🕷️ Crawler Inspector

URL Lookup

Direct Parameter Lookup

Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 56 (from laksa004)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa056.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2019/07/23/donald-trump-fake-news-media-steve-almond\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2019/07/23/donald-trump-fake-news-media-steve-almond\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/cognoscenti\/2019\/07\/23\/donald-trump-fake-news-media-steve-almond","crawl_time":1776344808,"first_indexed_time":1563873620,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"org,wbur!www,\/cognoscenti\/2019\/07\/23\/donald-trump-fake-news-media-steve-almond s443","src_root_hash":"15087967046536411256","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"Trump Is Right: Fake News Is Real — But It's Not What You Think | Cognoscenti","meta_descriptions":["All the coverage of the president’s inflammatory comments distracts us from the real news of what he and his administration are doing, writes Steve Almond."],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"Two and a half years into the cruel and chaotic reign of Donald Trump, one piercing irony has emerged: History’s most dishonest president has a strange penchant for exposing dark truths.\nThe first and most central of these truths, of course, is that many white people in America are just fine with trampling the rights of immigrants and minorities.\nBut Trump also has a preternatural ability to popularize catch defensive phrases that precisely describe the true nature of his corruption. Remember, for example, late in the 2016 campaign, when all the polls suggested he was headed for a humiliating defeat? Trump began bleating about the “rigged system” stacked against him.\nAnd as we all discovered election night, Trump was right: the system\nwas\nrigged — flagrantly and on his behalf. Thanks, at least in part, to sustained\nvoter suppression efforts\n, Trump won razor-thin margins in\nWisconsin\n and\nMichigan\n.\nHistory’s most dishonest president has a strange penchant for exposing dark truths.\nAnd thanks to the Electoral College, Trump won the White House despite losing the popular vote by three million voters. (In fact, the Electoral College’s bias toward whiter, sparsely populated states, means Trump could lose by five million votes in 2020, and\nstill retain the presidency\n.)\nOr consider his incessant pledge to “Drain the Swamp”? This rallying cry, which Trump parroted only after it had been\nfocus-group tested\n by the digital ghouls at Cambridge Analytica, helped him convince gullible voters that he would cleanse our national capital of vice.\nIn fact, Trump has bloated the swamp in\nways\nbarely imaginable,\nstocking his cabinet\nwith greedy plutocrats and corporate lobbyists who are just as\neager to profit\nfrom their “public service” as\nhe is\n.\nOf all the sleazy slogans this TV demagogue deploys, surely the most durable and resonant is his continual bleating about Fake News.\nHere’s the crazy thing: I\nagree\nwith Trump. The modern media ecosystem is constantly focusing on “news” that has nothing to do with the actual lives of America’s citizens, in particular those who are vulnerable and struggling.\nInstead, the media aims its lenses and microphones at the calculated diversions Trump confects daily to distract attention from the ineptitude and avarice of his regime.\nAs a creature of tabloid culture, Trump understood from the very beginning the deep truth of Fake News — that our Fourth Estate will always favor inflammation over information, that he can\nalways\nseize attention by indulging in aggressive vulgarity, fear-mongering and racial incitement.\nReporters and pundits continue to publicize his tweets, to cover his rallies and press conferences, to aggrandize his feuds and virtually ignore his actions.\nThis week, for instance, you’ll hear barely anything about the\nrampant dysfunction\nat the Commerce Department, or the administration’s\ndrilling free-for-all\non public lands, or even the global implications of the heatwave that just fried the east coast.\nThe central question now is to what extent editors and reporters will recognize their role in this catastrophe before 2020.\nNo, instead, you’ll get another hundred stories about his achingly predictable attacks on four congresswomen of color, and his publicity stunt effort to help free an American rapper arrested in Sweden.\nTrump ascended to the presidency thanks to the purveyors of Fake News, who covered his pep rallies as if they were presidential addresses, who made “Hillary’s email” a bigger story than Trump’s history of tax fraud or sexual misconduct, who faithfully smeared Clinton using emails stolen and disseminated by Russians.\nWithout Fake News (and that trusty Rigged System) to sustain his electoral Ponzi scheme, Trump would just another aging huckster prowling the D-list party circuit and trolling for porn stars, and the GOP would be a fringe party on the wrong side of history.\nThe central question now is to what extent editors and reporters will recognize their role in this catastrophe before 2020.\nFollow Cognoscenti on\nFacebook\nand\nTwitter\n.","attrs_markdown":"[Skip to main content](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/cognoscenti\/2019\/07\/23\/donald-trump-fake-news-media-steve-almond#main)\n\n[WBUR90.0 WBUR - Boston's NPR News Station](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/)\n\nListen Live: Morning Edition\n\n[Donate](https:\/\/donate.wbur.org\/secure\/heart-wbur-homepage?utm_source=wbur.org&utm_medium=heart)\n\n[WBUR90.0 WBUR - Boston's NPR News Station](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/)\n\nListen Live: Morning Edition\n\n[Donate](https:\/\/donate.wbur.org\/secure\/heart-wbur-homepage?utm_source=wbur.org&utm_medium=heart)\n\n- Cognoscenti\n- [About](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/opinion\/section\/cognoscenti\/about)\n- [Archive](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/opinion\/section\/cognoscenti\/archive)\n- [Contributors](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/opinion\/section\/cognoscenti\/contributors)\n- [Newsletter](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/opinion\/section\/cognoscenti\/newsletter)\n- [Events](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/opinion\/section\/cognoscenti\/events)\n- [Submission Guidelines](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/opinion\/section\/cognoscenti\/submission-guidelines)\n\nListen Live\n\n#### Sections\n- [Local Coverage](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/news)\n- [Arts & Culture](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/news\/section\/arts-culture)\n- [Business](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/news\/section\/business)\n- [Education](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/news\/section\/education)\n- [Environment](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/news\/section\/environment)\n- [Field Guide To Boston](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/news\/section\/field-guide-to-boston)\n- [Health](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/news\/section\/health)\n- [Investigations](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/news\/section\/investigations)\n- [Cognoscenti](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/opinion\/section\/cognoscenti)\n- [Boston News Quiz](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/quiz)\n\n#### Radio\n- [All Radio Programs](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/radio)\n- [All Things Considered](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/radio\/programs\/all-things-considered)\n- [Here & Now](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/radio\/programs\/hereandnow)\n- [Morning Edition](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/radio\/programs\/morningedition)\n- [On Point](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/radio\/programs\/onpoint)\n- [On-Air Schedule](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/radio\/schedule)\n- [Ways To Listen](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/ways-to-listen)\n\n#### Podcasts\n- [All Podcasts](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/podcasts)\n- [Beyond All Repair](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/podcasts\/violation)\n- [Circle Round](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/podcasts\/circleround)\n- [Endless Thread](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/podcasts\/endlessthread)\n- [Last Seen](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/podcasts\/lastseen)\n- [The Midnight Rebellion](https:\/\/podcasts.wbur.org\/the-midnight-rebellion)\n- [Violation](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/podcasts\/violation\/the-marshall-project-wbur-violation)\n\n#### Events\n- [CitySpace Calendar](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/events)\n- [Watch Past Events](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/events\/browse?archive)\n- [Events Newsletter](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/events\/newsletter)\n- [Rent CitySpace](https:\/\/www.rentcityspace.com\/)\n- [The WBUR Festival](https:\/\/www.wburfestival.org\/)\n\n#### Support\n- [Member Services](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/membership)\n- [Become A Member](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/membership\/605748\/members)\n- [Donate Your Car](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/membership\/605928\/donate-your-car)\n- [Join The Murrow Society](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/murrowsociety)\n- [Make A Donation](https:\/\/donate.wbur.org\/secure\/give?utm_source=wbur.org&utm_medium=web&utm_term=hamburger_menu)\n- [Become A Sponsor](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/sponsorship\/about)\n- [Create A Custom Podcast](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/inside\/cityspaceproductions)\n\n#### Subscribe to our weekday newsletter\nAdd WBUR to your morning routine\n\nLocal news in one concise, fun and informative email. [Explore more WBUR newsletters](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/newsletters).\n\nSupport WBUR\n\nAdvertisements on wbur.org help support the news. Please consider a [donation today\\!](https:\/\/donate.wbur.org\/secure\/give?utm_medium=web&utm_source=wbur.org&utm_term=ad_block_message)\n\n1. [Home](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/)\n2. [Cognoscenti](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/opinion\/section\/cognoscenti)\n#### Commentary\n# Trump Is Right: Fake News Is Real — But It's Not What You Think\n- [Steve Almond](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/inside\/staff\/steve-almond)\n\nJuly 23, 2019\n\nShare\n\n![In this July 17, 2019, photo, President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at Williams Arena in Greenville, N.C. (Carolyn Kaster\/AP)](https:\/\/media.wbur.org\/wp\/2019\/07\/AP_19201004713022-1000x667.jpg)\n\nIn this July 17, 2019, photo, President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at Williams Arena in Greenville, N.C. (Carolyn Kaster\/AP)\n\nThis article is more than 6 years old.\n\nTwo and a half years into the cruel and chaotic reign of Donald Trump, one piercing irony has emerged: History’s most dishonest president has a strange penchant for exposing dark truths.\n\nThe first and most central of these truths, of course, is that many white people in America are just fine with trampling the rights of immigrants and minorities.\n\nBut Trump also has a preternatural ability to popularize catch defensive phrases that precisely describe the true nature of his corruption. Remember, for example, late in the 2016 campaign, when all the polls suggested he was headed for a humiliating defeat? Trump began bleating about the “rigged system” stacked against him.\n\nAnd as we all discovered election night, Trump was right: the system *was* rigged — flagrantly and on his behalf. Thanks, at least in part, to sustained [voter suppression efforts](https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2016\/12\/12\/the-real-voting-scandal-of-2016), Trump won razor-thin margins in [Wisconsin](https:\/\/www.motherjones.com\/politics\/2017\/10\/voter-suppression-wisconsin-election-2016\/) and [Michigan](https:\/\/time.com\/4599886\/detroit-voting-machine-failures-were-widespread-on-election-day\/).\n\n> History’s most dishonest president has a strange penchant for exposing dark truths.\n\nAnd thanks to the Electoral College, Trump won the White House despite losing the popular vote by three million voters. (In fact, the Electoral College’s bias toward whiter, sparsely populated states, means Trump could lose by five million votes in 2020, and [still retain the presidency](https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/2020-election\/how-trump-could-lose-5-million-votes-still-win-2020-n1031601).)\n\nOr consider his incessant pledge to “Drain the Swamp”? This rallying cry, which Trump parroted only after it had been [focus-group tested](https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/cambridge-analytica-trump-campaign-putin-855974) by the digital ghouls at Cambridge Analytica, helped him convince gullible voters that he would cleanse our national capital of vice.\n\nIn fact, Trump has bloated the swamp in [ways](https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2019\/06\/10\/new-revelations-show-trump-administration-is-making-swamp-even-swampier\/?utm_term=.616fce1eeb86) barely imaginable, [stocking his cabinet](https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2019\/07\/17\/trumps-swamp-corporate-lobbyists-are-charge\/?utm_term=.992ab1efefbc) with greedy plutocrats and corporate lobbyists who are just as [eager to profit](https:\/\/newrepublic.com\/minutes\/149202\/meanwhile-trumps-cabinet-corruption-central) from their “public service” as [he is](https:\/\/www.dailykos.com\/stories\/2019\/7\/22\/1873545\/-Trump-ratchets-up-the-corruption-Finalists-to-host-2020-G7-summit-include-Trump-golf-resort).\n\nOf all the sleazy slogans this TV demagogue deploys, surely the most durable and resonant is his continual bleating about Fake News.\n\nHere’s the crazy thing: I *agree* with Trump. The modern media ecosystem is constantly focusing on “news” that has nothing to do with the actual lives of America’s citizens, in particular those who are vulnerable and struggling.\n\nInstead, the media aims its lenses and microphones at the calculated diversions Trump confects daily to distract attention from the ineptitude and avarice of his regime.\n\nAs a creature of tabloid culture, Trump understood from the very beginning the deep truth of Fake News — that our Fourth Estate will always favor inflammation over information, that he can *always* seize attention by indulging in aggressive vulgarity, fear-mongering and racial incitement.\n\nReporters and pundits continue to publicize his tweets, to cover his rallies and press conferences, to aggrandize his feuds and virtually ignore his actions.\n\nThis week, for instance, you’ll hear barely anything about the [rampant dysfunction](https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2019\/07\/22\/wilbur-ross-commerce-department-dysfunction-1424427) at the Commerce Department, or the administration’s [drilling free-for-all](https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2019\/07\/17\/colorado-blm-oil-public-lands-emissions\/) on public lands, or even the global implications of the heatwave that just fried the east coast.\n\n> The central question now is to what extent editors and reporters will recognize their role in this catastrophe before 2020.\n\nNo, instead, you’ll get another hundred stories about his achingly predictable attacks on four congresswomen of color, and his publicity stunt effort to help free an American rapper arrested in Sweden.\n\nTrump ascended to the presidency thanks to the purveyors of Fake News, who covered his pep rallies as if they were presidential addresses, who made “Hillary’s email” a bigger story than Trump’s history of tax fraud or sexual misconduct, who faithfully smeared Clinton using emails stolen and disseminated by Russians.\n\nWithout Fake News (and that trusty Rigged System) to sustain his electoral Ponzi scheme, Trump would just another aging huckster prowling the D-list party circuit and trolling for porn stars, and the GOP would be a fringe party on the wrong side of history.\n\nThe central question now is to what extent editors and reporters will recognize their role in this catastrophe before 2020.\n\n*Follow Cognoscenti on [Facebook](https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cogwbur\/) and [Twitter](https:\/\/twitter.com\/cogwbur).*\n\n[Donald Trump](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/opinion\/section\/cognoscenti\/tag\/donald-trump)\n\n## Related:\n- [Also by Steve Almond: The Media Seems To Have Learned Nothing From 2016](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/cognoscenti\/2019\/02\/21\/sarah-isgur-cnn-steve-almond)\n- ['We Are Not The Enemy Of The People': Cog Contributors Respond To Attacks On The Press](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/cognoscenti\/2018\/08\/15\/news-media-responds-to-trumps-attacks-on-the-press)\n- [Kent Greenfield: We Can't Mute Trump, But We Can Turn Off Fox News](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/cognoscenti\/2019\/07\/19\/donald-trump-fox-news-kent-greenfield)\n\n[![Headshot of Steve Almond](https:\/\/media.wbur.org\/wp\/2012\/07\/Steve-Almond-2-BBF-2010-Shankbone-733x1024-e1348681930570-600x600.jpg)](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/inside\/staff\/steve-almond)\n\n[Steve Almond](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/inside\/staff\/steve-almond) Cognoscenti contributor\n\nSteve Almond is the author of 12 books. His new book, “Truth Is the Arrow, Mercy Is the Bow,” is about craft, inspiration and the struggle to write.\n\n[More…](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/inside\/staff\/steve-almond)\n\nSupport WBUR\n\nAdvertisements on wbur.org help support the news. Please consider a [donation today\\!](https:\/\/donate.wbur.org\/secure\/give?utm_medium=web&utm_source=wbur.org&utm_term=ad_block_message)\n## More from WBUR\nSupport WBUR\n\nAdvertisements on wbur.org help support the news. Please consider a [donation today\\!](https:\/\/donate.wbur.org\/secure\/give?utm_medium=web&utm_source=wbur.org&utm_term=ad_block_message)\n\n## Most Popular\n1. [Hampshire College in Amherst will permanently close in the fall](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/news\/2026\/04\/14\/hampshire-college-closing-western-mass-chrisler-liberal-arts-school)\n   \n   [Local Coverage](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/news)\n2. [The teachers pushing back on screens in schools](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/onpoint\/2026\/04\/14\/the-teachers-pushing-back-on-screens-in-schools)\n   \n   [On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/radio\/programs\/onpoint)\n3. [Massachusetts touts widespread use of prison computer tablet program](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/news\/2026\/04\/15\/massachusetts-prison-technology-tablet-use-skills)\n   \n   [Local Coverage](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/news)\n4. [Somerville pulls buried cars — yes, cars! — out of giant snow pile](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/news\/2026\/04\/15\/somerville-snow-pile-car-photos)\n   \n   [Local Coverage](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/news)\n5. [New questions for the Epstein files investigation](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/onpoint\/2026\/04\/15\/melania-bondi-epstein-files-investigation)\n   \n   [On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/radio\/programs\/onpoint)\n6. [Tech billionaires want autonomous communities without taxes, government. What are the implications?](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/hereandnow\/2026\/04\/14\/tech-billionaire-communities)\n   \n   [Here & Now](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/radio\/programs\/hereandnow)\n\n*Resume*\n\nListen Live\n\n[Morning Edition](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/radio\/programs\/morningedition)\n\n#### Contact Us\n(617) 353-0909\n\n[info@wbur.org](mailto:info@wbur.org)\n\n890 Commonwealth Ave.  \nBoston, MA 02215\n\n[More ways to get in touch.](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/inside\/contact)\n\n#### About WBUR\n- [Who We Are](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/about)\n- [Inside WBUR](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/inside)\n- [Diversity, Equity And Inclusion](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/inside\/2021\/11\/15\/diversity-equity-and-inclusion)\n- [Board Of Directors](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/inside\/board-of-directors)\n- [Community Advisory Board](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/inside\/community-advisory-board)\n- [CPB Transparency](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/inside\/cpb-transparency)\n- [Careers](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/inside\/jobs)\n- [WBUR Staff](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/inside\/staff)\n- [Ethics Guide](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/inside\/2022\/03\/10\/ethics-guide)\n- [Licensing WBUR Content](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/inside\/licensing-wbur-content)\n\n#### Support WBUR\n- [Make A Donation](https:\/\/donate.wbur.org\/secure\/give?utm_source=wbur.org&utm_medium=web&utm_term=web_footer)\n- [Volunteer](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/inside\/volunteer-opportunities)\n- [Member Services](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/membership)\n- [Become A Member](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/membership\/605748\/members)\n- [Donate Your Car](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/membership\/605928\/donate-your-car)\n- [Join The Murrow Society](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/murrowsociety)\n- [Become A Sponsor](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/sponsorship\/about)\n\n#### Follow\n- [Facebook](https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wburnews)\n- [Instagram](https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/wbur\/)\n- [YouTube](https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/WBUR)\n- [Linkedin](https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/wbur)\n\n#### Subscribe to our weekday newsletter\nAdd WBUR to your morning routine\n\nLocal news in one concise, fun and informative email. [Explore more WBUR newsletters](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/newsletters).\n\n- [© Copyright WBUR 2026](https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/services\/security\/cyber-security\/dmca\/copyright\/)\n- [WBUR Privacy Policy](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/inside\/privacy-policy)\n- [Syndication](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/inside\/syndication)\n- [FCC Applications](https:\/\/media.wbur.org\/wp\/2021\/12\/WBUR-FM-FCC-Applications-Tab-01568791xB3D1E.pdf)\n- [FCC Public File](https:\/\/publicfiles.fcc.gov\/fm-profile\/WBUR-FM)\n- [WBUR EEO Reports](https:\/\/publicfiles.fcc.gov\/fm-profile\/WBUR-FM\/equal-employment-opportunity-records\/additional-documents\/eeo-public-file-reports\/137e0968-7b62-c93a-d484-71c68fd6373e)\n- [Public File Assistance](https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/inside\/fcc-public-file-information)\n\nThis site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google [Privacy Policy](https:\/\/policies.google.com\/privacy) and [Terms of Service](https:\/\/policies.google.com\/terms) apply.\n\n![](https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/tr?id=1723321954577947&ev=PageView&noscript=1)","attrs_readable_markdown":"Two and a half years into the cruel and chaotic reign of Donald Trump, one piercing irony has emerged: History’s most dishonest president has a strange penchant for exposing dark truths.\n\nThe first and most central of these truths, of course, is that many white people in America are just fine with trampling the rights of immigrants and minorities.\n\nBut Trump also has a preternatural ability to popularize catch defensive phrases that precisely describe the true nature of his corruption. Remember, for example, late in the 2016 campaign, when all the polls suggested he was headed for a humiliating defeat? Trump began bleating about the “rigged system” stacked against him.\n\nAnd as we all discovered election night, Trump was right: the system *was* rigged — flagrantly and on his behalf. Thanks, at least in part, to sustained [voter suppression efforts](https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2016\/12\/12\/the-real-voting-scandal-of-2016), Trump won razor-thin margins in [Wisconsin](https:\/\/www.motherjones.com\/politics\/2017\/10\/voter-suppression-wisconsin-election-2016\/) and [Michigan](https:\/\/time.com\/4599886\/detroit-voting-machine-failures-were-widespread-on-election-day\/).\n\n> History’s most dishonest president has a strange penchant for exposing dark truths.\n\nAnd thanks to the Electoral College, Trump won the White House despite losing the popular vote by three million voters. (In fact, the Electoral College’s bias toward whiter, sparsely populated states, means Trump could lose by five million votes in 2020, and [still retain the presidency](https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/2020-election\/how-trump-could-lose-5-million-votes-still-win-2020-n1031601).)\n\nOr consider his incessant pledge to “Drain the Swamp”? This rallying cry, which Trump parroted only after it had been [focus-group tested](https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/cambridge-analytica-trump-campaign-putin-855974) by the digital ghouls at Cambridge Analytica, helped him convince gullible voters that he would cleanse our national capital of vice.\n\nIn fact, Trump has bloated the swamp in [ways](https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2019\/06\/10\/new-revelations-show-trump-administration-is-making-swamp-even-swampier\/?utm_term=.616fce1eeb86) barely imaginable, [stocking his cabinet](https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2019\/07\/17\/trumps-swamp-corporate-lobbyists-are-charge\/?utm_term=.992ab1efefbc) with greedy plutocrats and corporate lobbyists who are just as [eager to profit](https:\/\/newrepublic.com\/minutes\/149202\/meanwhile-trumps-cabinet-corruption-central) from their “public service” as [he is](https:\/\/www.dailykos.com\/stories\/2019\/7\/22\/1873545\/-Trump-ratchets-up-the-corruption-Finalists-to-host-2020-G7-summit-include-Trump-golf-resort).\n\nOf all the sleazy slogans this TV demagogue deploys, surely the most durable and resonant is his continual bleating about Fake News.\n\nHere’s the crazy thing: I *agree* with Trump. The modern media ecosystem is constantly focusing on “news” that has nothing to do with the actual lives of America’s citizens, in particular those who are vulnerable and struggling.\n\nInstead, the media aims its lenses and microphones at the calculated diversions Trump confects daily to distract attention from the ineptitude and avarice of his regime.\n\nAs a creature of tabloid culture, Trump understood from the very beginning the deep truth of Fake News — that our Fourth Estate will always favor inflammation over information, that he can *always* seize attention by indulging in aggressive vulgarity, fear-mongering and racial incitement.\n\nReporters and pundits continue to publicize his tweets, to cover his rallies and press conferences, to aggrandize his feuds and virtually ignore his actions.\n\nThis week, for instance, you’ll hear barely anything about the [rampant dysfunction](https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2019\/07\/22\/wilbur-ross-commerce-department-dysfunction-1424427) at the Commerce Department, or the administration’s [drilling free-for-all](https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2019\/07\/17\/colorado-blm-oil-public-lands-emissions\/) on public lands, or even the global implications of the heatwave that just fried the east coast.\n\n> The central question now is to what extent editors and reporters will recognize their role in this catastrophe before 2020.\n\nNo, instead, you’ll get another hundred stories about his achingly predictable attacks on four congresswomen of color, and his publicity stunt effort to help free an American rapper arrested in Sweden.\n\nTrump ascended to the presidency thanks to the purveyors of Fake News, who covered his pep rallies as if they were presidential addresses, who made “Hillary’s email” a bigger story than Trump’s history of tax fraud or sexual misconduct, who faithfully smeared Clinton using emails stolen and disseminated by Russians.\n\nWithout Fake News (and that trusty Rigged System) to sustain his electoral Ponzi scheme, Trump would just another aging huckster prowling the D-list party circuit and trolling for porn stars, and the GOP would be a fringe party on the wrong side of history.\n\nThe central question now is to what extent editors and reporters will recognize their role in this catastrophe before 2020.\n\n*Follow Cognoscenti on [Facebook](https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cogwbur\/) and [Twitter](https:\/\/twitter.com\/cogwbur).*","meta_canonical":null}

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URL	https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2019/07/23/donald-trump-fake-news-media-steve-almond
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Meta Title	Trump Is Right: Fake News Is Real — But It's Not What You Think \| Cognoscenti
Meta Description	All the coverage of the president’s inflammatory comments distracts us from the real news of what he and his administration are doing, writes Steve Almond.
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Boilerpipe Text	Two and a half years into the cruel and chaotic reign of Donald Trump, one piercing irony has emerged: History’s most dishonest president has a strange penchant for exposing dark truths. The first and most central of these truths, of course, is that many white people in America are just fine with trampling the rights of immigrants and minorities. But Trump also has a preternatural ability to popularize catch defensive phrases that precisely describe the true nature of his corruption. Remember, for example, late in the 2016 campaign, when all the polls suggested he was headed for a humiliating defeat? Trump began bleating about the “rigged system” stacked against him. And as we all discovered election night, Trump was right: the system was rigged — flagrantly and on his behalf. Thanks, at least in part, to sustained voter suppression efforts , Trump won razor-thin margins in Wisconsin and Michigan . History’s most dishonest president has a strange penchant for exposing dark truths. And thanks to the Electoral College, Trump won the White House despite losing the popular vote by three million voters. (In fact, the Electoral College’s bias toward whiter, sparsely populated states, means Trump could lose by five million votes in 2020, and still retain the presidency .) Or consider his incessant pledge to “Drain the Swamp”? This rallying cry, which Trump parroted only after it had been focus-group tested by the digital ghouls at Cambridge Analytica, helped him convince gullible voters that he would cleanse our national capital of vice. In fact, Trump has bloated the swamp in ways barely imaginable, stocking his cabinet with greedy plutocrats and corporate lobbyists who are just as eager to profit from their “public service” as he is . Of all the sleazy slogans this TV demagogue deploys, surely the most durable and resonant is his continual bleating about Fake News. Here’s the crazy thing: I agree with Trump. The modern media ecosystem is constantly focusing on “news” that has nothing to do with the actual lives of America’s citizens, in particular those who are vulnerable and struggling. Instead, the media aims its lenses and microphones at the calculated diversions Trump confects daily to distract attention from the ineptitude and avarice of his regime. As a creature of tabloid culture, Trump understood from the very beginning the deep truth of Fake News — that our Fourth Estate will always favor inflammation over information, that he can always seize attention by indulging in aggressive vulgarity, fear-mongering and racial incitement. Reporters and pundits continue to publicize his tweets, to cover his rallies and press conferences, to aggrandize his feuds and virtually ignore his actions. This week, for instance, you’ll hear barely anything about the rampant dysfunction at the Commerce Department, or the administration’s drilling free-for-all on public lands, or even the global implications of the heatwave that just fried the east coast. The central question now is to what extent editors and reporters will recognize their role in this catastrophe before 2020. No, instead, you’ll get another hundred stories about his achingly predictable attacks on four congresswomen of color, and his publicity stunt effort to help free an American rapper arrested in Sweden. Trump ascended to the presidency thanks to the purveyors of Fake News, who covered his pep rallies as if they were presidential addresses, who made “Hillary’s email” a bigger story than Trump’s history of tax fraud or sexual misconduct, who faithfully smeared Clinton using emails stolen and disseminated by Russians. Without Fake News (and that trusty Rigged System) to sustain his electoral Ponzi scheme, Trump would just another aging huckster prowling the D-list party circuit and trolling for porn stars, and the GOP would be a fringe party on the wrong side of history. The central question now is to what extent editors and reporters will recognize their role in this catastrophe before 2020. Follow Cognoscenti on Facebook and Twitter .
Markdown	[Skip to main content](https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2019/07/23/donald-trump-fake-news-media-steve-almond#main) [WBUR90.0 WBUR - Boston's NPR News Station](https://www.wbur.org/) Listen Live: Morning Edition [Donate](https://donate.wbur.org/secure/heart-wbur-homepage?utm_source=wbur.org&utm_medium=heart) [WBUR90.0 WBUR - Boston's NPR News Station](https://www.wbur.org/) Listen Live: Morning Edition [Donate](https://donate.wbur.org/secure/heart-wbur-homepage?utm_source=wbur.org&utm_medium=heart) - Cognoscenti - [About](https://www.wbur.org/opinion/section/cognoscenti/about) - [Archive](https://www.wbur.org/opinion/section/cognoscenti/archive) - [Contributors](https://www.wbur.org/opinion/section/cognoscenti/contributors) - [Newsletter](https://www.wbur.org/opinion/section/cognoscenti/newsletter) - [Events](https://www.wbur.org/opinion/section/cognoscenti/events) - [Submission Guidelines](https://www.wbur.org/opinion/section/cognoscenti/submission-guidelines) Listen Live #### Sections - [Local Coverage](https://www.wbur.org/news) - [Arts & Culture](https://www.wbur.org/news/section/arts-culture) - [Business](https://www.wbur.org/news/section/business) - [Education](https://www.wbur.org/news/section/education) - [Environment](https://www.wbur.org/news/section/environment) - [Field Guide To Boston](https://www.wbur.org/news/section/field-guide-to-boston) - [Health](https://www.wbur.org/news/section/health) - [Investigations](https://www.wbur.org/news/section/investigations) - [Cognoscenti](https://www.wbur.org/opinion/section/cognoscenti) - [Boston News Quiz](https://www.wbur.org/quiz) #### Radio - [All Radio Programs](https://www.wbur.org/radio) - [All Things Considered](https://www.wbur.org/radio/programs/all-things-considered) - [Here & Now](https://www.wbur.org/radio/programs/hereandnow) - [Morning Edition](https://www.wbur.org/radio/programs/morningedition) - [On Point](https://www.wbur.org/radio/programs/onpoint) - [On-Air Schedule](https://www.wbur.org/radio/schedule) - [Ways To Listen](https://www.wbur.org/ways-to-listen) #### Podcasts - [All Podcasts](https://www.wbur.org/podcasts) - [Beyond All Repair](https://www.wbur.org/podcasts/violation) - [Circle Round](https://www.wbur.org/podcasts/circleround) - [Endless Thread](https://www.wbur.org/podcasts/endlessthread) - [Last Seen](https://www.wbur.org/podcasts/lastseen) - [The Midnight Rebellion](https://podcasts.wbur.org/the-midnight-rebellion) - [Violation](https://www.wbur.org/podcasts/violation/the-marshall-project-wbur-violation) #### Events - [CitySpace Calendar](https://www.wbur.org/events) - [Watch Past Events](https://www.wbur.org/events/browse?archive) - [Events Newsletter](https://www.wbur.org/events/newsletter) - [Rent CitySpace](https://www.rentcityspace.com/) - [The WBUR Festival](https://www.wburfestival.org/) #### Support - [Member Services](https://www.wbur.org/membership) - [Become A Member](https://www.wbur.org/membership/605748/members) - [Donate Your Car](https://www.wbur.org/membership/605928/donate-your-car) - [Join The Murrow Society](https://www.wbur.org/murrowsociety) - [Make A Donation](https://donate.wbur.org/secure/give?utm_source=wbur.org&utm_medium=web&utm_term=hamburger_menu) - [Become A Sponsor](https://www.wbur.org/sponsorship/about) - [Create A Custom Podcast](https://www.wbur.org/inside/cityspaceproductions) #### Subscribe to our weekday newsletter Add WBUR to your morning routine Local news in one concise, fun and informative email. [Explore more WBUR newsletters](https://www.wbur.org/newsletters). Support WBUR Advertisements on wbur.org help support the news. Please consider a [donation today\!](https://donate.wbur.org/secure/give?utm_medium=web&utm_source=wbur.org&utm_term=ad_block_message) 1. [Home](https://www.wbur.org/) 2. [Cognoscenti](https://www.wbur.org/opinion/section/cognoscenti) #### Commentary # Trump Is Right: Fake News Is Real — But It's Not What You Think - [Steve Almond](https://www.wbur.org/inside/staff/steve-almond) July 23, 2019 Share ![In this July 17, 2019, photo, President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at Williams Arena in Greenville, N.C. (Carolyn Kaster/AP)](https://media.wbur.org/wp/2019/07/AP_19201004713022-1000x667.jpg) In this July 17, 2019, photo, President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at Williams Arena in Greenville, N.C. (Carolyn Kaster/AP) This article is more than 6 years old. Two and a half years into the cruel and chaotic reign of Donald Trump, one piercing irony has emerged: History’s most dishonest president has a strange penchant for exposing dark truths. The first and most central of these truths, of course, is that many white people in America are just fine with trampling the rights of immigrants and minorities. But Trump also has a preternatural ability to popularize catch defensive phrases that precisely describe the true nature of his corruption. Remember, for example, late in the 2016 campaign, when all the polls suggested he was headed for a humiliating defeat? Trump began bleating about the “rigged system” stacked against him. And as we all discovered election night, Trump was right: the system was rigged — flagrantly and on his behalf. Thanks, at least in part, to sustained [voter suppression efforts](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/12/12/the-real-voting-scandal-of-2016), Trump won razor-thin margins in [Wisconsin](https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/10/voter-suppression-wisconsin-election-2016/) and [Michigan](https://time.com/4599886/detroit-voting-machine-failures-were-widespread-on-election-day/). > History’s most dishonest president has a strange penchant for exposing dark truths. And thanks to the Electoral College, Trump won the White House despite losing the popular vote by three million voters. (In fact, the Electoral College’s bias toward whiter, sparsely populated states, means Trump could lose by five million votes in 2020, and [still retain the presidency](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/how-trump-could-lose-5-million-votes-still-win-2020-n1031601).) Or consider his incessant pledge to “Drain the Swamp”? This rallying cry, which Trump parroted only after it had been [focus-group tested](https://www.newsweek.com/cambridge-analytica-trump-campaign-putin-855974) by the digital ghouls at Cambridge Analytica, helped him convince gullible voters that he would cleanse our national capital of vice. In fact, Trump has bloated the swamp in [ways](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/06/10/new-revelations-show-trump-administration-is-making-swamp-even-swampier/?utm_term=.616fce1eeb86) barely imaginable, [stocking his cabinet](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/07/17/trumps-swamp-corporate-lobbyists-are-charge/?utm_term=.992ab1efefbc) with greedy plutocrats and corporate lobbyists who are just as [eager to profit](https://newrepublic.com/minutes/149202/meanwhile-trumps-cabinet-corruption-central) from their “public service” as [he is](https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/7/22/1873545/-Trump-ratchets-up-the-corruption-Finalists-to-host-2020-G7-summit-include-Trump-golf-resort). Of all the sleazy slogans this TV demagogue deploys, surely the most durable and resonant is his continual bleating about Fake News. Here’s the crazy thing: I agree with Trump. The modern media ecosystem is constantly focusing on “news” that has nothing to do with the actual lives of America’s citizens, in particular those who are vulnerable and struggling. Instead, the media aims its lenses and microphones at the calculated diversions Trump confects daily to distract attention from the ineptitude and avarice of his regime. As a creature of tabloid culture, Trump understood from the very beginning the deep truth of Fake News — that our Fourth Estate will always favor inflammation over information, that he can always seize attention by indulging in aggressive vulgarity, fear-mongering and racial incitement. Reporters and pundits continue to publicize his tweets, to cover his rallies and press conferences, to aggrandize his feuds and virtually ignore his actions. This week, for instance, you’ll hear barely anything about the [rampant dysfunction](https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/22/wilbur-ross-commerce-department-dysfunction-1424427) at the Commerce Department, or the administration’s [drilling free-for-all](https://www.denverpost.com/2019/07/17/colorado-blm-oil-public-lands-emissions/) on public lands, or even the global implications of the heatwave that just fried the east coast. > The central question now is to what extent editors and reporters will recognize their role in this catastrophe before 2020. No, instead, you’ll get another hundred stories about his achingly predictable attacks on four congresswomen of color, and his publicity stunt effort to help free an American rapper arrested in Sweden. Trump ascended to the presidency thanks to the purveyors of Fake News, who covered his pep rallies as if they were presidential addresses, who made “Hillary’s email” a bigger story than Trump’s history of tax fraud or sexual misconduct, who faithfully smeared Clinton using emails stolen and disseminated by Russians. Without Fake News (and that trusty Rigged System) to sustain his electoral Ponzi scheme, Trump would just another aging huckster prowling the D-list party circuit and trolling for porn stars, and the GOP would be a fringe party on the wrong side of history. The central question now is to what extent editors and reporters will recognize their role in this catastrophe before 2020. Follow Cognoscenti on [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/cogwbur/) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/cogwbur). [Donald Trump](https://www.wbur.org/opinion/section/cognoscenti/tag/donald-trump) ## Related: - [Also by Steve Almond: The Media Seems To Have Learned Nothing From 2016](https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2019/02/21/sarah-isgur-cnn-steve-almond) - ['We Are Not The Enemy Of The People': Cog Contributors Respond To Attacks On The Press](https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2018/08/15/news-media-responds-to-trumps-attacks-on-the-press) - [Kent Greenfield: We Can't Mute Trump, But We Can Turn Off Fox News](https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2019/07/19/donald-trump-fox-news-kent-greenfield) [![Headshot of Steve Almond](https://media.wbur.org/wp/2012/07/Steve-Almond-2-BBF-2010-Shankbone-733x1024-e1348681930570-600x600.jpg)](https://www.wbur.org/inside/staff/steve-almond) [Steve Almond](https://www.wbur.org/inside/staff/steve-almond) Cognoscenti contributor Steve Almond is the author of 12 books. His new book, “Truth Is the Arrow, Mercy Is the Bow,” is about craft, inspiration and the struggle to write. [More…](https://www.wbur.org/inside/staff/steve-almond) Support WBUR Advertisements on wbur.org help support the news. Please consider a [donation today\!](https://donate.wbur.org/secure/give?utm_medium=web&utm_source=wbur.org&utm_term=ad_block_message) ## More from WBUR Support WBUR Advertisements on wbur.org help support the news. Please consider a [donation today\!](https://donate.wbur.org/secure/give?utm_medium=web&utm_source=wbur.org&utm_term=ad_block_message) ## Most Popular 1. [Hampshire College in Amherst will permanently close in the fall](https://www.wbur.org/news/2026/04/14/hampshire-college-closing-western-mass-chrisler-liberal-arts-school) [Local Coverage](https://www.wbur.org/news) 2. 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Readable Markdown	Two and a half years into the cruel and chaotic reign of Donald Trump, one piercing irony has emerged: History’s most dishonest president has a strange penchant for exposing dark truths. The first and most central of these truths, of course, is that many white people in America are just fine with trampling the rights of immigrants and minorities. But Trump also has a preternatural ability to popularize catch defensive phrases that precisely describe the true nature of his corruption. Remember, for example, late in the 2016 campaign, when all the polls suggested he was headed for a humiliating defeat? Trump began bleating about the “rigged system” stacked against him. And as we all discovered election night, Trump was right: the system was rigged — flagrantly and on his behalf. Thanks, at least in part, to sustained [voter suppression efforts](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/12/12/the-real-voting-scandal-of-2016), Trump won razor-thin margins in [Wisconsin](https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/10/voter-suppression-wisconsin-election-2016/) and [Michigan](https://time.com/4599886/detroit-voting-machine-failures-were-widespread-on-election-day/). > History’s most dishonest president has a strange penchant for exposing dark truths. And thanks to the Electoral College, Trump won the White House despite losing the popular vote by three million voters. (In fact, the Electoral College’s bias toward whiter, sparsely populated states, means Trump could lose by five million votes in 2020, and [still retain the presidency](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/how-trump-could-lose-5-million-votes-still-win-2020-n1031601).) Or consider his incessant pledge to “Drain the Swamp”? This rallying cry, which Trump parroted only after it had been [focus-group tested](https://www.newsweek.com/cambridge-analytica-trump-campaign-putin-855974) by the digital ghouls at Cambridge Analytica, helped him convince gullible voters that he would cleanse our national capital of vice. In fact, Trump has bloated the swamp in [ways](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/06/10/new-revelations-show-trump-administration-is-making-swamp-even-swampier/?utm_term=.616fce1eeb86) barely imaginable, [stocking his cabinet](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/07/17/trumps-swamp-corporate-lobbyists-are-charge/?utm_term=.992ab1efefbc) with greedy plutocrats and corporate lobbyists who are just as [eager to profit](https://newrepublic.com/minutes/149202/meanwhile-trumps-cabinet-corruption-central) from their “public service” as [he is](https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/7/22/1873545/-Trump-ratchets-up-the-corruption-Finalists-to-host-2020-G7-summit-include-Trump-golf-resort). Of all the sleazy slogans this TV demagogue deploys, surely the most durable and resonant is his continual bleating about Fake News. Here’s the crazy thing: I agree with Trump. The modern media ecosystem is constantly focusing on “news” that has nothing to do with the actual lives of America’s citizens, in particular those who are vulnerable and struggling. Instead, the media aims its lenses and microphones at the calculated diversions Trump confects daily to distract attention from the ineptitude and avarice of his regime. As a creature of tabloid culture, Trump understood from the very beginning the deep truth of Fake News — that our Fourth Estate will always favor inflammation over information, that he can always seize attention by indulging in aggressive vulgarity, fear-mongering and racial incitement. Reporters and pundits continue to publicize his tweets, to cover his rallies and press conferences, to aggrandize his feuds and virtually ignore his actions. This week, for instance, you’ll hear barely anything about the [rampant dysfunction](https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/22/wilbur-ross-commerce-department-dysfunction-1424427) at the Commerce Department, or the administration’s [drilling free-for-all](https://www.denverpost.com/2019/07/17/colorado-blm-oil-public-lands-emissions/) on public lands, or even the global implications of the heatwave that just fried the east coast. > The central question now is to what extent editors and reporters will recognize their role in this catastrophe before 2020. No, instead, you’ll get another hundred stories about his achingly predictable attacks on four congresswomen of color, and his publicity stunt effort to help free an American rapper arrested in Sweden. Trump ascended to the presidency thanks to the purveyors of Fake News, who covered his pep rallies as if they were presidential addresses, who made “Hillary’s email” a bigger story than Trump’s history of tax fraud or sexual misconduct, who faithfully smeared Clinton using emails stolen and disseminated by Russians. Without Fake News (and that trusty Rigged System) to sustain his electoral Ponzi scheme, Trump would just another aging huckster prowling the D-list party circuit and trolling for porn stars, and the GOP would be a fringe party on the wrong side of history. The central question now is to what extent editors and reporters will recognize their role in this catastrophe before 2020. Follow Cognoscenti on [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/cogwbur/) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/cogwbur).
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