The two cable news networks not Trump TV face a test
Saturday evening. On the print end, CNN notes that President Trump
If that's the case- and it definitivelyy is- the two cable networks not Trump TV have the opportunity to perform a public function when the Chosen One addresses his true believers in Oklahoma. Publicizing tweets from the President is relatively benign. They are not visual, and thus of limited effect; and most voters, including many Trump supporters find them not helpful.
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returns to the campaign trail Saturday in Tulsa with his
first rally since the coronavirus pandemic began, looking to reignite support
for his struggling reelection bid while sweeping aside concerns from his own
health experts and continuing to stoke tensions by threatening protesters
outside his Oklahoma spectacle.
Trump is eager to resume the boisterous rallies that he
believes were key to his 2016 victory at a time when his reelection prospects
have dimmed, in large part because many Americans disapprove of his handling of
both the coronavirus and his response to calls for racial justice that are
gripping this country.
His own plans for the rally -- originally scheduled for
Friday, which was Juneteenth -- the day marking the end of slavery in the
United States -- may have only deepened the sense that the President, who has a
history of making racist remarks and is opposed to renaming military bases
named for Confederate leaders, is out of touch with a county trying to reckon
with its racially violent past. That past is especially painful in Tulsa, home
to a 1921 massacre of hundreds of Black Americans who were attacked by a White
mob in Greenwood, a neighborhood then known as "Black Wall Street"
that was looted and burned....
by gathering his backers at Tulsa's Bank of Oklahoma Center
arena -- an indoor venue that holds 19,000 people -- the President is zealously
flouting nearly every one of the principles outlined by the US Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention for gatherings of people, as CNN's Dr. Sanjay
Gupta noted Friday.
Trump has long demonstrated his disdain for science, reason
and the advice of experts, especially if it conflicts with his political goals.
Even as he commands the highest office in the land, he has skillfully honed his
image as an outsider operating from the inside in the eyes of his loyal base.
Stoking tensions? Out-of-touch? Zealously flouting nearly
every one of the principles outlined by the CDC? As if to confirm fears:
If that's the case- and it definitivelyy is- the two cable networks not Trump TV have the opportunity to perform a public function when the Chosen One addresses his true believers in Oklahoma. Publicizing tweets from the President is relatively benign. They are not visual, and thus of limited effect; and most voters, including many Trump supporters find them not helpful.
But rallies are the President's bread-and-butter. They are
where he shines, albeit in a belligerent, hateful, even cartoonish manner. His
vile nature shines through and energizes his base. The media has
enthusiastically published the anti-police brutality/defund the police protests
also. However, it did not do so from beginning to end; face masks were worn at
the largest of the demonstrations; and they were outdoors, significantly
reducing exposure of participants to the coronavirus.
They were not held in any part to increase spread of the
disease. By contrast, the Tulsa rally is to be held indoors, with air conditioning, which greatly
increases the danger. That suits the President's interest in people dying, but
there is no need for the responsible media to play along.
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