The #media has been complicit in EVERYTHING he does! The #media will be complicit in the final destruction of this Republic. And it is NOT far off. But, hey…more clicks, amiright??🙄
Thank you Marc. I don't know if "complicit" is strong enough. The media is owned by the wealthy, almost all of them Maga Republicans, and as owners they select the publishers and editors that will support their conservative, right-wing Maga Republican ideology. It's not a question of the wealthy owners not knowing that Trump is lying. They know. The fact is that they support Trump anyway, for various reasons. 1) They are ideologically aligned with the right-wing, conservative Republicans. 2) They make bigger profits because Trump helps them generate more clicks. 3) They make bigger profits because the one certainty of conservative, right-wing Republicans is that they will provide large tax cuts targeting business and the wealthy. And 5) almost all of the wealthy owners have other businesses that do business with the government, and Trump has made it clear that those business will suffer if the media say anything negative about Trump or other right-wing Republicans.
Under these circumstances it is naive to expect the media to do anything other than do what it can to support Trump. They are not going to criticize Trump. They are not going to defend democracy. They are not going to defend the truth. They are going to do what they can to promote and defend Trump and uncritically repeat his lies. Expecting the media to do anything else is rather silly as it requires ignoring the ownership structure of the media.
Thank you for mentioning Ingrid Jacques. She's either blind or completely complicit in the rolling coup. Whenever we see her photo in the opinion column in our local paper, our blood pre-boils.
Trust me, it is not because they are clueless. They have been complicit in Trumpian scam and tyranny for years. The MEDIA is amoral/immoral as it gets.
Thank you for expressing your outrage about the media's complicity in such clear terms, Mark. Their abdication of their basic responsibilities is a disgrace that is hastening the demise of free speech. Democracy is dying through atrophy under their noses. But do they even care?
ABC News also is complicit when it covers these ICE raids like a reality cops show. Kristi Noem shows up in a bulletproof vest and camera-ready makeup while an ABC reporter excitedly claims that she is on "the front lines." Also there is no fact checking as to whether the detainees are actually criminals or any follow-ups as to whether charges are being filed. ABC News ought to be ashamed to help the Trump administration with its stage managing.
I have cancelled my NYT subscription and never spend any time reading it. Their rich owners like all the others are little weak men with no principles, integrity, morals or values.
These are intelligent people who went into journalism to give the people the "straight goods" (generally), so what's the deal? Why this mush-brain fog where they assiduously skirt the truth that if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck (and so on), well it's a duck. If you don't say so when you know so and your job is to say what you know, you just look dangerously silly.
According to Krugman in 2024 the opinion page editor Kathleen Kingsbury started heavily editing his columns:
“The editing became extremely intrusive. It was very much toning down of my voice, toning down of the feel, and a lot of pressure for what I considered false equivalence.” And, increasingly, attempts “to dictate the subject.” “
“…White House correspondents of the Times in particular exhibited what Krugman called “a real negativity bias. You know, if the price of gas goes up to five dollars, that’s all over the pages. If it comes back down to three dollars, not a peep, right?” “
Here is proof that readers are not wrong to accuse the Times of actively promoting both-sidesing faux balance.
While agree with your main points I strongly disagree with this claim:
“The outrageousness of it took Republican politicians by surprise. They knew hate and lies played well with many of their voters. But they didn’t know anyone could express it so shamelessly and survive in American politics.”
Republicans have been practicing the politics of personal destruction for decades. Lee Atwater talked about their nasty tricks when he was dying. In the 90s they spent a few million of our tax dollars investigating the vicious, cruel, insane slander that the Clintons had murdered their close friend Vince Foster. Most didn’t pay a price because the mainstream “liberal” media chose to downplay their blatant dishonesty and nastiness. In fact Brett Kavanaugh aggressively ran an investigation of that insane lie for Ken Starr the media buried that fact and Kavanaugh has been rewarded handsomely.
Tramp could have, and should have, been easily relegated to also-ran status in 2016. But he manipulated the media masterfully. He got them hooked on his outrageousness, to the point they'd have painful withdrawals without him. They became willful conspirators in his rise. Unabashedly complicit, as he is a revenue source for them. I almost have to admire his skill in how thoroughly he's pimped them.
On the other hand, I'm baffled at how Democrats also fell under his spell. They are in no way an effective opposition party. They're more reminiscent of a whipped dog, tail tucked and whimpering. It's not just sad, it's terrifying. I see no institutional framework in place to push back against this narcissistic neo-fuhrer, and I'm at a loss. The future could easily take a very dark turn and we are utterly exposed. How easily our facade of superiority has crumbled.
The #media has been complicit in EVERYTHING he does! The #media will be complicit in the final destruction of this Republic. And it is NOT far off. But, hey…more clicks, amiright??🙄
The media are not clueless but they are shameless.
The whole idea of Truth in this country has no reality for a lot of folks.
Chief among them , the media.
The media has joined the “ Lie”.
They will shine it up and smooth it out but it’s still a lie.
We don’t need to talk about degree of “ lie”.
I guess this is becoming the norm, but what’s going on in this country has never been more newsworthy.
These people are blowing off their opportunity to stand for the truth.
But mediocrity demands a soft landing. Pitiful and purposeful.
"this is becoming the norm" has been the norm for years.
Thank you for calling out the media complicity.
Thank you Marc. I don't know if "complicit" is strong enough. The media is owned by the wealthy, almost all of them Maga Republicans, and as owners they select the publishers and editors that will support their conservative, right-wing Maga Republican ideology. It's not a question of the wealthy owners not knowing that Trump is lying. They know. The fact is that they support Trump anyway, for various reasons. 1) They are ideologically aligned with the right-wing, conservative Republicans. 2) They make bigger profits because Trump helps them generate more clicks. 3) They make bigger profits because the one certainty of conservative, right-wing Republicans is that they will provide large tax cuts targeting business and the wealthy. And 5) almost all of the wealthy owners have other businesses that do business with the government, and Trump has made it clear that those business will suffer if the media say anything negative about Trump or other right-wing Republicans.
Under these circumstances it is naive to expect the media to do anything other than do what it can to support Trump. They are not going to criticize Trump. They are not going to defend democracy. They are not going to defend the truth. They are going to do what they can to promote and defend Trump and uncritically repeat his lies. Expecting the media to do anything else is rather silly as it requires ignoring the ownership structure of the media.
There are exceptions, of course. The Guardian, for one. And ProPublica. And the outfit I write for, Courier. But I take your point.
The NYT has been suffering from an identity crisis for a very long time. They don't know who they are or what they are supposed to do.
This is why I only read the New York Times for the obituaries.
I can think of a fairly long list of names I'd like to see there ...
Dozens and dozens
Thank you for mentioning Ingrid Jacques. She's either blind or completely complicit in the rolling coup. Whenever we see her photo in the opinion column in our local paper, our blood pre-boils.
Trust me, it is not because they are clueless. They have been complicit in Trumpian scam and tyranny for years. The MEDIA is amoral/immoral as it gets.
Thank you for expressing your outrage about the media's complicity in such clear terms, Mark. Their abdication of their basic responsibilities is a disgrace that is hastening the demise of free speech. Democracy is dying through atrophy under their noses. But do they even care?
And one more thing, you short-sighted accountants and publishers who run our mainstream media: democracy dies behind paywalls.
ABC News also is complicit when it covers these ICE raids like a reality cops show. Kristi Noem shows up in a bulletproof vest and camera-ready makeup while an ABC reporter excitedly claims that she is on "the front lines." Also there is no fact checking as to whether the detainees are actually criminals or any follow-ups as to whether charges are being filed. ABC News ought to be ashamed to help the Trump administration with its stage managing.
I didn’t know who Ingrid Jacques is. But I read this piece in USA Today - https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2025/03/06/trump-speech-dj-daniel-cancer-survivor-democrats/81592455007/#. I don’t agree with anything she says! If people really like what Trump is saying, we’ve got to figure out a way to present what he is actually doing and show how detrimental it is and will be to our way of life.
I have cancelled my NYT subscription and never spend any time reading it. Their rich owners like all the others are little weak men with no principles, integrity, morals or values.
These are intelligent people who went into journalism to give the people the "straight goods" (generally), so what's the deal? Why this mush-brain fog where they assiduously skirt the truth that if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck (and so on), well it's a duck. If you don't say so when you know so and your job is to say what you know, you just look dangerously silly.
Gullible, gutless and guileless …. Just put a happy face on the Trumphuk assault on our democracy …. At least they got a story from their “source”…
I urge people to read this article about why the amazing Paul Krugman says he left the NYT.
https://www.cjr.org/analysis/paul-krugman-leaving-new-york-times-heavy-hand-editing-less-frequent-columns-newsletter.php
According to Krugman in 2024 the opinion page editor Kathleen Kingsbury started heavily editing his columns:
“The editing became extremely intrusive. It was very much toning down of my voice, toning down of the feel, and a lot of pressure for what I considered false equivalence.” And, increasingly, attempts “to dictate the subject.” “
“…White House correspondents of the Times in particular exhibited what Krugman called “a real negativity bias. You know, if the price of gas goes up to five dollars, that’s all over the pages. If it comes back down to three dollars, not a peep, right?” “
Here is proof that readers are not wrong to accuse the Times of actively promoting both-sidesing faux balance.
While agree with your main points I strongly disagree with this claim:
“The outrageousness of it took Republican politicians by surprise. They knew hate and lies played well with many of their voters. But they didn’t know anyone could express it so shamelessly and survive in American politics.”
Republicans have been practicing the politics of personal destruction for decades. Lee Atwater talked about their nasty tricks when he was dying. In the 90s they spent a few million of our tax dollars investigating the vicious, cruel, insane slander that the Clintons had murdered their close friend Vince Foster. Most didn’t pay a price because the mainstream “liberal” media chose to downplay their blatant dishonesty and nastiness. In fact Brett Kavanaugh aggressively ran an investigation of that insane lie for Ken Starr the media buried that fact and Kavanaugh has been rewarded handsomely.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a22638554/brett-kavanaugh-vince-foster-investigation
Tramp could have, and should have, been easily relegated to also-ran status in 2016. But he manipulated the media masterfully. He got them hooked on his outrageousness, to the point they'd have painful withdrawals without him. They became willful conspirators in his rise. Unabashedly complicit, as he is a revenue source for them. I almost have to admire his skill in how thoroughly he's pimped them.
On the other hand, I'm baffled at how Democrats also fell under his spell. They are in no way an effective opposition party. They're more reminiscent of a whipped dog, tail tucked and whimpering. It's not just sad, it's terrifying. I see no institutional framework in place to push back against this narcissistic neo-fuhrer, and I'm at a loss. The future could easily take a very dark turn and we are utterly exposed. How easily our facade of superiority has crumbled.