Beware the sanewashing ahead on Trump's second term

Mainstream journalists do essential reporting but pull their punches. Plus: what you can do right now.

This past week, I discovered that it’s possible to be unsurprised and, at the same time, utterly shocked.

We all knew that Trump would get off to a fast, awful start to his new term. No surprise there.

But the details — the reality — still had the power to blow one’s mind. He freed violent criminals who rioted at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He fired at least 12 inspectors general at federal agencies whose job it is to prevent corruption and abuse. He tried to turn government workers into snitches on their colleagues who might not take his war on diversity efforts seriously enough. And, disgustingly, he (in effect) halted the programs that clear land mines around the world. Of course, there was much, much more, including his successful effort to put a disgraceful Fox News host, Pete Hegseth, in charge of the Pentagon.

I learned about all of this from the mainstream media, including the New York Times and the (beleaguered and much criticized) Washington Post. That reporting remains essential. And it needs to rise to the occasion far better than it did during the campaign.

I worry that Big Journalism is going to treat a lot of what’s happening as almost normal. In fact, in some cases, they’ve been explicitly ordered to do so by the big bosses.

Mark Thompson, CEO of CNN, speaks last May in New York City. Before the inauguration, Thompson called an all-hands meeting to tell staff to treat Donald Trump with deference and not pre-judge him / Getty Images

Take CNN, where just before the inauguration, top honcho Mark Thompson called an all-hands meeting where he indicated how he wanted the big day covered — by giving plenty of respect to the new president.

“He wanted his journalists to be forward-thinking and to avoid pre-judging Trump,” reported Oliver Darcy in his Status media newsletter. (Darcy, who worked at CNN for years, is well sourced there.) CNN’s journalists, including its biggest names, were told that they shouldn’t express outrage, and they should not “re-litigate the past.” No focus, therefore, on such pesky facts such as that Trump entered office as a convicted felon, or that, during his first term, he’d been impeached twice.

And, I can attest, after watching the network for hours on Inauguration Day, the CNN journalists followed orders. They had virtually nothing to say about Trump having been impeached for inciting a riot in the very Capitol where he was being sworn in with so much pomp and circumstance — and with so many billionaires given the best seats in the house.

“It was a glaring omission,” as Darcy put it, but not an accidental one. It strikes me as another form of the “sanewashing” that we saw in coverage of Trump during the campaign; no matter what lunacy he spewed in speeches or rallies, it was cleaned up and normalized.

And, of course, corporate media is largely shrugging off the outrageous grifting that’s behind it all, as Democratic strategist Sawyer Hackett noted in an X post: “Pretty incredible that the sitting president of the United States carried out a $31 billion rug pull with a crypto meme coin and we’re all just moving on.”

Here’s what former Labor Secretary Robert Reich had to say about the overall coverage. He said the media did report what happened, including that “migrants (now referred to as ‘aliens’) are being turned away at the border. Immigration agents are freed to target hospitals, schools, and churches in search of people to deport.”

But, he believes, and I agree, that mainstream journalists are not effectively communicating the bigger story: “Trump’s consolidation of power — substituting loyalists for experts across the government, using retribution to intimidate others, purging the government’s independent inspectors general, giving the Defense Department more authority over civilian life (and putting a raving loyalist in charge), giving Elon Musk authority to cut spending and roll back regulations, and readying a massive tax cut for the wealthy and big corporations.”

Normalization rules the day. Author Jeff Jarvis had particularly harsh words for a long Times piece this week titled “What Trump Supporters Want for the Future of America,” calling it “stenography” that gives “fascist followers space (and portraits) to spew their fears, hate, lies and ignorance without challenge.” Judge for yourself with this gift link.

The media’s failures are made worse by the feeling that we’re all helpless and hopeless. Four long years loom ahead — maybe more, considering that Trump allies are already making moves to legislate a third term.

It’s distressing. But tuning out, however tempting, is not the right move. Right-thinking Americans who want to see an eventual recovery from this mess need to stay engaged. The excellent organization ProtectDemocracy.org has 29 ways to do that. I suggest reading the list, and choosing at least one or two items to pursue.

Reich published his own list this week, and it too is worth your time.

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As you choose your media diet, consider adding the Guardian US (where I write a weekly column). Despite my criticism, I also continue to find the Times and the Post indispensable; and I watch my share of TV news. But for the some of the most courageous context, individual voices — not driven by corporate concerns — are necessary. I do think it’s important to note that the hard work of digging out facts and turning them into accurate news stories is still being done largely by the skilled reporting staffs at the major news companies.

I deeply appreciate those of you who have come here, to American Crisis, for one journalist’s perspective. This newsletter lands now in nearly 30,000 email inboxes each week. It’s free to read and comment on; the paywall remains down. If you’d like to encourage this effort with a paid subscription, that is your call. Thanks for caring about the crucial role of good journalism in our fragile democracy.

Tell me: What disturbed you most about last week’s torrent of Trump’s actions, and how are you dealing with all the news?