Rachel Maddow and others call on networks not to broadcast Trump coronavirus press conferences
The Trump press conferences are a problem for the anti-Trump media, because they give Trump direct access to viewers with minimal filtering by the networks.
Donald Trump’s daily press conferences, attended by numerous senior health and other officials, are a must-watch. Enormous information is provided by officials, and Trump signals where he thinks the crisis is going. Trump spends an hour or more taking reporter questions, some of which are hostile.
The press conferences almost certainly have large audiences, and have contributed to polling that shows strong support among the public for Trump’s handling of the crisis.
This is a problem for Democrats, as I reported in Biden has all but disappeared during Wuhan coronavirus crisis, as #WhereIsJoe? trends. Biden’s disappearance has been noticed by Democrats, particularly Bernie supporters. Peter Daou, a longtime Hillary supporter, tweeted his frustration:
People, I mean this sincerely: #whereisjoe?
Trump is in front of the cameras every day, reassuring people, putting on the appearance of “leadership.”
Where is #Biden? Why isn’t he dominating the airwaves???
* * *
And: Two new polls show Trump with majority approval on his handling of the #pandemic.
If Dem leaders think this crisis will definitely damage him, they are greatly mistaken.
If they cede the appearance of leadership to him, it’s a major problem.
Joe Biden doesn’t have the mental acuity or stamina to handle such daily press conferences, and that reality is sinking in with Democrats.
The Trump press conferences also are a problem for the anti-Trump media, because they gives Trump direct access to viewers with minimal filtering by the networks. Sure, the networks can (and do) spin against Trump, but people get to watch and hear it themselves. In this way, the press conferences act in much the same way as Trump’s Twitter account.
So numerous high profile media types have a solution: The networks should stop broadcasting the press conferences because Trump is misleading the public.
This argument, of course, ignores that there are dozens of reporters from hostile news outlets in the room throwing questions at Trump and challenging him, and that hours of MSNBC, CNN and other network airtime are devoted to attacking what Trump said at the press conferences.
Margaret Sullivan, the former NY Times public editor and now Washington Post columnist, The media must stop live-broadcasting Trump’s dangerous, destructive coronavirus briefings:
More and more each day, President Trump is using his daily briefings as a substitute for the campaign rallies that have been forced into extinction by the spread of the coronavirus.
These White House sessions — ostensibly meant to give the public critical and truthful information about this frightening crisis — are in fact working against that end.
Rather, they have become a daily stage for Trump to play his greatest hits to a captive audience….
Trump is doing harm and spreading misinformation while working for his own partisan political benefit — a naked attempt to portray himself as a wartime president bravely leading the nation through a tumultuous time, the FDR of the 21st Century.
The press — if it defines its purpose as getting truthful, useful, non-harmful information to the public, as opposed to merely juicing its own ratings and profits — must recognize what is happening and adjust accordingly. (And that, granted, is a very big “if”)
That’s pretty rich coming from someone who worked for the two newspapers that pushed the Russia-collusion hoax for three years, almost alwasy based on anonymous source that didn’t pan out.
This is a now theme in the mainstream media, that they should be the gatekeepers to information despite several years of lying and conspiracy theories. No thank you, we can watch and we can understand and we can make our own decisions. You are not as smart as you think you are.
This is a now theme in the mainstream media, that they should be the gatekeepers to information despite several years of lying and conspiracy theories. No thank you, we can watch and we can understand and we can make our own decisions. You are not as smart as you think you are. https://t.co/OG2xVIPLC1
— Legal Insurrection (@LegInsurrection) March 21, 2020
I'm sitting here watching it, live, right now.
As I did yesterday. And, the day before…
As my parents (in their late 70s) are doing, daily.
The AMERICAN PEOPLE value this information.
Your suggestion comes from your arrogance, self-righteousness, and ideological blindness.
— Mike Moss (@_MikeMoss) March 21, 2020
But calls to shut down the live press conference broadcasts are even richer coming from the queen of Russia-collusion conspiracy theorists, Rachel Maddow.
Maddow, you will recall, is an Alex-Jones-level conspiracy pusher, the difference being that Jones has been deplatformed while Maddow has a prime time show on MSNBC that feeds off Resistance paranoia and venom. I covered Maddow’s history in Again We Ask: Why Isn’t Rachel Maddow Treated Like Other Crazy Conspiracy Theorists?
Here’s Maddow using prime time to call for the media to censor Trump:
“I know we ought to be getting used to this kind of thing by now, but I’m not. President Trump today, again, just flat-out wrong in public about this malaria drug that has gotten stuck in his mind, quite some distance from the facts,” Maddow said on her show.
“If the president does end up saying anything true, you can run it as tape but if he keeps lying like this every day on stuff this important, all of us should stop broadcasting it. Honestly, it’s gonna cost lives,” she added on the program.
Maddow: If Trump is going to keep lying like he has been every day on stuff this important, we should, all of us, stop broadcasting it. Honestly, it's going to cost lives. pic.twitter.com/tMvyrE3YTK
— Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) March 21, 2020
Notice Maddow is the one lying. The malaria drug can be used for coronavirus off-label, there is anecdotal evidence of its effectiveness, but the FDA requires more systematic testing before off-label use could become on-label use.
Anyone watching the press conference would understand all this context. Anyone watching Rachel Maddow would not.
Of course, resident MSNBC loon Lawrence O’Donnell, who substitutes angry faces and nastiness for intelligence, is all on board with not broadcasting the press conferences, referring to a clip of Maddow:
The most important thing said on TV yesterday
Eric Boehlert, a former Media Matter writer and prominent liberal media observer, also is on board:
There is a chorus of liberal journalists and activists calling for the networks to stop the broadcasts, under the #StopTheBriefings Twitter hashtag.
I hope Trump does the briefings and takes questions 7 days a week. These are the most transparent sessions I’ve seen in any president in my lifetime.
The media can criticize Trump all it wants, but the call to censor the press conferences simply confirms that they are not journalists, but as Prof. Glenn Reynolds says, Democrats With Bylines.
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Comments
Really, she wants us to stop watching the daily News
Briefings? She is insane! Possibly she could do a better job… NOT! She would only infected us with her
Lies and hate! Those comments from Mad-cow don’t
even reason out. Look out Rachael your hate for our
Nation is showing. Go get a show in Cuba.
Rachel Mad…really…dow just cannot handle that Trump is the conductor, dictating how the music is played. It is being played such that she is completely irrelevant. Oh, the tragedy, Trump’s ratings keep going up, Dems are becoming increasingly irrelevant.
“your hate for our Nation is showing…”
It really is more than that: yes, this creep is nut, but more importantly, she is morally bankrupt, completely corrupt, and pathetically ignorant.
There are lots of scum like her, avilable for hire to sell-out our country.
Hillary clinton is still advertisting for that kind of work:
Chinese Ambassador Joins Hillary Clinton in Accusing Trump of Using ‘Racist Rhetoric’ to Distract From Coronavirus Response:
https://www.newsweek.com/chinese-ambassador-joins-hillary-clinton-accusing-trump-using-racist-rhetoric-distract-1493593
AG Barr: you’re swamp is showing.
My distaste for Rachel Maddow is as strong as anyone’s, but what does AG Barr have to do with this article or the one you linked to?
The idea being the nation is going to hell, not because of any real crisis, but of titanitic corruption and treason on the part of elected officials and the like.
Hillary clinton is a walking treason blob. George soros is continuing to single-handedly fund elections of corrupt DAs. How do kim foxx and michelle obama remain unpunished for their actions in the smollett case? How do pelosi, kerry and biden and their offspring remain unpunished for their looting US foreign aid to the Ukraine?
Where is Barr these days, anyway?
China Exerting ‘Sharp Power’ Influence On American Institutions:
https://www.hoover.org/news/china-exerting-sharp-power-influence-american-institutions
This from the same people that, two days ago, we’re demanding he spend his time briefing them on every move he made; every discussion he had! I would suggest they make up their minds, but this proves they lack minds!
Exactly. These are the same people who would be asking “Where is Trump?” and “What is he hiding from the people?” if we was not conducting news briefings. But they’d prefer that situation because it would permit them to criticize DJT in the absence of his own messaging. That would be a win/win for the MSM, and Trump is disallowing it.
For Maddow and the rest of the MSM, the Dem party, and the left in general, this virus is their opportunity to attempt Coup 3.0.
The Enemy of the people !
Don’t allow the truth, block any facts so they can continue to spout lie after lie after lie – Total fake news.
Just yesterday a guy I have known for about 25 years called President Trump “President Pinocchio – because he lies all the time” – then he proceeded to tell me the HUGELY FALSE Lie that President Trump had called the Virus a HOAX !
In the history of our Republic, the present day “media” has done more damage to the nation than any other enemy in history !
I hate seeing things like this. That’s the type of person that will lead people in to gas chambers.
another lying bytch that should have been put out of our misery quite a while back
PDJT is beating the left in every area. Ideas. Effort. Implementation of policy. He doesn’t take any sh!+. People can see it’s not about him, it’s about us, the Anerican people. If he was doing a terrible job the msm would be begging people to watch his news conferences, not to tune him out. The same principle is in effect with joe biden… the left is very silent about him.
I notice they always use the words “misinformation” and “lies” yet never seem to articulate how he is “misinforming” or “lying”, funny that.
Also, of course they want to stop the briefings, Trump is doing a good job, he is swaying people, he is getting more popular and he is making the media look like the asshats that they are.
Weird, how Leftists always resort to authoritarian demands of shout down, shut down, or stomp down to silence their political enemies.
It’s the nature of leftism and its general denial of freedom. The Democrats’ Black Codes were built on. Name any tyrant and the MO’s always the same. Disarm the people, deny them the ability to assemble, to communicate, to worship, prohibit every other political party, and so forth.
Exists in Communist China, big time.
Rachel Maddow has no place in the public discussion. She is a vindictive liar.
I know that she lost a large number of followers when Russia Gate blew up.
She’s also an ignramous.
Try reading passages of her book. She’s pathetic.
I think she is just silly.
So Biden will step into the fray in a day or two, once they get those record players up and running and he goes to the Esso station, stops by the A&P to get some Brylcreem for his plugs, and splashes his face with some Aqua Velva.
Now, seriously, what is Biden gonna say that’s meaningful? The only purpose of this is to get Biden some air time. But that carries great risk.
People will get to “see the Big Board.” They’ll get to see the real Biden who is certain to forget, stumble, and be generally wrong about everything.
Remember what Robert Gates said about Biden, six years ago, “I think he has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades,” former Defense Secretary Robert Gates says of Vice President Joe Biden in his new book coming out later this month.
Well, he’s already made a fool out of himself by saying some months ago that China is no threat to us.
Well, when they make 90% of our pharmaceuticals and threaten to withhold them from us, after a epidemic of their creation, I’d say Biden’s being bought out by the Chicoms becomes obvious.
These people are really starting to panic. They see the increasingly threadbare fabric of our society threatening to tear, and they know things won’t go well for them when things get more “primitive.”
First I could give a flying F about the Mad Cow. As for getting my briefing, C-Span.org is the way to go.
Any chance we could file a class action suit against all the news agencies for their false news reporting. How can they be keep accountable for their actions? They are creating an economic mess. I say they should pay every American and illegal immigrant $500 for the trouble they are causing.
No, there is no chance. There’s nothing to sue them for. They’re entitled to publish pretty much whatever the $#^& they like. So long as they don’t deliberately defame any individual, they can lie their heads off.
Calling Trump a liar who is getting people killed isn’t defamatory? You have a mighty high bar there.
No, actually, it isn’t, unless they make a specific allegation (not just “he’s a liar” but “this specific thing he said is false”), and know that what he said is actually true. Even then, since it’s relevant to the public interest it’s probably not actionable (just as stolen valor is not actionable). But even if it is actionable only Trump himself would have standing to sue, because he’d be the only injured party. Nobody else. They have no duty to us not to defame him. So there’s absolutely no chance of a class action.
There is a very high bar for public officials, especially the top dog. Many years ago we put up a website making fun of a Senator. Boy, he was pissed, and he predictably tried to interfere with our right to criticise him. That put him in the middle of a shitstorm. He lost the election.
Trump seems to have nicely grown into the role of being president, he is a lot sharper than that Senator.
This guy, Madcow is silly, and scared. In the news conference, President Trump is in charge. When the questions start, the pettiness and “gotcha” of the dinosaur media, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Democrat party, is on display for the citizens to see.
Out of the top 5 Democrat “arguments”, this is #1:
“Shut up! Democrats argue.
He should keep holding them. If the MSM wants to quit broadcasting, let them. There are plenty of “new” media ways to get the news and the broadcast out. People who want to see the broadcast will have to go to other places to get their news, and that will lessen the MSM viewership, especially over time, and eventually effect their bottom line
Wait, people are still watching MSM?!?
Yes, they do. Some people tonight in using that device called a television machine!
Fox News will keep broadcasting them, which will leave the clown shows in a bad place if they do not.
Anyone watching the pressers on any other outlet than Fox News is either watching there to hear the talking heads disparage DJT after the presser, or they just turn off the TV at the end of the presser. If the broadcasts are stopped by the leftist media, the latter types will just go to Fox, and the former types will continue to tune in to consume the fake news and endless diatribes. They are the “true believers” and drank the Kool-Aid a long time ago.
I watch them on YT on the White House Channel.
Carry them live.
It’s the office White House channel.
*official
Here’s the link to the YT White House channel.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYxRlFDqcWM4y7FfpiAN3KQ
Democracy dies in darkness – that’s why we are throwing shade, blowing black smoke, and extinguishing lights as fast as possible!
Trump’s pressers contradict their narrative.
I seem to recall her lawyers saying that we aren’t supposed to take anything she says as the truth.
This bastard truly is a traitor. But then, she is hired by msnbc, which is owned by nbc, which is owned by GE.
Quite a line of traitors, isn’t it?
The Unholy Marriage Of GE And President Obama:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/beltway/2011/04/08/the-unholy-marriage-of-ge-and-president-obama-at-the-altar-of-industrial-policy/#3950b7a67a45
Obama Gives Another Sweetheart Deal To His Friends At GE:
https://www.businessinsider.com/obama-gives-another-sweetheart-deal-to-his-friends-at-ge-2012-2
The stench of obama remains overwhelming.
jeff bezos (wapo’s asshole owner) might prove to be the biggest rat of all, dwarfing even soros.
What malignant doofus.
Washington Post Publishes Call for End to Live Broadcasts of Trump’s Coronavirus Briefings as Four New Polls Show Majority Approval for President’s Handling of Crisis:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/03/washington-post-publishes-call-for-end-to-live-broadcasts-of-trumps-coronavirus-briefings-as-four-new-polls-show-majority-approval-for-presidents-handling-of-crisis/
Bezos v. Soros: a close race for rathood.
“Her [Maddow] comment, therefore, is a quintessential statement ‘of rhetorical hyperbole, incapable of being proved true or false,’” Maddow lawyer Theodore J. “Ted” Boutrous Jr. said.
When you’re losing call a time out. Or in this case of the lying media a black out.
Love it when PDJT takes these liars to the woodshed over their gotcha questions. Refreshing to see someone absolutely nail them to the wall.
Step back and think about this. In plain view of American people and the world the media is demanding that the LIVE words of the leader of the United States of America — in his responsibility to inform his constituents at a time of world crisis — not to mention his First Amendment rights — should be suppressed so that the media can explain and edit what he’s saying because:A) the anchors or reporters are either more important or intelligent than he, or; B) the public is so stupid that his words need to be explained to them. Arrogance Surreal.
She’s not suggesting suppressing his first amendment rights. He can speak all he likes. He doesn’t have the right to have them broadcast it. They do so because they figure people want to watch it, and if they don’t show it those people will switch to a channel that is. All Mad Cow’s fulminating won’t change that.
The stuck pig squeals the loudest.
.
If the issue is that President DJT is on the air every day doing briefings while Joe Biden is… someplace, wouldn’t the solution for Mad-cow and cohorts be to put Biden on the air, all day, every day, giving his ideas and plans for how, Jan 21, 2021, he will end the crisis. Give him all the air he wants. No one is stopping them.
Of course they know what will happen. It will be the 21st century version of the old adage “if you give a man enough rope, he will hang himself.”
Well, I guess if they can’t compete on the basis of their ideas, “progressives” feel it’s ok to go full Stalin on those who are more competent. Trust them at your peril.
CNN or MSNBC would gladly give Biden 30 minutes of air time every night if he wanted it. He is wasting an opportunity to stay relevant.
The whole reason Trump’s press conferences are being broadcast is because the various news mediums are doing such a stunningly poor job of presenting facts about the current C19 problem.
Squint for a moment and transport yourself to a world where a responsible television network produced a 24/7 (or once a day at least) update on actual Corona virus facts produced by experts in the field, how many people in what area are infected, what is the best approach to avoid catching it, how to behave if you think you’re infected, etc…
Instead, we’re given a Chicken Little 24/7 blurt of the news whining about Trump’s actions, and most of those are lies, mixed in with paranoia and hype until the facts fade into the background.
MSNBC and the WaPo still exist?
I think this is something a lot of people don’t understand, and maybe Maddow is one of them. After all, there are a lot of things she doesn’t understand so this may be one of them.
She stresses that the drug is not approved for use against Wuhan Disease, and implies that Trump had claimed it was. But he didn’t. What she doesn’t seem to understand is that once a drug is approved for any use, doctors are entitled to prescribe it for any purpose they think it might be good for. That’s what “off label” means. There are many drugs in extremely common use for one purpose that were originally approved for a different use. Off label prescribing is legitimate and common, and not in any way dodgy.
So Trump is 100% right that it’s approved, and is available for immediate use. Whether it does any good remains to be seen, but it’s there, and if a doctor thinks it worth the experiment she can use it.
Exactly right. I have recently completed an IV protocol approved for heavy metal poisoning that also had tremendously positive results for my cardiovascular system.
Cobalt?
Or for plaque?
If Madcow herself became ill with Wuhan flu and a doctor offered to treat her with Chloroquine, would she refuse it?
Rachett and her fellow loons step on a giant rake. They are running out of devices to purchase from ACME.
I can’t wait for them to get to the jet pack.
Okay, I’d pay to watch video of that!
The Professor notes,
I think Biden will not be the Democrats’ nominee for president. I think the Dems will draft someone—perhaps Andrew Cuomo. I think he and almost every other state governor failed to prepare his or her respective state’s health system for any significant epidemic. However, Cuomo has been giving press conferences lately that on the surface would seem to Democrats to be very competent. Thus, he will be very attractive to the Democrats come the time of the Democrat Party convention-while Biden is particularly unattractive and will not improve as time marches on.
Maddow is a member of the hive which lives to serve the swamp. While they’re in the lab the CDC should search for ways to cure TDS. A cure would be worthy of a Nobel Prize in mental health.
Milhouse: I realized I’d shot from the hip after hitting submit of course, and that technically you are correct. (Yes, the medium is their ball and bat.) My thinking ran more along the lines that there is a dirty and weaselly subtext — maybe more akin to ammo companies colluding to make ammo prices so unaffordable guns become useless — an indirect equivalent to violating the 2nd Amendment. I realize that’s a long stretch. Call it what one will, but it’s still typical media dirty pool. Thanks for the correction. Cheers
I agree 100%. I just think it’s important not to blur the distinction between the right to speak, or to own guns, or to eat, which all exist, and a supposed right to have others publish ones speech, or sell one guns or food, which do not exist.
I’m late to the discussion, and many commenters make astute observations, but what is it with the creeping profanity?
I prefer not to employ the language my wannabe oppressors encourage me to use. “Sex” not “gender.” “Him” not “her or she or they.” “Doctor” or “physician” not “provider.” “Medicine” not “health care” (when you’re dying, it’s not “health care,” it’s medicine. “Health care” as one doctor pointed out, is walking and exercising, not medical interventions.
AND obscenities are what the left wants everyone in America to utter. They want America degraded very badly.
Decades ago, the f-word simply was NOT a thing in polite conversation and certainly not in mixed company. Now, it’s even on television.
When it comes to matters of life and death or in a heated moment, such may be appropriate or inevitable, but in this discussion, “clean” insults will suffice I think.
Maddow doesn’t deserve the job she has. She isn’t normal, she’s damaged goods, and undoubtedly has a grudge against normal Americans. Why any network would give her a television show, instead of giving one to a family man with skin in the game who wants a healthy America, I can’t fathom.
I’ve enjoyed reading those with better insults and insights above, and welcome more.
By the way, when I say damaged goods, I mean that. So many people who are homosexual were mistreated as kids and it affects them dramatically.
Why are so many homosexuals on the news? Anderson Cooper, Maddow, and Lemon…. I mean, what’s that all about?!?!
A bunch of dysfunctional half-wits who wouldn’t know how to form a functional family if their lives depended on it, and that’s who America is supposed to rely on for information?! GET REAL!!
I am sure that Maddow was a fine student, scoring well on standardized tests, writing the odd essay, etc… however other than that, what is she really? She is a partisan windbag. Her smirks, eye-rolling, ironic half-smiles and blowing out of the cheeks are played-out. There is a place for criticism, however I choose to listen to those with a healthy consideration of moving forward together toward solutions.
Yeah, and a worthless self-promoter. Remember when she had – gasp! – Trump’s tax returns? Boy, she pumped that up for all it was worth! And it turned out like Gerald Rivers and Al Capone’s vault!
hahahaHAHAHAHAhahahaahhaaaaaa
(Did not mean to hit the down vote.) I will take one Victor Davis Hanson over ten Rachel Maddows.
Oh, another word: “Miss” & “Mrs.” instead of “Ms.”
No one ever discusses it, because normalcy and useful behavior is now forbidden, but the reason for “Miss” and “Mrs.” is because MEN are the PURSUERS, and they need to know if a woman is AVAILABLE to be pursued. It’s needed information.
So, if you’re a Miss, a man knows you’re available, and it’s APPROPRIATE to pursue, and if you’re a Mrs., he knows it’s not.
Geeze, why no one ever spoke up for Miss and Mrs. I’ll never comprehend. Didn’t anyone know why the titles were important?????? Geeze, we don’t seem to understand ourselves well.
Making a wild leap here…they DO support showing Biden’s planned weekly attacks and undermining of the President as he works to calm and solve the crisis….
#StoptheMSM
“Maddow … is an Alex-Jones-level conspiracy pusher … .”
How dare you tarnish Jones’s name like this!
They’d prefer you watch them regurgitate Communist propaganda. BTW Rachel how is it you actually still have a job?
I’m late to the discussion
___________________________
no doubt a common occurrence
She appears to be rather manly for a woman. Just an observation.
That’s a woman?? Looks more like an angry young man to me.
This is because they fear what he has to say. His approval rating for dealing with the coronavirus is over 55% so they don’t want to let people know the actions he’s taking for fear that his approval will increase.
It’s very dishonest and they would be screaming if this was done to the Democrat President.
Partisan hacks.
Honestly, though, I’m surprised Maddow is still on the air. Heard her ratings tanked.
Anyone know what these lies are they are referring to?
Seems what the media is taking exception to is Trump trying to keep the spirits if Americans up in a time of national crisis.
The media truly is the enemy of the people.
What would be the point of the propaganda outlet?
Howie Care on the MSM: “They’re all Democratic operatives with press passes.”
I LOVE this idea. I LOVE IT! If they’re truly interested in protecting us from disinformation, then these news outlets need to follow through on the “Let’s not broadcast the briefings, anymore idea” ASAP.
Imagine that they do it. What do Americans who want information have to do?
They have to accept that everything they see and hear on MSNBC et al, comes complete with a pre-judgement that the President is a liar. Any pretense of objectivity disappears. The curtain is not only pulled back; it’s pulled back and then burned in a barrel.
No matter how crazy things get, I operate on the notion that Americans, ALL Americans are smart enough to get it, if you show them the whole picture.
If Rachel and her colleagues decide to give me a CLEAR choice between going to the big game itself, or watching ESPN’s “take” on it, I’m finding a wool hat and a heavy jacket and sitting in the stands, EVERY time. So will the vast majority of America.
Why on God’s green earth would be worry about the North Koreans, Russians, or Iranians when we have DEMOCRATS? They’re the biggest obstacle to democracy the world has ever seen…
Communists and their sympathizers have a hard time with opposing views and free speech.
They love censorship and call for it often, under different names if they think it useful.
NBC did it during the news conference yesterday; they cut out when Barr came to the podium and had that snarky reporter “explain” what President Trump just said. Talk about condescending!
And you’d probably be correct that they are going to be real careful about what Barr is talking about soon…
Joe Biden’s interview, “I should stop talking” this is worse than Hillary’s deplorable statement.