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Can the Press Prevent a Trump Restoration? (this is how they think)
nytimes.com ^ | 12/8/21 | ROSS DOUTHAT

Posted on 12/10/2021 11:22:22 AM PST by cotton1706

There is a school of thought that holds that if Donald Trump sweeps back into power in 2024, or else loses narrowly but then plunges the United States into the kind of constitutional crisis he sought in 2020, the officially nonpartisan news media will have been an accessory to Trumpism. It will have failed to adequately emphasize Trump’s threat to American democracy, chosen a disastrous evenhandedness over moral clarity and covered President Biden (or perhaps Vice President Kamala Harris) like a normal politician instead of the republic’s last best hope.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: barackhusseinobama; biden; elections; letsgobrandon; msdnc; mslsd; newyorkslimes; nyslimes; obama; rossdouthat
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"But now comes the question: Is that the only thing that a responsible press is allowed to report during the campaign? Suppose, for instance, that midway through the race, some huge scandal erupts, involving obvious corruption that implicates Kemp. Should Georgia journalists decline to cover it, because a Kemp loss would empower anti-democratic forces? Or suppose the economy in Georgia tanks just before the primary, or Covid cases surge. Should civic-minded reporters highlight those stories, knowing that they may help Perdue win, or should they bury them, because democracy itself is in the balance?"
1 posted on 12/10/2021 11:22:22 AM PST by cotton1706
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To: cotton1706

Democracy is in danger if the people choose the wrong candidate.

That’s their point of view.


2 posted on 12/10/2021 11:23:51 AM PST by cotton1706
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To: cotton1706

Ross D can be unhinged at times…sad, really. He’s a smart guy, but he’s so immersed in TDS, etc., that he can’t help himself, it seems.


3 posted on 12/10/2021 11:26:36 AM PST by jjmucr (Ross D is unhinged)
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To: cotton1706

According to the NYT, anyone other than a hardcore Communist being elected to any office is a threat to “democracy”.


4 posted on 12/10/2021 11:28:09 AM PST by rigelkentaurus
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To: cotton1706
disastrous evenhandedness

Yeah *COUGH* I see that all around me when I see the news *COUGH*

5 posted on 12/10/2021 11:28:38 AM PST by ClearCase_guy (Alec Baldwin has killed more people than the Jan 6 protesters. And he will serve less jail time.)
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To: cotton1706; jjmucr; rigelkentaurus; ClearCase_guy
The Media’s Hunter Biden Conundrum
New York Times ^ | Oct. 27, 2020 | Ross Douthat
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3899261/posts

Anybody remember Rossie's follow-up article on the Hunter Biden Conundrum?

Anybody, anybody? - Bueller.

6 posted on 12/10/2021 11:31:46 AM PST by kiryandil (China Joe and Paycheck Hunter - the Chink in America's defenses)
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Please Support FR
Click The Pic To Donate.


7 posted on 12/10/2021 11:33:39 AM PST by DJ MacWoW (The Fed Gov is not one ring to rule them all)
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To: cotton1706

The Constitutional crisis was when a president and a failed candidate used the full force of the government to destroy the duly elected new President


8 posted on 12/10/2021 11:34:06 AM PST by digger48
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To: cotton1706

Yes, mainstream media, keep thinking like that. “Anti-Trump, all the time.” Continue your slide into irrelevance. I expect you to continue with the TDS fifty years from now.


9 posted on 12/10/2021 11:34:12 AM PST by Berosus (I wish I had as much faith in God as liberals have in government.)
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To: cotton1706

Critical thinking and accepting the commonly understood definition of words isn’t a real strong point for the progressive types, is it?


10 posted on 12/10/2021 11:38:33 AM PST by L,TOWM (An upraised middle finger is my virtue signal.)
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To: cotton1706

What exactly is Trump’s “threat to democracy” they keep talking about??? Be specific.

(not you, cotton the article)


11 posted on 12/10/2021 11:41:20 AM PST by Mr. K (No consequence of repealing obamacare is worse than obamacare itself)
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To: cotton1706

There are two narratives.... reality and the one created by the media. Both are very powerful and important to people.

Trump needs to highlight the record and disprove the narrative but I am not sure he is capable of it. Yes, it’s not fair, but there is no “fair” in war and politics is war.

Imagine Trump’s policies and Reagan’s wit and charm. I admire Trump very much for what he accomplished despite the fact that every institution was against him because he did not represent the uniparty but now that we are a year past the election it is pretty obvious that Trump could have won and done the same things with a little softer image. The suburban mom vote is feckless and contemptible to me, but let’s not pretend it is that hard to kiss babies and hand out lollipops. Hell, Oprah has fooled them for three decades by playing the game.

What if? Look at the polling numbers yourself. It was so close that even a 10% shift among these voters and we are not having this conversation today. I admire him greatly, but a key part of leadership and success is doing well (or faking it for politicians) at the things you don’t enjoy so you can get the best result for the organization and win.

National elections (that are fairly run) are decided by those with splinters in their ass. Trump is a master of the Art of Business but he often seems incapable of mastering the Art of Politics. Perhaps the latter is what makes him so good at the first? I don’t know, but he is so authentic he can’t bring himself to fake it so it is not hard for the enemedia to carve off the Oprah voters by spinning the narrative.

I remember the heated discussions here on FR during the second phase of the Wuflu over pollsters and political pundits lamenting that Trump did not appear sympathetic or caring about the impact of the virus. Sure, it was as much bullchit as Bill Clinton’s quivering lip but he won didn’t he?


12 posted on 12/10/2021 11:44:34 AM PST by volunbeer (Find the truth and accept it - anything else is delusional)
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To: Mr. K

It’s codespeak for the Oprah voters..... those feckless spinless mushes in suburbia who were so put off by Trump’s mannerisms and tweets.

Sadly, they are real people who vote.


13 posted on 12/10/2021 11:45:49 AM PST by volunbeer (Find the truth and accept it - anything else is delusional)
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To: cotton1706

Isn’t it the job of the press to report the news, not prevent every Republican from becoming president


14 posted on 12/10/2021 11:51:29 AM PST by ConservativeInPA ("Goats are like mushrooms. Because if you shoot a duck, I'm afraid of toasters." - Joe Biden)
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To: cotton1706
Democracy is in danger if the people choose the wrong candidate. That’s their point of view.

Partner, we are in danger of becoming a free country if the cheating by the DemonRat party does not stop.

There should not be a reason to have the voting ballots sent out by mail.

The only voting ballots should be absentee votes that are mailed out to the military.

Bozo Biden is the wrong choice and he is really a sick man, since he has a lot of issues with the Bleeding Brain aneurysms.

15 posted on 12/10/2021 11:57:07 AM PST by TheConservativeTejano (The Business of America is Business)
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To: cotton1706

What branch of the US government does the Media represent? They seem convinced that they have an active role to play in US elections besides just reporting the News. Getting a little retired of repeating the cycle where every Republican-nominee is a racist/homophobe who is worse than the last nominee who in-turn was worse than Hitler. Whoever runs (if Trump doesn’t) will be “worse than Trump.”


16 posted on 12/10/2021 11:57:30 AM PST by Tallguy
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To: TheConservativeTejano

This article is written by the NY Slimes and that should tell us how slanted the news is these days.

The NY Slimes must have a lot of morons that run the NY Slimes papers.

17 posted on 12/10/2021 11:59:36 AM PST by TheConservativeTejano (The Business of America is Business)
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To: cotton1706

When the pinkos at the NYT say “democracy” they mean one party rule.


18 posted on 12/10/2021 12:06:44 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire. Or both.)
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To: volunbeer
... it is pretty obvious that Trump could have won and done the same things with a little softer image.

So it matters not at all that President Trump did win the election while we watched Democrat cheating, especially in Georgia, unlawfully take it away.

You remind me of the first time I heard Yertle call for comity.   He always attempts to change the narrative and obfuscate issues too.

19 posted on 12/10/2021 12:07:01 PM PST by higgmeister ( In the Shadow of The Big Chicken)
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To: cotton1706

I knew Douthat was a villain back in the Sarah Palin days, when he was casting slurs at her in National Review. He’s gone completely insane now.


20 posted on 12/10/2021 12:16:29 PM PST by backwoods-engineer (But what do I know? I'm just a backwoods engineer.)
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