It has been a landmark week for the two front runners in the 2024 presidential race and an embarrassing week for those who cover them. Both President Joe Biden and the defeated, twice impeached and four-times indicted Donald Trump made public appearances. The President’s historic, Mr. Trump’s diabolical.
It’s the week in which Trump went berserk at rallies in Michigan and Iowa with the following non-sensical, dangerously untrue statements that largely went unchecked on major media.
First, let’s talk about the venues where the two candidates spoke. Headlines across the media landscape made it seem both Biden and Trump were supporting the UAW in its strike against automakers. Here is the lede from CBS. “President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will both be in Michigan this week to show support for UAW autoworkers on the picket line”.
CBS was not alone, taking the easy way out to portray their totally different Michigan visits as equal. Biden’s history-making appearance on the picket line was not comparable to Trump’s speech at a non-union parts factory packed with Trump supporters who when questioned admitted — despite the signs they were carrying — they were not in the UAW and were not there to support unions, but to support Trump. The UAW president criticized Trump’s previous positions on unions and said he felt it “odd” that Trump would support union workers at a non-union shop.
Much of that context was missing from media reports on the very different Michigan appearances.
Elsewhere on Trump’s campaign trail last week he inadvertently said Jeb Bush started the Iraq war, he defeated George Bush in the 2015 primaries, and a week before was convinced he defeated twice-elected Barack Obama in 2016. Clips of these missteps and delusional rants were all over the internet, from X to Threads, but not found in major media from networks to The Washington Post and The New York Times.
But Trump’s obvious confusion is not the only issue. He also showed his mean, unfit for civilized conversation side. He openly mocked the serious injury Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul suffered at the hands and hammer of a Trump supporter.
“How is her husband doing by the way?” Trump said with a smirk, his MAGA crowd laughing along. One of Trump’s outbursts has been getting rightful attention. His social media attack on combat veteran and retiring Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which suggested Mark Milley be charged with treason and executed was picked up by a large chunk of the media, as was Milley’s response during his retirement speech. Milley pointedly reminded the nation that he didn’t swear an oath to a “would-be dictator”.
So, all that leads to the serious question of what the media should do about covering Trump’s disrespectful, crude, and dangerous comments when he is riffing at a rally or online. Some who are tired of hearing it just want him to go away and think the media should ignore his nonsense. A respected friend and colleague of mine opined that the lies, distortions, and insults from Donald Trump are not worth reporting anymore. It’s not news. We have heard it all before.
I respectfully and profoundly disagree.
The American public must hear what the leading GOP candidate is saying. It can’t be kept in the echo chamber of right-wing propaganda outlets that cater to his hardcore 30 percent of the country. There will be a general election after the Republican primary and moderate members of his party and independents must know what he has been saying.
Light remains the best disinfectant in politics. And it is with all seriousness and not at all lightly or flippantly that I remind those who want to just ignore this treacherous, treasonous politician of the regret millions of Germans suffered when they did not speak up during the rise of Adolph Hitler.
Donald Trump has threatened his political opponents, the media, and the judicial system. He has engaged in anti-Semitic tropes, misogyny, and anti-immigrant rhetoric. American media cannot ignore him, no matter how tempting.
