tRump's success at a fifty-year con and counting can be laid 100% at the feet of a complaisant media, as w/o the support of the gullible and the cynical press, he would be nowhere close to the power he has accrued...the cited article by the incorrigible Nate Cohn is but one example of what we rightfully call today "sanewashing", and there is ZERO signs of any meaningful change in tRump coverage as we and the media move zombie-like into tRump 2.0.
Thank you for this truly insightful statement with practical implications. I am cynical that it will go much further than 'preaching to the choir' and change anything however I wish it could.
Paul Krugman wrote his last column for the NYT. That should speak volumes. Corp media is now trump media. They may as well be fox. But corp media's audience is shrinking while alternative outlets that cover trump in the manner you advocate are sprouting and growing. There is hope.
Trump is a con artist just like Jim Bakker of PTL club and Heritage USA. All of the TV evangelist who prayed over him are also con artist who saw him as a compadre. He realized the religious con produces the most loyal victims and MAGA is a religious not political cult. Trump is great at the religious con but he really enjoys being the mafia crime boss just like John Gotti and January 6 was the crime boss Trump. Con man is his profession, crime boss is his hobby. He cons people for money, He hurts people because he enjoys it.
I agree that coverage that describes Trump as a con artist would be more accurate and appropriate, but I'm not convinced it would make any difference. Would anyone reading NY Times or Washington Post opinion pieces suddenly have their minds changed about Trump because of that? Would Trump supporters, who are much less likely to be reading those publications to begin with, come around because Nate Cohn says Trump's a con? Color me skeptical. That's not to say they shouldn't be as accurate as possible in how they write about Trump, but to suggest it would make a difference feels like extremely wishful thinking.
One of Trump’s most despicable practices was to do business with smaller companies knowing they couldn’t fight back when he stiffed them. For example back in the day my good friend's relative had a uniform company. They were thrilled to get a contract to provide uniforms to Trump’s company which they delivered on. He refused to pay them or return the uniforms they had supplied. When they consulted a law firm about suing they were told Trump was notorious for refusing to pay vendors and that if they sued his lawyers would drag it out so long they would go broke. As it was their family business almost went under because of that criminal.
It was obvious in 2015-16 that there was nothing to the guy, and then he played president on TV for four years. For reasons directly related to corporate media failures, he got renewed for another season by people who paid no attention to facts and just voted their feelings.
Good for you, Mr. Froomkin. I only wish someone in a position to do something were listening.
After ten years of unrelenting 24/7 coverage of the felon fpotus, to know it's going to continue incessantly is nauseating. The major media press reports on every single utterance and post of his, relishing both the sycophantic replies, and the outrage. Report on his hideous actions, yes. But who cares what the fpotus says about anything that pops into his brain dead skull? Just ugh. I trust my favorite Substack writers to talk about what we can do to resist the worst of Project 2025’s agenda. Meanwhile, I am also back to reading books - biographies, travel, fiction, anything
Very relevant very obvious and traditional broadcast channels and certainly the cable and Internet generally has no use for context. They prefer to pretend that day today nothing much has changed. It’s just more of the same odd stuff.
I agree framing trump as a huckster instead of a politician is more likely to raise awareness of the mistake voters have made in supporting him. But (1) people find it difficult to admit they’ve gotten cheated. (2) They may still think, “I’m not the type trump will cheat—I’m (fill in the blank here) smarter than that…white… of the donor class, etc…) (3) And will their love of Authoritarian Big Daddy overcome almost subconscious concerns lurking below their limited self-awareness? I have to confess as I’ve observed of these people—some in my own family! I’m skeptical. This stuff is buried deep and many people stop thinking deep thoughts after age 30.
Dan, you are 100% correct in your analysis. But I fear that you are a shouting into the wind. The corporate media thinks that if they are neutral or nice on Trump they will be spared the concentration camp. They are wrong. And they will not see it coming.
Most New Yorkers knew this before Trump ran for president the first time. Former Mayor Mike Bloomberg said about Trump in a speech, "I know a con when I see one." It was obvious then, and is more obvious now. Why is it so hard for his supporters to see this? (That's a rhetorical question but still . . . ) PT Barnum said something like "there's a sucker born every minute." Truth!
tRump's success at a fifty-year con and counting can be laid 100% at the feet of a complaisant media, as w/o the support of the gullible and the cynical press, he would be nowhere close to the power he has accrued...the cited article by the incorrigible Nate Cohn is but one example of what we rightfully call today "sanewashing", and there is ZERO signs of any meaningful change in tRump coverage as we and the media move zombie-like into tRump 2.0.
Thank you for this truly insightful statement with practical implications. I am cynical that it will go much further than 'preaching to the choir' and change anything however I wish it could.
Paul Krugman wrote his last column for the NYT. That should speak volumes. Corp media is now trump media. They may as well be fox. But corp media's audience is shrinking while alternative outlets that cover trump in the manner you advocate are sprouting and growing. There is hope.
I think he now feels liberated because his Substack is much more pointed than he ever was at the Times.
Trump is a con artist just like Jim Bakker of PTL club and Heritage USA. All of the TV evangelist who prayed over him are also con artist who saw him as a compadre. He realized the religious con produces the most loyal victims and MAGA is a religious not political cult. Trump is great at the religious con but he really enjoys being the mafia crime boss just like John Gotti and January 6 was the crime boss Trump. Con man is his profession, crime boss is his hobby. He cons people for money, He hurts people because he enjoys it.
I agree that coverage that describes Trump as a con artist would be more accurate and appropriate, but I'm not convinced it would make any difference. Would anyone reading NY Times or Washington Post opinion pieces suddenly have their minds changed about Trump because of that? Would Trump supporters, who are much less likely to be reading those publications to begin with, come around because Nate Cohn says Trump's a con? Color me skeptical. That's not to say they shouldn't be as accurate as possible in how they write about Trump, but to suggest it would make a difference feels like extremely wishful thinking.
One of Trump’s most despicable practices was to do business with smaller companies knowing they couldn’t fight back when he stiffed them. For example back in the day my good friend's relative had a uniform company. They were thrilled to get a contract to provide uniforms to Trump’s company which they delivered on. He refused to pay them or return the uniforms they had supplied. When they consulted a law firm about suing they were told Trump was notorious for refusing to pay vendors and that if they sued his lawyers would drag it out so long they would go broke. As it was their family business almost went under because of that criminal.
It was obvious in 2015-16 that there was nothing to the guy, and then he played president on TV for four years. For reasons directly related to corporate media failures, he got renewed for another season by people who paid no attention to facts and just voted their feelings.
Good for you, Mr. Froomkin. I only wish someone in a position to do something were listening.
After ten years of unrelenting 24/7 coverage of the felon fpotus, to know it's going to continue incessantly is nauseating. The major media press reports on every single utterance and post of his, relishing both the sycophantic replies, and the outrage. Report on his hideous actions, yes. But who cares what the fpotus says about anything that pops into his brain dead skull? Just ugh. I trust my favorite Substack writers to talk about what we can do to resist the worst of Project 2025’s agenda. Meanwhile, I am also back to reading books - biographies, travel, fiction, anything
....but vapid articles and "news" about every tiny thing that monster says. (I hit the send button too soon)
Very relevant very obvious and traditional broadcast channels and certainly the cable and Internet generally has no use for context. They prefer to pretend that day today nothing much has changed. It’s just more of the same odd stuff.
I agree framing trump as a huckster instead of a politician is more likely to raise awareness of the mistake voters have made in supporting him. But (1) people find it difficult to admit they’ve gotten cheated. (2) They may still think, “I’m not the type trump will cheat—I’m (fill in the blank here) smarter than that…white… of the donor class, etc…) (3) And will their love of Authoritarian Big Daddy overcome almost subconscious concerns lurking below their limited self-awareness? I have to confess as I’ve observed of these people—some in my own family! I’m skeptical. This stuff is buried deep and many people stop thinking deep thoughts after age 30.
Dan, you are 100% correct in your analysis. But I fear that you are a shouting into the wind. The corporate media thinks that if they are neutral or nice on Trump they will be spared the concentration camp. They are wrong. And they will not see it coming.
Most New Yorkers knew this before Trump ran for president the first time. Former Mayor Mike Bloomberg said about Trump in a speech, "I know a con when I see one." It was obvious then, and is more obvious now. Why is it so hard for his supporters to see this? (That's a rhetorical question but still . . . ) PT Barnum said something like "there's a sucker born every minute." Truth!
Right on! The NY media was complicit in 2016. They’d known him for decades and still didn’t let the rest of the country know.
💯