The Media Fails Keep Coming

Maddow gets it

Getty: Chip Somodevilla/NBC

As I scan the headlines, I’m often disappointed by the media’s coverage of Donald. I can’t forget the damage they did by normalizing him in 2016 and 2020 and it’s hard to believe they seem to have learned nothing.

But after the events of the last couple of days and the alarming implications for women’s reproductive freedom, I’m not just disappointed, I’m angry. I’m sure many of you feel the same way.

Today I’m going to focus my rage and call out the corporate media for this latest example of journalistic malpractice. By the end, you’ll see how together we can save democracy.

The media to fail us in its coverage of Donald and abortion

Just two days ago, Donald put out a statement pretending he had a newfound clarity on the abortion issue. After looking at polls that showed the unpopularity of the extreme anti-abortion measures in the swing states, Donald miraculously discovered that he no longer supports a national ban on abortion. (Just a month ago, however, Donald privately supported a 16-week national ban.) 

Now he says the issue should be left to the states. Of course, the move backfired, spectacularly.

The bottom line? Punting the decision to the states is an invitation for more draconian abortion bans, and the media is largely ignoring it.

After Donald’s statement on abortion, media coverage was pathetic

Donald never deserves being given the benefit of the doubt. Instead of focusing on the fact that Donald has flip-flopped his position on abortion no fewer than 13 times, pundits and journalists failed to hold Donald’s feet to the fire.

Rachel Maddow agreed. On her show, she skewered the press:

“These headlines are exactly what Donald Trump wanted after delivering his remarks on abortion.”

Maddow explained exactly what the media got wrong

She explained that by punting the abortion issue to the states, Donald was really endorsing the anti-abortion measures that were likely to follow.

She then honed in on Donald’s lies about Democrats, something the rest of the media largely failed to do:

“Trump… falsely accused Democrats of executing children… Which has a nice QAnon flavor to it, in addition to being completely, completely false.”

Maddow then proposed her own headlines, based on the truth:

“Perhaps a more accurate headline about Trump’s remarks today might have been… ‘Donald Trump falsely accuses Democrats of executing children.’ Or, ‘Trump abandons previous criticism of strictest state abortion bans.’”

That’s not how it got covered today, which I’m sure Trump is delighted with,” she concluded.

The media largely ignored how the Arizona decision undermines Donald in swing state

Since the media is just too inept to get to the core truth of the issue (or perhaps they simply don’t want to), I’ll do it for them:

By deciding to resurrect an outdated 160-year-old law that bans almost all abortions except when the mother’s life is in danger, the court exposed how dangerous Donald’s position actually is — now draconian religous extremist courts are free to ban abortion when they come in power.

This tragic situation has handed an important and winnable issue to Democrats. Abortion rights groups are now scrambling to get a pro-choice measure on the 2024 ballot in Arizona, which will only serve to galvanize passionate Democrats.

And it gets worse for Republicans.

It’s starting to seem as if Donald can’t stop helping Democrats. Today he tried to stop the bleeding by claiming Arizona’s decision went too far. Unfortunately for Donald, he can’t run away from the fact that he appointed anti-abortion religious zealots to the Supreme Court on down. And the Arizona decision proves why it’s a bad decision to leave women’s reproductive freedom to the whims of retrograde state courts.

But will the media call Donald out for both saying the states should decide and then criticizing the state’s decision in the same breath? They will if we keep pressing them to.

Corporate media misses the worst of it

A day before the Arizona Supreme Court instituted a near total abortion ban, anti-abortion extremists were seen praying in tongues on the state Senate floor.

Despite the fact that 61% of Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, these are the people making our health-care decisions:

2. Donald says states should be able to punish doctors for providing abortion care. It’s not hyperbole. When asked during a campaign stop if doctors should face punishment for performing abortions, he deferred to state’s rights once again.

Here’s the thing, there’s so much more than an election at stake. People will die –people are dying. The victims of rape and incest – including children – are being forced to give birth. If the media continues to get this wrong, we will lose everything we love and care about, including the democracy.

Pressuring the media works

After Donald announced his flip-flop on abortion, one of the most outlandish headlines appeared in USA Today: 

“‘The will of the people’: Trump opposes national abortion ban; says states should decide.”

The headline received wide-spread condemnation, including from the Biden campaign. Deputy Communications Director Brooke Goren reportedly slammed the paper on a press call and called the headline “particularly, egregiously false.” 

After the pressure campaign, USA Today changed the headline. 

It now reads, “Donald Trump says states should decide abortion policy, avoids talk of a national ban.”

When the media gets it wrong, we must speak out.