Another Offensive Trump Remark, Another MRC Distraction-And-Whataboutism Campaign

As its whitewash-and-distraction responses to his “vermin” and “poisoning the blood” remarks demonstrate, The Media Research Center is quite used to covering up for Donald Trump’s more extreme outbursts. When Trump declared he’d be a “dictator” (but only for a day, he claimed) if re-elected, it was time for more damage control from the MRC. Curtis Houck immediately played whataboutism in a Dec. 6 post:

On Tuesday night during a taped interview with Fox’s Sean Hannity, former President Trump refused to directly answer questions about whether he’d abuse presidential powers and/or break the law if he received a second term. In turn, ABC, CBS, and NBC naturally latched onto that to hyperventilate into their proverbial brown paper bags and thus downplay President Biden admitting he wouldn’t be seeking a second term if Trump weren’t in the race.

ABC’s Good Morning America played all apocalyptic and solemn. Co-host and former Clinton official George Stephanopuolos huffed in an opening tease Trump “refuse[d] to rule out abusing the power of the presidency, if elected back into the White House” while brushing off Biden’s admission him being “candid.”

Stephanopoulos added at the start of the lead-off segment that Trump “refusing to rule out abusing the power of the presidency” was “the latest in a string of dangerous threats.”

This gave way to chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl, who also has a new anti-Trump book to sale (following his previous two on Trump) and thus requires copious amounts of Trump doomsday talk:

[…]

Karl reacted with more kvetching about this being “just the latest comment from the former President that’s raised alarms about what he would do if he makes it back to the White House and it comes as Joe Biden is making the threat Trump poses to democracy a big part of his campaign message.”

Instead of even suggesting one take on Biden’s comments could be harmful to undecided voters, Karl suggested there’s no there there since Biden “later clarified…that he would still be running even if Trump dropped out.”

Jorge Bonilla whined (with added whataboutism) that people talked about Trump’s statement in a Dec. 7 post:

The major evening network newscasts each melted down over former President’s “Day One Dictator” joke during a town hall event with Fox News host Sean Hannity, seizing on the remarks to further push a “threats to democracy” narrative. Only one of these networks was honest enough to show that the purpose of such coverage was to pushing Biden taking points.

[…]

All three networks, to wit: ABC, CBS and NBC, did some manner of this report. There is the anchor’s nervous framing of the story as an ATTACK ON DEMOCRACY!!11!!11!, a replay of the same portion of the Trump-Hannity town hall, and a correspondent’s close with brow that is furrowed. 

But, as we learned, the report is merely a conveyance with which to push Team Biden’s talking points. ABC were the only ones to do so transparently and with full disclosure.

Mark Finkelstein expressed annoyance that people were continuing to talk about Trump in another Dec. 7 post:

For the liberal media, any occasion is good if it can be used to bash Donald Trump. And so it was that on Thursday’s Morning Joe, historian and occasional Biden speechwriter Jon Meacham used the occasion of December 7th, the 82nd anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, to draw a strained analogy to the challenge facing America in the face of Trump with call outs to threats to democracy and dictatorship.

Give Meacham credit: the liberal media’s Trump = Hitler analogies have become so commonplace that we have largely become inured to them. So, Trump = Hirohito/Tojo might be seen as a refreshing change of villain! 

[…]

Regular viewers of Morning Joe know that “fascism” and “fascist” were Joe Scarborough’s words of choice when describing Trump. Earlier in Thursday’s show, Meacham said he agreed with Chris Christie when, during last night’s GOP primary debate, he called on people to take the threat of Trump seriously when he speaks of being a “dictator.”

And, of course, there’s the liberal media’s drumbeat that the election of Trump spells the end of democracy in America.

Clay Waters groused the “dictator” remark was brought up again in a Dec. 12 post:

Trump (Second-Term) Derangement Syndrome was on display in a very special issue of The Atlantic monthly magazine, dated January/February 2024 (see “The Atlantic Melts Down at a Second Trump Term”), and the PBS-aired interview show Amanpour & Co. was on top of it, hosting Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg.

The Atlantic had tilted to the left under Goldberg, who also hosted the newly christened Washington Week with The Atlantic, the ostensibly balanced weekly political chat that aired on PBS.

[…]

he really bore down in her introduction to liberal journalist Walter Isaacson’s interview with liberal journalist Goldberg, on this tax-supported replay of a CNN International show.

“Now, talking of democracy, the United States has a hard time being that standard bearer,” she chided, “as Donald Trump is doubling down on his vision of being a dictator.”

[…]

“If Trump were a registered Democrat and did what he did, we would say the same thing,” Goldberg claimed with no way to prove it.

Tim Graham spent his Dec. 15 column whining that President Biden doesn’t offer much press access, and served up Trump as a counter-example (while baselessly claiming Trump’s remark was a “joke”):

Donald Trump runs circles around Biden in granting access to TV and print outlets. Nobody in his circle seems to restrict his access or protect him from outbursts and gaffes. The pro-Biden outlets thrive on his comments, like the “dictator for a day” joke to Sean Hannity.

Given how much time the MRC spends on defending and deflecting Trump’s remarks, it’s clear Graham and Co. are in Trump’s circle. He also whined that the media has “shown zero interest in Biden doing a debate with Rep. Dean Phillips or Marianne Williamson,” even though his employer has been largely silent on Trump refusing to take part in any debate.