Eric Boehlert: Sorry CNN, Trump voters don't deserve "sympathy" [View all]

[babylonsister]

https://pressrun.media/p/sorry-cnn-trump-voters-dont-deserve

Sorry CNN, Trump voters don't deserve "sympathy"
Don't absolve dangerous behavior
Eric Boehlert
1 hr ago


Since Trump's lopsided re-election loss, his supporters have been loudly denouncing the results as a fraud. Tens of millions of them think the election was stolen and that a sprawling criminal conspiracy has denied Trump a second term. Some have made threats on public officials who have overseen the careful counting of votes — even threatening Republican office holders who don't back Trump's fantasy of a "stolen" election.

Cheered on by his relentless propaganda campaign to denigrate free and fair elections, Trump voters are at the forefront of a radical and dangerous political movement designed to undermine democracy. And that's when they're not busy dismissing as a "hoax" the deadly Covid-19 pandemic, staging public tempter tantrums over wearing masks, parroting the rhetoric of a dangerous right-wing cult, or raising $2 million to get a teenage gunman released after he opened fire on a Black Lives Matter protest in Wisconsin, killing two people.

So why does the press so often portray these people through such a loving and understanding lens? And why are high-profile journalists offering public empathy for Trump supporters as they strain public debate to the breaking point by embracing a ceaseless stream of lies? ("There’s millions and millions of Trump votes that were just thrown out." )

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Now is not the time for the media to cast a sympathetic eye. By forgiving Trump voters, the press is also pardoning Trump and the GOP. It's suggesting that in the end, nobody is responsible for the fact that one of our two mainstream political parties now lies about everything, and that conservative supporters eagerly spread those lies every chance they get, thereby attacking our democratic traditions. Soaking up the press coverage, the weird, detached idea is that all of this just happened and it's not really anybody’s fault.

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The conservative movement under Trump is gleefully taking a sledgehammer to facts, to science, to reason, and to common decency. It's all being done by design. The last thing Trump voters who traffic in this awfulness deserve is empathy from the press.