What's the future of the president-elect's relationship with the media? Steps to staving off Thanksgiving loneliness, how products are being marketed post-election.
Déjà vu: Donald Trump's Nixonian relationship with the press
President-elect Donald Trump was scheduled to meet with reporters, editors and the publisher of the New York Times Tuesday. Then, a little after three this morning, Trump tweeted that he was canceling his appointment, claiming that terms and conditions of the meeting were changed at the last minute.
I cancelled today's meeting with the failing @nytimes when the terms and conditions of the meeting were changed at the last moment. Not nice
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2016
A spokeswoman for the Times insisted that no changes had been made. Trump later met with the New York Times after all.
The scuffle comes on the heels of a Monday summit at the Trump Tower with several prominent tv personalities, during which time the President-elect reportedly excoriated the press.
Based on the President-elect's interactions with journalists this week, what one predict about his relationship with the press in the future?
Take Two put that question to Barbara Perry, director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia's Miller Center.
Highlights
What has been the standard when it comes to the relationship between the Commander-in-Chief, the President-elect, and the news media?
It's always been adversarial. We should remember that — going back early into our history with newspapers — newspapers were very partisan in the early republic. The kinds of things they said about Thomas Jefferson for example, or John Adams were pretty colorful.
It's the case that we've had this controversial and sometimes adversarial relationship all the way through. We're seeing that play out, but probably at a higher level with Donald Trump than we ever had before.
When you look back, are there any presidents that might offer parallel examples here? Maybe relationships to bear in mind?
Nixon comes to mind immediately. Most people think of him in light of all of the conflicts that he had with the media and with the press.
Very famously, he said as he lost the California governor's race in 1962 that he was bowing out of politics; he was retiring. Then he said as he left the stage that the press wouldn't have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore. So he carried that right on through and at the end that was his downfall in the Watergate scandal — the investigative reporting of Woodward and Bernstein for the Washington Post.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo9FlPeKKzA
Of course, if you feel 'kicked-around' you could see where the press might not necessarily be considered your greatest ally, but in general what is in it for the president? Why would you want to foster a solid and open relationship with the news media?
It's always beneficial for the White House and the President and the presidency as an office to court the press. Access, though, which is what the press wants, means that the president then does not have complete control of his message and all presidents want to have that.
Unless he can control the access, which obviously Donald Trump is trying to do, it defeats the purpose of having the access in the first place. It's a real fine line that has to be walked. Some presidents do it with style and grace — FDR, JFK, Reagan — certainly Nixon and Donald Trump seem not so much.
Press the blue play button above to hear the full interview.
(Questions and answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.)
How's Trump's relationship with Silicon Valley?
So far, Silicon Valley has had a fraught relationship with Donald Trump.
During the campaign, dozens of high profile players there denounced him and his policies, but Trump does have supporters inside the tech industry.
Elizabeth Dwoskin is the Silicon Valley Correspondent for the Washington Post. Her latest piece is titled "The secretive brain trust of Silicon Valley insiders who are helping Trump." She joined Alex Cohen to talk about Trump's relationship with the Valley and how it's improving.
Ad execs rethink what Americans want after Trump's win
Cheerios aired a commercial a few years ago featuring a bi-racial family. Every June, several companies put out magazine ads covered in rainbows to celebrate Gay Pride Month. And it's not hard to recognize the PCH whenever a commercial features a car zipping along a rocky coast.
These were some feel-good campaigns that were meant to evoke feelings of diversity, inclusion and coastal culture in consumers.
But on the night of November 8th, advertisers behind spots like those got a wake-up call – if Hillary Clinton campaigned on those same ideals and lost, perhaps they need to rethink their own ads.
"It's forced us to ask the question whether our expertise out there has been increasingly biased to our mostly metropolitan, mostly coastal offices," says David Measer, an executive with the national advertising firm RPA.
Take craft beers, for example. In the ad world, they're lauded as artisan and done with a lot of care.
"Meanwhile you had Budweiser, over the course of the last nine months, renaming their beer, 'America,'" says Measer. "I guarantee you, everyone in an ad agency looked down their noses at and thought, 'This is crazy.'"
But he says that campaign connected with a lot of Americans throughout the country.
While the ideals of diversity and inclusion are good, advertisers might have lost sight on people who buy things because they're moved by values like patriotism and practicality.
Measer says that might influence how execs like him frame future ad campaigns.
"We should discuss more specific functional benefits about how a brand can help you directly," he says, "versus selling you based on emotions and a general feeling."
The election has also led advertisers to reexamine their faith in their data about consumers over meeting people face-to-face.
"The [presidential] polls were all wrong, the methodology was all off. And we do the same thing," he says. "We need to look people in the eye more often. We need to tell stories with empathy and spend more time with people."
Hear more of Measer's thoughts by clicking on the audio player above.
Tuesday Reviewsday: A Tribe Called Quest, Lee Fields and Low Leaf
If you love music, but don't have the time to keep up with what's new, you should listen to Tuesday Reviewsday. Every week our critics join our host in the studio to talk about what you should be listening to. This week A Martinez is joined by Oliver Wang from Soul-Sides.com. Below are his picks.
Artist: A Tribe Called Quest
Album: We got it from Here… Thank You 4 Your Service
Song: Black Spasmodic, The Donald
Artist: Lee Fields & The Expressions
Album: Special Night
Song: Never Be Another You, I'm Coming Home
Artist: Low Leaf
Album: Palm Psalms
Song: Psychlez, God Frequency
The Brood: Why more teens are depressed and what can be done about it
Raising a teenager can be tough.
There's the raging hormones, concerns about social media and online bullying, and the pressure to get into college.
A recent study published in the journal Pediatrics finds that it's an especially difficult time to be an adolescent right now.
The report, based on data from the 2005 to 2014 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health, found a 37 percent increase in the number of young people ages 12 to 20 who have reported having a major depressive episode.
The same study found no corresponding increase in mental-health treatment for adolescents and young adults.
Thankfully there are resources out there, including one in Southern California called Teen Line. It's an L.A.-based nonprofit which helps troubled teens through a confidential hotline.
Teen Line Program Director Cheryl Eskin, and one of Teen Line's volunteers, 17-year-old Elliot Snow, discuss the rise in teen depression and some possible solutions.
To hear the full interview, click the blue player above.
5 ways to enjoy Thanksgiving alone
This Thanksgiving, many of us will gather with loved ones while plenty of people will also spend the holiday on their own. Sometimes a solitary Thanksgiving is a preferred choice but for others, spending the day alone can elicit feelings of loneliness.
Take Two's Alex Cohen spoke with psychologist Elaine Rodino. She offered up some advice on how to make the best of a Thanksgiving alone.
1. It's okay to do something entirely different
Some people really skip it all together and do something quite different like travel to some other country where there is no Thanksgiving, or at least not celebrated at this time.
2. Volunteer somewhere like a soup kitchen
That's often very gratifying and really feels that you're doing something for someone else. Volunteering your time is a great way of doing that.
3. Connect with other people
Either single groups or meet up groups. These days, looking up online and connecting with others is really a wonderful thing. There are other people that are alone and want to connect with other people.
4. Don't believe the hype
There is so much hype about what Thanksgiving should look like and be like. It's marketed as such a traditional holiday. People feel that if they can't measure up, then they're not good enough. What are they missing that they're not doing what's touted as this traditional, beautiful holiday.
5. Start your own traditions
I have a patient that's doing a 5K run and that's a fun thing to do. There's lots of good movies coming out for the holidays so take in a movie or two. There are several other things to do that just pass the day while having a good time and enjoying one's self.
*Quotes edited for clarity
To hear the full interview, click the Blue Arrow above.
One professor says that most of Trump's border wall is already built
Back to that notion of a wall between Mexico and the US.
We heard a lot of talk about plans to build a wall during the presidential campaign.
Now the election is over -- what happens to those plans?
Our next guest insists not only will that border wall BE built... he says much of it, in fact, is already there.
Peter Andreas wrote a column on this for the Washington Post.
He's a political science professor at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Relations.
Andreas spoke with Take Two's Alex Cohen
On the slippery definition of the word "wall"
At first glance the term wall seems very solid, in fact that's precisely why many Trump supporters like it. Because it seems very clear and solid and something formidable, but if you actually look up definitions of what a wall is, it's amazing how fuzzy the term can be.
For example, the Oxford dictionary says it's any high vertical surface especially one that is vertical in scale. By that definition it seems like there's a lot of wiggle room. It could be fencing, concrete, metal barriers of various sorts.
And then you look at what already have along the border: A 2,000 mile long border of which there's some form of barriers along almost 700 miles of it. Portions of it look like a pretty formidable metal wall. The polite word used in the pre-Trump world was a, "fence," or a, "barrier," but many people could also describe it as a wall.
To hear the full conversation, click the blue player above.
Psychology explains age-old tension between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law
With just two days until Thanksgiving, some of those classic holiday anxieties are setting in. One big source of stress - our families. Within our families, there's one relationship that's statistically likely to be a tough one.
It's the age old tension between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Turns out the conflict is more than just a sit-com cliche.
For more, Take Two's Alex Cohen spoke with psychologist Terri Apter. She's the author of "What Do You Want from Me? Learning to Get Along with In-Laws."
Highlight
What can you do to mitigate the tension?
Understand that a lot of the tension arises from anxiety that they are going to be eased out of one another's lives or that one is going to lose power. The best thing is to reassure your mother-in-law that even though I need to set boundaries, I do value you and I do want to include you always in this family. The family has changed because of the marriage but nonetheless, you are a party of it and I do value you.
If each can give the other that message, then the anxiety which so often gives rise to that tension, and that nervousness, and that hyper criticism— that will go.
*Quote edited for clarity.
To hear the full interview, click the Blue Arrow above.
Despite improved economy, many men don't have or want a job
After a long recovery, the US job market now seems pretty solid.
The official unemployment rate is the lowest it's been in more than 40 years.
But the statistics hide a troubling fact...
About 7 million men aged 25 to 54 are neither employed nor "available for work."
Why aren't they on the job?
Possible reasons include everything from being in too much pain to work... to spending their time playing video games instead.
Reporter Jim Puzzanghera covers business and economics for the Los Angeles Times and reported on this curious legion on non-working men.
He spoke with Take Two's Alex Cohen.
Audio coming soon.
Dining out on Thanksgiving? Here's your LA guide
Lots of activity at local markets, as people stock up for the big feast on Thursday.
But what if the idea of roasting that turkey, whipping up cranberry sauce, and baking fills you with dread? Why not leave it to the pros, and just go to a restaurant?
If you are in Southern California this Thanksgiving, there are some great options for dining out. Erin Kuschner, editor with Time Out spoke to Take Two's Alex Cohen about L.A.'s best turkey day selections.
1. If you're into fine dining, these are the places to check out.
Manuela in the Arts district
"It's a really beautiful space and so this is one where you get to go eat and then wander around and explore some art afterwards. They're serving a more traditional menu that includes smoked turkey, rack of lamb, creamed potatoes, and sweet potato cheesecake. So, that's more of a traditional one.
If you're looking for something a little different, Kuschner recommends:
The Pikey in Hollywood
"This is actually a great option if you're looking to dine out a little bit later because they serve food until 2 a.m...you don't necessarily need to make a reservation. They have a deep fried turkey leg with cornbread and hot sauce and a couple of sides. They also serve just a regular turkey dinner with slow roasted turkey and buttermilk biscuits...so you can pick and choose what you want there."
2. Vegan or Vegetarian? There are options for you too.
Erven in Santa Monica
"Plant-based restaurant, everything's vegan. They are serving Kale cavatelli, onion bread pudding, pumpkin custard with ginger snap cookies...that's around $45 dollars per person."
Kuschner added, "A lot of these places are fixed menu, they kind of range from around $40 to upwards of $130, so it could get pretty pricey."
3. Budget options
Cafe Gratitude in the Arts district
"...Every year they offer this really great free meal. It's first come, first serve, so if you want to get the free plate, you'll have to come a little bit earlier but it's also actually vegetarian and it includes red lentil butternut squash holiday loaf, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie and apple pie.
33 Taps in Silverlake
"...It's a little bit more casual. But they are serving a meal for $18 and that's more traditional: roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce and they have a ton of great beer and if you're into football...watch the Thanksgiving football game there."
BONUS: Looking for a Thanksgiving themed sweet treat?
"Salt and Straw does something very unique for Thanksgiving. This year they have about five different flavors. One of them is a salted caramel Thanksgiving turkey flavor and it's turkey brittle folded into turkey fat ice cream."
To hear the full interview, click the blue play button above.