The word hacker used to have a negative connotation. If you were a hacker, you were a “hack”, a wannabe. Someone that copied others and could not do it on their own.
But in the era of Facebook, technology and silicon valley, being a hacker has taken on a more prestigious definition. Nowadays you find ways to “hack” your life. You look for food-prepping “hacks”. “Hacks” are everywhere. Being a hacker is a good thing.
I am not a proponent of its positivity or negativity, only in its true definition. Hacking something is finding a way around a safeguard that was in place to keep this “something” from happening. In more simple terms, hacking is finding an alternative, never before published, way of doing something. It does not have to be illegal, or nefarious. No, it just needs to be “previously unknown” or unpublished.
Hence the title of this article. “Hacker” Trump has indeed found a way to hack his way into our collective notion of right and wrong. Take for example his recent emergency declaration. Everyone knows this is not an emergency. At least not in what most of us define as an emergency. Yet Trump knows that since he holds the loudest bullhorn and that he’s worth his weight in gold to the media (both the right and left), he can pretty much do and say anything he wants and they’ll listen. For those of you wondering if I’m pro and against Trump because I said “this is not an emergency”, ask yourselves the last time you went golfing after YOU had an emergency. I’m only pointing out facts (not alternative).
With that in mind, take the most recent revelations from Andrew McCabe about the FBI opening a counter intelligence investigation on the 45th. Here you have a career-long police officer. Someone that under all circumstances (except for this one) would get the benefit of the doubt. Someone whose motives would never be questioned. Yet, because he was fired for “lacking candor” (FBI-speak for not being fully truthful) on a non-criminal incident (it’s not like he planted evidence) his character is fully questioned.
“But if he lied about this non-criminal incident, what else could he have lied about?” Ok, fair. What about the 45th? On a regular basis the 45th will lie about anything and everything. From his height, weight, influence over the economy, what other presidents would have done, the danger of immigration, his involvement with Russia, etc. It is never ending. Yet the media (right or left) does very little to hold him accountable. While McCabe is crucified.
And how is this possible you ask? Because the 45th is a hacker and McCabe is not. The 45th knows the most important thing for the media is a sound bite and the second most important is another sound bite. In other words, the more sound bites you can provide, the more the media will listen to you. The content of the sound bites is not important. It is quantity. It is this quantity that counteracts any efforts from the media to crucify your statements. In the early days, the media would try to spend time discussing one of the many lies the 45th would spout, now? There is no time.
I am old enough to remember when Twitter had just come out. At that time it was only used by technology people and actors. If I remember correctly, it was Ashton Kutcher who reached 1mm followers first back in 2009. The media didn’t even know what “tweets” were and even if they did, tweets were supposed to be short and meaningless. You were limited to 140 characters so how meaningful could a “tweet” be within those restrictions. Yet, in 2016 “tweets” became a breaking item. The opening of a news broadcast would often go “And blah, blah, blah tweeted…” Or “and twitter user blah says…”
What the 45th realized with Twitter was how it would soon become the protocol of the new media. How its limitation (140 characters) would necessitate higher quantity and how quantity was the currency of the media. The media is not concerned with quality. The more quantity they have, the better they do. This is the “unpublished” mechanism to get your ideas through. This is how you “hack” your way in today’s media landscape.
