-cup proposal (yellow journalism indeed) was one of 13 ideas one candidate for White House press secretary wrote in November in a confidential memo to members of the Presidential Transition Team’s Executive Committee.
Nobody has ever seen an incoming administration so aggressively troll the media like this. No sooner does Trump obliterate the media in a press conference, than he turns around and lets them know just how much he could make their life into hell.
For a thoroughly rabbitized media, used to being feted by obsequious politicians desperate for any crumbs of approval, this must be horrifying. Amygdalae used to harshness will handle it far better than amygdalae used to ease.
As Trump triggers amygdalae and they enter high gear, this will provoke unforced errors by the media, as many might call the CNN and Buzzfeed coverage of the fake dossier on Trump.
It will only get better once Trump is executing these hijacks from a podium at the White House.
