In 2016, Donald Trump exploited media flaws to sneak to victory. It seems pretty well on track to do the same in 2024.
Former CBS president Les Moonves summed up Trump’s special relationship with the media when commenting on his 2016 campaign: “It may not be good for America, but it’s good for the world.” . for CBS.”
Trump took the media into his pocket in 2016 and looks set to do it again in 2024.
As Yogi Berra would have said, it is “deja vu all over again“.
From deplorables to vermin
In September 2016, Hillary Clinton said during a speech that part of Trump’s electorate was made up of “deplorables”, referring to “racists, sexists, homophobes, xenophobes, etc.” that Trump had won over to his cause.
Clinton was talking about a small portion of Trump’s electorate, but the media hyped the statement and made it seem like Clinton was contemptuous of anyone who even considered supporting Trump. This episode cost Clinton dearly, condemned by media talking heads for having offended the Republican electorate.
On November 11, Donald Trump made a downright fascist speech, calling all his “vermin” opponents to be absolutely eliminated. In case that’s not clear enough, his spokesperson says, of those who find this kind of language abusive, that “their miserable existence will be crushed when Trump returns to power.” Pretty accommodating, right?
Two weights, two measures
According to a Media Matters study, in the week following these two statements, the three major television networks gave 18 times more airtime to Clinton’s “gaffe” than to Trump’s intentionally malicious statement. As for the five largest newspapers, they gave 29 times more space to “deplorables” than to “vermin.”
Trump enjoys privileges in most media. Even CNN went out of its way last spring to broadcast a public forum featuring Trump to an audience.
Last week, the Spanish-language network Univision presented a candy interview where the host lobbed one softball after another and let Trump multiply the lies. Additionally, the network refused to air messages that Biden’s campaign paid for during the interview.
Beyond the media
While Trump constantly complains about being mistreated by the media, the media do everything to provide him with “balanced” coverage, paying almost as much attention to his opponent’s failings and age as they do to the mountain. criminal charges against Trump and repeated demonstrations of his cognitive inconsistency.
Trump is playing the same game in court. He knows that the courts seek to avoid the appearance of bias, so he constantly heaps insults on judges and prosecutors and floods the system with outlandish requests to delay the process and fuel the perception that he is a victim of the system.
The media institution, like all democratic institutions, is founded on standards of fairness which can become the Achilles heel of democracy when skillfully manipulated by a demagogue.
