Thunderous applause for Donald Trump at the Super Bowl, the first sitting president to attend the country’s biggest game. The president’s greatest gift may be his understanding of people. In personal settings, he looks you directly, listens and connects with other human beings. When millions of Americans celebrate together for the big game or the Daytona 500, he is there.
What’s more, he understands the media and, unlike most other Republicans I’ve worked with over the years, dares to go where no politician has gone before. Mr. Trump presses into the media, unafraid to take them on, to confront their condescending and sanctimonious questions, speaking frankly and forcefully.
The president made a career of being a celebrity and a television star, not a natural endeavor for a New York real estate mogul. However, Mr. Trump understands that if he can connect and communicate directly with the people, the people will be with him.
After his passing a few months ago, I looked up a few of the compelling Phil Donahue shows, the precursor to cable news networks. In 1987, Mr. Trump was looking Mr. Donahue right in the eye, not ruffled by his hyperbolic questions, but calmly explaining what the bureaucrats at City Hall were doing to him and his businesses, taxing him more, regulating his hotels, doing everything in their power to make his life miserable. Sound familiar?
The show was a master class in Media 101. Mr. Trump wasn’t afraid to go into the belly of the beast where he knew he would be attacked; he wasn’t afraid of taking his message directly to the audience and the American people, knowing that they, too, have experienced government harassment and meddling in their daily lives.
Mr. Trump did the same during his presidential campaigns, speaking directly to the American people through podcasts, social media posts and traditional media outlets, where he made his case despite the snarky and smug attitudes of the media, which have made a blood sport out of exploiting any scandal in his orbit.
Now, as president, he has brilliantly named Cabinet secretaries who can do the same. While qualified in their fields of expertise, these secretaries are seasoned and savvy media professionals who can take on the media and communicate this administration’s message directly to the American people the way their boss does.
The second Trump administration feels much different from the first one for this reason: His team is on the same page with the president, and they know how and are not ashamed to communicate it. The confirmed secretaries and White House team have already been out in force. This includes Marco Rubio, Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller, J.D. Vance and Karoline Leavitt.
With the first major crisis of the administration, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, former Fox News contributors, were immediately out in public conveying sympathy for the families and moving the story forward, assuring the American people that they would get to the bottom of this tragedy and fix it so it wouldn’t happen again.
There is no longer reason to be ashamed, afraid or acquiescent to the media’s narrative. We now know the majority of the American people are with us and want information we can provide.
As a messaging strategist, media coach and a lifelong journalism student, I find these are heady days.
Conservatives have complained about media bias and an intentional squeezing out of our ideas and policies with good reason. The answer, however, is not to bury our heads in the sand but to proudly project what we believe and how our policies will help the American people in their daily lives.
“A platform of bold unmistakable colors, not pale pastels,” media-savvy Ronald Reagan said in his 1976 convention speech, which set the course for his presidential victory in 1980.
That means taking a page from Mr. Trump’s playbook: going on CNN, CBS, NBC and ABC, talking to The Washington Post and The New York Times and more. For more than 10 years, these outlets have tried to tear Mr. Trump apart with every tool in their arsenal, and it has failed. A CBS News poll shows the president’s approval rating at 53%. His hard work and ability to communicate it are paying off.
The media serve a great purpose in informing and reporting the news to the American people in a country that cherishes free speech. Since Watergate, however, the media have taken an adversarial role toward the chief executive to uncontrollable heights.
Perhaps during this Trump administration, the media, which thrive on salacious details, innuendo and leaks to keep the story going and ratings high, can do a little more introspection about their role. Going up against a master in media has not gone well. Perhaps a little more understanding of people and less contempt for their views would go a long way.
Author Diana L. Banister is a communications specialist and media strategist, a former Trump administration official and executive consultant with Sovereign Global Solutions. This article first appeared in the Washington Times and appears here with the kind permission of the author.
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