Monday, September 30, 2024

The (Man who Would Be) King's Speech -- Sane Washing through Silence

Over the weekend, Donald Trump gave a pair of speeches filled with lies and violent fantasies, racism, authoritarian and sometimes overtly fascist proposals. That alone should make the speeches newsworthy. We also saw delusions, loss of focus, bizarre boasts and odd fixations, and even moments of unintentional honesty. That too should make the speech newsworthy. On top of all that, we saw dwindling crowds, audiences that ranged from bloodthirsty to apathetic, and people literally leaving from the stands behind him as he was speaking. For a press corps obsessed with vibes and horserace stories, this should of been pure catnip.

To say that the press failed to capture what was going on in their reporting would be a gross understatement. To say that the press in many cases did not even try to capture what was going on in their reporting would be a gross understatement. To get a sense of where the Trump campaign is at the end of September, even at the very least need to look at the more notable moments from the weekend. To get a truer sense they need to be watched.







But at least the America First part is on brand.



Did they forget Trump wasn't supposed to know this guy?

This is a small sample of the videos in this thread. For a better sense of what the speech was like, you should probably click through to the whole list, or even, if you are up to it, watch longer excerpts. You will find that in terms of disturbing rhetoric, or bizarre digressions, or authoritarian language, I did not cherry pick. Having watched these, take a minute and ask yourself what an accurate headline for this might be, then look at how Bloomberg described the event. (From veteran journalist Mike Jacobs.)

But perhaps the worst kind of sane washing is simply acting as if none of this even happened. This is the NYT front page from the next day.


Instead we got a heart-warming and apparently time-sensitive human interest story about Vance's mother.

 

In some ways, Sunday's speech was worse. Think about the implications of this.



A momentary lapse to honesty and the sort of slip that, in a normal campaign, would be sewn to the candidates shirt like a scarlet letter.

Watch the woman in pink on the left. For most of the video, she manages to keep her face hidden. Check out her reaction around the 50 second mark when she realizes she's on camera.

For another unintentionally revealing moment, after you've processed the fact that no real reason was given to lock Harris up, check out what the camera reveals as it pans over the crowd spontaneously chanting "lock her up!"


You'll notice that several of the audience members in the stands behind him have left.

Does anyone actually believe that happened? Is it a lie? A fantasy? Does Trump at this point know the difference?

All of these would be good questions for journalists to be asking. As of early Monday morning, let's see how the New York Times has attempted to answer them.





"All the News That's Fit to Print."
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