Very well drafted, and the double standard is stunning in hindsight (and at the time as well).
I just can't get away from people using that as justification to vote against the qualified, articulate, and talented Black Woman. The misogyny and racism is still ascendant in America.
We’re all fucked. Every person that voted for this…. YOU ARE IN THE SAME BOAT. How’s that feel? Honestly?! I want to hear from these poor white folks in middle America that voted for this shit…..
There are now, and seemingly have been for a long time, a different set of criteria for Democrats and for trump. The media and the public for a large part have taken no notice of what trump promised and what got done in his first administration and what he was promising for the second round. Where is the health insurance plan that for 4 years he stressed was so important that he needed and wanted badly to abolish ACR? Seems he is still thinking about that--or not thinking but just blabbing words to the uninformed and those unwilling to think for themselves.
Trump is good at mouthing words but he has never thought anything through nor even tried to figure out how to accomplish his so-called objectives and the people he selects to advise or consult are without any credentials whatsoever specifically so they cannot diminish his importance. Eventually those who insert themselves--think Musk and Vivaswarmy as well as a host of others--and see where they land in trump world if they get too much attention that he feels they take away from him.
In short, trump is a deceitful, hateful, immoral dolt and we are stuck with him for the next 5 years unless his hamburgers and coke do him in.
Ever since the recent pointless Kristen Welker interview with Trump, I've been fixated on this idea that national media figures, the TV version of whom are paid extremely well, are technically PROFESSIONALS. One of the most important roles of a journalist is to hold power to account, yet these journalists who are terrified of seeming "hostile," don't ask obvious questions and let politicians skate with non-answers, are getting full pay for doing half the job. We'd never accept such half-ass work from other professions. I know Trump and all of the GOP dodge every answer, but that's the point. It's the journalist's job to ask hard questions and be unrelenting with bad-faith subjects until it becomes crystal clear that their interview subject is a liar or doesn't have a clue what they're talking about.
For instance, Welker didn't ask Trump what crimes were committed by the J6 committee after he threatened them with prosecution, to me the most obvious question in the world. As this story states, I never heard a journalist press Trump on what exactly, his plan was for bringing down prices. Or what those concepts were in "concepts of a plan" for health care and why after almost a decade, he's given us zero specifics on health care. Or what does it mean for Trump's stated support of the police when he's planning to pardon J6 prisoners, most of whom are in jail for attacking police officers, many of whom have been permanently injured by the attacks.
The journalists who fail consistently are like an NFL quarterback who's led his team to the opponent's 20-yard line and decides he's tired and is just going to go have a Gatorade on the sideline, and everyone just looks on approvingly because, after all he he did complete a few good passes. He's worth his salary, even if he didn't do the most important parts of his job.
Great points, Heidi. We're actually working on a piece related to this one about the media's stenographic coverage of the Liz Cheney criminal referral. Look for it next week.
Huzzah to your next piece! It's infuriating how media outlets are acting like the attacks on Liz Cheney are part of the normal process of government. It's Stalinesque stuff and should be treated that way.
Amen! And his presidential campaigns were based on intimidation, threats and all the implausible lies that were blared over public megaphones, over and over again, without any real challenges to their “truth”. And his supporters just stood, staring out blankly, like the emaciated prisoners in the liberated Nazi concentration camps at the end of WWII. How has America come to this sorry state of affairs?
Maybe I missed it, but did Biden or Harris use any of the language that trump used? Never heard the word "blood bath" "Fight" " extreme violence", "childless cat woman, "vermin". I can come up with lots of nick names for trump.
"The difference here is that Trump wasn’t simply mistaken or proven wrong. He deliberately lied, and the question now is whether the press will actually hold him accountable or remain his willing accomplices." No, the legacy press will not actually hold him accountable and will remain his willing accomplices. They realize that there's no upside to holding Trump accountable and their corporate owners don't want to upset Trump. Spend some time helping those in your community who're going to be hurt by this behavior.
Patricia, I do help in my community, for exactly that reason. And, again, I believe it's fear of libel suits that keeps the media corps from going harder. They have no guts anymore.
I have never understood the roasting Harris continually got from the MSM, while they went so lightly on trump. Except that they feared some libel-lawsuit reprisal from him if they printed anything more in-depth, more honest. Weak. This ain't the old days of Woodward's and Bernstein's WAPO. They're all cowards now. Turn them off and support independents. And batten down your hatches. The next four years....the travesty is coming.
Wasn't trump suing a TV station (CBS?) for editing Harris' interview? It had nothing to do with him. FOX edits all of his interviews. It is ok to have his cover on Time magazine, but evidently it was not the same process used to keep his name off the National Enquirer front page.
MSM is failing spectacularly. This is an opportunity for massive change - which is doubtful given the owners' interests - or the death throes of legacy media. I'm all for independent sources taking over.
The electorate: Fool us once, fool us again and again...and again.
The main media have repeatedly used a double standard regarding Trump vis a vis Harris. They were called out on it somewhat but were deaf and blind to it and kept it up. One excuse was that people know Trump; they don't know Harris. Yes they knew of, should have known, he is a liar and a conman.
The electorate bought the song, even repeated the words Trump put in their mouths when asked. And then, the loop: he made promises in the superlative that anyone with half a brain paying attention and in real pain should have been able to discern. Voter complaints were repeated: the price of eggs, the price of gas (which was going down)- became a joke and still is.
Where was the loud pushback when Harris was blamed, and even Biden was blamed?
Trump was lying, is a proven liar but he gets away with it. He is showing us what vulnerable disengaged politically uneducated voters we have and what an easy mark many are. Fool me once ... and again and again.
Looking forward to new insights into the psychology of humans if we ever get through all of this. Obviously there is a history of many people being duped by charlatans such as snake oil salesman and carnival barkers. But those seemed to be isolated incidents, not the large scale cult behavior completely disconnected from most facts that we see now.
Trump also lied about his second biggest lie, that he will mass deport all persons who are here illegally. He knows its a lie. There's no way he can deport but a very few and the process will bog down. He will deport a handful and then blame Democrats.
Corporate media, these days—too busy rooting up scratch for Trump’s protection racket to worry about real reporting. Besides, best not bite the hand that will soon betray you.
Trump’s base doesn’t care about the fact that he lied about anything and everything…they’re just happy he’s a white male…
Very well drafted, and the double standard is stunning in hindsight (and at the time as well).
I just can't get away from people using that as justification to vote against the qualified, articulate, and talented Black Woman. The misogyny and racism is still ascendant in America.
We’re all fucked. Every person that voted for this…. YOU ARE IN THE SAME BOAT. How’s that feel? Honestly?! I want to hear from these poor white folks in middle America that voted for this shit…..
Try electing some other people…. Ones that won’t steal your tax dollars for “special interests”…..
There are now, and seemingly have been for a long time, a different set of criteria for Democrats and for trump. The media and the public for a large part have taken no notice of what trump promised and what got done in his first administration and what he was promising for the second round. Where is the health insurance plan that for 4 years he stressed was so important that he needed and wanted badly to abolish ACR? Seems he is still thinking about that--or not thinking but just blabbing words to the uninformed and those unwilling to think for themselves.
Trump is good at mouthing words but he has never thought anything through nor even tried to figure out how to accomplish his so-called objectives and the people he selects to advise or consult are without any credentials whatsoever specifically so they cannot diminish his importance. Eventually those who insert themselves--think Musk and Vivaswarmy as well as a host of others--and see where they land in trump world if they get too much attention that he feels they take away from him.
In short, trump is a deceitful, hateful, immoral dolt and we are stuck with him for the next 5 years unless his hamburgers and coke do him in.
Ever since the recent pointless Kristen Welker interview with Trump, I've been fixated on this idea that national media figures, the TV version of whom are paid extremely well, are technically PROFESSIONALS. One of the most important roles of a journalist is to hold power to account, yet these journalists who are terrified of seeming "hostile," don't ask obvious questions and let politicians skate with non-answers, are getting full pay for doing half the job. We'd never accept such half-ass work from other professions. I know Trump and all of the GOP dodge every answer, but that's the point. It's the journalist's job to ask hard questions and be unrelenting with bad-faith subjects until it becomes crystal clear that their interview subject is a liar or doesn't have a clue what they're talking about.
For instance, Welker didn't ask Trump what crimes were committed by the J6 committee after he threatened them with prosecution, to me the most obvious question in the world. As this story states, I never heard a journalist press Trump on what exactly, his plan was for bringing down prices. Or what those concepts were in "concepts of a plan" for health care and why after almost a decade, he's given us zero specifics on health care. Or what does it mean for Trump's stated support of the police when he's planning to pardon J6 prisoners, most of whom are in jail for attacking police officers, many of whom have been permanently injured by the attacks.
The journalists who fail consistently are like an NFL quarterback who's led his team to the opponent's 20-yard line and decides he's tired and is just going to go have a Gatorade on the sideline, and everyone just looks on approvingly because, after all he he did complete a few good passes. He's worth his salary, even if he didn't do the most important parts of his job.
Great points, Heidi. We're actually working on a piece related to this one about the media's stenographic coverage of the Liz Cheney criminal referral. Look for it next week.
Huzzah to your next piece! It's infuriating how media outlets are acting like the attacks on Liz Cheney are part of the normal process of government. It's Stalinesque stuff and should be treated that way.
It is worth noting also that trump people refer to these "journalists" as "actors." Maybe they are partly right.
Trump's existence is a media failure.
Amen! And his presidential campaigns were based on intimidation, threats and all the implausible lies that were blared over public megaphones, over and over again, without any real challenges to their “truth”. And his supporters just stood, staring out blankly, like the emaciated prisoners in the liberated Nazi concentration camps at the end of WWII. How has America come to this sorry state of affairs?
Maybe I missed it, but did Biden or Harris use any of the language that trump used? Never heard the word "blood bath" "Fight" " extreme violence", "childless cat woman, "vermin". I can come up with lots of nick names for trump.
Of course the media won’t cover this honestly. Their billionaire owners are afraid of upsetting their Führer.
"The difference here is that Trump wasn’t simply mistaken or proven wrong. He deliberately lied, and the question now is whether the press will actually hold him accountable or remain his willing accomplices." No, the legacy press will not actually hold him accountable and will remain his willing accomplices. They realize that there's no upside to holding Trump accountable and their corporate owners don't want to upset Trump. Spend some time helping those in your community who're going to be hurt by this behavior.
The press hasn't held him accountable since day one, why would they start now?
Patricia, I do help in my community, for exactly that reason. And, again, I believe it's fear of libel suits that keeps the media corps from going harder. They have no guts anymore.
I wonder if FOX propaganda is reinforced by subliminal messaging techniques?
I have never understood the roasting Harris continually got from the MSM, while they went so lightly on trump. Except that they feared some libel-lawsuit reprisal from him if they printed anything more in-depth, more honest. Weak. This ain't the old days of Woodward's and Bernstein's WAPO. They're all cowards now. Turn them off and support independents. And batten down your hatches. The next four years....the travesty is coming.
Wasn't trump suing a TV station (CBS?) for editing Harris' interview? It had nothing to do with him. FOX edits all of his interviews. It is ok to have his cover on Time magazine, but evidently it was not the same process used to keep his name off the National Enquirer front page.
MSM is failing spectacularly. This is an opportunity for massive change - which is doubtful given the owners' interests - or the death throes of legacy media. I'm all for independent sources taking over.
The electorate: Fool us once, fool us again and again...and again.
The main media have repeatedly used a double standard regarding Trump vis a vis Harris. They were called out on it somewhat but were deaf and blind to it and kept it up. One excuse was that people know Trump; they don't know Harris. Yes they knew of, should have known, he is a liar and a conman.
The electorate bought the song, even repeated the words Trump put in their mouths when asked. And then, the loop: he made promises in the superlative that anyone with half a brain paying attention and in real pain should have been able to discern. Voter complaints were repeated: the price of eggs, the price of gas (which was going down)- became a joke and still is.
Where was the loud pushback when Harris was blamed, and even Biden was blamed?
Trump was lying, is a proven liar but he gets away with it. He is showing us what vulnerable disengaged politically uneducated voters we have and what an easy mark many are. Fool me once ... and again and again.
Of course Trump was lying. His followers think that's "owning the libs", it's not. A lie is a lie.
Looking forward to new insights into the psychology of humans if we ever get through all of this. Obviously there is a history of many people being duped by charlatans such as snake oil salesman and carnival barkers. But those seemed to be isolated incidents, not the large scale cult behavior completely disconnected from most facts that we see now.
Trump also lied about his second biggest lie, that he will mass deport all persons who are here illegally. He knows its a lie. There's no way he can deport but a very few and the process will bog down. He will deport a handful and then blame Democrats.
Corporate media, these days—too busy rooting up scratch for Trump’s protection racket to worry about real reporting. Besides, best not bite the hand that will soon betray you.