on media


Media were complicit in Trump-era derangement


American journalists took far too long to hold Trump to account, says Raymond Snoddy


S


uddenly, you don’t have to be completely crazy or an impossible optimist to suggest we may be entering the


last days of President Donald J Trump – a man who had appeared untouchable whatever he did until now. Even Andrew Neil, who


unaccountably was prepared to give Trump the benefit of the doubt at the start of his second administration, is now saying “we are past peak Trump”. While it is impossible to predict how


precisely it will come to an end or when, an accumulation of factors will combine to undermine his presidency. In a single week earlier this year,


Trump suffered multiple setbacks and climbdowns that would have been fatal to any orthodox American politician. There was Greenland, the disparaging of NATO’s contribution in Afghanistan, the ICE murders in Minnesota and promising help to protesters in Iran then doing nothing as they were gunned down in their thousands. Stir in the increasingly lurid leaks from


the Epstein files, the signs of accelerating dementia plus threats to the dollar and the American bond market, and the brew is toxic even for Teflon Trump. There could be a sudden collapse, political or physical. Action could be taken using the 25th amendment of the US constitution, which, as we all now know, enables congress to remove a president deemed no longer capable of carrying out their duties. It is possible that Trump will stagger on to the mid-term elections in the autumn and perhaps have another shot at trying to overturn democracy.


Perhaps vice-president JD Vance will go for the top job – but President Vance is a story for another day. A crucial factor in ensuring Trump will not see out his full term is that, very belatedly in many people’s opinion, the American media have arisen from their slumbers and started doing their job of holding power to account. The turning point was the cold- blooded murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by ICE agents. From the under-pressure CBS network and CNN to the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal – even the Murdoch New York Post – all have rejected the administration lies that Good and Pretti were lawfully killed insurrectionists. After detailed analysis of the many


horrific recordings of the events, the media came to the same conclusion – neither had been a threat to anyone when they were shot multiple times. Such coverage looks like a sign that


American journalists are toughening their approach to the Trump administration when their billionaire owners allow them to do so. Their role in the coming implosion could be vital. But, when all of this madness comes to an end – as come to an end it will – the American media will face tough questions about how it was allowed to happen in what appeared to be a mature, 250-year-old democracy. The charge sheet against the


American media – with transatlantic echoes – will be long and embarrassing. It was the US networks, with a special


starring role for Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News, that created the Trump public persona in the first place. They were more than bright enough to know the potential damage they were causing but, as long as the ratings and the advertising revenue continued to roll in, they did not care.


Too many news outlets were also


happy to normalise Trump and report what he said and did as if they were normal when they were anything but. Then there came the half-way stage


when broadcasters, still reluctant to call out Trump lies, started adding weasel words to their reports that no evidence had been provided to support Trump statements. There have been honourable exceptions but, for too long, too many of Trump’s ‘facts’ went unchecked and unchallenged. There has also been a disgraceful


disparity between how the health and ageing of President Joe Biden were treated compared to the same of Trump. Biden may or may not have been too old to go for a second term, but there is no doubt he was hounded out of his candidacy by media attacks on every physical and mental slip. There has been no equivalent


“


There have been honourable exceptions but, for too long, too many of Trump’s ‘facts’ went unchecked and unchallenged


treatment for Trump despite him falling apart mentally and physically in plain sight. Again, Trump has been normalised by the media picking out a coherent sentence or two while ignoring the nonsensical ramblings in the rest of a 50-minute speech. Even the tactics of reporters have been individualistic and naive. Trump deflects questions by asking where the reporter is from then dismisses their media organisation. There is no sense of reporters getting together to ask the same question again and again to either get an answer or demonstrate Trump’s unwillingness to address it. There will be a day of reckoning for the American media and it may come sooner than you think. But, before British journalists get


smug, be warned they too will face tough questions if they continue giving Trump acolyte Nigel Farage his current easy ride.


theJournalist |07


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24