The 45th POTUS - Donald J. Trump

[Norah]

Isn't it normal for information coming directly from the top levels of the executive branch to be from unnamed sources, even pre-trump?

Sure, but the amount of stuff now is suspect, and could easily be viewed as lies from the DNC to undermine Trump. Every time there's a negative report from an unnamed source, it just lends to weight to his FAKE NEWS tweets.

It was very normal in the USSR, Peoples Republic of China, Democratic People's Republic of Korea to name a few. Hmmm.

It was a legit question. I know anonymous sources from within the government isn't unheard of, I just don't know at what rate.

[digster]

Isn't it normal for information coming directly from the top levels of the executive branch to be from unnamed sources, even pre-trump?

Yes, almost always, particularly if the news paints an administration in a difficult light. I mean, it's unthinkable otherwise; "'This administration is asinine,' said current Secretary of State Rex Tillerson."

And Trump's campaign was the same way; it leaked like a sinking ship. It's not that surprising, given his managerial style seems to be to play people off of each other. And whatever biases one may think the editorial staff at the Times or the Post have, when it comes to reporting practices they're by and large very good at their jobs, rarely going with only one source and working to independently corroborate the things they are hearing.

However, those leaking the information undoubtedly have agendas of their own for having that information become public.

[tragabigzanda]

At least Moby is on-record.

http://www.stereogum.com/1924721/moby-s ... n-dc/news/

[Birds in Hell]

I used to host a radio show with Steve Bannon. Yes, that Steve Bannon. It was a Catholic radio show, and we talked about life and faith and how you integrate the two. It was weekly over the course of a number of months in 2012, and I do remember that we had one politically oriented show around Election Day. In that episode, we talked with Steve’s friend Pat Caddell (formerly of the Jimmy Carter White House) about Catholics and the political culture of both parties. “Surreal” would seem the appropriate word as I’ve watched an array of successive news stories and commentaries about Bannon, who has become the Darth Vader figure of the Donald Trump administration. After asking me “is it true?” about my radio-show past with Bannon, one young editor in the National Review office commented that it seemed as if nothing Bannon could do at this point wouldn’t be viewed as sinister. One imagines that what he puts in his coffee would serve as further proof of his supposedly sinister worldview.

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/4 ... tent=lopez

Ain't that the truth.

As I saw it written by somebody else, people like Bannon, Trump and Farage (not to mention Le Pen and Wilders etc.) become kind of like folk devils.

They're not complex human beings anymore - they're totems of all that is wrong in the world and their nefarious intent is assumed to be self-apparent.

[LetMeSleep]

Please tell me Spenno, that you don't think Farage is anything other than a cockwomble.

[Birds in Hell]

I wouldn't go so far as "cockwomble", no.

I still think Brexit is the most exciting political occurrence in my lifetime; one of those rare things that makes you feel that perhaps everything might yet work out OK.

[Birds in Hell]

At least Moby is on-record.

http://www.stereogum.com/1924721/moby-s ... n-dc/news/

Deranged.

[Jorge]

*Milo Yiannopoulos gets banned from Twitter*

Milo, like everything about the alt-right, is awful.

As I saw it put recently, it's political incorrectness gone truly mad.

*actual king of the alt-right, who complains about his children going to schools with Jews, calls feminists "a bunch of dykes" and had a running section on his website dedicated entirely to "Black Crime", becomes a senior advisor to the president of the United States and gets a seat on the principals committee of the National Security Council*

Interesting guy.

[Birds in Hell]

Sure, Bannon seems like a more interesting guy than Milo.

And yeah, "alt right" bozos are tiresome boors.

I've still never read Breitbart; it doesn't seem like my kind of thing.

[Strat]

'The solution to online 'harassment' is simple: Women should log off'

Bill Kristol: Republican spoiler, renegade Jew'

'Trannies whine about hilarious Bruce Jenner billboard'

'Birth control makes women unattractive and crazy'

'Suck it up buttercups: Dangerous Faggot Tour returns to colleges in September'

'Hoist it high and proud: The Confederate flag proclaims a glorious heritage'

' "Would you rather your child had feminism or cancer?"

'Gay rights have made us dumber, it's time to get back in the closet'

'Science proves it: Fat-shaming works'

"There's no hiring bias against women in tech, they just suck at interviews"

Just some sample headlines from your interesting alt right wingers

[Jorge]

To be fair, fat-shaming does work

[4/5]

Using anonymous sources is completely normal and NOT a sign of fake news or bad journalism. A person reading a quote or a depiction of an account from an anonymous source should always ask themselves why that person is saying what they're saying to a journalist.

There is nothing new or "sudden" about the reliance on unnamed sources. Clearly there are some people around the administration with an axe to grind, and the reader/journalist obviously should consider that, but just because the leaks happen to be mostly negative doesn't mean they're not legitimate.

The president himself can be a "high-ranking administration official" if he wants some piece of information out there without his name attached to it.

[4/5]

I still think Brexit is the most exciting political occurrence in my lifetime; one of those rare things that makes you feel that perhaps everything might yet work out OK.

Can you please elaborate on this...or if you have elsewhere, if you could point me in that direction.

[BurtReynolds]

Breaking news:

"High ranking anonymous sources say that Trump is great and Hillary Clinton is Sad!"

[dimejinky99]

ooooOOOOOOOOoooooooo

[4/5]

Breaking news:

"High ranking anonymous sources say that Trump is great and Hillary Clinton is Sad!"

Burt gets it.

[tragabigzanda]

Heh.

[The Argonaut]

I'm beginning to realize that all the "leaks" we've been seeing coming from the White House are actually just the warring factions of Trump advisors making shit up about each other to make the other side (establishment/all-right) look bad.

[McParadigm]

I'm beginning to realize that all the "leaks" we've been seeing coming from the White House are actually just the warring factions of Trump advisors making shit up about each other to make the other side (establishment/all-right) look bad.

There's probably been some of that. There's certainly been some tattle-taling, and "guess who dad is mad at now" stuff. But the majority of leaks have been followed by some kind of validation, and a hell of a lot of recent ones are coming from the intelligence community.

[McParadigm]