Interview. “Freedom of speech is not at risk, nor is it being restricted”

The present relationship between the U.S. is complicated because it is based on mutual distrust, as considered by the President and Chairman of the Board of The American Society of Mexico and President of the U.S. Republican Party in Mexico, Larry Rubin.

Per Rubin, complications started since Trump was running for the presidency and a large part of U.S. media expressed their full support to Democrat nominee, Hillary Clinton.

In an interview with EL UNIVERSAL, Rubin expressed that the U.S. president is sensitive to news against him, particularly when these are not truthful. Much of the information is false, said Rubin, a product of leakages that not only harm government but the whole of society. Therefore, Trump resorts to twitter to spread his information, however, both parts must reach an agreement for their mutual convenience, Rubin noted.

How do you describe president Donald Trump’s relationship with the media?

This is a relationship that did not go well from the start as it was based in mutual distrust. President Trump distrusted the media as most of them had predicted he would lose the election, which he didn’t, and kept constant statistics which pointed in that direction. He felt much of the media were not properly covering his run for the presidency as they should have.

From that very moment. Trump decided not to work alongside media, unlike most of the presidents before him and turned to Twitter to communicate directly with the citizenship, without any media bias. He has a very unfavorable impression of most media and feels that they are constantly wrong on how they report things by adding a political bias to their news. From this point of view, he has only wanted to communicate directly with the people.

The White House has not vetoed media, there was simply a conference in which they were not permitted entrance, but they are still being accepted and they are still visitors to the White House, Trump will continue to see them in tours and several events.

Did the media want Trump not to win?

I think so, it was evident, because unlike here in Mexico, the U.S. media can publicly lean towards a candidate. Most of the media said, “We are supporting Democrat nominee, Hillary Clinton.” Few media endorsed Trump. I think this puts the media in a difficult position as they did not publicly endorse him as a guild, what relationship would they have with someone they didn’t endorse if he wins?

Couldn’t there be a fresh start?

This was attempted, but Trump felt again that he was receiving an unfair treatment from the media. He approached several media as president-elect, he went to their newsroom to talk to them and felt that such approach had fixed the problem to later feel that he was being unfairly treated by the information and articles being released by the media.

He doesn’t like news against him. Are these fake?

Both elements are present, Trump doesn’t like unfavorable news but I feel that there has been false information, and this has been verified, which generates angst and another type of feelings, even for the bilateral relations. An exhaustive fact-checking job is not taking place.

That is why he has been very active in keeping his own source of information which is called Twitter, this is his contact with the citizenship and the world because there can’t be any distortion of what he says as it is depicted there.

Using Twitter as an official means of communication can become confusing

Twitter has its limitation, you cannot explain the context of something within the 140-character limit. This limits the way of communicating a lot.

I think that the press conferences in the White House constantly allow credited journalists to express their points of view. Trump has been there.

This is a relationship that is important both for Trump and the media to fix as the media will continue to have a U.S. readership with whom they have credibility, while Trump has so with his electorate and followers. Nobody wins if both feel discredited.

News not favorable to president Trump are leakages from the White House

I think that the first days of the Trump administration intended to put everything in place, he made many changes. Leakages have definitely been a major problem, but I also understand that the government is a huge mechanism that includes many interests and frames of mind.

You don’t get rid of all the Democrats or Republicans, you will always have dissent and some people overstep and provide the wrong or false or confidential information to the media to create confusion.

Is freedom of speech at risk?

Freedom of speech is definitely not restricted, but the intention is to assure that it really is freedom of speech and that information is correct because the public does not deserve false information, they don’t deserve lies. Misinformation can generate many doubts, which can harm not only the government but the whole of the population.

Is media unfair to Trump?

No, I think that the media, as the rest of mankind, have different overtones, in the end, the media are people. As people, we have different interests, different ways of thinking and the media is made up by people. The media must go the extra mile and make sure that its job is as objective as possible.

Can there be a good future between the media and Trump in the short run?

I think so, I think this is an adjustment period. They will reach a point where they will be able to reach an agreement for the everyone’s sake. It is not convenient for the media to dissent with the president of the U.S., I don’t mean an ideological dissent, but rather than the president feels under attack, as he won’t want to talk to them. A media that Trump feels is covering him properly suits Trump and having him feel comfortable with them suits the media. They will reach a period of adjustment in which both parts feel comfortable with each other, once there are achievements and assertive topics for the world and for the Mexico-U.S. relations.

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