This weekend much discussion broke out on the Web about why the “legacy” media keeps normalizing Trump while nitpicking Harris. See, for example, this substack article by Margaret Sullivan, who was a media columnist for the Washington Post and before that the public editor for the New York Times. In brief, in the headlines Trump’s racist ranting gets normalized, while Harris is unnecessarily criticized in what Sullivan called a non-story.
There’s not a simple explanation for this. See, for example, Josh Marshall, Yes. Political Journalism Remains Wired for the GOP. Josh says the uneven coverage is not being driven by money or even partisanship but by deeply ingrained institutional culture. And I think he’s right. This has been true for many years, from way before Trump got into politics. If anything, the bias was worse during the Bush II years than it is now, IMO. Remember Media Whores Online? It was all about calling out the right-wing bias in news media. That site went offline 20 years ago.
Speaking of right-wing bias, Kamala Harris has agreed to be interviewed by Fox News. I’m not sure that’s a good idea. But it probably won’t hurt, I guess.
Under the heading Why Is This Election So Close? — The Guardian reports that the app being used to coordinate the Trump’s campaign “ground game” is a mess. The app doesn’t work half the time, leaving the campaign partly blind as to where their canvassers are going and what they are actually doing. The campaign insists everything is fine.
And under the heading What Trump Hath Wrought — FEMA efforts iin North Carolina are being hampered by threats against FEMA workers. One fellow was arrested today .
It's telling that the MSM agonizes over every different subgroup that a poll may indicate is slumping. But when does the MSM cover how well Trump is supported by Nazis, white supremacists, crackpot Christian groups, and the KKK.
"But when does the MSM cover how well Trump is supported by Nazis, white supremacists, crackpot Christian groups, and the KKK. "
Never. Just the other day Stump said he will send in the Army to take out his political rivals, he called them "radical leftists" and "enemies of the people", it got a little bit of press in the MSM but very little and only for a day or two. That is a candidate for the presidency in a neck and neck race if you believe the polls (I don't I think stump is going to get creamed) saying he will use the Armed forces against American Citizens who don't support him, that is the end of the rule of law type stuff, yet oh well just another day what will Stump say tomorrow? Could you imagine the outrage if Harris said the same thing? Who knows why maybe it's the 50 years of the right in this country using the term "liberal media" that has spooked those in the MSM to go easy on them? Whatever it is it is real and I don't see it changing anytime soon.
I suppose Putin is giving Trump a hard time and not just about late payments on whatever back room deals they so artfully made. Putin has to be riding him about how horrible democracy is, because he has to call out the National Guard to take out his political rivals. You can just hear Putin saying things like in my country their plane would just blow up and fall out of the sky. In your country you make these things so hard.
Then Putin sends him selfies with his shirt off and all Trump has is selfies with his new spray tan. No wonder Trump is hateful. He is a certified poor loser and bad sport too. No MSM ranting about that either.
"the app being used to coordinate the Trump’s campaign “ground game” is a mess"
I live in Indiana a reliably red state (though Obama won the state in 2008) in 2016 and 2020 the area I live in (just outside of Gary) was covered with Stump magat yard signs, they were everywhere and Hillary and Biden signs could not be found. Morons had shrines to Diaper Don in their yards, it was insane. This year Harris Waltz signs are everywhere, I have never seen so many signs in yards for democrats it is a complete reversal. Now you see very few Stump signs and most of the ones I do see are the mouth breathing deadenders what have been flying the MAGAT flags for the past eight years. So I guess that is the ground game, it is nonexistent here for Stump and alive and well for Harris. I really think Stump is going to lose badly, his obvious mental decline combined with the fact that he and his loons tried to burn down the capitol in 2021 has got to cost him votes compared to 2020. The economy is good, record employment, record stock markets the only real issue I see (other than Bibi trying to start WWIII) is the fact that Harris is a women, to me that is the real unknown. Is her gender going to cost as many votes as Stump's insanity, I don't think so!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3FQpE99zCo
Way back in the 80s, when Reagan ascended and the conservative revolution was just getting started, Rush and the other loudmouths continually screamed: "Liberal Media!!!"
They bent the media into what it is today. You never hear that phrase anymore, because "mission accomplished". This is how it became "institutionalized".
Others have called it "working the ref". And it worked – here we are today.
Saw this headline today "Trump backs out of CNBC interview, his second about-face with mainstream press this month". He won't give interviews to anything other than friendly outlets yet CNN (who he bashes incessantly) played his softball interview / lie fest in it's entirety today. I can't stomach more than a few seconds of diaper don though what I did watch were the same old lies, no push back. Then I saw an interview on CNN where Jake Tapper tries to press a Republican Governor on Stump threatening to use the military against "radical leftists' Repug gov didn't answer the question instead he said diaper don was talking about and I quote the "10 million illegal immigrants who cross the border everyday" Tapper read a response on the teleprompter never thinking about 10 million immigrants a day, that would fucking double the population of this country in a month yet professional "journalist" Tapper just continues on with his canned pre-written interview, my fucking head almost exploded! I can't wait until this election is over, I voted today, straight Democratic.