Lawrence O’Donnell did not mince his words as he slammed the White House press and the mainstream media for dereliction of duty by allowing lies to go unchallenged.
Lawrence O’Donnell slams the media.
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Summary
Lawrence O’Donnell rebukes both the White House Press Corps and the mainstream media for enabling Donald Trump’s misinformation campaign by failing to challenge his false claims—especially about tariffs—and thereby failing the public’s right to truthful, accountable coverage.
- O’Donnell slams the press corps for not understanding tariffs: “No foreign country has ever paid an American tariff and never will,” he says, yet the media let Trump claim the opposite.
- He points out that the mainstream media repeatedly broadcasts Trump’s events live without doing real-time fact-checking, which he calls a re-run of the 2016 cycle.
- The White House press corps, he argues, is the most “policy-ignorant” in the history of presidential coverage—allowing Trump’s lies to cascade unchecked.
- O’Donnell calls for independent media to fill the gap, as regular outlets have too many corporate or oligarchic ties to serve the people’s right to know adequately.
- He frames this failure of media accountability as a root cause of broader societal ills—polarization, civic ignorance, weakened democracy—and argues that the media must be a tool of the people, not the power structure.
In this moment of democratic urgency, O’Donnell’s critique calls on the media to reclaim its public-service mission and stop acting as a conduit for elite power or propaganda. The press must be redirected toward the people—because if the media won’t challenge big lies, then others must step in to protect our civic and political health.
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Lawrence O’Donnell delivers a blistering indictment of the media establishment’s collusion—whether by omission or incompetence—with the forces of misinformation and elite power. He not only calls out Trump’s blatant tariff lies but also sets his sights on the institutions that allowed them to proliferate: the White House press corps and the mainstream networks. This critique underscores an urgent truth: democracy demands an informed public, and that, in turn, demands media institutions that serve the public interest—not corporate interests, not power, not spectacle.
O’Donnell first addresses the substance of Trump’s lies: the claim that foreign nations pay tariffs into the U.S. Treasury when, in fact, American consumers bear that burden. The media, he argues, failed to intervene. He states flatly: “No foreign country has ever paid an American tariff and never will.” That fundamental misunderstanding of economics became a platform for political falsehood. By failing to confront it, the press effectively allowed Trump to rewrite the rules of public accountability. When foreign goods arrive in this country, Donald Trump did not face a single White House reporter who appears to know what a tariff is. This failure matters not just symbolically, but materially—tariffs hurt working people, raise prices on essentials like shirts, tools, and food, and funnel wealth upward.
In his critique of the broader press corps, O’Donnell positions their failure as systemic rather than incidental. He uses strong language: calling the press corps “the most policy-ignorant press corps in the history of presidential coverage.” The problem, he argues, isn’t just one anchor or one show. Instead, it is a press ecosystem that prioritizes spectacle, ratings, live feeds, and platforming influential figures over analysis, fact-checking, and citizen accountability. He draws parallels to the 2016 campaign, lamenting that the media has learned little: O’Donnell said, “It’s 2016 all over again” when networks aired Trump’s Florida press conference live and then only attempted fact-checks after the fact. That pattern of behavior matters because it strips the public of context and empowers powerful actors to mislead.
The failure of the press in this moment represents not just a media problem but a democracy problem. The host points out that “all of our country’s problems … are a direct result of a derelict mainstream media that too often bends over backwards to support corporate or bought politicians.” When the media fails to challenge those in power, it accommodates the structure of inequality, erodes the public sphere, and makes grassroots resistance harder. This critique aligns with calls for public-interest journalism and media reform: ensuring that media accountability, diversity of ownership, and noncommercial models are stronger components of our information ecosystem.
Independent media as the alternative. This resonates powerfully with my own role as a progressive journalist and radio host. Independent outlets operate with a different logic—they answer to listeners, community members, small-donor subscribers, not corporate advertisers or political elites. Independent media is “the only solution to inform truthfully and factually” because it ties loyalty directly to the public. In the user’s voice—and with their background in grassroots media and community organizing—this message is vital. It reminds us that when mainstream media fail, communities must step up: through independent newsletters, podcasts, citizen reporting, organizing networks, and engaged audiences.
The commentary further challenges the notion of media neutrality. O’Donnell does not ask for gentle reporting; he asks for probe, interrogation, and challenge. He urges the press to stop giving free passes—stop letting those in power “get away with” lies. That insistence echoes the progressive commitment to power analysis: recognizing that media don’t exist in a vacuum; they operate within power structures. And if the media refuses to hold power accountable, it becomes complicit.
My audience—progressive activists, media makers, and community organizers, etc.—this moment offers a clarion call: build the journalism you need. The mainstream press side-steps accountability; independent media must fill the void. That means operationalizing audio, broadcast, blogs, text chains, Signal groups—ensuring people are equipped with factual context, laying bare tariff mechanics, exposing elite lies, connecting policy back to material life. It means democratizing information flows: setting the agenda, amplifying marginalized voices, critiquing power, rather than merely aggregating press releases.
In that spirit, O’Donnell’s salvo should galvanize media reform, not resignation. It should spur activists to support newsroom diversity, platform independent storytellers, fund community-based investigative reporting, and insist on public broadcasting models that answer to the people rather than corporate boards—the user’s longstanding interest in building independent media networks squares perfectly with this critique. In summary, when the press ceases to function as a public check and becomes merely a megaphone, democracy suffers. We must use O’Donnell’s critique to invite a progressive turn toward media as a public utility—and us as the builders and sustainers of it.
