Lawrence O’Donnell, host of an MSNBC nightly news program, lashed out at the media for its deference to Trump on Wednesday, covering a Trump “press conference” live and in full, while failing to cover a speech by his Democratic rival Kamala Harris. He also assailed the behavior of the media at the Trump event for asking only “softball” questions and not challenging any of the non-answers he spewed.
“This is 2016 all over again,” a clearly angry O’Donnell said, assailing the media for “failing to learn from its own mistakes in 2016” when clearly deferential coverage of Trump contributed in a major way to his upset victory. On the notion that Trump should get credit for “taking questions,” O”Donnell declared that “he never answered any questions,” even the softball ones, noting that the public was unable to hear the “tame” questions, and then had to suffer strings of lies by Trump, including that the crowd he addressed on Jan. 6, 2021 was “bigger than the one that heard the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “I Have a Dream” speech on the national mall in 1963, when in fact it was one fifth the size according to official estimates.
The reporters there “didn’t know what answers are,” O’Donnell intoned. I agree totally with O’Donnell, but would add that the plutocrats who run the networks that are really to blame. Where are the legitimate journalists who will stand up to this?. . .