Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

EDITORIAL:

Mr. Trump, please accept this ‘apology’ from the media

Donald Trump deserves an apology. A huge one, of course.

It’s time to admit Trump was right: It’s the media’s fault he’s being demolished in the polls, with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton taking a double-digit lead in several swing states and an overall lead of 5-8 points nationwide in most reputable polls.

For instance, shame on us for reporting that Trump said President Barack Obama founded ISIS. Sure, Trump said it two days in a row and stressed that he meant it literally when a conservative radio talk show host asked him for clarification, but don’t blame him.

It’s the media’s fault. Clearly.

The same goes for the fact that lot of people came to the very logical conclusion that Trump was encouraging violence when he said “the Second Amendment people” might be able to stop Clinton from making judicial appointments if she were elected. And what about Trump’s pro-Russia comments, including that “sarcastic” zinger in which he endorsed the hacking of Clinton’s emails?

Completely the media’s fault.

The fact is, our fingerprints are all over the place.

Trump lies about having seen people on rooftops cheering as planes struck the World Trade Center on 9/11. Our fault.

Trump says an American judge of Mexican heritage is incapable of presiding over a lawsuit because of Trump’s repeatedly stated desire to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. Our fault.

Trump diminishes the service of decorated war heroes, such as Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., because they were captured. Our fault.

Who’s to blame for Trump’s camp appointing a Nevada state communications director who — we’re not making this up — says he can’t speak to the media?

Who’s culpable for Trump’s team writing an acceptance speech for the Republican National Convention that, aside from a few lines about his plan to reform Veterans Affairs, contained practically no details about how he would fix the long list of problems he outlined?

And who’s responsible for Trump’s whopper of a double-standard in which he blasted Clinton for her Senate vote on Iraq but totally gave his running mat, Mike Pence, a pass for voting the same way?

Media, media and media.

Not Trump, of course. Oh, he’s been impeccably presidential through every second of the campaign. He’s never done anything like mock a reporter with a disability, spout out profanities during public speeches, lose his cool over peaceful protesters or offend entire ethnic and religious groups — all in settings where the media was invited.

Sense some sarcasm here?

If so, good. It was intended, because this is where we make what Trump would call a pivot.

Unlike Trump, we try to make it obvious when we’re kidding, and we definitely take care not to create an impression that we’re sexist, racist hate-mongers.

All kidding aside, Trump’s problems are squarely of his own making, and it’s pathetic to see him try to fob them off on the media. Whenever he isn’t using a Teleprompter — and sometimes even when he’s on one — he’s a bomb waiting to go off. (Kind of ironic, isn’t it, given that Trump and his supporters frequently criticize Obama for using a Teleprompter?)

As for the media’s role in Trump’s dwindling approval ratings, we’re going to take Trump’s approach and not apologize for a thing we’ve said about him.

Wait, we take that back. There is one legitimate reason for an apology: Media outlets for months have given him free publicity and are thus partly culpable for his rise in the Republican primaries. He never should have gotten this far, and perhaps he wouldn’t have if media outlets had not provided him a microphone with which to voice his crazy-headed ideas.

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