Sunday's 'Meet The Press' an example of why fair coverage of 2024 election is a pipedream
By Gary Abernathy
Chuck Todd was back to remind us why he’s not missed
All the years that Chuck Todd hosted “Meet The Press” are equal to all the years I refused to watch the show. Before Todd, MTP was my favorite Sunday morning show, especially during the Tim Russert era. But Todd’s blatant partisanship and open disdain for conservatives in general — and Donald Trump supporters in particular —was so over-the-top as to make it impossible for all but Todd’s fellow Trump haters to watch.
When Todd was finally replaced a few months ago by Kristen Welker, I immediately began watching again. Welker is obviously just as liberal as most network news personalities outside channels named “Fox,” but she is much less condescending and snarky than Todd.
Unfortunately, Todd still works at NBC in a role identified as “chief political analyst,” and, just as unfortunately, he popped up again Sunday on “Meet The Press.” Todd immediately dove headfirst into his former ways, this time ripping his own network for having the nerve to hire former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel as an analyst.
In fact, Welker had just finished interviewing McDaniel before Todd came to the table with his usual smug condescension. He immediately ripped into his own network, the one that hands him a regular check.
“There’s a reason a lot of journalists at NBC News are uncomfortable with this,” Todd said, explaining that under McDaniel, the RNC engaged in “gaslighting” and “character assassination” when dealing with the news media. …
“I think our bosses owe you an apology for putting you in this situation,” Todd told Welker during the roundtable discussion that followed the interview.
“Our bosses?” Todd obviously has no bosses.
Actually, NBC owes the country an apology for embarrassingly allowing Todd to so viciously bite the hand that feeds him. How does Todd get away with this? Raising concerns behind closed doors about your company’s actions is one thing. Taking to the platform provided by said company to publicly demand an apology from “our bosses” is the height of arrogance.
But we saw the same thing at CNN when the company brought Chris Licht in to try to restore some balance there. The leftwing employees revolted, and Licht was soon gone.
The whole thing raises the legitimate question of how media organizations such as NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN and MSNBC plan to cover the coming election with even a modicum of fairness. Todd’s complaint is that McDaniel was an “election denier” who helped fan the flames against accepting the results of the 2020 election, and as such should not be given a forum.
Most Americans — including me — accept the fact that Joe Biden won the election. But there are millions of Americans who think there was, if not outright fraud, at least last-minute rule changes designed to hurt Trump and help Joe Biden. And if millions of Americans choose to believe fraud was involved, what are we doing — banning them from social media? Refusing to interview them on television? Treating them like they don’t exist — or exist only to be ridiculed?
What were the consequences paid by the millions of Americans who refused to accept Trump’s election in 2016? What happened to those who falsely claimed that Trump colluded with Russia to win the presidency? Well, in most cases, they’re still hosting news shows and serving as analysts on roundtables.
In its story about Todd’s complaints, CNN actually wrote this: “It is unusual and widely considered unethical for a news organization to put an election denier on its payroll, never mind someone who for years has smeared the credibility of the organization and its journalists.”
What? Who made that rule? Where and when does this group of deciders meet, the ones who determine what’s “widely considered unethical?”
I’ve been clear about my disappointment in Trump’s actions following the results of the 2020 election. He and the country would have been better off had he accepted the outcome, whether there were legitimate complaints or not. He would be in a much stronger position going into the 2024 election. As it stands, he is not the strongest nominee the GOP could have come up with for November.
But Trump is the Republican nominee, and Americans deserve fair and balanced coverage of the presidential race. It is against the backdrop of Chuck Todd’s meltdown on “Meet The Press” on Sunday that one may well ask how the coming election between Biden and Trump can be covered in any way that approaches fairness and balance. If Todd gets his way, anyone supporting Trump will either not be allowed to have airtime in the first place, or raked over the coals immediately after their appearance.
The notion that anyone who denies or questions the 2020 election should be banned from the traditional news shows is stunning. Freedom and diversity of thought and expression are concepts being trampled by the very media outlets that once — a long, long time ago — were expected to protect and defend them.
Trump is hardly a failed businessman, but some in the New York court system want to bring him down
The announcement last week that Truth Social, Donald Trump’s challenge to X (formerly Twitter), has completed a merger with Digital World Acquisition Corporation was another example of how the media’s anti-Trump narrative seldom jibes with reality.
The deal will net Trump more than $3 billion — an impressive haul, especially considering that most analysts say Truth Social is worth nowhere near that amount. But Trump’s business acumen is clearly much greater than the portrait of the bumbling failure that his media critics love to paint. Whether you think Trump is being rescued by a friendly donor or is the beneficiary of a cozy personal relationship, guess what — relationships are how business works in this world. It’s part of being a savvy dealmaker.
In late 2023, Forbes broke down Trump’s assets, and it’s worth a look, item by item, as a reminder of just how much Trump owns in real estate, media holdings and personal assets — the vast majority of it in a healthy “in the black” position. We should all be lucky enough to be as much of a “failed businessman” as Trump.
Meanwhile, everyone was waiting Monday to see if Trump could come up with the hundreds of millions of dollars being demanded of him from a nonsensical judgment in New York over his valuing of assets in which no one lost money or complained in any way about being harmed by their dealings with Trump. Hopefully, a higher court will step in and put a stop to the manipulation of the court system to “get Trump.”
Watching New York Attorney General Letitia James and Justice Arthur Engoron team up — with no jury — to destroy Trump in a case that even the New York Times admitted was made possible only by “a little-known 70-year-old state law” tests the credibility of those who might claim it wasn’t all just political and personal. All Americans should hope that a higher court will bring some sanity to play.
Click the link below to watch Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary try to explain how ludicrous it all is during a CNN appearance.
https://twitter.com/KanekoaTheGreat/status/1770158079763783974
Enquirer columnist looks at my new ‘MAGA’ book
Cincinnati Enquirer columnist and former Associated Press reporter Dan Sewell wrote a piece about my new book, “MAGA Republicans Are Already Normal — And Other Shocking Notions.”
His column, headlined “MAGA chronicler: ‘Trump supporters aren’t going away,’” appeared online Thursday and in the Enquirer’s Sunday print edition.
From the column:
His newspaper became one of the first in the nation to endorse Trump for president. That led to a role for him with The Washington Post as a columnist offering a voice from Trump Country, helping bring a different perspective to The Post’s readership.
He’s put together his Trump-era columns into a new book: "MAGA Republicans Are Already Normal … And Other Shocking Notions." He defends MAGA partisans as "honest, hard-working, patriotic citizens" who get disparaged in the broader news media as cultish threats to democracy.
It was a good, fair and accurate column but, being an opinion piece, Dan rightfully inserted his two cents. After noting that I often wrote about the need for more civility in politics, Dan wrote:
However, I don’t see that happening anytime soon as long as MAGA is led by someone who mocks the current president’s stutter, refers to migrants as "vermin," talks of being "dictator for a day," and calls the humble practitioners of journalism "criminals."
MAGA people might already be normal, as Abernathy contends, but their leader isn’t.
There’s plenty of room in our world for opinions about Trump such as those held by Dan. There’s also room for the point of view of people who feel differently. That’s what makes the world go ‘round. When did we lose the ability to respect each other’s right to disagree?
Thanks for the column, Dan.
Talking ‘MAGA’ book on Chicago’s ‘Beyond the Beltway’
It was good to be back on the Chicago-based “Beyond the Beltway” syndicated radio show and podcast a couple of weeks ago to discuss politics and also talk about “MAGA Republicans Are Already Normal.” Here’s a link.
I talked with host Bruce DuMont about Amazon’s ongoing refusal to allow me to advertise the book. “Abernathy Road” readers will recall that while Amazon finally agreed to make the book available for purchase, the company has refused to allow me to buy a standard advertising package that it offers to virtually all authors on its platform.
Here was Amazon’s latest reason, via email on March 18: “We've determined that the book you want to advertise contains restricted political content. We don't allow books regarding candidates, parties, or issues during an election year.”
Seriously? Because such books are… timely? Important? Of interest? “We don’t allow books regarding candidates, parties, or issues during an election year.” So, maybe if it wasn’t, you know, an election year, it would be ok. Amazing.
Again, there’s no doubt that if my book was titled, “MAGA Republicans Are A Threat to Democracy,” it would have sailed right through.
Get it while you can (and while Amazon lets you): ‘MAGA Republicans Are Already Normal,’ in print and eBook
My new book, “MAGA Republicans Are Already Normal — And Other Shocking Notions,” is available on Amazon — so far. Buy it here.
Here’s a link to our website dedicated to the book. Please spread the word, because, as detailed above, Amazon is not allowing me to use its ad program to promote the book. Thanks!
Sign up or share this newsletter
Please sign up to receive this newsletter directly into your inbox or, if you are already a subscriber and reading this by email, share with a friend using the convenient button below. Thank you.