Arthur Solomon Arthur Solomon 

George Orwell is famous for his novel “1984,” about a controlled society in which the Ministry of Truth rewrites history to Big Brother’s liking. The similarities between this tale and Trump’s tweets regarding current events are striking.

Not as famous is Orwell’s non-fiction quote: “Freedom of the Press, if it means anything at all, means the freedom to criticize and oppose.” Trump, who didn’t hold a single press briefing with U.S. journalists during his Middle East and European trip, obviously disagrees with this sentiment.

If it’s true, as reported, that Trump will limit the daily press briefing because he doesn’t like reporters' questions, the time has come for even GOP congressional supporters to be concerned about the state of our democracy. Unfortunately, too many GOP congressional leaders are more concerned with holding onto their committee chairmanships than protecting our democracy.

All Americans who believe in a free and open society should be concerned about how Trump was treated during his trip. In Saudi Arabia, a country that doesn’t tolerate a free press or freedom of expression, Trump was treated like royalty by a king. But during the European portion of his trip to democratic countries, his motives were questioned by freely elected leaders and a free media. 

Thus far, the Democrats have provided the reason that Trump might be a two-term President, despite accomplishing zilch. That’s because until the lame Democratic Party can devise a coherent strategy that appeals to all Americans and discards what I call “segmented politics,” the GOP swamp will not be drained.

Between now and the 2018 elections, the Democrats would be smart to stop talking about the numerous investigations justly hounding Trump and let the media do its job and report on the White House lies, cover-ups, ineptitude and stupidity.

The Democrats should also concentrate on three messages: healthcare, national security and the need to rebuild infrastructure. Permitting Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to carry the Democrats’ message is certain to result in another Democrat defeat. Continually letting them be the face of the Democratic Party harkens Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

There’s an old sport saying that goes, “It’s the legs that go first.” In politics, it’s the old message that goes first. The Republicans learned that lesson and elected a disastrously unprepared egocentric thin-skinned newcomer. The Democrats still haven’t learned that it’s time for new faces and a new strategy. They seemingly also haven’t learned that appeasing various segments of our society — instead of conveying a unifying message that appeals to all of the electorate — is a roadmap to defeat.

Not being endowed with a title like chief TV analyst, I won’t predict how historians in the future might rate the Trump presidency. But as of today he can be credited with ushering in an era that includes roughing up journalists, using vulgar language, denigrating women and immigrants, bringing out from the swamp the worst in American character, upsetting long-time close allies, surrounding himself with people he trusts — regardless of their lack of experience and competency — trying to derail independent investigations into possible collusion between his staff and the Russians and turning lying into an acceptable facet of American politics.

In fairness, the President one positive trait missing from members of Congress and too many people in our business: not being afraid to say what he thinks. In our industry, the practice offers a teachable moment. During program creative meetings, some PR people might include a client’s idea, even though they know it doesn’t make sense but they know the client could react unfavorably if the idea isn’t in the program. This negates the reason many companies use outside PR firms to begin with — to get fresh thinking.

Disturbingly, Trump’s ideas regarding the right for citizens to express themselves without government interference and the right of a free press to question and criticize his decisions are more in tune with Putin, the Saudi Arabian king, Hitler and Mussolini than Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and the other Founding Fathers.

History details how the Republican Party — and some who were in Congress at the time — were stained for supporting the demagoguery of Sen. Joe McCarthy and dismissing the crookedness of President Nixon. Today, the President’s gutter-language rhetoric against protesters and the media is largely tolerated by GOP officials. Unless the lame response of today’s Republicans about Trump and his White House staff’s mendacity changes, new names will be added to the list of those who put party loyalty ahead of democratic values.

It’s now been reported that Trump is bringing in new people to handle his media crisis. That has as much of a chance of succeeding as crisis specialists helped the NFL, BP, Volkswagen and Bill Cosby from receiving negative coverage, just to name just a few.

Pro bono PR advice for Trump: If you really believe that self-anointed PR crisis experts can help negate your negative media coverage, get professional help ASAP, and not just from PR people.

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Arthur Solomon was a senior VP at Burson-Marsteller. He now is a contributor to public relations and sports business publications, consults on PR projects and was on the Seoul Peace Prize nominating committee. He can be reached at [email protected].