The media can’t help but help Trump

I dislike President Trump. I dislike the Washington Post, the New York Times, CNN, etc. and, of course, the Democratic Party considerably more.

I believe there are millions of Americans who feel the same way. That’s one of the reasons Trump was able to win the presidency despite a low favorability rating.

It’s also why the media helps Trump when it claims that various of his comments are affronts to human decency and threats to our way of life. The piling on and obvious exaggeration shifts the focus from Trump to the media. Those of us who dislike the media will be more sympathetic to Trump than we would be if the only issue was what he said.

My guess is that for every three Americans who were offended by what Trump said at his impromptu press conference last Tuesday, there were at least four whose anger was directed at the braying reporters, and who enjoyed watching Trump put them down. Count me among the four.

I may be wrong about these numbers, but this I’m confident of: Trump had already lost nearly all of the points he was going to lose over Charlottesville before the press became hysterical at the news conference for all to see. By becoming a shouting mob, the reporters very likely improved the president’s standing.

Why not just report straight up the comments by Trump that the media considers beyond the pale? If they are genuinely offensive, the public will see them as such. In any case, people aren’t going to be persuaded that they should be outraged based on negative coverage by the Washington Post, the New York Times, and CNN. The mainstream media is one of the very least trusted institutions in America.

The Washington Post’s new, self-righteous motto is: “The story must be told.” I suppose so. But it doesn’t have to be pounded into our heads.

After the election, the mainstream media devoted countless stories to the question of how Donald Trump managed to win. Occasionally, though not often enough, pundits and reporters acknowledged their role and the way Trump played them.

To the very limited extent the media learned this lesson last November, it has forgotten the lesson in the ensuing ten months.

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