Michael Avenatti has a plan to bring down the president, and it will be done one cable-news appearance at a time. According to Avenatti, known for representing Stephanie Clifford (a.k.a. Stormy Daniels) in her legal battle against the president, he has been interviewed more than 200 times on network and cable TV. Recently, he has cut down on the frequency of his appearances, but only slightly. The New York Times writes that Avenatti seems to be taking the Ginsburg approach to media saturation. Two decades ago, William Ginsburg, a private attorney from Los Angeles, appeared on all five Sunday news talk shows on a single morning to advocate for his client, Monica Lewinsky, in the court of public opinion. Avenatti also seems to be trying to let the American people be the jury, writes the Times, but has updated Ginsburg’s approach for an era of non-stop cable news and social media. He has learned to leverage Twitter and the paparazzi.
“There’s a progression happening: We have President Trump because of reality television, and we have Avenatti because of President Trump,” said Tom Rosenstiel, a media scholar and the executive director of the American Press Institute, to the Times. “But I’d argue we also have Avenatti because the left so desperately desires an anti-Trump: A person who can elicit the same dopamine reaction in his supporters that Trump can from his.”
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