Double standards in the media for Trump & Harris
Oct 25, 2024 0:10:04 GMT
mollycoddle, katlady, and 4 more like this
Post by aj2hall on Oct 25, 2024 0:10:04 GMT
I agree with the writer, the disparate treatment of the candidates is getting absolutely ridiculous.
Biden's every mistake gets magnified until he's pressured to step aside.
Harris gets criticized for not doing more interviews.
Harris gets criticized for accurately calling Trump a fascist.
Harris gets criticized for not offering enough detail on her policy proposals
But, Trump gets a pass on signs of cognitive decline and his age.
Trump gets a pass for declining interviews and only taking friendly ones.
Trump gets a pass for all of the horrible names he calls people - Lying Kamala, Comrade Kamala, Crazy Kamala, lazy, stupid, low intelligence, mentally impaired, mentally disabled Nikki Haley - Nimbra, birdbrain
Trump gets a pass for all of his vague promises of tax cuts for every group he talks to
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/24/harris-trump-cnn-town-hall/
Something is wrong with this split-screen picture. On one side, former president Donald Trump rants about mass deportations and claims to have stopped “wars with France,” after being described by his longest-serving White House chief of staff as a literal fascist. On the other side, commentators debate whether Vice President Kamala Harris performed well enough at a CNN town hall to “close the deal.”
Seriously? Much of a double standard here?
Somehow, it is apparently baked into this campaign that Trump is allowed to talk and act like a complete lunatic while Harris has to be perfect in every way. I don’t know the answer to the chicken-or-egg question — whether media coverage is leading public perception or vice versa — but the disparate treatment is glaring.
This week, it became simply ridiculous.
Let’s review: First, Harris was criticized for not doing enough interviews — so she did multiple interviews, including with nontraditional media. She was criticized for not doing hostile interviews — so she went toe to toe with Bret Baier of Fox News. She was criticized as being comfortable only at scripted rallies — so she did unscripted events, such as the town hall on Wednesday. Along the way, she wiped the floor with Trump during their one televised debate.
Trump, meanwhile, stands before his MAGA crowds and spews nonstop lies, ominous threats, impossible promises and utter gibberish. His rhetoric is dismissed, or looked past, without first being interrogated.
Imagine if Harris were promising to end the war in Gaza on her first day in office but wouldn’t say how. Imagine if she were proposing a tariffs-based economic plan that economists say would destabilize the world economy and cost the average family $4,000 a year in higher prices. Imagine if she were promising a “bloody” campaign to uproot and deport millions of undocumented migrants who are gainfully employed and paying taxes. And imagine if Harris were vowing to use the military to go after her political opponents, as Trump repeatedly pledges.
One of the things that really irritates me lately about the NYT is that they continue to publish this kind of garbage. Trump gets a pass on name calling but Harris gets called to a higher standard. Trump's own advisors called him fascist, but when Harris accurately calls him that, she's name calling and dropping the f bomb. He completely ignores all of Trump's authoritarian/dictator/ fascist remarks but criticizes Harris for calling him that. Somehow calling someone a fascist is a worse offense than actually being a fascist?
www.nytimes.com/2024/10/24/opinion/harris-trump-fascist-town-hall.html
Then, in answer to a question from Cooper as to whether she considered Trump to be a “fascist,” she replied, “Yes, yes I do.”
Uh oh.
This was bound to be the headline of the evening, which otherwise featured a very familiar Harris repeating lines we’ve heard before. And while the F-word no doubt provided moral comfort for her supporters, it struck me as politically ill judged, for three reasons.
First, like “racist” or “sexist,” the fascist epithet has lost much of its moral force over the years by dint of overuse.
Second, by adopting the term as her own, Harris descended from truth-telling — that is, just noting what Trump’s own people said about him — to being a name-caller.
Third, while Trump can rightly be described as demagogic, meanspirited, authoritarian-minded — even a plain old jerk — most people think of fascist regimes as places where secret police terrorize ordinary citizens, free media doesn’t exist and protest is forbidden.
Things could surely be different in a second Trump term, when he will probably surround himself with less-scrupulous advisers than those he employed in the first term. His illiberal instincts, his self-pitying narcissism, his affinity for strongmen and the unforgivable stain of Jan. 6 are reason enough to deny him a second term. Calling him a name only sets that aim back.
Van Jones gets it exactly right. Trump and Harris are not taking the same exam. Trump gets to be lawless and Harris has to be flawless.
lawless and flawless
Shannon Watts @shannonrwatts
After last night’s town hall, a town hall Donald Trump didn’t bother to attend, Dana Bash reported that her “sources” were saying Kamala Harris hadn’t “closed the deal.”
@vanjones68’s response gets it exactly right:
Biden's every mistake gets magnified until he's pressured to step aside.
Harris gets criticized for not doing more interviews.
Harris gets criticized for accurately calling Trump a fascist.
Harris gets criticized for not offering enough detail on her policy proposals
But, Trump gets a pass on signs of cognitive decline and his age.
Trump gets a pass for declining interviews and only taking friendly ones.
Trump gets a pass for all of the horrible names he calls people - Lying Kamala, Comrade Kamala, Crazy Kamala, lazy, stupid, low intelligence, mentally impaired, mentally disabled Nikki Haley - Nimbra, birdbrain
Trump gets a pass for all of his vague promises of tax cuts for every group he talks to
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/24/harris-trump-cnn-town-hall/
Something is wrong with this split-screen picture. On one side, former president Donald Trump rants about mass deportations and claims to have stopped “wars with France,” after being described by his longest-serving White House chief of staff as a literal fascist. On the other side, commentators debate whether Vice President Kamala Harris performed well enough at a CNN town hall to “close the deal.”
Seriously? Much of a double standard here?
Somehow, it is apparently baked into this campaign that Trump is allowed to talk and act like a complete lunatic while Harris has to be perfect in every way. I don’t know the answer to the chicken-or-egg question — whether media coverage is leading public perception or vice versa — but the disparate treatment is glaring.
This week, it became simply ridiculous.
Let’s review: First, Harris was criticized for not doing enough interviews — so she did multiple interviews, including with nontraditional media. She was criticized for not doing hostile interviews — so she went toe to toe with Bret Baier of Fox News. She was criticized as being comfortable only at scripted rallies — so she did unscripted events, such as the town hall on Wednesday. Along the way, she wiped the floor with Trump during their one televised debate.
Trump, meanwhile, stands before his MAGA crowds and spews nonstop lies, ominous threats, impossible promises and utter gibberish. His rhetoric is dismissed, or looked past, without first being interrogated.
Imagine if Harris were promising to end the war in Gaza on her first day in office but wouldn’t say how. Imagine if she were proposing a tariffs-based economic plan that economists say would destabilize the world economy and cost the average family $4,000 a year in higher prices. Imagine if she were promising a “bloody” campaign to uproot and deport millions of undocumented migrants who are gainfully employed and paying taxes. And imagine if Harris were vowing to use the military to go after her political opponents, as Trump repeatedly pledges.
One of the things that really irritates me lately about the NYT is that they continue to publish this kind of garbage. Trump gets a pass on name calling but Harris gets called to a higher standard. Trump's own advisors called him fascist, but when Harris accurately calls him that, she's name calling and dropping the f bomb. He completely ignores all of Trump's authoritarian/dictator/ fascist remarks but criticizes Harris for calling him that. Somehow calling someone a fascist is a worse offense than actually being a fascist?
www.nytimes.com/2024/10/24/opinion/harris-trump-fascist-town-hall.html
Then, in answer to a question from Cooper as to whether she considered Trump to be a “fascist,” she replied, “Yes, yes I do.”
Uh oh.
This was bound to be the headline of the evening, which otherwise featured a very familiar Harris repeating lines we’ve heard before. And while the F-word no doubt provided moral comfort for her supporters, it struck me as politically ill judged, for three reasons.
First, like “racist” or “sexist,” the fascist epithet has lost much of its moral force over the years by dint of overuse.
Second, by adopting the term as her own, Harris descended from truth-telling — that is, just noting what Trump’s own people said about him — to being a name-caller.
Third, while Trump can rightly be described as demagogic, meanspirited, authoritarian-minded — even a plain old jerk — most people think of fascist regimes as places where secret police terrorize ordinary citizens, free media doesn’t exist and protest is forbidden.
Things could surely be different in a second Trump term, when he will probably surround himself with less-scrupulous advisers than those he employed in the first term. His illiberal instincts, his self-pitying narcissism, his affinity for strongmen and the unforgivable stain of Jan. 6 are reason enough to deny him a second term. Calling him a name only sets that aim back.
Van Jones gets it exactly right. Trump and Harris are not taking the same exam. Trump gets to be lawless and Harris has to be flawless.
lawless and flawless
Shannon Watts @shannonrwatts
After last night’s town hall, a town hall Donald Trump didn’t bother to attend, Dana Bash reported that her “sources” were saying Kamala Harris hadn’t “closed the deal.”
@vanjones68’s response gets it exactly right:
