How should the press cover Donald Trump?

Created
Sun, 08/10/2023 - 10:00
Updated
Sun, 08/10/2023 - 10:00
It’s become a perennial question and there aren’t a lot of good answers. But they should at least try to do something different. I’m not sure I agree with all of these suggestions by Tom Rosenstiel in the LA Times but it’s worth considering. I do think that Trump absolutely must be covered because it’s vitally important that the normal people in this country do not lose sight of what a monstrous imbecile he really is, which is easy to do if he just becomes a regular candidate and they only cover him as some sort of a phantom from a vaguely remembered past. People must be relentlessly reminded of his current statements, which are even worse in many ways than those we recall from the last two elections. He is not a has-been clown we don’t need to worry about anymore, he is running again with a full-blown cult backing him up and it’s going to be close. I have my doubts about what Rosenstiel says about journalists confronting Trump in interviews — he prevails by spewing a fire hose of bullshit that runs over even the best reporters. I think interviews are overrated anyway. They need to cover what he tells his followers and then explain why it’s crazy, stupid, dangerous etc. Anyway, here are his suggestions: Many confronting the challenge of covering Trump conclude that, as a recent column in the Arizona Republic put it, “It’s time to stop giving Trump airtime.” The larger point is that…