Words do matter. Real analysis is necessary. People who are honored to have our airwaves have a responsibility to inform and not fall prey to political manipulation. It was distressing to watch many pundits display their utter gullibility after President Trump’s address to the Joint Congress.
Van Jones, one of CNN’s political pundits and a progressive that many liberals and conservatives respect because he typically gets it right allowed his emotion to validate a president undeservedly. Right after the president’s speech, he said the following.
“He became President of the United States at that moment, period,” Jones said with regards to President Trump honoring the wife of the fallen Seal in Yemen. “There are a lot of people who have a lot of reason to be frustrated with him, to be fearful of him, to be mad at him. But that was one of the most extraordinary moments you have ever seen in American politics, period. And he did something extraordinary. And for people who have been hoping that he would become unifying, hoping that he might find some way to become presidential, they should be happy with that moment. For people who have been hoping that maybe he would remain a divisive cartoon, which he often finds a way to do, they should begin to become a little worried tonight. Because that thing you just saw him do, if he finds a way to do that over and over again, he is going to be there for eight years. Now, there is a lot that he said in that speech that is counterfactual, that was not right that I oppose and will oppose. But he did something tonight that you cannot take away from him. He became president of the United States.”
How could Van Jones make such a statement? Other Presidents have had similar moments using the families of our fallen heroes as sentimental props all of the time. There is nothing in that act that elevates their Presidential acumen. How then is that one act extraordinary? Moreover, how can one ‘counterfactual’ speech from someone who has been a ‘divisive cartoon’ elevate them from caricature to presidential? Ironically, right after the moment that so impressed Van Jones, Donald Trump cheapened it by making it a length-of-ovation contest.
It concerns us all that Jones did not remind the audience that Trump absolved himself from any responsibility for the death of the Navy Seal he commended during the speech. Trump threw the blame directly on the generals. Now that is extraordinary.
This is the type of punditry that was partially responsible for the election of a man who is a clear and present danger to America. It is the type of analysis which justifiably creates doubts about the true objectivity of the traditional mainstream media.
Zerlina Maxwell, an MSNBC political pundit, was not gullible at all in her analysis even while surrounded by many giving Trump different degrees of accolades.
“In my next life, I want to come back and have everyone judge me like we judge President Trump,” Zerlina Maxwell said exasperatedly. “And essentially have the floor for achievement in the basement. And so if I show up and I literally-string-together sentences that are a little more coherent than my Twitter feed then everyone would say I sound presidential. Now, there were certain moments last night that were, I found, presidential. Certainly, with the Navy Seal, that was a very, very moving moment. But the rest of his speech was essentially his campaign stump speech. I’ve heard this speech many many times on the campaign trail. And he put in some additional platitudes to address the anti-Semitic violence we’ve been seeing. So, it is such a small bar.”
Ms. Maxwell’s points are quite right. The press and seemingly most pundits have so lowered the presidential bar; it takes a little hop to jump over it. Had they judged President Obama or even George W. Bush by those standards, these leaders would be considered the epitome of presidents.
The normalization of Donald Trump began soon after his election. Most people expected the traditional mainstream media would do the same in their news coverage. That said, we hope those who purport to be progressive pundits not fall for staged actions. The country made a mistake in electing Donald Trump. He fooled many good people. Liberal pundits must not be complicit in continuing the deception.