Commentary

Barry Diller On Trump: 'The Infomercial Administration Ends In November'

Let's define the Trump Administration as storytelling and advertising -- specifically late-night TV marketing.

Michael Lewis, author of "The Big Short” and “MoneyBall,” says President Trump tells a good story. And, as we all know, that story can have a lot of fantasy attached to it -- he takes creative license.

Perhaps another way to look at it is as pure advertising -- which can be full of truths, half-truths, lies and misdirection. But also a strong push to close the deal.

Barry Diller, former major TV executive icon, now chairman/senior executive of IAC, a company that owns many digital ecommerce businesses, speaks to those daily amped-up press conferences from the Trump Administration.

“We currently have an administration as infomercial,” Diller told CNBC recently. But this media campaign won’t last, he says.  “I actually think the infomercial administration ends in November.”

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Diller refers to those traditional 30-minute advertising messages appearing typically in off-hour periods -- overnight, early morning, weekend dayparts, and other times -- that repeat the same message over and over again during a half-hour span.

Specifically, this is what happens during Trump’s recent COVID-19 late-afternoon press briefings.

To be sure, lot of politicians have an agenda to push. The best ones -- especially currently, like New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo -- give you the full picture; the good, the bad, the hopeful, and the deaths.

Cuomo’s approval ratings have skyrocketed; Trump's has not.

Former Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen -- recently released from prison because of a possible COVID-19 infection threat -- said in his testimony to the House Oversight and Reform Committee in February 2019:

“Donald Trump is a man who ran for office to make his brand great, not to make our country great... Mr. Trump would often say this campaign was going to be the greatest infomercial in political history."  

We know many journalists believe Trump briefings should not be aired, given the lack of clarity and false information. Or, at least, if those briefing do air, there should be rigorous, near-real time fast-checking.

Better yet, I’d add this: Put a note on screen -- just like they do before an infomercial airs:  “Opinions expressed by the program are the sole responsibility of the producer and in no way reflect the views and/or opinions of this TV station.” Or, possibly of general reality.

18 comments about "Barry Diller On Trump: 'The Infomercial Administration Ends In November'".
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  1. Tom Gray from WCMH, April 21, 2020 at 11:30 a.m.

    Another great article Wayne, can you please explain exactly what the false infromation that is provided??  I read it about it all the time, but nobody really outlines what is actually not true?  So, are we not to believe the numbers Dr. Fauci or Dr. Birx present everyday.  While Trump certainly loves to talk and pat himself on the back, at least he is making himself available everyday and answering many seemingly pointless questions from our enlightened media

  2. Jay Goldstein from Independent replied, April 21, 2020 at 12:26 p.m.

    Every time he speaks about ample testing he is making false statements. A mont ago they said we would have 27M by now, it has barely been 3M. When he mentions his china ban he lies(it was soft, as 40k still entered from china after that. Every time he mentions that he knew this would be a pandemic he lies, as he said as late as late feb this is "15 cases headed to zero". Every time he says the federal govt is not a shipping clerk he lies, it is literally their job during times of crisis to provide support the states for things they can not get themselves. When he says Obama left the shelves bare, 3 years into his regime, he neglects to tell us that medical supplies need to be replaced on a regular basis, as they are date sensitive, and after 3 years, most are useless. When he refuses to acknowledge that he got rid of the Obama pandemic response team in 2018 he lies. When he is challenged about warnings he had from his own intel as far back as Nov 2019, and denies it, he lies.....shall we go on 

  3. Jennifer Burk from Space & Time Media Services, April 21, 2020 at 12:39 p.m.

    I believe the health experts.  I don't believe a word that comes out of Trump.  Why do the reporters continue to ask Trump questions at the press briefings instead of the experts?  Documented thousands of lies since Trump's been in office:  https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-lies-washington-post_n_5df898c3e4b03aed50f4725d

  4. Jay Goldstein from Independent replied, April 21, 2020 at 12:53 p.m.

    Well said Jennifer!

  5. Ken Kurtz from creative license, April 21, 2020 at 2:55 p.m.

    Billionaires opining on billionaires. What value is there in that?

    So Diller, who has a net worth equal to Trump's, who dropped out of college after three weeks, benefited from nepotism to get his start in the entertainment business after dropping out of UCLA, and who grew up in that industry to pioneer kitschy "made for television movies" by producing "ABC's Movie of the Week" doesn't like daily press conferences in the middle of a catastrophic pandemic?

    Wayne alludes to our "StoryTeller-in-Chief Trump" as being somewhat fast, and loose, writing...

    And, as we all know, that story can have a lot of fantasy attached to it -- he takes creative license.

    Ironically, nobody "told stories" better than Diller, via those "Movies of the Week" and also as producer of TV shows like Laverne & Shirley, Taxi, and Cheers as well as "real" films like Saturday Night Fever, Grease, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Beverly Hills Cop. He too knew a thing or two about pulling on heartstrings, making emotional pleas, and strongly pushing to close a deal (be it with a consumer of a television show/movie, or with a businessperson).

    Funny, I haven't heard Diller's name mentioned in a very long time. But if the businessman (now in websites/e-commerce, so nowhere near as high-profile as he used to be) is opining that Trump won't be re-elected, well then surely the left will pull Diller out of mothballs to use him to throw some more anti-Trump shit against the wall.

    I just haven't seen any evidence that Biden can beat Trump. I actually see misstep after misstep in the Biden camp, and on the left. Each one adding up to a replay of 2016, when EVERYBODY said Trump had zero chance of winning.

    I think we can all agree that Trump has a better chance of winning this year, than he seemed to have in 2016. What has the left proposed that will get in his way?

    Honestly, if Barry Diller were the Dem candidate, I'd vote for him before Biden, or Trump... even if he does seem a bit jealous of Trump being the thick of things (like he used to be) right now.

    As for Cohen's statement to the House Oversight and Reform Committee in February 2019...

    “Donald Trump is a man who ran for office to make his brand great, not to make our country great."

    Name me a president that didn't, first and foremost, run for office to make their family brand great? Or greater? JFK? Nixon? Reagan? Bush? Clinton? Bush? Obama?

    The office itself exponentially elevates the brand of the person that occupies it. Nothing to see there. Nothing more than par for the course. If, while attempting to make his brand great, somne REALLY GREAT THINGS happen for our country, what the hell is wrong with that?

  6. Douglas Ferguson from College of Charleston, April 21, 2020 at 3:03 p.m.

    Facts are slippery:  https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-swedish-experiment-looks-like-it-s-paying-off

  7. Ken Kurtz from creative license, April 21, 2020 at 3:24 p.m.

    Hey Jay Goldstein. You write...

    Every time he speaks about ample testing he is making false statements. A mont ago they said we would have 27M by now, it has barely been 3M..

    Just curious, what real benefits will we derive from mass testing? It's very costly, you know. And your "mont ago" feels like a year ago. We've learned so much more since mid-March... why hold somebody to something that was said might be needed one month ago when SO MUCH HAS CHANGED on the ground since then?

    My whole family had COVID-19. Our family doctor told us to stay home, stay hydrated, and treat the symptoms. I got very sick on March 17, so this is Day 35 for me, and I still have not regained my sense of smell, and taste and still deal with periodic headaches, exhaustion, and coughing.

    Neither me, my wife, or our daughters were tested, but we all sure as hell had the virus, which one of our daughters brought down with her from NY when she abandoned her apartment, and work in Manhattan on March 14.

    What benefit is there to us being tested now? Maybe Trump's "ample" refers to what is required for the time being, with the changes that have occured.

    I mean, so many different tests from so many different providers, so many false positive, and negatives, so many different criteria. The only positive positive (as opposed to false positive) I can see to more people being intially tested when the sickness from the virus presents is to clear up the terrible distortion revolving around how deadly the virus is.

    Clearly, we were caught, pants down, with a shortage of COVID-19 tests, and many of the tests that were available SUCKED. It's the primary reason that my family chose to leave those tests to people sicker than us in mid-March when we all got sick. You wanted 27 million to take these shitty tests that clearly might, or might not provide reliable data, and were in such short supply?

    Seriously, what benefits do you see in more people being tested right now

    When the second wave hits (and the tests are more reliable), yes. I hope we'll be able to test everybody. And my family will take an antibody test (which we will test positive for, presumably) when that test is finally made right, and not kicking out false positives and negatives due to contraindications with certain cold viruses. 

  8. Jay Goldstein from Independent replied, April 21, 2020 at 3:36 p.m.

    You are showing your Maga leanings with the questions on testing.  Every CEO asked, not name mike lindell,  has said we cannot crank up the economy without testing to make sure our employees are safe.  Same think Birx and Fauci have said, along with almost all infection control experts.  My suggestion would be to change the channel. 

  9. Tom Gray from WCMH, April 21, 2020 at 4:13 p.m.

    Jay you are a bit off base with most of your comments....
    When he says Obama left the shelves bare, 3 years into his regime, he neglects to tell us that medical supplies need to be replaced on a regular basis, as they are date sensitive, and after 3 years, most are useless.
    While true that our medical supplies were in short supply under Trump, our national stockpile has been depleted going back to 2009 and have not been replenished since. Another major factor is that China is the major supplier of our masks and we obviously couldn't rely on their production lately. Another reason we need to bring back american production.
    When he refuses to acknowledge that he got rid of the Obama pandemic response team in 2018 he lies.
    This is inaccurate as well, top members either left or were reassigned by Bolton when he was hired.  Trump did not fire the pandemic response team as a cost cutting move.
    When he is challenged about warnings he had from his own intel as far back as Nov 2019.
    Intelligence only suspected an outbreak might have occured, there was no actual evidence from China until late Dec.  China is completely to blame here, not a president you wish to blame.

  10. Jay Goldstein from Independent replied, April 21, 2020 at 4:42 p.m.

    You arer right, i am wrong. When Obama said in January its “just one case and we have it handled”, and then in feb told us “its just 15 cases and headed to zero”, and then at a campaign rally in feb  called corona the next media hoax, he clearly came out of his solitude  to mess with Trump. Oh wait, it wasnt Obama lying to Americans? It was Trump? Just for the record 40k plus dead is no hoax, and the lack of testing, which trump repeatedly lies about, during his “two minutes of hate” every night is the only thing keeping those numbers down. So many have died without testing, but the lack of testing means coroners cannot confirm causes of death, and thus the 50k dead by this weekend is an underestimate. 

  11. Ken Kurtz from creative license, April 21, 2020 at 4:46 p.m.

    Everybody also knows that this will come at us in waves, Jay. Nobody is suggesting we "crank up the economy" all at once. The suggestion is that we slowly open some things up, and with testing that actually works (and enough for everybody-- we're still not there unfortunately) get a much truer sense of this thing than we have now when everybody can be tested.

    You're stuck in the past, and fantasyland. A month ago, bombastic Trump calls for 27 million tests, and a month later, we know that there was no way in hell that could happen, especially with the shortage of tests available, the fear among sick people to go out of their homes even if they could get tested, and then finally, the fact that the tests SUCKED and weren't giving us truly valid data. Why hold Trump to something that was pronounced early, before we had enough facts, and that no longer makes much sense?

    Your six shooter has no bullets, and you have no answers to my valid questions. The tests (both COVID-19, and Antibody) still suck and differ so much that there can be no consistency, and very little evidence of value resulting from the GREAT HODGEPODGE.

    As somebody who owned a business that employed many, and spent tens of millions of dollars creating hundreds of millions in profits, I can tell you that the testing system is broken (again, this pandemic was unimaginable just a few months ago) and will require additional time to be "project-ready."

    No businessman, or smart leader, would continue putting a big push on testing at this point in time. There's no upside to it, at the present moment. We must get it right as we're preparing for the second wave.

    But you, apparent Dem that you are, think it makes sense to plow forward. How very Dem of you. No accountability, just do something, anything, even if it's been previously proven to not work.

    What channel should I change? Not a big TV guy, and have never been a consumer of cable news. Garbage. All of it. I read the WSJ. Daily. That's it. Sum total. Most balanced objective source on Planet Earth. the call a spade a spade regardless of "the side of the aisle"). And again, have voted for one Republican (Reagan in '84) in my entire life.

    So predictable. Just more shit thrown against a feces covered wall. You handselect what Birx and Fauci "have said," and ignore all of the context within which they say it, as well as other statements that do not suit your purpose.

    Blowback, baby. Not a Trump guy, but I'm starting to believe in my heart of hearts that he's less disgusting than the left.   

  12. Jay Goldstein from Independent replied, April 21, 2020 at 4:57 p.m.

    You proved the whole point of Friedman’ article. It is simply, why have those press conferences where he lies every night? . He pointed to the reliable information Birx and Fauci supply, and the lies Trump puts out there, like 27m test by the end if the month... among dozens. Birx and Fauci nightly adds value, Trump lying and shifting blame to anyone not named Donald Trump nightly does no good for him or us. 

  13. Ken Kurtz from creative license, April 21, 2020 at 9:40 p.m.

    The "hoax" is people like you, Jay, pinning things on Trump that should not be ascribed to him. Should never be ascribed (in the real world) on any single human being. 

    Collusion with Russia. Bullshit hoax. My taxpayer dollars went toward unraveling that bullshit, and all we wound up with is Russia was using propaganda on Fakebook (don't have an account, but I hear it's filled with fake bullshit) to get people to vote a certain way. Really? Russians using propaganda to influence things around the world? When everybody else in the world was doing the same thing with their equal entree to that FAKE platform?

    We needed The Mueller Report to uncover that? And with a doctored up dossier from the left filled with lies, and misinformation, to boot?

    Heck, I remember when Russia was the USSR and used spies, and KILLED people to wield their influence peddling, and propaganda. Now, it's a horrific "attack" on the United States if they put bogus posts on Fakebook, along with the rest of the world, with ZERO evidence of "collusion" with the Trump administration. That is some serious lefty bullshit.

    Then the bullshit "impeachment." Hoax is not too strong a word for these things, borne of the utter disbelief from the left that Trump actually proved all the polls wrong over three years ago.

    The "hoax" is that the left wants to blame Trump for 40,000 deaths. I agree, 40,000 deaths is no "hoax." Hell, we had 80,000 Americans die from the standard issue flu two years ago. That wasn't a hoax either, but nobody attempted to pin those 80,000 deaths on Trump. I'm starting to think that the left was convinced that the first two hoaxes would sink him, but he was found innocent of both. Now, the only thing left that provides even a prayer for Biden is blaming the 40,000 COVID-19 deaths on Trump, but it's just more bullshit, will blow back on the left just like everything else has, and guarantee another four years of the insolent, orange haired buffoon.

    Just keeping it real, man.

  14. Frank Anthony from Self, April 21, 2020 at 10:15 p.m.

    When exactly will we see the end of the DNC/Biden propoganda on CNN/MSNBC/ABC/NBC/CBS?

  15. Jay Goldstein from Independent replied, April 22, 2020 at 6:01 a.m.

    You might want to read this, Republican lead sub committee....https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Report_Volume2.pdf

  16. Ken Kurtz from creative license, April 22, 2020 at 9:18 a.m.

    Thanks, Jay. Have read it.

    Again, tens of millions of taxpayer dollars pissed away to reiterate the LONG KNOWN truth that Russia (and before that, the USSR) was involved in disinformation to sow discord? DUH!

    And by the way, the US has been walking in lockstep with them for many, many decades. Watch the great television show "The Americans."

    The "hoax" is that now that technology has made social media available as part of the "warfare" menu it's actually called warfare. An "attack" on the American people? 9/11 was an attack on America, and its people.

    How the hell does propaganda on Fakebook rise to the level of "warfare" when espionage, murder, and its associated mayhem never did? I've never even been on Fakebook. How do Fakebook posts constitute interference with anything, election related or otherwise, when the whole world already knows to take what's on there with a ten million grains of salt because of the preponderance of bullshit that is posted there? 

    The Steele dossier, as everybody knows now, filled with Dem lies, and yet more long already known about Russian misinformation, was pushed by the FBI repeatedly with full knowledege that it was filled with bullshit. It, in and of itself, was yet another Dem hoax precursor to The Mueller Hoax. And, it more reliably serves as evidence of Dem collusion with Russia... the tens of millions pissed away to reiterate that Russia lies provided bupkus on Trump collusion with Russia, but ironically, and paradoxically, raises the real spectre of Clinton collusion, and Dem collusion.

    Trump has been battling Dem hoaxes since Day 1, because the Dum Dems miscalculated that they'd be able to impeach him, something they professed they'd do on Day 1. When something exteremely difficult to do because of the very high bar set by The Constitution becomes the mission, rest assured that very nefarious, and despicable things will need to be undertaken. We are now seeing the level to which the left stooped in their utterly failed attempts to discredit, and it STINKS to high heaven. It stinks worse than Trump himself.

    Might Trump have been able to see his way more clearly on COVID-19 without having to defend himself against all the bullshit you, and your peeps have been firing at him for three and a half years?

  17. Michael Pursel from Pursel Advertising, April 22, 2020 at 6:16 p.m.

    and it is written: "To be sure, lot of politicians have an agenda to push. The best ones -- especially currently, like New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo -- give you the full picture; the good, the bad, the hopeful, and the deaths.

    Cuomo’s approval ratings have skyrocketed; Trump's has not."  Book of Friedman, Chapter 10, Verse 12.  God Has Spoken to us mortals.

    Cuomo NEVER does any pontificating.  Only the facts man.  And why, with all the NEGATIVE press Trump recieves, and all the LOVE and RESPECT Coumo gets from the media, is it any wonder?  and just WHO do "They" survey?  Anyway, I always enjoy hearing Wayne dump on Trump.  At least he'll have plenty to write about for the next 4 years.  I do hope Sleepy Joe or Michelle do not get elected.  Not sure he can write sugar coated copy every week with the soft balls press give the dems everyday.  :)

  18. Jay Goldstein from Independent, April 26, 2020 at 11:02 a.m.

    Well said Wayne! Clorox cocktail anyone? 

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