Brutal analysis highlights media failures on Trump's threat to democracy

[Tom of Temecula]

The U.S. media has failed to communicate the threat Donald Trump poses to democracy.

A recent poll shows the twice-impeached, four-times-indicted former president easily winning the 2024 election over President Joe Biden in several key states that will likely determine the race, and media critic Margaret Sullivan wrote a new column for The Guardian explaining how journalists have failed to present the facts against Trump.

"It’s now clearer than ever that Trump, if elected, will use the federal government to go after his political rivals and critics, even deploying the military toward that end," Sullivan wrote. "His allies are hatching plans to invoke the Insurrection Act on day one."

Multiple reports have shown that Trump and his allies are planning to impose autocratic control over the federal government, but Sullivan said the media has engaged in both-sides reporting that contrasts Biden's age to Trump's "freewheeling" style as if those are comparable flaws.

"Here’s what must be hammered home: Trump cannot be re-elected if you want the United States to be a place where elections decide outcomes, where voting rights matter, and where politicians don’t baselessly prosecute their adversaries," Sullivan wrote. "Trump’s threats to democracy? That’s a harder story to tell. Harder than 'Joe Biden is old.' Harder than: 'Gosh, America is so polarized.'"

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-media-failure/

Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/09/trump-president-democracy-threat-media-journalism

[GreenWave]

1. For two days following the Insurrection, media reported on people leaving the GOP in droves...

Then they must have been told to shut up about it, because they made no further mention of it.

[chowder66]

2. What do they think is going to happen if Trump wins again?

He is going to go after everyone and especially journalists.
He's going to endlessly dog-whistle and bodies are going to pile up.

It almost like they want to see people killed and locked up... including their own (journalists).

It doesn't make sense to both-sides everything and ignore the peril that he and his ilk present.

[maxrandb]

3. I posted this a bit ago as sarcasm

I am pretty sure it's NOT:


"Democrats have Decided NOT to Hang Mike Pence"

In a stunning display of the deep polarization on "both sides", Democrats have unilaterally dismissed the idea of hanging Mike Pence.

Andrea Mitchell and Chuck Todd discuss this breathtaking example of partisanship and "politics as usual" in DC.

Andrea: "Chuck, Retrumplican voters stormed the capitol on January 6 demanding the lynching of Mike Pence, but now Democrats are completely dismissing that idea. Meanwhile, an authoritarian, twice impeached, 4 time indicted man, charged with violently and illegally plotting a coup continues to run away with the Retrumplican nomination for president." "How is he winning this nomination, and how is this possibly just "normal politics in America"?

Chuck: "Well Andrea, to get answers to those questions I am here at the Rush Hour Bar and Bait Store in Beaver County, PA to talk to "salt of the earth, American heartland voters. "With me is Cletus, a retired chicken processing plant beheader living on Social Security and Medicare"

"Cletus, let me ask you, why does Donald Trump continue to have an iron grip on the Retrumplican Party"?

Cletus: "Well Chuck, he's just a straight-shooter. He wants to round up all the minorities and attack shithole cities with the military to ship those people off to camps, and he wants to restore our God given right to rape and subjugate women as we wish, and ensure we have all the weapons and ammo to kill as much of the LGBTQ community as we can...see, he gets me"

Andrea: "Chuck, were you able to talk to any Democrat voters?"

Chuck: "Andrea, we met one of the kitchen help making $2.75 an hour, plus tips,
_________(name redacted due to death threats).

________can you explain Trump's appeal?

___________: "These people are fucking nuts!"

Chuck: "So there you have it Andrea. Extreme partisan division on "both sides"!

Andrea: "Thanks Chuck. Next we try to understand how a young, brash tech bro, who speaks like Hermann Goering shot to 3RD place in the Retrumplican primary" "It's really a mystery".

[planetc]

4. Thanks for posting this again.

I missed it the first time around and haven't had a good laugh all day.