The fact that it is not surprising does not make it any less disturbing. After President Trump badaulted Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar at a rally on Wednesday night in North Carolina, his crowd of supporters shouted, singing in unison: "SEND NEW!" Then, as Kaitlan Collins reported on the airwave, Trump "stopped for a moment to let this song take hold".
At the end of his program, Chris Cuomo summarized the situation succinctly: "Trump says he wants to make America still great. But what he means is that America hates again
It's not just the mention of Omar that drew contempt from the crowd on Wednesday night. The mention of four other women Democrats in Congress has provoked taunts among Trump supporters. According to the WSJ, the mention of representatives. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib "caused a deafening round of screams and cries of" traitor "and" treason "in the crowd."
Omar quotes Maya Angelou
Responding to the song that broke out at the Trump rally, Omar quoted Maya Angelou,
tweeting, "You can shoot me with your words, You can cut me off with your eyes, You can kill me with your hate, But nevertheless, like the air, I will get up." Omar later
added on Twitter, "I'm at home, in people's homes and you'll have to deal with it!"
>> Related: On Wednesday morning, "The Squad" appeared on "CBS This Morning" for an interview with Gayle King, reacting to Trump's attacks and denouncing them as a "distraction".
Maddow: Trump's racist blast could be "normal news" until election day
By opening her show Wednesday night, Rachel Maddow told her audience: "It's another" you can believe it? "Day in the news." After informing the audience of the song that erupted at Trump's rally, Maddow proposed a troubling thought: "It's possible that this is the new normal for the next 18 months." She suggested that Trump's re-election strategy could simply be to "stoke outrage in every way" wherever possible, in order to galvanize its base.
More on Fox ..
While hosts and guests from other networks expressed their shock at what happened, things were different on Fox. I looked at Laura Ingraham's program and heard her enthusiastically exclaim: "The president was on fire!" And earlier in the evening, Tucker Carlson welcomed a guest
who strangely claims the term "people of color" is a "racist term". Really an alternative universe of news …
Snapshot of America
One of the best snapshots of our dystopian situation is Merriam-Webster. Wednesday evening, the dictionary
tweeted, "The main research tonight, in order: racism, socialism, fascism, concentration camp, xenophobia, bigot."
Cover set to enter the fifth day
Often, with the chaotic cycle of news, it can be difficult for stories – even the most explosive ones – to stick to it. This is not the case with Trump's racist remarks to the four minority women members of Congress. Thursday, coverage of comments will enter the fifth day.
Trump "considers his attacks on the four women of color in Congress a frantic political success," reported Kevin Liptak and Kaitlan Collins of CNN on Wednesday. Indeed, Trump told reporters that he "did not savor the fight" but that he "liked" it. Later, he even called David Martosko of the Daily Mail to boast of it, claiming that he "won the political fight" and "earned him a lot".
Remember when?
"When will Donald Trump stop embarrbading his friends, not to mention the whole country?" This is not a quote from a liberal MSNBC host reacting to Trump's racist comments this week. And this is not a Democratic presidential candidate.
No, it's a direct quote from Rupert Murdoch four years ago on Thursday. At the time, Trump had insulted John McCain during the election campaign during the first Republican race, claiming that the Arizona senator was only a war hero since he was not a war hero. he had been captured as a prisoner of war. Murdoch did not support it and
turned to Twitter – that he does not use anymore – to blow up Trump.
At the time …
Murdoch's tweet is a reminder of how things have changed over the past four years. In 2015, before Trump cemented his takeover of the Republican party, Murdoch and his news agencies were more willing to appeal to Trump when he crossed the line.
For example, after Trump's comments on McCain, Murdoch's New York Post blasted Trump with a hot blanket the next day. "TRAVEL DONATION!" he reads, calling Trump "toast" after insulting McCain. Bill O 'Reilly, then the biggest star of Fox, congratulated Trump for commenting, urging him repeatedly to "admit" "was a mistake".
Versus today
Compare that to how Murdoch outlets covered Trump's racist comments. Fox's opinion stars defended Trump's comments, sometimes laughing at them. It is even possible that Tucker Carlson's commentary on the representative Ilhan Omar led to Trump's racist explosion.
And instead of Trump's joke posture on the cover of the comments (the newspaper has never done it), the first page of Tuesday's edition is focused on Congress women's "from the far left".
>> This is a small case study, but it highlights a considerable difference in how Murdoch media organizations treated Trump McCain's comments in 2015 compared to his racist comments in 2019 …
In any other news cycle …
The indictment was a big story on Wednesday, but it was only one of the many great stories – which is a little crazy. To be clear, Trump was not dismissed, but a Texas Democrat was able to force a vote in the House on the advisability of taking dismissal articles against him. Just over 40% of Democratic caucus members (95 Democratic representatives) voted to move it forward.
This is great news. In any other presidency, it is hard to imagine that this is not the dominant story. And while the subject was covered on Wednesday, it seemed like the vote came and went, as if it was just a normal course of business. This is another example of our numbness with the good news cycle in which we live.
Read more about Wednesday's "reliable sources" news letter … And subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox …
PLANNER THURSDAY
– The remake of "Lion King" Disney live-action theaters for a projection Thursday night …
– CNN will organize a live drawing on "AC360" that will decide the list of upcoming Democratic presidential debates …
– Jonathan Swan is in conversation with Tim Alberta at the Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington, DC. They will talk about the transformation of the Republican Party …
– Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman will host an evening for their hit book "The Hill to Die On" at PayPal's New York office …
