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Vanity Fair / Molly Jong-Fast: We Need to Cover Donald Trump Differently This Time
Vanity Fair / Molly Jong-Fast - (archived: https://archive.ph/6glUk ) We Need to Cover Donald Trump Differently This Time
Every outrage and insult can’t be a five-alarm fire, as it’s critical for the media to stay focused on the most serious threats to America’s democratic institutions.
By Molly Jong-Fast
November 18, 2024
I've been thinking a lot about mistakes I made in my coverage of the 2024 presidential election, writing last week how, for example, I at times allowed wishcasting to cloud my judgment. The point wasn’t mere hand-wringing but to do some accountability before moving forward. This week, I’m going even further back to mistakes covering Donald Trump’s first term in hopes of doing better this time around.
Let’s start with outrage. While outrage is an understandable reaction to a lot of what Trump does and says, it’s critical to differentiate between things that are more problematic in terms of substance than style. I would find myself shocked by Trump’s vulgar remarks about women, which are of course awful, but this behavior is a feature, not a bug, of Trumpism.
The MAGA crowd loves nothing more than owning the libs, and being offended by the rank misogyny coming from Trump and his allies can distract from the GOP’s assault on abortion rights and women’s health care—because you know killing Roe wasn’t the end of it—and the broader threat to democratic institutions, which barely made it through the first go-around. There is a terrifying feeling that the center may in fact not hold, which has to be the focus right now.
Elements of Trump’s agenda, like his administration’s coming war on “wokeness,” whether in the military or education, is bafflingly vague (though one could guess it’ll lead to less diversity). The lack of specificity works to Trump’s advantage, as his supporters can read attacks on wokeness however they want. Going to war on something that’s undefined, that is more a meme or rallying cry or coded language, is an easy way to get your side excited with little downside. One Trump voter told USA Today that everyone in his community “is happy to see the woke agenda ending.” A fake war is easily won and surely Trump will declare victory over wokeness when it suits him.
/snip
Every outrage and insult can’t be a five-alarm fire, as it’s critical for the media to stay focused on the most serious threats to America’s democratic institutions.
By Molly Jong-Fast
November 18, 2024
I've been thinking a lot about mistakes I made in my coverage of the 2024 presidential election, writing last week how, for example, I at times allowed wishcasting to cloud my judgment. The point wasn’t mere hand-wringing but to do some accountability before moving forward. This week, I’m going even further back to mistakes covering Donald Trump’s first term in hopes of doing better this time around.
Let’s start with outrage. While outrage is an understandable reaction to a lot of what Trump does and says, it’s critical to differentiate between things that are more problematic in terms of substance than style. I would find myself shocked by Trump’s vulgar remarks about women, which are of course awful, but this behavior is a feature, not a bug, of Trumpism.
The MAGA crowd loves nothing more than owning the libs, and being offended by the rank misogyny coming from Trump and his allies can distract from the GOP’s assault on abortion rights and women’s health care—because you know killing Roe wasn’t the end of it—and the broader threat to democratic institutions, which barely made it through the first go-around. There is a terrifying feeling that the center may in fact not hold, which has to be the focus right now.
Elements of Trump’s agenda, like his administration’s coming war on “wokeness,” whether in the military or education, is bafflingly vague (though one could guess it’ll lead to less diversity). The lack of specificity works to Trump’s advantage, as his supporters can read attacks on wokeness however they want. Going to war on something that’s undefined, that is more a meme or rallying cry or coded language, is an easy way to get your side excited with little downside. One Trump voter told USA Today that everyone in his community “is happy to see the woke agenda ending.” A fake war is easily won and surely Trump will declare victory over wokeness when it suits him.
/snip
2 replies
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