From Facebook: Why what Rachel did with the tax release is crafty AF [View all]

[ehrnst]

From a friend and former Republican who changed parties when he could no longer reconcile his humanity with the GOP party line.

"HERE'S WHY RACHEL MADDOW HIT A HOME RUN TONIGHT.

For those who believe that Rachel Maddow's report this evening was a bust, I have to say that I couldn't disagree more. Consider this: her objective was not to break news, but to *shape* the news. Here's how she did do that...

1) She made the White House bark and roll over like a dog, forcing them to release the same tax return paperwork she had in advance of her show hoping to take the wind out of her sails. It did not. Instead, she made them do something they were never going to do until she made them do it. This made it a news story worthy of coverage by The Washington Post and others. In short, she has put the subject of Trump's tax returns back on the front burner. For the moment anyway, she is driving the news cycle.

2) She used what will probably be reported as her best ratings night in the history of her show to recap all the great reporting her team has done over the last week and a half about all of Trump's corrupt business dealings and connections to Russia and crooked banks. By doing so she has educated the public about the importance of making Trump's tax returns public and re-ignited the public's desire to see it. Don't think this won't have an impact on future polls when people are asked if they want to see Trump's taxes.

3) When the White House lied and said obtaining and publishing such documentation was illegal, she pointed out how such a lie underscores the probability that Trump has something to hide. She also correctly stated that the first amendment makes it is perfectly legal for her to publish such documents and legal for a journalist to obtain such documents provided s/he does not solicit that material. (See the Pentagon Papers case.)

4) She then, while talking with her guests, made it a point to underscore the fact that Trump would have had to release part or all of his tax returns to various financial institutions in order to apply for loans and such. By doing so, she was informing the public that aside from the IRS, there are others who have copies of Trump's taxes. And thus, she just sent an army of people who might have been connected with those institutions to go looking through their back files to see if they might actually be able to find some of that tax info and share it with the media.

5) She purposely asked questions of her guests that were designed to inform those who might have access to Trump's tax returns exactly what kind of additional tax documents the media would need in order to connect Trump to some of the allegations she has brought up in her reporting. She did this without literally soliciting the information, but by generally educating the public. Needless to say, a lot of journalists including Rachel will be keeping a close eye on their mailboxes in the coming days.

In the end, by cable news standards, The Rachel Maddow Show is a shoe-string operation. She does not have an unlimited budget and a large team. In fact, a close examination of her reports will show that she is, in large part, aggregating the work of other journalists who may not have the reach that her show has. Her recent ratings success can be attributed to her focus and her tenacity. Her strategy is simple. Stop letting Trump drive the conversation and focus on uncovering his corruption.

I tip my hat to Rachel tonight. She took what some people would have considered nothing and made something valuable out of it -- a stick in the eye to Donald Trump. Let's see if it bears fruit."

https://www.facebook.com/jerome.vivona/posts/10211727550606442