The media’s guilty pro-Trump bias
As you may recall, on November 12th I published an article here in Palmer Report called “The media’s criminal dereliction.” In it I said, “The sad truth of the matter is that the Trump presidency was good business for the American media, and whether they admit it to themselves or not, whether it’s subconscious or not, they would love to see another one. They made a ton of money covering the one-man disaster that was ‘president’ Donald Trump.” Remember that?
Well, recently Media Matters for America printed some statistics supporting my conclusion. In it they pointed out that there is an enormous disparity in reporting what Donald Trump says these days and what Hillary Clinton once said.
Recall that in 2016, Hillary referred to Trump supporters as a “basket of deplorables”? You should remember that because the media was reportedly shocked and outraged that a presidential candidate would say such a thing about some of the American people, and they never seemed to tire of repeating it. In fact they kept repeating it right up until November of 2016, when Hillary won by 3.5 million votes but lost by an electoral college squeaker.
Now, recall that Donald Trump recently went Full Metal Hitler on Democrats, when he said in a public speech — on Veterans Day no less — “We will root out the communists, Marxist, fascists and radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.” Remember that?
Now I will admit, to be fair, that the media expressed a certain amount of outrage about that, too. But tell me something, brothers and sisters, is it just my imagination or weren’t they a lot more outraged over Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” comment than they were over Trump’s Hitleresque “vermin” speech?
Well, if it seemed that way to you too, now there’s proof. Media Matters for America published the statistics. It turns out that the media reported Hillary’s mild little comment far, far more than they published Trump’s disgusting Hitleresque comment.
According to Media Matters, ABC, CBS and NBC “provided 18 times more coverage of Clinton’s 2016 ‘deplorables’ comment than Trump’s “vermin” remark.” Moreover, “CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC mentioned Clinton’s ‘deplorables’ comment nearly 9 times more than Trump’s ‘vermin’ comment.’ And, as if that’s not enough, newspapers reported that Clinton’s “deplorables” statement outnumbered Trump’s “vermin” statement a whopping 29-to-1 across the five highest-circulating newspapers in the United States!
Now that you understand that, maybe it’s not so hard to understand why the media underplays President Biden’s achievements, or keeps referring to his age as a “problem” for American voters, or keeps claiming that Trump is ahead in the polls. Maybe, just maybe, Americans would start mentioning Biden’s achievements more if the media did. Maybe, just maybe, Americans would stop worrying about Biden’s age so much if the media did. Maybe, just maybe, the polls wouldn’t be remotely close if the media stopped insisting so much that Trump is ahead in them.
The media also seems to keep forgetting that Donald Trump is on trial for — let’s call it exactly what it is — treasonous and extremely criminal behaviour that he committed before, during and after his presidency. I call it that because that’s what the media would be calling it if anyone else had done it. Instead they report the current early part of the presidential contest as if it’s a battle of two equals, as if trump is going through some “legal troubles.”
We should never hear that narrative, not once. The media should report the truth and stop worrying about their profit margin.
There is no comparison between President Biden’s bid for re-election and Trump’s egregious attempt to destroy American democracy and take over the country as a self-installed dictator-for-life, and it’s high time the media started making damned sure everybody understands the difference. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.