A Tale of Two Speeches
The press’s responsible handling of Trump’s incoherent speech about US election integrity contrasted starkly with Friday’s farcical WHCA dinner.
Ever since Donald Trump thudded onto the national political stage, the press has had a difficult time handling the frequency, magnitude, and outlandishness of his lies. Trump lies to bolster his ego, to protect his business interests, to tear down his adversaries, and to burnish his political record (“Two years ago, our country was dead. Now we are the hottest country anywhere in the world”). Sometimes he seems to lie just for the hell of it, like when he claimed last year that the White House must mandate the return of plastic straws because paper straws sometimes “explode.” Too often, especially during Trump’s first term, the press let itself be hijacked as a megaphone for his bogus narratives and false information.
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Related Knowledge Center: The White House vs. the press
Whether it’s the Des Moines Register’s publication of an unfavorable election poll, a routine edit of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, or the Associated Press’s decision in its authoritative stylebook to continue to use “Gulf of Mexico,” Donald Trump and the White House have used executive authority and legal reprisals in an effort to punish and suppress press coverage that runs contrary to the administration’s preferred narratives.
Democracy and politics | Signalgate | The CBS submission | Voiceless America
Related Knowledge Center: Free speech and public protest
The First Amendment is facing challenging times: Crackdowns on campus protests prompted both-sides claims of intolerance. Attempts to head off dangerous health misinformation have been characterized as violations of free speech. Donald Trump is publicly punishing news outlets that deviate from his administration’s version of events while privately suing some outlets into submission.
The White House vs. the press | Voiceless America