The Justice Department plans to arrest Donald Trump tomorrow. And media reporting on his pending arrest is redolent with hypocrisy. Even worse, they are warning about Trump and Republican leaders inciting violence. Yet their coverage is inciting that violence.
Of course, Trump has given the media cause to broadcast fears about him inciting violence. That’s unprecedented for any sitting or former president of the United States. But unprecedented describes most of what Trump has done since he was elected president.
Except that, he keeps setting presidential precedents for all the wrong reasons. For example, he was the first US president to:
- pay $25 million to settle claims that he defrauded students at his own Trump University;
- pay $2 million to settle claims that he used his “charitable“ foundation as a personal piggy bank;
- be impeached twice for high crimes and misdemeanors (which included inciting his supporters ;
- be found guilty of sexual assault; and
- be indicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
And he will set another precedent tomorrow. He’ll become the first former US president indicted on 37 felony counts. They stem from his mishandling of classified documents and obstructing justice. The evidence indicates that he’s as guilty as sin. But the evidence in those two impeachment trials indicated the same. Yet he got off scot-free
But there’s nothing new about Trump setting dishonorable presidential precedents. That’s why this latest precedent says far more about the media than him.
Media Coverage of Trump’s Indictment
Granted, given the Jan 6 insurrection, the potential for violence is real. The problem is the media are reporting this potential as a self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s as if they’re the ones inciting violence, not Trump.
Recall media coverage of his pending arraignment in New York City last March. It was rife with similar warnings. Yet when the time came, the only violence was reporters and camera operators falling over each other. That’s because they outnumbered the dreaded MAGA protesters 100 to 1.
But the ratio is bound to favor more MAGA protesters tomorrow. It’s in red-state Florida, after all. And they might heed Trump’s plea to protest as if he’s the most persecuted man since Jesus Christ.
But not all of them are fools. And they know what happened to the MAGA protesters who heeded his call on Jan 6 to march on the Capitol.
One or two nincompoops might want that infamy. But most will be keen to avoid arrest.
Trump’s indictment has the media basking in hypocrisy
Trump is an incorrigible narcissist. So, for the media coverage he’s getting today, he’d be happy to be indicted every month. That is, so long as he knows he’ll never have to set foot in prison.
Staying out of prison has always been his long game. I argued that “Trump literally can’t afford to lose this [2020] election.” That’s because I knew the law would catch up to him – the way it’s doing today.
But his game depends on the media playing along. That is, by providing him the coverage he craves. You know, the kind of coverage that fueled his corporate branding masquerading as a presidential campaign in 2016. And the rest is history. So you’d think the media would be reluctant to provide that coverage again.
They may have caused you to forget. But Trump is not the sitting president like he was during the 2020 presidential campaign. Yet the media are covering him as if he were.
Only that explains today’s coverage of Trump. They began with the trip from his New Jersey resort to his Miami resort. And they ended with guests at his Miami resort hailing him like a conquering Caesar. That coverage was complete with a CNN commentator projecting, “This is crazy. This is not normal.”
It’s also not normal for a former president to travel in a motorcade that looks more presidential than a sitting president’s motorcade. President Biden should instruct the Secret Service to scale down Trump’s motorcade to reflect that Trump is just like any other former president.
CNN provides more critical coverage of Trump than any other media outlet. And Trump’s reaction to this latest indictment has provided considerable fodder. Yet CNN is leading all media in serving as a message board for Trump to incite his supporters. That’s because they are propagating his lies the way a propagandist would.
The media would have you believe they’re informing you. But they are serving no public interest by airing Trump’s self-serving rants. You’ve heard them a thousand times. So I see no point in repeating them here.
The media have learned nothing from 2016
Only a drive for ratings explains the media’s constant and willful coverage. It’s like the Christian Broadcasting Network preaching against pornography by showing viewers lots of pornography.
The mainstream media criticized social media for propagating Trump’s lies. That’s because doing so helped Trump corrupt political debate and incite violence.
The mainstream media are now criticizing social media for revoking bans on Trump. That’s because Trump is spewing even more lies today than when they first banned him. Yet the mainstream media are propagating those same lies. The hypocrisy afoot is almost too much for words.