Corporate Media keeps giving Trump his narrative
From the moment that the White Ford Bronco started its move down the Southern California’s maze of freeways with O.J. Simpson on June 17, 1994, the media bought into the “OJ killed his ex-wife and her friend” narrative. To their credit, journalism was a craft, back then; and the narrative was always punctuated with an asterisk of “unless there’s been an amazing ‘made for TV’ plot twist, in which prosecutorial blinders and police foul-ups led to charging an innocent man.”
Today, the media has, since early 2015, bought into the “Donald Trump says outrageous stuff and that sells news” without follow-up reporting citing the fact that he lies egregiously and doubles down on those lies, neither of which is deemed newsworthy or reportable.
One would think that a guy going to trial in four cases, three of which involve cover-ups and obstruction of the law (the fourth, in Georgia, involves racketeering charges which is even worse), would face some level of “you’ve got to be kidding me?” of journalism.
Case in point. Before the Federal Election Committee (FEC) reporting deadline of March 31, 2024, President Biden, along with former Presidents Obama and Clinton, held a massive fundraiser in New York that netted $25 million. An impressive haul and one which boldfaced and underlined how well financed the Democrats were going to be coming into the Fall campaign.
Donald Trump, not to be outdone, held a fundraiser that raised $50 million. Or did he?
Do yourself a favor and type in “Trump” and “fundraiser” and “$50 million” into Google. I’ll wait. Bunch of stories stating unequivocally that Donald Trump “raised” $50 million.
Unless you dig deep and catch this bit of nuance reported by NBC1 — Trump got $50 million in commitments from billionaires who wouldn’t miss the maximum contribution amount — it’s over $850,000!
One would think everyone would have caught on to a faux fundraiser, which included a leaked guest list, a conspicuously absent Melania Trump, and a dearth of photos. But the narrative of obeisance to Trump’s clownish ego has subsumed any sense of journalistic integrity or realism.
I don’t know much about the insanely wealthy, but I do know they like to be seen and heard. A fundraiser without pictures or video of billionaires giving a few bucks to Donald Trump, who will cut their already low tax rate (it’s less than 5%) even further, should have raised any reporters BS barometer. The reality of the event was that the 1% just bought insurance for the cost of a tax deductible jet to South Florida and an open-bar.
Don’t count on the media pointing this out come July. The next FEC reporting deadline2 is at the end of June; and if Trump is a convicted felon, those commitments might have all value of a “no obligation 3 day test drive”.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-50-million-gala-fundraising-biden-rcna146672
Trump’s fundraiser was held after the March 31 reporting deadline.
You mean these commitments are very similar to the kind of commitment that Amber Heard had made about donating all the money that Johnny Depp had given her? Perhaps they also view the commitment to and actually act of giving the money, synonymously.