Until and unless Fox News covers Trump's extraordinary comments, crimes and behaviors, it doesn't really matter how the MSM covers him. How many MAGA supporters subscribe to So What?, the Times or the Post? For the most part, it's preaching to the choir.
Trump is an execrable human being and a danger to our democracy. I already know that. I cannot have a lower opinion of him. But what about our MAGA brothers and sisters? They're untouchable.
If only someone could get across to the MAGAs how infinitely SUPERIOR they are to their cult hero. All except the hardest of the hard core, and probably even some of them, are no match for Trump in villainy and monstrosity. Most are probably good neighbors, generous in at least some ways, more likely to tell the truth than lie, and not psychopaths.
If someone could get them asking how they stack up against Trump, at least some would realize they are looking down from a relative height and maybe, just maybe, begin to despise him.
It’s not just Trump. It is the Republican Party in the House that refuse to call him on his words and January 6th and it is the media who have abdicated their “civic” responsibility”. When our Republic / Democracy is at a tipping point, the media has to step up, inform and educate we the people who ultimately will decide in November 2024 whether We heed the words of Franklin: “a Republic if you can keep it”!
The Republican Party is like the tail of the Trump dog. They are an extension of him.
Now they (trump) will stop government so that he will honestly be able to say “only I can get congress to work and I can do it in five minutes”. The American people are hostages. And each of the congress people are paid $174,000 plus big benefits by the taxpayers while they screw the country.
Media has absolutely sucked at warning about the crimes and dangers of Trump. They should report it every damn day that he is under indictment AND WHY! Thank you for bringing this to a higher level of attention and, hopefully not a day goes by without it being acknowledged.
Gosh, I'm not as qualified as you are on how to cover Trump. So, I read this post with great interest.
A couple of thoughts come to mind:
1. So, is part of the "solution" to cover the "normal" stuff (Biden's age, disagreements over funding Ukraine) for 10 minutes (total) in a given hour, and cover Trump's democracy-destroying wild ass crazy bullshit the other 50 minutes in a given hour, and contextualize that stuff as "NOT NORMAL"?
2. As has been discussed by many, previously, a lot of where we are is because of the growing number of dissatisfied, and angry citizens are out there...the base of the MAGA crowd. How many of them would be made even more enthusiastic with proof positive that this is "NOT NORMAL"? For some, perhaps that's exactly what energizes them in favor of Trump.
It's a shit show, and my mind boggles trying to contemplate even a vague path back to a mature, normal democracy.
The MSM could show streaming video of Trump holding a pistol to the head of an innocent person at his golf course and shooting him and 50% of MAGA-Republicans would deny he did it.
Even if Trump claimed he did so, the other 50% would excuse it because there was some good reason that he was provoked to do so.
When Trump said years ago that he could shoot someone on 5th Ave. in NYC and would not lose support, we thought that hyperbolic.
Now, it's obvious he was prescient enough to realize the number of sheeple willing to go to slaughter for him.
After these long years of Trump in the spotlight, we can all agree that those identifying as MAGA Republicans are lost, and their ability to come back into reality on Earth One is slim to none. I say we skip over them because they appear frozen in errant beliefs and hypnotized.
So we’re looking at how to talk to undecided Republicans and Independents. It is critical that our press tell the flat-out truth, and if your newsrooms feel the need to explain your change in tone of coverage of a dangerous lunatic vs a longtime Senator, former Vice-President, and now President Biden, please explain it in plain discourse to your audiences. Many will appreciate the rhetorical discourse on ethics. We struggle as one with losing people to this incomprehensible dark side.
Bess, it's going to be difficult for some of them to do that because they benefit from talking about Trump 24/7 instead of discussing constructively what the current administration is doing. Like today, some 360,000 jobs were created the stack market went up and unemployment is steady at 3.8. But what they keep talking about for the most part is Trump, Trump Trump and Trump. Some even try to hide the fact that Trump leaked American secrets to a paying Maralago member.
That the "mainstream" media doesn't have the numerous ghastly, outrageous utterances of the Wannabe-Dictator on page one is an abuse of journalistic standards.
Biden's biting dogs, who should be kept in Delaware, isn't a story, along the lines that Trump is playing golf, again.
The fear by the media that Trump will bellow about unfair treatment will come regardless of the story.
Trump loves the media to cover him and equally loves to savage them for unfairly doing so.
If the Sessionist-in-Chief is re-elected, the media will be part of the reason in not framing the reality of the authoritarian onslaught that will be forthcoming.
Excellent point Christopher. Some in the press actually want this Fraudster elected again,( it's not going to happen though),because they believe he brings more viewers.
Do you think we need to attempt to hold his endorser's feet to the fire more when he says crazy thing of the day? I feel "I didn't see xyz" is such a copout.
I think I'm like a lot of people, just numb to the whole thing. Especially since his 5th avenue quote is the most truthful thing he's ever said
How to cover Trump and put his remarks in context is one of the most important, and disconcerting, subjects to be discussed right now, particularly given that the MSM hasn't seemed to figure out the best response to what they did in 2015/2015, i.e. by giving him the equivalent of $1B+ in "free advertising" by covering his every word. That simply CANNOT happen again in 2024, but I'm not seeing a significant number of journalists/news sources that have made a shift in how they cover Trump.
I think you have an excellent point, i.e. highlight, after straight reporting of what stupid shit he said today, that THIS IS NOT NORMAL! I think I would trust MSNBC and CNN to offer that, and not the insipid "bothsidesism" that MSM is prone to, but I'm not sure that we would see another other resource do so, certainly not Fox/OAN/Newsmax!
It is indeed a shitshow and I have to force myself NOT to tune it out.
On a separate note, Chris, are you going to be attending, either in person or via Zoom, The Stop Trump Summit - America in Crisis event coming up in NYC on Oct. 11th? I'll be participating via Zoom, as I can't justify the expense of a NYC trip right now (I'm in Los Angeles). The speaker list is pretty good and it looks to be quite interesting. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-stop-trump-summitamerica-in-crisis-tickets-718014981137
Totally agree with your points Chris. Unfortunately, this message is not being received by MAGA supporters, or they don't care about preserving our democracy. Many independents aren't hearing it, either. One of my best friends hates all Republicans and Democrats equally. He won't vote for Trump or Biden because he thinks they are equally bad. I've tried to convince him that you can't compare Biden's weaknesses to Trump's criminality but to no avail. His No. 1 issue is abortion, and he refuses to vote for a pro-choice candidate. I just shake my head.
We all know that Biden has weaknesses but also has strengths (plenty of them) and Trump also has significant weaknesses but I honestly don't know the strengths he has. Is it the over 90 criminal indictments he has accumulated, or is it the insurecton he instigated or is it lies deceptions he is known for or is it the leakage of American secrets to his Maralago member? Give me a break this guy has no strengths at all.No one should try to create that illusion please
Agree! What “strengths” do trump actually have!? Chris’ comments are not very deep...Chris if you’re going to throw out a comment like that about trump...go deeper..explain what you mean. Another weakness of media’s coverage of trump is that it’s all window dressing...it only scratches the surface....your comments today seem to be the same. If you’re going to write an article like this...tell us something we don’t know...
Until and unless Fox News covers Trump's extraordinary comments, crimes and behaviors, it doesn't really matter how the MSM covers him. How many MAGA supporters subscribe to So What?, the Times or the Post? For the most part, it's preaching to the choir.
Trump is an execrable human being and a danger to our democracy. I already know that. I cannot have a lower opinion of him. But what about our MAGA brothers and sisters? They're untouchable.
If only someone could get across to the MAGAs how infinitely SUPERIOR they are to their cult hero. All except the hardest of the hard core, and probably even some of them, are no match for Trump in villainy and monstrosity. Most are probably good neighbors, generous in at least some ways, more likely to tell the truth than lie, and not psychopaths.
If someone could get them asking how they stack up against Trump, at least some would realize they are looking down from a relative height and maybe, just maybe, begin to despise him.
It’s not just Trump. It is the Republican Party in the House that refuse to call him on his words and January 6th and it is the media who have abdicated their “civic” responsibility”. When our Republic / Democracy is at a tipping point, the media has to step up, inform and educate we the people who ultimately will decide in November 2024 whether We heed the words of Franklin: “a Republic if you can keep it”!
The Republican Party is like the tail of the Trump dog. They are an extension of him.
Now they (trump) will stop government so that he will honestly be able to say “only I can get congress to work and I can do it in five minutes”. The American people are hostages. And each of the congress people are paid $174,000 plus big benefits by the taxpayers while they screw the country.
Media has absolutely sucked at warning about the crimes and dangers of Trump. They should report it every damn day that he is under indictment AND WHY! Thank you for bringing this to a higher level of attention and, hopefully not a day goes by without it being acknowledged.
I think….that if President Biden’s age is an issue,then Trump’s should be too.
Along with him being a deranged lunatic, who has no care for the Constitution and American principles laid down over the past almost 250 years.
Gosh, I'm not as qualified as you are on how to cover Trump. So, I read this post with great interest.
A couple of thoughts come to mind:
1. So, is part of the "solution" to cover the "normal" stuff (Biden's age, disagreements over funding Ukraine) for 10 minutes (total) in a given hour, and cover Trump's democracy-destroying wild ass crazy bullshit the other 50 minutes in a given hour, and contextualize that stuff as "NOT NORMAL"?
2. As has been discussed by many, previously, a lot of where we are is because of the growing number of dissatisfied, and angry citizens are out there...the base of the MAGA crowd. How many of them would be made even more enthusiastic with proof positive that this is "NOT NORMAL"? For some, perhaps that's exactly what energizes them in favor of Trump.
It's a shit show, and my mind boggles trying to contemplate even a vague path back to a mature, normal democracy.
Andy,
The MSM could show streaming video of Trump holding a pistol to the head of an innocent person at his golf course and shooting him and 50% of MAGA-Republicans would deny he did it.
Even if Trump claimed he did so, the other 50% would excuse it because there was some good reason that he was provoked to do so.
When Trump said years ago that he could shoot someone on 5th Ave. in NYC and would not lose support, we thought that hyperbolic.
Now, it's obvious he was prescient enough to realize the number of sheeple willing to go to slaughter for him.
After these long years of Trump in the spotlight, we can all agree that those identifying as MAGA Republicans are lost, and their ability to come back into reality on Earth One is slim to none. I say we skip over them because they appear frozen in errant beliefs and hypnotized.
So we’re looking at how to talk to undecided Republicans and Independents. It is critical that our press tell the flat-out truth, and if your newsrooms feel the need to explain your change in tone of coverage of a dangerous lunatic vs a longtime Senator, former Vice-President, and now President Biden, please explain it in plain discourse to your audiences. Many will appreciate the rhetorical discourse on ethics. We struggle as one with losing people to this incomprehensible dark side.
Simpler we could frame the press’ dilemma as
Bess, it's going to be difficult for some of them to do that because they benefit from talking about Trump 24/7 instead of discussing constructively what the current administration is doing. Like today, some 360,000 jobs were created the stack market went up and unemployment is steady at 3.8. But what they keep talking about for the most part is Trump, Trump Trump and Trump. Some even try to hide the fact that Trump leaked American secrets to a paying Maralago member.
Excellent points, Chris!
That the "mainstream" media doesn't have the numerous ghastly, outrageous utterances of the Wannabe-Dictator on page one is an abuse of journalistic standards.
Biden's biting dogs, who should be kept in Delaware, isn't a story, along the lines that Trump is playing golf, again.
The fear by the media that Trump will bellow about unfair treatment will come regardless of the story.
Trump loves the media to cover him and equally loves to savage them for unfairly doing so.
If the Sessionist-in-Chief is re-elected, the media will be part of the reason in not framing the reality of the authoritarian onslaught that will be forthcoming.
Totally agree
Excellent point Christopher. Some in the press actually want this Fraudster elected again,( it's not going to happen though),because they believe he brings more viewers.
I can't think of a single thing that Trump is not the most serious threat to. Not. A. Thing.
We ignore this monster at our peril.
Do you think we need to attempt to hold his endorser's feet to the fire more when he says crazy thing of the day? I feel "I didn't see xyz" is such a copout.
I think I'm like a lot of people, just numb to the whole thing. Especially since his 5th avenue quote is the most truthful thing he's ever said
Best article yet. Very good, insightful and true.
scary times
I think that you have it right. President Biden has issues, as do all politicians. Trump wants to end democracy in this country.
These two things are NOT the same.
How to cover Trump and put his remarks in context is one of the most important, and disconcerting, subjects to be discussed right now, particularly given that the MSM hasn't seemed to figure out the best response to what they did in 2015/2015, i.e. by giving him the equivalent of $1B+ in "free advertising" by covering his every word. That simply CANNOT happen again in 2024, but I'm not seeing a significant number of journalists/news sources that have made a shift in how they cover Trump.
I think you have an excellent point, i.e. highlight, after straight reporting of what stupid shit he said today, that THIS IS NOT NORMAL! I think I would trust MSNBC and CNN to offer that, and not the insipid "bothsidesism" that MSM is prone to, but I'm not sure that we would see another other resource do so, certainly not Fox/OAN/Newsmax!
It is indeed a shitshow and I have to force myself NOT to tune it out.
On a separate note, Chris, are you going to be attending, either in person or via Zoom, The Stop Trump Summit - America in Crisis event coming up in NYC on Oct. 11th? I'll be participating via Zoom, as I can't justify the expense of a NYC trip right now (I'm in Los Angeles). The speaker list is pretty good and it looks to be quite interesting. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-stop-trump-summitamerica-in-crisis-tickets-718014981137
Preaching to the choir, brother! I have no idea how to change this, open to suggestions.
thanks for all the work
A
Totally agree with your points Chris. Unfortunately, this message is not being received by MAGA supporters, or they don't care about preserving our democracy. Many independents aren't hearing it, either. One of my best friends hates all Republicans and Democrats equally. He won't vote for Trump or Biden because he thinks they are equally bad. I've tried to convince him that you can't compare Biden's weaknesses to Trump's criminality but to no avail. His No. 1 issue is abortion, and he refuses to vote for a pro-choice candidate. I just shake my head.
I'm not concerned with MAGA voters, it's the sentient Independents who will be key to saving our Republic.
Yep. The quandary is how to get 'em mobilized.
We all know that Biden has weaknesses but also has strengths (plenty of them) and Trump also has significant weaknesses but I honestly don't know the strengths he has. Is it the over 90 criminal indictments he has accumulated, or is it the insurecton he instigated or is it lies deceptions he is known for or is it the leakage of American secrets to his Maralago member? Give me a break this guy has no strengths at all.No one should try to create that illusion please
Agree! What “strengths” do trump actually have!? Chris’ comments are not very deep...Chris if you’re going to throw out a comment like that about trump...go deeper..explain what you mean. Another weakness of media’s coverage of trump is that it’s all window dressing...it only scratches the surface....your comments today seem to be the same. If you’re going to write an article like this...tell us something we don’t know...