Some journalists seem bored by the biggest story of our lifetimes

It’s ridiculous to dismiss this election as a “rerun” of 2020

At the New York Times, the journalists count on politics for amusement. It’s a sporting event, a cage match. Republicans vs. Democrats, Sharks vs. Jets, gladiators vs. lions.

The folks at the Times have settled down with their laptops and their popcorn and they want a good show. But what’s this? A Trump-Biden “rerun”? How annoying. They’re thinking of asking for their money back.

That’s the impression I got from this prominent Times story and headline over the weekend:

The Times has been on this tack for months now. In January it was “America Stares Down a Trump-Biden Repeat in Disbelief and Denial.” 

And it’s not just the Times. 

Reuters called it “The rematch many Americans don’t want.” The Guardian went even further, calling it “the presidential election no one wants.” And ABC News claimed that “voters said they didn't want a Biden-Trump rematch,” which gives more credence to polls than ballots.

Clearly, the personality-driven news media are disappointed by Trump vs. Biden. They want fresh faces so they can scour the candidates’ old social media posts, critique their fashion choices, and interview their high school teachers for humorous anecdotes.

But when they do get fresh faces, they often blow the opportunity to examine their records. Witness the New York Times’ profile of North Carolina governor nominee Mark Robinson last week. The Republican was described as a “firebrand” and a “fiery outsider” in a Times story that downplayed his hate speech toward Jews and LGBTQ people, his ridicule of school shooting survivors, and his many other crackpot comments. (The version that’s online now is a repair job after the Times was roundly denounced for its first effort, yet even that version fails to say Robinson is a Holocaust denier.)

In contrast, there’s no need for the media to introduce us to Trump and Biden. If you don’t know who they are by now, you don’t care, and you can just keep playing that 3,654th game of Tetris.

But even with ultra-familiar characters like Trump and Biden, a lot of voters have missed key facts. For example, polling shows low awareness of some of Trump’s most extreme statements. If the media are focusing on candidates’ issues rather than their fashion choices, there’s always more to explore. Which is one reason it’s a huge misreading of our political situation to see this year’s election as a “rerun” of 2020.

Yes, the two major candidates are the same, but conditions have changed dramatically in the last four years.

For one thing, Jan. 6 happened. If so many Americans’ minds weren’t polluted by right-wing disinformation, they would see Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election as unforgivable. It’s not just that he’s a bad candidate – he should be sitting in a prison cell right now.

And there’s the Dobbs decision, of course. Trump and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell schemed to put three justices on the Supreme Court who overturned women’s right to control their own bodies. Religious extremists are so excited by this success that they’re targeting birth control and in vitro fertilization. Yet people who believe in abortion rights have become energized too. Abortion rights measures have won in statewide votes since Dobbs, even in deep red states.

Another issue that’s far different from four years ago is the economy. Trump’s bungling and dishonesty made the financial disruption of the pandemic worse. A spike in inflation was a predictable result of efforts to pull the country out of the COVID-19 shock, but prices are falling back in line. Overall, Biden has led a remarkable economic recovery. Both of the major presidential candidates have records running the world’s largest economy, and Biden’s record is far better.

The most important reason that this year’s election is no rerun is that Trump’s dictator talk has gotten progressively worse. It’s clear that this November’s election will be a referendum on democracy vs. fascism. It will be an election to decide whether it’s our last fair election.

Yes, it’s a race between two old white guys we already know. But the choice is stark. When the Times argues ridiculously that neither Biden nor Trump is a “change candidate,” it’s ignoring the fact that both of them have clear visions for transforming American politics.

Biden’s agenda calls for making the super-rich pay more taxes, capping prescription drug prices, restoring abortion rights, addressing the climate crisis and creating stronger alliances to confront the growing threats facing the world’s democracies.

Trump’s agenda calls for him to become a dictator and create alliances with other dictators, as well as to harass his opponents with the Justice Department, send troops into American cities, put millions of immigrants in camps and crack down on the press.

The future of a 248-year-old democracy is at stake. From a political perspective, it’s the most crucial year of our lifetimes.

If you’re a journalist and you find this election boring, you’re in the wrong damn business.