by Michael J. Kelly Vets for Trump Spokesman | Sep 3, 2017 | Fake News, Propaganda, PsyOps, Vets for Trump - Pence |
On a recent trip from central PA to Chicago, I visited with a Vets for Trump friend, Joe Episcopo. We found ourselves near Trump Tower. We took a few pictures in front of the Real Fake art in front of Trump Tower before heading up to the 16th floor to check out the view. It is worth the visit. In part, the Real Fake art is the inspiration for this post.
We know that some segment of our population struggles with questions related to the term Fake News. Why would anyone distort the news? Why do I as the de facto national spokesman for Vets for Trump support President Trump on the subject? Who do you trust? These are all very good questions.
Here is my opinion. Notice the keyword is “opinion” and that is where we begin. When I was young we had about 1 hour of news per day. It was from 6 PM to 7 PM. Half an hour was for local news and half an hour was for world news. There was little to no time on television for opinion journalism let alone advocacy journalism. That was relegated to some Sunday shows and the editorial pages of a newspaper. For you younger readers, the internet and smartphones did not yet exist. Today we have multiple 24 hour TV & radio news stations as well as hundreds if not thousands of websites that appear to be news. We are not even talking about Social Media outlets. Those numbers are staggering. The competition for advertising dollars is enormous.
Shortly after retiring from the Air Force I opened a web company that relied heavily on traffic to a website for revenue. The more traffic (visitors) the more money you can demand from advertisers. The same is true on TV, radio, and print. With that in mind, I will now try to answer the question(s).
Why would anyone distort the news?
- First and foremost I believe it is policy to keep advertising money coming in. Follow the money!
- The natural slant of the news organization.
- The opinions held by the particular person or panel delivering the news.
- The inability for the public to distinguish between hard news and opinion.
Why do I support President Trump calling out Fake News?
- Many older Americans received a quality education. The younger generation only gets it when you create a slogan that sticks with them like “Fake News.”
- Most of what presents itself as news is now opinion or advocacy journalism.
- In my opinion, it has recently slipped more towards advocacy journalism which is the worst kind of journalism. This is evidenced by the deepening divide in America before Candidate Trump announced.
- When Candidate Trump was seen as a real contender hard news journalists were showing more emotion than normal.
- Now that he is President Trump many in the so called Conservative Camp have turned against him. This is because he wants to “drain the swamp” and that means they may lose their jobs or special interest perks.
- I see a little of myself in President Trump, just a little. He is tired of excuses and being politically correct. The Media thinks they are in control and have wielded power for a long time. They have an obligation to be objective but obviously, have lost all objectivity with only a few exceptions.
- My list could go on and on but I’m going to stop here.
Who do you trust?
- God
- Nobody
- Yourself
- I guess it just depends on your outlook on life. Outside of God, I trust few people.
Last thought:
I hear some Conservative talking heads saying things like “There is the loyal Trump supporter whose mind you will never change.” Does that mean they want to change my mind? Does that mean they think my mind should be changed? The thing that bothers me about this statement is it seems degrading. It is not like I think the man is perfect. Who is? I see his shortcomings and say, so what? The economy is doing better than ever, our enemies fear us and I feel better about the future in general. Isn’t that more important than feeling all warm and fuzzy about the guy leading our nation? I want him to be one uncompromising person when it comes to America First. Sure, we have a heart for others but we Americans and Veterans are Family and I believe in Family First! You know President Trump loves his family. I believe he loves his country in a similar fashion. Not just loves but really Big League loves 🙂
by Michael J. Kelly Vets for Trump Spokesman | Mar 13, 2017 | Propaganda |
CNN is set to air “The Most Powerful Man In The World” tonight at 9 pm EST. I watched two videos. In this 3 minute video, CNN is extremely smug. In this 7 minute teaser, CNN does not seem to be getting the answers they want. How will they spin it is anyone’s guess.
There are two issues that CNN wants you to be confused about. First is Russian involvement with the Trump Campaign. Second is Russian involvement with trying to interfere with our elections. I have pointed out that many countries try to interfere with the political processes of other countries, including our very own President Obama.
It has been shown over and over that there was no nefarious relationship between Putin and President Trump. Actually, there was no relationship at all. What we do know is The Clinton Foundation was given millions by Russia. Here it is from the New York Times of all places!
I never thought I would see the day that the left would buy into the Black Helicopter crowd’s conspiracy theories. But here we are. The tables are completely turned.
CNN and other leftist media organizations just won’t let the Russian connection die. To thinking centrist Americans, the left wing media look more foolish every day.
The Democratic Party and their media allies have no ideas and no solutions. Their party is absolutely imploding. They lost because they were the party of division rather than unity. You can only level charges of Racism, Sexism, Bigotry and Xenophobia so long before most people see through the lie.
Now comes the old Psychological Operations Propaganda technique that suggests If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it, and you will even come to believe it yourself. (variations abound) The very idea that they would title their piece The Most Powerful Man In The World relating to Putin tells you they are believing their own propaganda.
Now you know why CNN is the least trusted cable news network.
Among cable news network viewers who watch Fox News most often, 50% say they trust the political news they are getting. That compares to 43% of MSNBC viewers and just 33% who tune in mostly to CNN.
by Michael J. Kelly Vets for Trump Spokesman | Mar 4, 2017 | Propaganda, Vets for Trump - Pence |
The real goal of Russia was to mess with the minds of Americans no matter who won. When a country is as divided as ours, it doesn’t take much to Mind Screw half the population. This is classic PsyOps (Psychological Operations) and I can’t believe I’m the only one who sees this.
Let’s clear up something first. Does Russia try to interfere with our elections through propaganda and other means? Yes. Does Russia interfere with the political process in other countries around the world? Yes. Does America do the same? Yes.
Here is some evidence we cannot deny. Former President Obama and his State Department wanted the Prime Minister of Israel to lose his election. That is the latest well-known example. Everyone also knows that President Obama disliked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and vice versa. I’m sure there have been many attempts to influence foreign elections and politics by both parties and many countries. Some are publicly known. We call it Regime Change. Who knows how many covert actions were never discovered? Hopefully, that clears up the first and most asked question.
Imagine you are Vladimir Putin, a former KGB agent now in charge of Russia. There are two candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Hillary speaks in more hawkish tones than Obama but thinks the status quo is fine relating to military strength. Her agenda is more focused on social issues. Trump talks about building the military back up and restarting the American economic engine. Which candidate is a bigger threat to your goals as the leader of Russian? That is a no-brainer!
But Putin set up a win-win for Russia. During the run-up to the election, the polls clearly have Hillary Clinton winning. It is a shoo-in but one never knows for sure. You devise a plan to discredit both candidates. No matter who wins, you create dissension in the mind of the American voting public. By leaking all the criminal activity and dirty laundry of Hillary Clinton and her campaign you make her the most flawed candidate to ever run for election. By saying nice things about candidate Trump you set up suspicion in the mind of some Americans. Putin knows the American media will help him with this if Trump accidentally wins.
It was probably a HUGE shock to the Kremlin when Hillary lost. After all, it was to the vast majority of the media and pollsters.
Hillary would have been paralyzed by a Republican House and Senate. Her agenda would have been more social rather than economic or military. That would serve the national interests of Russia nicely! Instead, Donald Trump wins the election. Putin was very likely surprised but relaxed knowing that the left wing media and Democratic Party will do everything they can to thwart Trump’s Presidency. Cries of Russian friendship with President Trump will abound.
The PROOF is in the pudding. Cries of Russian friendship with President Trump and campaign officials are all you hear about. The media carries the water, not or the Democratic Party but unwittingly for Russia’s Vladimir Putin. It doesn’t matter that there is zero evidence of nefarious contacts between the Trump Campaign and the Kremlin. Our election was a Win-Win for Russia. It really did not matter who won in the long run.
Why is this so clear to me? Is it my 23 years involved with a PsyOps unit? Probably so.
What should we now do as Americans? The answer is simple. DO NOT let Russia win! It is time to put this all to bed and get on with Making America Great Again.
by Michael J. Kelly Vets for Trump Spokesman | Mar 3, 2017 | Propaganda, Vets for Trump - Pence |
As you can imagine I get tons of email. Some of it is too over the top to talk about in my opinion. Some email subjects are borderline. I really don’t like to get super partisan because we need middle America to be on our side. That being said this particular email struck a chord in me. It expresses what I’ve been thinking for a while but did not quite know how to say it.
The email makes a fairly simple point on “Hate” in American politics. As you know we are a more divided nation than ever before. I have written about how the media is mostly to blame in previous posts. However, the media does not do it on their own. The left wing media need the cooperation of the the Divideocrats as I previously called them.
This particular email I received is in the form of a picture. Here it is in text with a few comments:
The Democratic Party is the world’s most successful hate group. It attracts poor people who hate rich people, black people who hate white people, gay people who hate straight people, feminists who hate men, environmentalists who hate the internal combustion engine, and a lot of bratty college kids who hate their parents. However, the real secret to the party’s success is that it attracts the support of journalists who hate Republicans, and therefore work tirelessly to convince the rest of us that we should vote for Democrats.
To show how depraved some Democrats are, you only need to watch last night’s exchange between Bill O’Reilly and Leo Terrell. If Republicans are Climate Change Deniers, Leo Terrell, is a School Choice Denier. The difference is the school choice program is more clear cut than how much man has to do with climate change. Can you believe a black man hates his own race so much that he would oppose something that would benefit mainly his race? It would benefit everyone but primarily minority students. He is a sick man on this issue.
Here is another one. It is a “Freudian Slip” by MSNBC. I do believe that she really thinks it is the job of the media to “control what people think”, and the Democrats want you to think Russia wanted Donald Trump as the next President? Really? Can you say “Propaganda”? Just goes to prove the last point in the quoted statement above, “journalists who hate Republicans, and therefore work tirelessly to convince the rest of us that we should vote for Democrats.”
Thanks to NavyMan Norm for sending this quote along.
by thyconsigliori | Feb 13, 2017 | Pasquale Scopelliti, Propaganda, Russian Influence, Vets for Trump - Pence |
First, let’s be clear. How difficult would it be to gin up these salacious attacks against General Flynn? Do you believe that Donald Trump hooked up with Russian hookers? If not, then you know the power of fake news. But we shouldn’t call it that. Lies. Evil and vicious attacks. That’s a bit closer to the truth. Russia did NOT affect our election, and General Flynn did not betray his trust. If our enemies are allowed to take General Flynn down, removing him from President Trump’s side, the greatest bulwark for America’s National Security will be removed. This may happen, but every veteran should find, in his or her compatriot General Flynn, a fellow who deserves his or her support right now, and loudly.
Second, but what if these attacks were true? After all, none of us knows for sure, right? Well, contemplate it. A man who is about to become National Security Adviser, and who is able to calm the waters of conflict with our most important enemy/ally, Russia, decides to take action to make sure conflict does not escalate. Oh, he surely should be crucified for that.
But what about – in this scenario – lies to others, failing to disclose telephone conversations that were recorded, transcripted and may be leaked? I say again, we must support General Flynn even in that case. Who is to blame? Let us be clear. Those seeking to ramp up conflict are to be blamed. General Flynn’s sole intent – in this scenario – was to protect our nation and the peace we seek to establish globally.
But let’s turn to the real issue. We know that if veterans had not turned out in full for Candidate Trump, we’d not have a Trump administration right now. That was the beginning of our veteran’s community regaining its voice. Well, it is time to speak again.
Each and every veteran who stands behind his or her fellow, General Flynn, must reach out. Social media is mighty. Tweets and Facebook postings count. Any veteran who has a blog should repost this article, and push its links forward via social media. But more, any writing veteran should express his or her thoughts on this matter directly as well. If for no other reason, General Flynn himself deserves to know that veterans have his back. He is a veteran before he is anything else. Well, a patriot first, of course.
There’s another medium though, to my measure, even more powerful. And that is talk radio. No, not the big names, Hannity and Ingraham, etc. Although, if you have access, by all means, use it! Rather, it is small, local talk radio that I focus on. Every such radio show in America should have its phone lines lit up 24/7 voicing 100% support for General Flynn.
If General Flynn’s voice is silenced, the entire veteran community will lose more than can be measured or expressed. And, if veterans can help General Flynn protect his voice, veterans will have taken the next step in ensuring that every veteran in America regains his or her voice too.
Pasquale Scopelliti
The Consigliori
by Michael J. Kelly Vets for Trump Spokesman | Feb 11, 2017 | Propaganda, Vets for Trump - Pence |
I was a young man back in early 1980’s. It was the first trip to Germany for an exercise called REFORGER. My unit was involved in broadcasting psychological operations. At that time I really did not understand how it worked. 23 years later that would change significantly. That first trip started my
Broadcasting propaganda in combat zones
education in propaganda even though my specialty was not propaganda.
Every evening I would tune into the news on a radio. The first broadcast I would listen to was Armed Forces Radio and Television Service. The second broadcast I would listen to was the then Soviet Union broadcasting news in English back to Europe and American troops.
It did not take me long to see the differences. It was the same essential news with different descriptions of the facts. When I returned to the U.S. I started listening to the news with a different ear. It was now tuned more to the descriptions rather than the facts. I would also listen more carefully to voice inflection. If watching TV news I would observe facial expressions and body language. My skepticism started to build.
With the advent of 24/7 Cable News and the Internet, we started having more ways to get news and opinion. Today it is more opinion than news, regardless of the place you get your information.
The question is why? The reason is simple. Emotion appeals to the reader, listener or viewer. More eyeballs on the station or website and listeners result in more advertising dollars. It is a simple follow the money thing.
An additional problem is the bias of most media outlets. 96% of all donations by people in media went to the Democratic Party. Notice all the advertisements on that link. How can a group be that devoted to a political party and not have it slant their judgment? Add to that, most educators are liberal and give to the Democratic Party. If you are like me you wonder if the nation will ever be able to recover. No wonder FOX News is so popular!
There is huge competition in the media today. You have to be the first to break something new to stay on top of the ratings. There are also smaller budgets due to the competition. That means fewer actual reporters out in the field. They often rely on people with smartphones taking video and website reporters who often get it wrong.
When I was very young (in the 1960’s and 70’s) you had basic news at 6 and 11 PM. If you wanted anything more you had to wait for a Sunday show or pick up a newspaper. People seemed to focus more on family and everyday life. Politics was discussed but not like it is today.
Bottom line: Think about the headlines your read on the web or print. Consider the lead phrase into a story on TV, radio etc. Listen carefully to the narrative. Study the use of emotional words and body language. Watch for opinion versus simple facts. Ask yourself if the story could have been approached from another point of view or with less emphasis on the emotional triggers. Never believe something if it sounds over the top without doing your own investigation. Make sure you understand if you are watching, reading or listening to a solid news story or if it is an opinion piece. The lines are so blurred today it is difficult to see the difference.
