It’s been about 50 years since Donald Trump entered public life and nearly seven since he was elected president, and lots of within the media are nonetheless asking: How can we cowl this man?
And never simply as media savvy ex-president who lies continually and foments an rebellion in opposition to the U.S. authorities. Now, Trump is a felony defendant twice over, most lately because of the federal investigation of his dealing with of presidency paperwork. Don’t overlook he’ll additionally go on trial in New York. Additional indictments associated to the Jan. 6 rebel and his try to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election outcome could loom. Did I point out he’s the Republican front-runner for president in 2024?
Many readers have expressed dismay over the hours-long TV protection of his arraignments in New York and Miami, saying they repeated previous media errors that they consider handed Trump the presidency in 2016. Instances columnist LZ Granderson faulted commentators who referred to as the previous president’s indictments “unprecedented,” as if Trump hasn’t confronted authorized issues for the reason that Nineteen Seventies.
So, I’ll ask once more: How can we cowl this man? Listed below are some concepts from readers.
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To the editor: Like LZ Granderson, I’m appalled by all issues Donald Trump, and I’m sympathetic to the concept we’d be higher off if the media ignored him utterly.
However even when Trump disappeared, the feelings he expresses would persist.
Return and browse the textual content of the advert he ran after the Central Park 5 have been prosecuted in 1989. Greater than 30 years in the past, he was espousing the “robust on crime” ideology that he and his followers are actually. Is Trump the one politician selling that viewpoint, and would a extra clever strategy abruptly acquire widespread public approval if Trump have been to go away?
If dedication to free speech is an excellent concept, then the most effective response to Trump is to not muzzle him — it’s to relentlessly argue why he’s flawed.
Jeffrey Vaughn, Encino
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To the editor: I discovered Granderson’s in any other case considerate column troubling for overlooking many years of excellent journalism about Trump and for blurring the traces amongst numerous types of media.
A half-century of journalistic malfeasance? Possibly if you happen to put TV reveals about wealthy individuals on par with investigative journalism.
Trump’s authorized disputes have been certainly a “pink flag” for Wayne Barrett, who started reporting about Trump’s enterprise deceptions within the Nineteen Seventies for the Village Voice. Timothy L. O’Brien, now with Bloomberg, has lengthy reported on Trump’s presumably felony actions.
And Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter David Cay Johnston first dug into Trump’s thuggery 35 years in the past when he was the Atlantic Metropolis, N.J., bureau chief on the Philadelphia Inquirer. Johnston’s work has appeared in quite a lot of mainstream retailers, together with the L.A. Instances, the place he was previously on workers. He continues this work.
Let’s not be obscure in regards to the phrase “media” and ignore critically vital journalism, previous and current.
Zan Dubin-Scott, Santa Monica
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To the editor: Because of Granderson for displaying the general public, the media and members of Congress how one speaks reality to energy.
Don’t forget what the character Maximus in “Gladiator” requested the group at a Roman enviornment: “Are you not entertained? Is that this not why you might be right here?”
Sarah Vogel, Laguna Seashore
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To the editor: Granderson couldn’t be extra proper about what he says within the final sentence of his article. “[W]hy are the media nonetheless letting Trump’s tales wag the supposed watchdog?”
Why? Due to scores.
I’m firmly satisfied that with out the media slurping up all his mendacity phrases and spitting them again to us, Trump would by no means have develop into president.
Simply as vampires can solely thrive on blood, Trump can solely thrive on consideration. With out that blood, vampires die. With out that focus, Trump would have simply pale away.
Bonnie Sanders, Malibu
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To the editor: Granderson has requested the query most educated individuals have been asking — why is there a lot protection of Trump, and infrequently in an apparently flattering manner?
On the identical day this column ran within the print version, The Instances had a giant picture of a smiling Trump on its entrance web page, as a substitute of the dour courtroom drawing of him, which might be extra applicable for a person dealing with 37 counts of felony conduct, together with violating the Espionage Act.
His possession of top-secret paperwork ought to horrify any patriotic American.
So who’re the “actual Individuals?” It doesn’t appear to be the media. And definitely not his defenders.
Anthony Blake, Woodland Hills
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To the editor: On this depressingly polarized world, can we at the least agree that everyone knows what Trump appears to be like like?
I’m uninterested in being visually assaulted each morning by a brand new picture of mentioned topic above each story about him. It doesn’t matter what the story, it’s accompanied by one more image of him elevating his fist in entrance of a financial institution of flags, or waving to an imaginary adoring crowd.
For the love of all that’s holy, make it cease!
Tom Walsh, West Hills
