Does Donald Trump have a point about fake news?

The US president went to Hurricane Harvey disaster area Texas and was widely criticized – and rightly so – for not meeting or expressing empathy with victims. The official take: He didn’t want to hinder rescue efforts and would return a few days later to connect with survivors.

Yet, the serious TV channels could not stop making fun of this callous insensitive president, who bragged about his crowd size and ignored any suffering, adding: what can you expect of him; this is who he is. They were right but left out that when confronted with disaster and hopeless people, Trump goes into all-will-be-fine mode. He forgets to feel for others’ bad feelings because he never allows himself to feel bad. His empathy shows in encouraging others.

However, President Trump returned to Texas (and Louisiana), without cap or necktie and behaved perfectly. But where are the serious TV reporting and commenting on it, praising him? Has this become a case of dog bites man, so of no importance? Or does this fall under the embargo against good news – a serious addiction of the free press? Or is it sour grapes: The serious reporters, presenters and commentators really hate Trump and therefore love to report stink about him while good news on him must be ignored? A five minute speech can be trashed for days and a five hour perfect visit barely warrants praise?

We see Trump in Texas in recordings of hours of life streaming doing exactly what he was told he should do. In the “KIDS ZONE” of a major shelter he lifts a Black girl, hugs and kisses her (on the mouth? – yuck – she walks away a bit ickied), chats with mothers (he listens and when he talks back, she nods), smiles at people, gives an impromptu press conference, makes a point of praising the media, talks to volunteers, hands out meals to survivors (comments that his hands are too big for the gloves – funny! He never wore gloves in his life and doesn’t know that they must be narrow; so he does have a thing with his small hands), gives reasonable (not too forceful) handshakes to people waiting in line for their ration, allows each of them to take a selfie with their smiling president and later talks at length with service personal.

His shelter speech was kind of embarrassing (obsessively complimenting and flattering – some people up to five times). But not for once he complimented himself. (He did stealthily plug veterans and how their situation is now much better thanks to new rules – and that he always thought that they could be improved.) His ad hoc speech with the Coast Guard (who he said saved 11,000 people – and they nodded) was better, warmer (except, he trashed others who supposedly would only risk their lives to save one life on condition that it’s a photo op).

Melania in tow was dressed as if she needed to go to a disaster area (tight dark trousers) and wore a cap with TEXAS on it.

I saw hundreds of survivors – mostly Blacks – and emergency responders who without exception were very enthusiastic to speak to their president. He was as unrushed as could be, attentively listening, beaming, responding, enjoying the experience. A popular president, close to his people!

At one moment, I saw a group of Blacks with raised hands who seemed to give the Nazi salute with their left hands. A counter demonstration of sorts? No, they were all lifting up their iPhones for taking pictures.

In other words: a perfect unscripted Trump performance of five hours or so – just what everyone had been demanding for days.

Surely some of it was just an act. But isn’t that what most politicians do all the time: perform? And, as I have pointed out time and again, he has a good heart for people he meets (and minutes later can order measures trashing their group – he doesn’t see the connection). He truly believes he’s not a bigot and his immoral policies are only to please his base and make money – and annoy the press to show them who’s the boss here.

Surely his oppressive policies are not going to be less bigoted. And he probably gained more supporters here than by any rally he ever held. (Plus: he will score big time if he can get the 7.85 billion aid package through Congress that his team has put together.) But in any case: for everyone who wanted a presidential Trump: here he was.

Meanwhile the serious reporters are busy with the Russia treason scandal, the Arpaio pardon scandal, looming obstruction of Justice prosecutions, Trump’s feuds with Congress, White House leaks and leavers, threats to DACA protection – you name it – and rightly so. But they become FAKE NEWS by excluding much reference to the powerful Trump Texas visit.

Whatever their reason was for this omission, they’d better shape up.

Their fine investigative reporting, critical following of leaders (essential for democracy) and good name are hurt by any resemblance of partiality. Trump is not OK when he calls their fine work: fake news. Yet, their good efforts need to be unbiased to make them really truthful without deliberate exclusions to boot.

We need impartial reporting, even with the US Christian dichotomy of mankind into two types: good and wicked. Trump is not evil, no matter how damages his policies are, and overstatements that he is, only prolong his reign by making workers believe him and not the media.

And the best take away from this may be that here we saw that sometimes Trump is susceptible to constructive criticism. Maybe massive criticism swayed his close friends and allies to talk him into changes (you can do it and it will help!); maybe he directly decided to improve. Anyway, this is one way to have influence on his presidency!

About the Author

MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, an almost daily blog contributor to the Times of Israel, and previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is (partly) generated by AI. * As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. He doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit about what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and education contribute to his visions. * If you don't know the Dutch, get an American peek behind the scenes here: https://youtu.be/QMPp6h6r72M * To find less-recent posts on subject XXX among his 2000 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog, to which one may subscribe, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/. * Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. Yet, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people who don't deserve that. He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. * Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust, and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. * His most influential teachers (chronologically) are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. * One of his rabbis calls him Mr. Innovation [Ish haChidushim]. Yet, his originalities seem to root deeply in traditional Judaism, though they may grow in unexpected directions. In fact, he claims he's modernizing nothing. Rather, mainly basing himself on the basic Hebrew Torah text, he tries to rediscover classical Jewish thought almost lost in thousands of years of stifling Gentile domination and Jewish assimilation. (He pleads for a close reading of the Torah instead of going by rough assumptions of what it would probably mean and before fleeing to Commentaries.) This, in all aspects of life, but prominently in the areas of Free Will, Activism, Homosexuality for men, and Redemption. * He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, and disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. He aims to bring a fresh perspective rather than harp on the obvious and familiar. He loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, anti-elitism, anti-bigotry and supremacy, for Zionism, Intersectionality, and non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. * He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. * He holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam) – is half a doctor. He practices Re-evaluation Co-counseling since 1977, is not an official teacher anymore, and became a friendly, empowering therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids non-violently. For a couple of years, he was active in hasbara to the Dutch-speaking public. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's being a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. He lives with his library in Jerusalem. Feel free to contact him. * His writing has been made possible by a (second-generation) Holocaust survivors' allowance from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. If you're a native English speaker and wonder why you should read from people whose English is only their second language, consider the advantage of having an original peek outside of your cultural bubble. * To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me. * His newest books you may find here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMoshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&s=relevancerank&text=Moshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1