It seems as if neither the mainstream media nor their partner, the political uni-party establishment, is shaping public opinion to the degree they wish they were. Greg Kelly concluded his Friday night Newsmax TV program by wrapping up a South Dakota speech by former President Donald Trump, where the Republican frontrunner received the endorsement of the Mount Rushmore state’s Governor, Kristi Noem. Pollster John McLaughlin and 710 WOR host Mark Simone joined Kelly to discuss the former President’s energy, campaigning stamina, and connection with everyday voters.
“You and I are professional talk show hosts, we make speeches all the time, and we’re sitting here in awe of this guy. It was unbelievable,” Mark Simone said. “There was one line in there that I haven’t heard before. That’s the line that will win him the election. Make America Safe Again. Crime. The border. The migrants taking over cities. This is what is on everybody’s mind. Make America Safe Again. That could win him the election.”
“Powerful. Wealthy. Strong. Proud. Safe. Safe and Great Again,” Kelly recapped from the speech, before welcoming in McLaughlin, Trump’s pollster.
“The President wants to win,” McLaughlin began. “He’s totally, he thrives off the people. You know, Newt Gingrich has called this a movement. It’s now a majority movement because we lead Joe Biden in the polls. There are now 2020 Biden voters voting for Donald Trump in 2024.
“And he gave a litany of policy failures where Joe Biden has failed this country, on everything from inflation, and energy, and war and safety. And crime, as Mark talked about. But the worst part is – and he didn’t call me by name but I’ve been telling him – you go ahead in the polls and they’re going to indict you. A couple weeks ago I said, you’re ahead of Joe Biden again. They’re going to have to indict you a fifth time.”
Polling over recent months, including that conducted publicly by McLaughlin, shows that support for Trump increases with each new prosecution.
“It’s like a communist country where most voters get it. 74% of voters are telling us this is politics. 60% are telling us Joe Biden’s playing a role in this. And the voters want to decide the election themselves, 56% to only 34% who say let the court decide,” McLaughlin pointed out.
“So this is totally, when he’s talking about the next election, this is totally rigged by the most corrupt, most failed President we’ve seen in the history of the United States, Joe Biden. And Donald Trump is beating him and they are afraid of that. And they should be, because the majority of Americans agree with Donald Trump.”
“It’s an air-tight case, it really is,” Kelly added. “What could Biden really say? What would be the rebuttal? He’d have to lie. He’d have to get the fake news to go to work for him. I thought that was a very stinging assessment.”
The host then played a short clip of Trump mocking Biden over questionable claims the current President has made about many things, such as being a fighter jet pilot, being a truck driver, and being a terrific golfer. Kelly then pulled out his iPad and presented a headline from a competing news outlet.
“How’s this for a fake news headline? This is Mediaite. Right now, Mediaite says that that was a comically high-pitched rant about Biden’s golf game. I mean, I’ve heard him do that before. But, comically high-pitched? Why? Is that a tone we haven’t heard before,” Kelly asked, noting that the mainstream, liberal media refuses to deal with the substance of Trump’s claims.
“The media, they will let Biden off the hook every step of the way. He’s the only one who does this. Yes, he’s got allies in media. Some. But the big guys won’t do it.”
“I think in the White House, they have somebody who watches all these speeches, so they can come up with a counter-argument. Whoever that was tonight probably just fainted. You can’t answer all this stuff. It’s impossible. Because of this speech tonight, we will never see a debate in the general election,” Mark Simone predicted.
The program then featured another clip of Trump comically discussing the many indictments leveled against him, and the guests then discussed the former President’s unrivaled style, charisma, and connection with his audience.
“You know, politics doesn’t have to be boring. He’s the first one in a long time. And the other ones who made the media swoon, they were good-looking or something like that, Mark Simone. But they were still very stiff.” Kelly offered. “But I love the actual talking like a person. It never gets old.”
“Remember, before he ran for president, he had the highest-rated primetime celebrity reality show. So he thrives off this. He loves the reality of it. He loves to be with people,” McLaughlin said. “But seriously, on a serious note. These indictments are existential to our American democracy and our free speech.
“And when he was making points in there, where if they get me then they’re going to go for you, the American people, the vast majority of voters, they believe it. 62-25 on our poll in June said if they can indict and do this to Donald Trump, they’ll do this to any of his political opponents. This is scary stuff.”
“Well, unfortunately, I think a lot of the Republicans are still scheming to stop Donald Trump. I’m talking about the establishment,” Kelly pointed out. “I’m talking about Karl Rove, Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney, and all of their allies. Mark Simone, I mean the people are with him. But I’m worried about the big boys.”
“You have to have faith in the American people. He may have corrupted the whole justice system, but you can’t corrupt the American public,” Mark Simone said, juxtaposing the current media’s willful ignorance to Watergate, when they went bonkers because it was a Republican considering using the hands of government to his benefit.
“Here’s a President actually using every inch of the Justice Department to target somebody and the American media stays silent about it. They don’t go after it. Woodward and Bernstein looked the other way. This is frightening. John Gotti, I think they got him on three charges. You’re telling me Donald Trump is worth 97 different charges, four different places? It’s preposterous.”
And while they’ll undoubtedly continue trying to shape public opinion, some pundits think the American media won’t wake up and report the facts until they are smacked in the proverbial face by them in November 2024.
Rick Schultz is a former Sports Director for WFUV Radio at Fordham University. He has coached and mentored hundreds of Sports Broadcasting students at the Connecticut School of Broadcasting, Marist College and privately. His media career experiences include working for the Hudson Valley Renegades, Army Sports at West Point, The Norwich Navigators, 1340/1390 ESPN Radio in Poughkeepsie, NY, Time Warner Cable TV, Scorephone NY, Metro Networks, NBC Sports, ABC Sports, Cumulus Media, Pamal Broadcasting and WATR. He has also authored a number of books including “A Renegade Championship Summer” and “Untold Tales From The Bush Leagues”. To get in touch, find him on Twitter @RickSchultzNY.
