Time for a 'Cronkite moment'

Network anchors must speak the unvarnished truth about Trump’s mental state

Dear David Muir, Lester Holt, and Norah O’Donnell,

Fifty-six years ago, at the height of the Vietnam War, veteran CBS anchor Walter Cronkite, the “most trusted man in news,” traveled to Southeast Asia to assess the situation for himself.

And upon his return, he felt compelled to speak the truth to the American people, whether they wanted to hear it or not.

In what has become known as the “Cronkite moment,” he solemnly revealed his “personal, subjective” conclusion that the U.S. could not win the war in Vietnam.

“To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, if unsatisfactory conclusion,” he told the viewers. “[I]t is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.”

David, Lester, Norah, you each sit in the anchor chair for a major news network, just like Walter Cronkite did.

With Donald Trump neck-and-neck in the race for the presidency, it’s time for another “Cronkite moment”.

Just as Cronkite realized that events had reached a tipping point and that he could no longer hide behind equivocation, your time has come.

This time, the message -- your message -- must be that Trump’s mental state makes him manifestly unfit for office: That he has become deranged and delusional.

There are, of course, other powerful arguments that could be made for his unfitness -- especially now that his closest former aides have publicly described him as a Hitler-admiring fascist.

He was, by any reasonable standard, dangerously unhinged even before his downward slide.

But the concerns about his mental state are what you should focus on because they transcend politics and should give pause even to his more ardent supporters.

The Broadcast Networks Still Matter

Although none of you is Walter Cronkite, and the media environment is fragmented in ways that were unimaginable in his time, you can still have a major impact.
Broadcast network news – amazingly enough! -- remains the single most widely used source of election news for the American people, according to the Pew Research Center.

And it’s not just Democrats. More than half of Republicans say they get at least some of their election news from CBS, ABC, or NBC. That’s more than any source other than Fox.

That gives you an enormous responsibility, and enormous influence.

Every American needs to hear the unvarnished truth about Trump's mental state before Election Day. They need to hear it from you. And it could go something like this:

The American presidency is the highest office in the land, and one for which we have historically set the highest standards.

We want our presidents to uphold our noblest values, including trust, honor, and generosity of spirit. We expect our presidents to model self-sacrifice, decorum, and self-improvement. We need our presidents to exhibit restraint in the face of provocations, and to serve as a president for all Americans.

To say that Donald Trump cannot meet any of those standards seems the only realistic, if unsatisfactory conclusion, based on the accumulating evidence.

This is not a partisan statement. Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, you should be concerned about Trump’s fitness for this office.

The fact is that he is suffering from an obvious cognitive decline, the function of either old age or dementia. His worldview has grown darker and harsher, his words angrier and less focused. He is even more thin-skinned.

To quote Boston Globe opinion writer Kimberly Atkins Stohr, what is “crystal clear” is “the decline in the former president’s ability to hold a train of thought, speak coherently, or demonstrate a command of the English language, to say nothing of policy.”

Hundreds of health care professionals have warned that Trump’s current condition is worrisome, but he refuses to release his medical records.

The person the nation would look to in an emergency rambles incoherently, is prone to extreme outbursts, and is increasingly vulgar. He digresses into bizarre tangents.

He is also a liar -- either deceitful or delusional or both. He makes up numbers and voices outlandish claims. Immigrants are not, for instance, eating cats and dogs. No one comes back from a day at school having had gender-reassignment surgery.

And it is all to one end: turning Americans against each other. It’s terribly sad.

To those who voted for him eight years ago, or even four years ago, you must know that much has changed since then. In January of 2021, in a desperate attempt to retain power, he led a violent insurrection, ending the nation’s proud 220-year history of peaceful presidential transitions. In 2024, he is unapologetic. In fact, he is unbridled in his desire for retribution against those who he feels have wronged him.

Eight years ago – or even four – he would not have danced for 39 minutes in front of a crowd that wanted him to answer their questions. He would not have talked about a dead man’s genitalia in front of a family audience. He would not have called Americans who disagree with him the “enemies of the people” and threatened to use military force against them.

And thanks to a shocking Supreme Court decision, he now has total immunity from criminal prosecution for any official act – any official act at all.

He is unfit and erratic, and this time around would have no guardrails.

Many voters will disregard all this – maybe even most. But as a journalist, I cannot stand silent. You, the American people, need to know what you would be getting into if you return him to the presidency of the United States.

Thank you and good night.

Cronkite’s moment arguably had a massive impact on public opinion, which eventually turned solidly against the war. It may have saved tens of thousands of American and Vietnamese lives.

At a time when many in America were being lied to by those in authority, it was a desperately needed inoculation of the truth. We desperately need another. Please provide it.

Sincerely Yours,
Dan

See also: "Trump’s mental capacity is now topic one," from Sept. 12, 2024.

A big tip of the hat to NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen, whose tweet about a Cronkite moment inspired this essay.