Bill Press: Trump’s political survival? Blame the media

Most people today have never even heard of him, but I remember Pogo. During the ’50s and ’60s, cartoonist Walt Kelly’s weekly account of the little opossum Pogo was the most popular comic strip in America, syndicated in more than 450 newspapers.

If Pogo’s remembered at all, it’s for one episode created by Kelly in 1970 to mark the first Earth Day. Out for a walk in the woods to enjoy the environment, Pogo finds it almost impossible to walk because of the trash left behind by uncaring hikers. At which point, Pogo famously laments: “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

It's a phrase aptly applied to litter in the 1950’s. And one that the media might well apply to itself today, given what’s wrong with politics and why this 2024 election is so close: “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

One must always be careful to paint with a broad brush. Yes, there are some reporters who are still determined to tell the truth about him. But the main reason Donald Trump is such a political force today is the failure of the mainstream media to do its job. Instead of portraying Trump as the danger he is, they give him a pass.

Let’s face it. No matter how much he complains about “fake news,” Donald Trump would be nowhere today without the media. He was created by the media. He’s the media’s Frankenstein. He was a second-class developer from Queens until, because of his playboy lifestyle, New York gossip columnists made him a celebrity. NBC’s Jeff Zucker then gave him a national platform as host of “The Apprentice,” a plum post Trump held for 11 years.

We forget. That’s the only reason Trump was able to win the Republican primary in 2016. Not because of any actual credentials, accomplishments, or policy positions. But only because he was a television celebrity. And, as such, cable networks carried his campaign rallies wall-to-wall, while all other candidates were lucky to get their name mentioned in the nightly news.

The media put Donald Trump in the White House. And now they’re trying to help him get back in. How? Not by endorsing Trump, but in more insidious ways. By taking him seriously. By making light of or dismissing his strange and increasingly dangerous comments. And by treating him as a normal candidate.

Wrong! Donald Trump is not a normal candidate and this is not a normal presidential campaign. This is not Al Gore v. George Bush. This is not Barack Obama v. Mitt Romney. This is not a choice between two candidates, one Democrat and one Republican, who differ on policy issues but who would both operate within the bounds of our democracy framed by the Constitution.

This is entirely different, and has nothing to do with political party. It’s a choice between one candidate who would uphold the Constitution and another who would ignore it. A choice between one candidate who would defend our democracy and another who would destroy it. A choice between Kamala Harris, who talks substance, and Donald Trump who talks utter nonsense. Indeed, the closer we get to Election Day, the more completely bonkers Trump gets.

In the last week alone, Trump accused Harris of wanting to ban cows and all new buildings with windows. He called her “mentally impaired,” “mentally disabled,” and “retarded.” He promised to round up and deport 15 to 20 million people who, he says, are here illegally. He demanded that ABC and CBS lose their broadcast license. He threatened to sic the National Guard or U. S. military on those he calls “enemies from within,” like former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and California Representative Adam Schiff. And he spent the first 12 minutes of a rally in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, praising golf legend Arnold Palmer, including the size of his penis.

And how’s the media responding? Either by ignoring Trump’s increasingly dangerous comments or by “sane-washing” them: minimizing his whacky rhetoric to make it sound less scary.

No, no, no. With less than two weeks to go, the media must start telling the truth about Donald Trump. Stop pretending it’s politics as usual. Say it out loud: These are not the statements of a normal candidate. These are the ramblings of a man who’s completely unhinged and unfit for public office. As Barack Obama told a crowd in Madison, Wisconsin, this week, “You’d be worried if grandpa were acting like this.” Don’t let grandpa get close to the nuclear codes.

(Bill Press is host of The BillPressPod, and author of 10 books, including: “From the Left: My Life in the Crossfire.” His email address is: bill@billpress.com. Readers may also follow him on Twitter @billpresspod.)