Eric Boehlert: Trump's coup--the press never took it seriously

[babylonsister]

Trump’s coup—the press never took it seriously
Normalizing doesn't work
Eric Boehlert
54 min ago

snip//

Only in the last few weeks have some mainstream news outlets addressed the obvious nature of Trump's presidency — that he's an unstable, autocratic, pathological liar. Yet I still haven't seen a straight news article where Trump's attempted "coup" is mentioned in the headline.

And that's been a hallmark failure of the press during the Trump era — refusing to use blunt language to describe the madman in the White House. Right on cue, the press embraced a timid storyline following Trump's defeat as he unleashed a vicious campaign against free and fair elections in America. Even after witnessing four years of Trump's erratic and unlawful behavior, newsrooms for the last two months have consistently opted to err on the side of caution by implying Trump's election crusade didn't pose a threat to our democracy and that a lot of it was just political theater — nothing really to worry about.

This, even after Trump held White House discussions with deranged, conspiracy-peddling advisers about possibly imposing martial law in order to secure his election win. That stunning martial law story was badly underplayed by the press. It didn't even appear on the front page of the New York Times, it received page 28 treatment, instead. Wildly downplaying the severity, ABC News referred to the idea of imposing martial law to illegally secure Trump's power as a "scorched earth policy."

And now we have a recorded phone call of a rambling, often incoherent Trump demanding Georgia's secretary of state solicit election fraud, and then Trump threatening the secretary with a "criminal offense" if he did not comply. It's the most compelling evidence yet of Trump's long-running coup attempt, which the press for months has tried to avoid.

Reporters and producers certainly spent months rejecting the use of "coup" following Trump's election defeat, no doubt convinced the word carries too many connotations to be used in the context of American politics. (i.e. Tanks in the streets.) But that's a mistake. "Only one widely understood word captures what Donald Trump is trying to do, even though his acts do not meet its technical definition," Zeynep Tufekci recently argued in The Atlantic. "Trump is attempting to stage some kind of coup, one that is embedded in a broader and ongoing power grab."

We’ve had a sociopath as president for four years, and every newsroom in America was too afraid to say so. On Wednesday, a dozen Republican Senators will try to overturn the election results by rejecting state electors, while Trump urges mobs of supporters to gather in Washington, D.C. to protest his loss. But even those extraordinary facts are not producing the proper media coverage.

more...

https://pressrun.media/p/the-press-never-thought-trump-would

[mikeysnot]

1. So wait what? The media is failing us? Again?

Say it ain’t so...

[get the red out]

2. The press

I remember all the times that Trump managed to behave just well enough to get by and the press would say "Trump just became President".

[thucythucy]

3. The failure is years-long, even decades long.

From the time he announced his campaign the vast majority of the media--certainly any that might be termed "mainstream" (i.e. corporate) have given Trump and his GOP such wide lee-way it enabled him to win the presidency. Billions of dollars in free coverage denied to every other candidate, not to mention endless stories about "disaffected" Trump voters enabling them to pollute the public discourse.

Even before that, the whole sham that was "The Apprentice" enabled this con to convince millions of low information viewers that he was some kind of business genius, when in fact everything connected with Trump--his real estate ventures, his casinos, his "charity" and "university" has been an abject failure. Instead of exposing him and his family as sociopathic grifters, the tabloids have treated him as, at best, a "fascinating" story, at worst some kind of court jester.

And outlets such as the National Enquirer have gone so far as to purposely "catch and kill" all the various scandals that might have damaged him from the get-go.

The problems with the media go back many years, but they've all come to a head this past half decade. And not only the media, our various professions have also let us down. His current crop of attorneys should have been censured long ago. The various bar associations, even the courts, have given them enormous and unjustified leeway, while the national GOP has been complicit in the slow coup that started the very first day of this mal-administration.

I wish i had some fairly simple fix to propose. I'm hoping the Biden justice department will do a thorough investigation of the past four years plus, along with some actual Congressional oversight.

The fact that we are this close to losing our democracy--as flawed as it is--should be a wake-up call to anyone who cherishes the rule of law and ethics and our democratic institutions.

[Hortensis]

4. There have been many opinion pieces discussing this,

Last edited Tue Jan 5, 2021, 10:07 AM - Edit history (1)

and all Trump's actions and potential actions have been discussed inside feature to minor articles for years now.

But he's technically correct about lack of headlines of articles in major news media speculating about potential treason in an elected president, and encouraging fear when almost all analysts have (correctly so far) said his coup attempts would fail.

I suppose there are reasons for that.

In spite of the slant of this piece, it is far more important hard truth that much of the MSM, including the NYT and AP, has been corrupt and beyond irresponsible in first systematically helping get Trump elected and then continuing the corruption, or for others been remiss, in underplaying and even covering for him through much of his disastrous presidency.

They elected him, of course they lag in becoming frightened enough to try to wake the American people up to the danger of Trump and traitors like the Sedition Caucus. There's even real question of whether they could at this point.

Everyone knows that most of the MSM belong to giant corporations that maintain Republicans in power. Not so well considered is that many conservative business leaders are also believers in Christian dominionism, white nationalism, the desirability of conservative, hierarchical society, the extreme foolishness of such things as investing national resources in higher education of those who don't need it. Big overlap there.

*****

This is where those inclined blame Democrats for not stopping it, of course, and others while that we're really just like corrupt corporatist Republicans and the nation was doomed long ago.

Because another thing most of the MSM also never does, the most egregious of their crimes, is report the truth about who Democrats, liberals, believers in progressive government really are and what we're doing and why. They push lies and distortions instead. Ideologically as a party we've been unwavering in our liberal democratic values and goals for 100 years, the protector of democracy and leader of all progressive advances. That's intensively studied, documented and proven. A truth denied only by scoundrels and fools.

We're not "the squad," socialist Sanders doesn't represent one side of a giant factional rift, among liberals replacing capitalism with socialism has never been more than extremist fantasy. We are the party of economic responsibility, income equality, and commitment to widespread wellbeing. White women voting liberal Democratic on social issues really have always been the single largest bloc enabling all advances in equality. But America doesn't hear it from them. Of course. That's not in the interest of those who own most of Big Media.

What's this to do with the trumpism phenomenon? Couldn't have happened with an informed public who understood their choices.

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

5. So many are afraid of what Republicans might say. They let Republicans

bully them, and I'm not just referring to the press.

So many in the press, and Democrats as well, are terrified of using the F words:

Fascist and Fascism.

It's time everyone started referring to Trump, and Trump supporters, as fascists. Republicans who have not stood up to Trump are fascist sympathizers.

It's time to stop being dishonestly nicey-nice by continually putting lipstick on these fascist pigs.

[Turin_C3PO]

6. Yes.

Republicans don’t hesitate to falsely label us as “socialists”. We shouldn’t fear calling them what they are: fascists.

[NoRoadUntravelled]

7. When the Fourth Estate's bottom line is profit rather than Democracy, America gets screwed.

We've seen the demonstration of this fact play out in real time.
When news outlets can legally report alternative facts as truth to influence voters, when politicians can legally use propaganda and out and out lies on American citizens without limit or punishment, America gets screwed.
What did we expect, really?

They've found out where the bread is buttered. Nothing's going to change that now.

[maxrandb]

9. I wonder why the media thinks they'll survive when the country gets burned to the ground?

I mean, it's not like Hitler or Putin "spared" the press?

I just don't get it. Do they really believe that they are untouchable.

[NoRoadUntravelled]

11. They'll report on the fire in all its gory detail from every possible angle. They will survive

because humans cannot help but stretch their necks for a train wreck.

[maxrandb]

8. The fucking press

would host a Focus Group of armed Coup leaders in some Dumbfuckistan, 'Murika shithole, so they could opine on how Democrats just don't "reach out" to them.

[abqtommy]

10. After sPUTIN, the U.S. MSM is the best friend that tRUMP has ever had.

[cbdo2007]

12. The media is about to take a HUGE ratings hit when Trump leaves office....

they wanted a Trump win more than anything because they are making hundreds of millions of dollars more off of him than they will with Biden as Pres.

But to be fair, I have read plenty of stories on CNN over the past 6 months talking about how deranged Trump is and that he is a madman and they currently have one saying he is trying to steal the election, etc. But it isn't up to the media to solve this, the people need to solve it and there is no convincing stupid that stupid is not stupid.

[dalton99a]

13. Ivanka will "moderate" him if he doesn't "pivot"

Besides, it is normal that he lies

Very normal for a president

It's all good

[tanyev]

14. Yes. Drives me crazy when Trump tweets some angry nonsensical argle bargle

and the write up in the papers is "President Trump expressed his displeasure over the matter with a strongly worded tweet...blah, blah, blah."

[RicROC]

15. Eric Boehlert is so right.

When some Repub makes some comment about Saint Ronnie, the media nods its collective head without stating that Trickle Down has ruined the Middle Class. ( I call it 'Pass Through Economics' in the sense of feeding birds by giving the horse more corn)

When some Repub gives a compliment to Saint Ronnie, the press fails to mention that he had Alzheimers for the last two years of his administration. (hence, the Presidency was run by non-elected advisors)

When Trump met with the Russians in the White House on the 1st day after Inauguration, leaving no American in the room save for the translator, the press should have demanded to see the notes (along with demanding that Americans are included in any conversation with the Russians)

add your own list......

[seta1950]

16. Exactly

He’s getting his message to the deranged followers through twitter

[samsingh]

17. i don't know why people on air are so stupid - ask these repug traitors everytime they appear

if they themselves won in 2020, why are they assuming office if their argument is the vote is fraudulent? And explain why trump destroyed the post office, lied about the pandemic, and suppressed the votes, removed drop off points in Democratic counties and to explain the 2 dead people that voted repug in Georgia?

[Tommymac]

18. Their bosses are telling them to do this or lose their jobs.

The 1% owns ALL the media.

Nuff said.

[malaise]

23. Correct is

RIGHT!

[samsingh]

26. you're right

[Duppers]

19. Exactly! +100

Thank you, Mr. Boehlert! TY!

[llashram]

20. actually true

a weak MSN has been our downfall as a nation to end up at this point with a deranged and very scared individual screaming he will hold on to the job that he as captain of our ship of state has run unto the rocks.
And showing that he is serious about staging his coup, no holds barred.

Our MSM for these last four years, excepting a few dedicated true journalists, has been weak, weak, weak! Telling his lies with nary an individual in that career saying, mr. president what of the 22,000+ lies you have told to the American people. Do you even care that your lies have seriously damaged our country with internal division not seen since the CIVIL WAR and killed over 350,000 Americans. Many who never should have died. They are still not asking the right questions. Even as people are now walking around D.C. with high powered mags of ammunition to slam into automatic weapons they pull from their stashed cache hiding spots to kill other Americans.

Our so-called 'free media', which has been for many years now infotainment really, has failed American society miserably leading to all this danger and death surrounding one deranged man.

The chips will fall where they may, but we the people will pay the price because of one cheat and his GOP and media sycophants.

[Efilroft Sul]

21. I think a lot of people owe Bill Maher an apology.

He's described Trump's smashing of norms and institutions, and his unwillingness to accept an election loss, as a slow-moving coup for years, probably since 2017. Maher's been asking his "Real Time" guests what they would do if something like the situation we're in would ever come to pass, and both media figures and politicians either thought he was overreacting or never had a good answer for him. If anybody ever took this coup seriously, it was Maher.

[BannonsLiver]

22. Not quite

If Trump is not in the WH on 1/20 after noon then Bill is wrong. Bill said he wouldn’t leave. So the book is still out.

[PatrickforO]

24. This failure began, as most of you well know, when the snake Reagan allowed the

old Fairness Doctrine to die in 1987.

The Fairness Doctrine was born after WWII, and was imposed on the fledgling news networks on radio, and later television, to ensure that the American people would not fall prey to Goebbels type big-lie propaganda. This, and the earlier blueprint of the right-wing noise machine set forth in 1971 by Lewis Powell in his Manifesto to the US Chamber of Commerce, has caused us to have the horrible situation we have now.

If there are are any people reading this thread who have, or will have, ties to the Congress or the Biden Administration, we very much need a new Fairness Doctrine, tailored for cable networks, radio talk shows, and social media. This is a must, and it is a tall order in the face of the First Amendment, but we've got to try.

Because these bubbles are killing us. If Americans understood what a monster Trump has been these last four years, he would only have gotten around 40 million hard-core fascist votes. Biden and the Dems would have swept everything, we would be well on the way to mitigating climate change, we would have healthcare, the forever wars would be done, and the disastrous other policies.

[Tommymac]

27. The TeleCommunications act of 1996 was the dagger. And President Bill signed it.

This allowed the 1% to buy up all major media, tv and radio and print, and combine them into a 7 headed hydra monster.

And create the infomercial 'news' organizations of today.

CNN, MSNBC, Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, AP, all of them are a far cry from the mostly legitimate news organizations they were in the 1990's. Their sole purpose is to make $$$$, not inform the People. (Fox went south when the others went north but the point is still valid.)

Pres Clinton may have thought this bill would increase innovation and lower fees, but he was mistaken.

There is blame enough to go around for all parties.

[Paladin]

25. Couldn't agree more. Notable guilty party: NY Times.

But there's plenty of shame to go around. The mainstream media facilitated trump's insanity from the beginning. No political lunatic ever got a softer ride in this country. Contemptable chickenshit behavior.