Why won’t media sound the alarm that Trump is unhinged?

If you normalize Trump, you’re helping your crazy uncle get the nuclear codes

Convicted felon Donald Trump has said so many crazy things over the years that some news organizations have decided it’s not news anymore. So when the would-be dictator who’s running for president makes outrageous comments, the mainstream media often yawns.

And that’s really crazy.

Because Trump is clearly getting worse. The lies and hate speech are more outrageous, the gaffes more embarrassing, and the rhetorical skills more eroded, with Trump slipping into gibberish. 

Major media are exposing the Trump campaign’s dishonest campaign tactics – from video fakery to email fundraising lies – but they’re not focusing enough on his basic lack of mental fitness. They’re still normalizing him.

Why is that? Here are some theories:

Theory #1: Journalists aren’t clinical psychologists, so they’re hesitant to discuss how mentally disturbed Trump is.

I appreciate that, but I’m not asking for a diagnosis – I’m asking for the news media to warn the public that Trump is too deranged to be president. He’s a loose cannon asking for the nuclear codes. This is apparent to any sensible person who watches a Trump speech.

He incoherently rambles about sharks and electric batteries in boats. He praises “the late, great Hannibal Lecter.” He refers to “Joe Biden’s sinister plan to abolish the suburbs,” whatever that means. He says he’s got so many votes that he doesn’t need any more.

And his lies-to-words ratio has only increased. He keeps pushing the idea of “post-birth abortion,” which does not exist. He claimed that comedian Joan Rivers voted for him in 2016. But she died in 2014, so it must have been a new kind of absentee ballot.

News outlets sometimes report Trump’s whacked-out comments in isolation, but rarely do they put them all together to reach the obvious conclusion that Trump lacks the mental health to be president. A recent New York Times story led with Trump’s ridicule of Biden’s fitness, including the offensive assertion that if Biden performs well at this Thursday’s debate, it will mean he’s on drugs. Only in the 9th and 10th paragraphs did the Times get around to Trump’s “own adventures in aging.”

I want Trump’s disturbing rhetoric cited in headlines, not in the 9th and 10th paragraphs. I want sweeping, hard-hitting stories about how addled he is. 

Theory #2: The media won’t report on Trump’s true mental state because their wealthy owners want tax cuts.

I’ve heard this often on social media, but I doubt it’s true. When I was an editor at major newspapers, I used to joke that people who accused us of conspiracies didn’t realize that newsrooms were too disorganized to pull off a successful plot. Even if media owners would like to protect Trump, they’d have a hard time applying that desire to the everyday decisions made by reporters and editors. What’s happening here seems like a series of front-line decisions.

Theory #3: The media have decided Biden is the old, diminished one, and they’re sticking to that story.

Perhaps some news people think stories about Trump’s problems would undercut their over-coverage of Biden’s age. Or maybe they actually think Trump is more vital because his makeup makes him look more youthful. In the case of the New York Times, there are lingering suspicions that the paper will keep pounding Biden on the age issue until he gives the Times a sit-down interview. The truth is that Biden is old and that Trump is old, unbalanced, and wants to be a dictator. 

Theory #4: Journalists think coverage of gaffes is cheap.

I agree that it’s cheap, and I’m not advocating an obsession over simple gaffes, which everyone makes. Trump seems to realize he has a problem, so he keeps talking about his mental acuity tests. He recently said the testing was done by former White House physician “Ronny Johnson,” whose real name is Ronny Jackson. Trump is giving himself away, but he can’t stop because he’s not in his right mind. 

One aspect of Trump’s rhetoric that’s particularly concerning is his glitching in the middle of sentences. A recent series of words seemed to be “Joe Biden’s forming granting mass finger,” though one observer thought he said “thinkit” instead of “finger.” In any case, it’s garble. There are lots of examples like that, and they seem to be happening more frequently. 

Theory #5: Journalists think Trump’s mental state is not news because it’s just “Trump being Trump.”

Trump has gotten away with bizarre behavior (like doctoring an official weather map) for so long that some journalists may have decided the public accepts it and it’s a settled issue. But just because Trump has managed to overwhelm some people’s capacity for alarm doesn’t mean that alarm is unnecessary. In fact, it’s the only thing that can save us from MAGA criminality. If we lose our standards, we lose our country.

Theory #6: Journalists are afraid of being accused of bias if they report in a comprehensive way about Trump’s unfitness for the job.

I think this is the main reason news outlets give Trump a mulligan on his mental shakiness. Some journalists believe it’s their job to regurgitate what politicians say rather than analyze it. They fail to understand that the value-added of journalism is context and connecting the dots to help people make informed decisions. When news outlets avoid factual analysis, It’s hard to know whether it’s a sincere attempt at fairness or a cynical marketing decision to avoid ticking off customers.

Theory #7: The media are waiting for Trump’s debate performance this Thursday. That way, the public can see for themselves how unhinged Trump is or isn’t.

I’m not convinced Trump will do the debate. It might depend on whether he wakes up that morning and thinks he’s having a gibberish day or a non-gibberish day. We’ll soon find out.