Why does media buy nonsense narrative? [View all]
By Catherine Rampell
May 27 at 5:40 PM
... another plausible explanation for why so many Democrats are now talking about impeachment is that’s what we in the media, primed by Trump, ask them to talk about — often to the exclusion of other substantive issues that those Democrats are working on and that voters care about ...
... In one particularly frustrating exchange, NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd asked Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) to address criticisms that the Democratic Party is too myopically focused on subpoenas and impeachment rather than “kitchen table” issues. He did this, of course, while only asking myopic questions about subpoenas and impeachment, and none about any of those “kitchen table” issues.
... Given Trump’s historic lack of transparency, his sprawling business empire and his many fishy transactions over the years, lawmakers need to make sure that he is running the executive branch in the interest of the American public rather than his own pocketbook. We still don’t know whether or how Trump’s many financial entanglements — including hotel patronage by firms seeking merger approval, deals with shady partners abroad or whatever complicated tax shelters he’s using — might be influencing policy decisions.
... in fairness, there have been a lot of other issues — kitchen table issues, you might even say — that Democrats have also been pursuing, and to which pundits like me haven’t given sufficient time or attention. Many of the proposals are good, some are bad; but, in any case, it’s hard to argue that Democrats have been underinvesting in policy because they’re overinvesting in oversight ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-narrative-is-nonsense-so-why-is-the-media-buying-it/2019/05/27/e6bb0ee2-80b5-11e9-bce7-40b4105f7ca0_story.html?utm_term=.da20bce40e76
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