Media Still Normalizing Trump’s Crimes And Lies
NBC foolishly decided to allow Meet the Press to air a softball interview with former president* Trump that was full of his usual lies, delusions, and another confession
After more than seven years of normalizing twice-impeached former president* Donald J. Trump’s lies and crime sprees — he has been indicted four times so far and is facing 91 felonies — our mainstream media yet again catered to his delusions and gave him full reign to spread his lies with virtually total impunity and no mention of the fact that he and his Republican (GOP) criminal enterprise are responsible for all the legal issues he’s facing.
Why anyone in the media would give credence or credibility to a soon-to-be felon after being banned from media for his role in fomenting the January 6, 2021 (J6) insurrection, given the fact that he’s running for president again to try and get himself out of this mess when he has no business doing so is a mystery. He should have been banned from ever holding office again after the crime spree that was his first term in which he was ‘elected’ despite losing the popular vote bigly. Trump has no political agenda — he never has — except for exacting revenge on his perceived enemies, illegally enriching himself and his family while in office, and trying to enact his despotic delusions of grandeur.
NBC dispatched new ‘Meet the Press’ moderator Kristen Welker to interview Trump for her first appearance after taking over from Chuck Todd — who also let the GOP ramrod their lies and delusions on that show regularly — where he promptly proceeded to regurgitate his greatest hits and lies with very little or no pushback whatsoever at his Bedminster, NJ estate. The only saving grace from his NBC lie-fest was the fact that he, again, confessed to committing crimes on national television while shooting himself in the foot.
Trump Is Trying To Politicize His Crime Sprees
After the interview had aired without any fact-checking or disclaimers about his endless lies, NBC decided to post an article detailing some of his usual whoppers, but it was too little too late, and didn’t alleviate any of the blowback they’re receiving for airing it as they did in the first place. His usual whoppers included his lies about the election being stolen, lies about Democrats killing babies after they’re born and abortion, blaming former House Speaker Pelosi for the J6 insurrection he planned well in advance himself, claiming he’s not afraid of going to prison despite the fact that it terrifies him, claiming he likes democracy despite the fact that he has done everything in his power to subvert it because wannabe dictators have no place in it, lying about why he’s pushing for Biden’s impeachment over nothing (which is just pure retribution on his part to get even), his usual lies about immigrants, and a few of his other greatest hits.
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In addition to regurgitating his usual delusions, Trump foolishly admitted that he didn’t respect the attorneys that told him he lost the election after which he proceeded to blowing his defenses for the charges he’s facing out of the water, and he admitted that it was his idea to move forward with the lies about it being stolen. Trump doesn’t appear to understand that every time he opens his mouth — regardless of whether or not he’s trying to turn the criminal charges he’s facing into a political matter — he digs himself a deeper hole that will be impossible for him to slither out of.
As noted by Salon, it’s extremely more frustrating watching these things this time around than it was before because Trump is no longer a first-time candidate. He’s just a former president* who’s just another candidate for president and doesn’t deserve to be treated with any more respect than the others, especially since he’s now a criminal defendant in four cases, due in large part to the fact that he’s a sore loser and pathological liar. His profound ignorance has always been an issue too, as are his delusions that he’s above the law.
Instead of letting him run roughshod over her, Welker should have made her audience aware that Trump is facing 91 felony counts, many of which are related to attempting a coup after losing the election and trying to destroy democracy. Instead, she gave him free reign to walk over her and lie his ass off. Trump won’t do regular media interviews unless they cave to the criteria he requests before doing them. That criterion includes asking softball, non-relevant questions that he can easily weasel his way out of. That needs to stop. Media needs to make him answer the tough questions or show the world that he’s incapable of answering them for obvious reasons.
We’ve Paid A Heavy Price For Normalizing Trump’s Criminality
Trump isn’t campaigning for president. He expects the GOP to simply hand the nomination over to him. Consequently, instead of discussing his policies and positions on any issue, he simply repeats conspiracy theories and delusions that accommodate his alternate reality to appease his supporters. Normalizing those delusions and conspiracy theories is what has gotten us in the position we’re in today as a country. Trump isn’t a politician. He’s nothing but a cowardly, self-aggrandizing fraud that has spent his entire adulthood conning others who are too stupid to question who he is, what he does, and what he stands for.
Trump isn’t trying to appeal to all voters. He’s only trying to appeal to his base, which is slowly dwindling. His base consists primarily of miscreants that are unable to think for themselves and believe every lie that comes out of his mouth. As noted by Vox News:
“Sunday’s interview shows that Trump still lacks the vision, understanding, and capability to effectively govern — and that his only goal, as always, is self-promotion.
The interview underscored a vagueness on substantive policy which allows Trump’s supporters and potential voters to read what they want into his statements and feel like he represents their interests, while also letting him double down on election-denying conspiracy theories.”
It appears that NBC may have violated its own guidelines by airing Trump’s lies and delusions without significant fact-checking or warnings, but that remains to be seen. Some of Trump’s bigger whoppers from his Meet the Press lie fest can be found here, and an explanation of how he confessed on air to committing a crime and made Jack Smith’s life easier can be found here. Referring to Trump as ‘Mr. President’ was quite revealing on Welker’s part too, since he’s no longer a sitting president. If the media is going to do more interviews, they need to quit making it so easy for him to spread his lies and delusions and start holding him accountable. Normalizing his criminality for the past eight plus years has come with a heavy price and it’s time for the media to settle up and do what’s right for this country.
