• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Monday, February 6, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Featured

Why Do Mainstream Media Sugarcoat Trump’s Attacks on Democracy?

Stephen J. Lyons by Stephen J. Lyons
10/26/21
in Featured, Opinion
US President Donald Trump

US President Donald Trump. Photo: Brendan Smialowski, AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

On September 2, a curious headline from that cable news site crossed my computer screen:

“Trump appears to encourage North Carolinians to vote twice to test the system.” [emphasis added]

The ensuing story was about President Donald Trump clearly urging voters in that state to commit a Class 1 felony by voting in person and by mail. Here is the president’s entire quote, courtesy of local news station WECT in Wilmington, North Carolina:

“Well, they’ll go out and they’ll go vote, and they’re going to have to go and check their vote by going to the poll and voting that way, because if it tabulates, then they won’t be able to do that. So, let them send it in, and let them go vote, and if the system is as good as they say it is, then obviously they won’t be able to vote. If it isn’t tabulated, they won’t be able to vote. So that’s the way it is. And that’s what they should do.”

With the exception of the president’s de facto personal attorney general and fixer William Barr, who shockingly claimed ignorance of the law, blowback to Trump’s suggestion was swift.

Aside from officials in North Carolina quickly advising voters to ignore the president’s orders, in the swing state of Pennsylvania, Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar said, “Needless to say, this is not the message that we are sending. Nobody should vote twice. Nobody should try to vote twice. We all have one fundamental vote that we should all exercise once and once only.”

As often happens after tossing up his fatuous word salads, Trump and his complicit minions walked back his statement. White House Press Secretary for-the-moment Kayleigh McEnany said Trump “does not condone unlawful voting.” Eye rolls all around. Rinse and repeat. On to the next daily outrage from the West Wing.

Yet, I could not shake off CNN’s word in its headline, “appears.” The president, one of the most transparently corrupt heads of state we have ever endured, whose filter between brain and mouth is as porous as a torn coffee filter, suggested as plain as day that voters should break the law.

So why the lukewarm treatment? Was it an attempt to be “fair and balanced,” to quote another cable news channel that is anything but? Or, was the word some kind of convoluted peace offering from a network that has been at battle with Trump throughout the four years of his presidency, a network he has called “enemy of the people”?

Not long after the CNN headline, upon reporting that AG William Barr (again!) was taking over the president’s defense in a civil defamation suit brought by a woman who has accused Trump of rape, the New York Times printed the following: “In a highly unusual legal move, lawyers for the Justice Department said in court papers that Mr. Trump was acting in his official capacity as president…”

“Highly unusual”?! Hello! Seems to me that a “move” like this is perhaps, well for starters, a blatant take down of American democracy, worthy of a Pearl Harbor headline screaming above the fold of the bloated gray lady herself.

Leading up to the fateful 2016 election coverage toward Trump was positive and shallow, via glowing profiles and, most disturbingly, in the media’s willingness to ignore ties to the Italian mafia, to bottom feeders such as Paul Manafort, the late Jeffrey Epstein, and various Russian mobsters like Felix Sater.

Paul Manafort leaving a court
Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort (R), leaves a US District Court after pleading not guilty following his indictment on federal charges. Photo: AFP

Shady tax scams and gaming the system always took a back seat to the sexier gossip of his divorces, his inflated net worth, and which party he attended with which barely legal supermodel.

As journalist Sarah Kendzior writes in her book Hiding in Plain Sight, reporters during critical months of 2015 and 2016 “ignored blatant crimes in favor of an obsessive focus on Hillary Clinton’s emails, a misalignment of priorities that was stoked by the FBI itself.”

Trump knows how to use words for his benefit. I suspect he also knows that long before he entered the political scene that Americans were worn out from a constant barrage of spins, lies, and half-truths. Who even knows what the truth is anymore?

Words still matter. In journalism school, I had a professor who would not allow the word “very” in any of the copy we submitted. It adds nothing, he bellowed as we cowered in front of our electric typewriters, and only weakens the word that follows. As in “President Trump is a VERY skilled liar.” Or, “President Trump’s fealty to Russia’s Vladimir Putin is VERY disturbing.”

Very is among a passel of useless weasel words, much like maybe, probably, seems, perhaps, almost and, yes, appears to.

With that in mind, I would have amended the CNN headline this way: “Trump encourages North Carolinians to vote twice to test the system, sow confusion, and commit felonies so that he can steal yet another election.”

See? It’s not that difficult to state the facts, and today, more than ever, I think we deserve it.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of The Globe Post.
ShareTweet
Stephen J. Lyons

Stephen J. Lyons

Author of four books of essays and journalism. His most recent book is 'Going Driftless: Life Lessons from the Heartland for Unraveling Times'

Related Posts

Protesters rally against the fatal police assault of Tyre Nichols, outside of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detroit, Michigan, on January 27, 2023
Opinion

How Do Violent ‘Monsters’ Take Root?

by Matthew J. Mayer
February 3, 2023
George Santos from the 3rd Congressional district of New York
Opinion

George Santos for Speaker!

by Stephen J. Lyons
January 16, 2023
Top view of the US House of Representatives
National

Chaos as US House Adjourns Without Choosing Speaker

by Staff Writer
January 4, 2023
Commuters waiting for buses in Metro Manila. Philippines
Opinion

Eight Billion and Counting…

by Stephen J. Lyons
November 29, 2022
Donald Trump
National

US Supreme Court Freezes Release of Trump Tax Returns

by Staff Writer
November 1, 2022
Donald Trump
National

US Capitol Riot Probe Votes to Subpoena Trump to Testify

by Staff Writer
October 13, 2022
Next Post
The US Supreme Court in Washington, DC

After RBG: Potential Tyranny of the Minority

Protesters demonstrate against racism in New York on June 1.

Begin Again: A Book for Our Times and a Reminder of Admonitions Ignored

Recommended

Syrian rescuers and civilians search for victims and survivors amid the rubble of a collapsed building, in the rebel-held northern countryside of Syria's Idlib province on the border with Turkey, early on February 6, 2023. Syrian rescuers (White Helmets) and civilians search for victims and survivors amid the rubble of a collapsed building

Quake Kills Over 1,200 Across Turkey, Syria

February 6, 2023
Protesters rally against the fatal police assault of Tyre Nichols, outside of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detroit, Michigan, on January 27, 2023

How Do Violent ‘Monsters’ Take Root?

February 3, 2023
A supporter of nurses' strike and NHS holds a placard

UK Faces Fresh Mass Strikes as Wage Talks Derail

February 1, 2023
Israeli security forces in Jerusalem

Palestinian Gunman Kills 7 in East Jerusalem Synagogue Attack

January 30, 2023
The Doomsday Clock reads 100 seconds to midnight, a decision made by The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, during an announcement at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on January 23, 2020

‘Doomsday Clock’ Moves Closest Ever to Midnight

January 25, 2023
Police work near the scene of a mass shooting in Monterey Park, California

California Lunar New Year Mass Shooter Dead, Motive Unclear: Police

January 23, 2023

Opinion

Protesters rally against the fatal police assault of Tyre Nichols, outside of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detroit, Michigan, on January 27, 2023

How Do Violent ‘Monsters’ Take Root?

February 3, 2023
George Santos from the 3rd Congressional district of New York

George Santos for Speaker!

January 16, 2023
Commuters waiting for buses in Metro Manila. Philippines

Eight Billion and Counting…

November 29, 2022
Mahsa Amini protests

Imagining a Free Iran

October 24, 2022
Vladimir Putin

How 18th Century International Law Clarifies the Situation in Ukraine

September 29, 2022
Vladimir Putin

Falling for Putin

September 15, 2022
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post