The press reported cheering at Donald's press conference and at his address at the CIA memorial, and it turned out to be his staffers, an entourage of fawning sycophants paid to clap. It's funny, at first. Then you realize that it's a grotesque headgame that is only going to get worse.
Sarah Cooper:
This is how he's going to chip away at our understanding of what's right and what's wrong, what's real and what's not. This is even stronger, more powerful gas lighting — making us question our own instincts and even start doing things because we want to fit in with "everyone else" who from what we know, seem to think this is all fine.
Trump wants a cheering section at all his press conferences and if you don't realize that those are not the reporters clapping, it will seriously fuck with you.
The media needs to take a cue from one of Trump's own complaints during the campaign: show us the crowd. Let us see who is clapping, and who is not. Otherwise we're all going to start feeling like we're going crazy, even more so than we already are.
