Have you wondered why the media, after hounding Biden out of the race, has suddenly chosen to ignore Trump's obvious cognitive decline? Yes, me too, and finally someone called out the problem. Thank you, Mike Barnicle.
As soon as they got Biden out of the way, cognitive issues were no longer an issue for any of the Beltway press. As Barnicle observed, "And today, we have a damaged, delusional old man who, again, might get reelected to the presidency of the United States. He is that close to it."
He went on to slam the false equivalence:
And I have to tell you, and I hesitate to say this, and I don't know whether Jonathan or Willie or Donnie would agree with me, but there's a false equivalency going on in the coverage of this race, in that Donald Trump can say whatever crazy things he wants to say about submarines and sharks and electric batteries, whatever he wants to say.
And it's not really covered in the sense that it's covered describing who said it, why he said it, and who the man is, Trump, out of his mind.
And always in that story, in the equivalency, the false equivalency by too many reporters and too many American newspapers, there's also, by the way, Kamala Harris changed her mind on fracking.
They always throw in something like that in the coverage of the story.
Well, good for Barnicle for calling it what it is, and on national television, no less. It has been driving me crazy that they literally stopped caring about cognitive issues, which by the way, were and are not a problem for Biden, but they absolutely ignore and even normalize Trump's ongoing craziness, thus enabling Republicans to continue ignoring them while bowing before him.
Greg Sargent picked up on it too, writing: "More broadly, to grasp what coverage of Trump’s mental unfitness might look like, try comparing what little there is of it to coverage of President Biden’s age before his exit from the race. In a useful intervention, the Times’ Jamelle Bouie notes that in the latter case, the media adopted the premise that Biden’s age mattered precisely because it went to Biden’s core mental capacity “to do the job as president,” thus meriting extensive journalistic attention."
He goes on to suggest that cognitive decline is objectively quantifiable, whereas narcissism and incoherence aren't. I disagree with that premise, as he does, in the end. And again, Biden wasn't in cognitive decline during that debate. Read the answers he gave and you'll see he was sharp on the facts, just sick and not able to fire back loudly enough to actually be heard. He sounded tired, not demented. But that didn't stop media from hounding and pounding because they had a bone and by God, they were gonna chew it.
To illustrate, Sargent rewrote 10 headlines from mainstream media stories about Biden to apply to Trump. They're a terrific illustration of the problem we have with media right now.
- Behind closed doors, Trump shows signs of slipping
- Why the dishonesty issue hurts Trump so much more than Harris
- A claim about transgender Americans puts Trump’s relentless lying back at the center of 2024
- Trump’s penchant for unintelligible rambling back in spotlight after verbal tirades
- Erratic rants at rallies aren’t just theatrics. They’re a profound and growing problem for Trump.
- Trump’s delusions seen as accelerating; lapses described as more common
- Republicans bungle Trump misogyny concerns, some critics say
- Trump campaign again forced into damage control to dispel concerns about his abusiveness and incoherence
- Trump dismisses questions about mental soundness in interview as he tries to salvage election effort
- Trump at 78: Forceful and aggressive, but sometimes confused and addled
These stories came from all of the top media outlets - Politico, LA Times, AP, Reuters, Washington Post, CNN, New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Clearly they could just as easily apply to Trump as they did to Biden, but no one is writing them. Why is that? What spell are they under?
One can only hope some editors at these publications listen to Mike Barnicle.
Hope springs eternal, but reality sings a different tune.
