The media is largely ignoring the trauma of millions. Here's why.

Plus: Watch George Stephanopolous pushes JD Vance with follow-up questions, cringe at Bari Weiss's pep talk to CBS journalists; and more

I don’t know about you but I’d be happy never to read another story or see another TV segment exploring the deeper feelings of Trump followers.

These are easy to find, and have been for many years. Do Trump voters still like Trump? (Yes.) Why do they like Trump? (Because, don’t you know, he’s a businessman at heart.) Would they vote for a Democrat? (When hell freezes over.)

Protestors in Los Angeles at the first No Kings Day in June. A new round of protests are planned for this Saturday — but major outlets aren’t paying much attention / Getty Images

Yes, we know. But there are a lot of people in this country — most of the 75 million who voted for Kamala Harris last year and a whole lot of others — who are disgusted, appalled and frightened by the first nine months of Trump’s second administration. By the way he’s turned the Justice Department into his vendetta machine, by ICE’s vicious treatment of immigrants and journalists, by his damaging and whimsical decisions about tariffs and much more.

But do we hear much about those regular citizens who disagree? I read and watch and listen widely, and I sure don’t. Not in mainstream media, at any rate.

I did a small gut check over the long weekend to see how much advance attention this coming Saturday’s “No Kings” rallies were getting — about 2,000 gatherings across the country that are likely to bring millions of Americans out into the streets to stand up for democracy and to protest Trump’s actions.

Short answer: Very, very little. That could change in the next few days, of course, but as of Monday afternoon, the most prominent mainstream story I saw was from Fox News, which focused on the GOP’s effort to brand these citizen protests as hate rallies.

The Hill did a short “What you need to know” piece, which did not quote a single regular American, but did quote Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson from an appearance on Fox riffing about how this is a “Hate America” thing. “It’s all the pro-Hamas wing and the antifa people.” No, it’s not, Mike.

If there was any advance coverage in the Washington Post or the New York Times, I couldn’t readily find it. Same with CBS News and ABC News. The left-leaning MSNBC had some pre-coverage but it was about the Republican attempts to smear the protests.

Local media — especially local TV stations — did a little better. But they focused largely on logistics. The heartfelt beliefs and concerns of a traumatized nation, as spoken by ordinary citizens? That would be a good story, but I’m not seeing it in Big Journalism.

What’s the reason for this silence? As usual, I believe, it’s the mainstream media’s fear of appearing to sympathize or identify with those who oppose Trump. I often complain about the syndrome known as “both-sidesing” — in which unequal sides are given equal treatment in the press. But this failure of coverage is worse than that.

Robert Reich, the former Labor Secretary, whom I admire, has written about a nation that’s been traumatized by Trump’s anti-democratic fervor. He wrote recently about the deep anxiety, even depression, that so many feel, and argued that it is “a rational response to a nation that’s becoming ever more disordered.”

“Many of us now feel powerless and afraid. We don’t recognize our nation. We’re disoriented, vulnerable, anxious.”

If millions of Americans are feeling that — and I agree that they are — shouldn’t it get some news coverage? If that feeling is driving them out to protest next Saturday, that seems like a pretty good story, too.

But instead, we still are encouraged to plumb the depths of Trump voters’ brains. Their feelings. Over and over again.

This is a failure of mission. And if it’s driven by fear of being labeled partisan, that’s a failure of courage. I hope that actual news coverage of Saturday’s protests will give voice to the hearts and minds of these Americans. But I’m not holding my breath.

Maybe I’m wrong, readers. Are you seeing such empathetic coverage? Do you feel represented by the political journalism you are seeing by our major institutions? And further, do you plan to hit the streets on Saturday? Tell me in the comments, please.

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Other media things on my mind:

— Now that the Gaza war has ceased, a look back at coverage is extremely telling. Adam Johnson wrote in The Nation last December that major Sunday morning news shows had centered U.S. and Israeli voices in the war over those of Palestinians. Now, many months later, very little has changed.

“In the context of Sunday morning news shows that set the agenda for Washington, DC, Palestinians have been excluded almost categorically,” he writes. Now, in an update, his survey of coverage from Oct. 8, 2023 to Sunday, Oct. 5 shows that, for three of the four major Sunday morning news shows (those on NBC, ABC and CNN), “not once did any of the bookers, producers or hosts see fit to interview a single Palestinian or Palestinian-American.” The one exception to the Sunday-morning rule was a single segment on CBS, but if you add that in, Johnson writes, the breakdown over that 24-month period is one by a Palestianian guest, 24 by Israeli guests, five by Prime Minister Netanyahu and 84 by U.S. officials. As he notes, given America’s funding and support, U.S. citizens have a significant stake in this.

— I wrote last week in the Guardian US about the startling ascendancy of Bari Weiss at CBS News, calling it weird and worrisome. That’s especially true given what’s happened at that network over the past several months — one capitulation after another, including settling a frivolous lawsuit brought by Trump, canceling Stephen Colbert’s show, and hiring an ombudsman (aka bias monitor) who will not report to the public. (The network said it canceled Colbert for financial reasons, but it did happen just after the late-night host termed the lawsuit settlement a “big, fat bribe,” and Trump cheered the cancellation.) I found the new top editor’s rallying cry to the many veteran journalists who now report to her — “let’s do the f-ing news” — to be downright embarrassing given Weiss’s own lack of reporting experience. And here’s John Oliver’s brutal takedown.

— Kudos to George Stephanopoulos of ABC News for his persistent questioning Sunday of JD Vance on two subjects: Trump’s claim that Illinois governor Pritzker should be in jail. (Q: Do you think Gov. Pritzker has committed a crime? A: I think Gov. Pritzker has certainly failed to keep the people of Illinois safe. Rinse and repeat that several times.)

And, even more notably, his insistence on an answer to Vance’s dodging about the $50,000 cash handoff to Tom Homan, now Trump’s border czar, as recorded on an FBI surveillance tape last year. Watch the video to see how follow-up questioning should be done, and what to do when you finally can’t get an answer.

— I always appreciate Parker Molloy’s sharp-eyed newsletter, The Present Age. Parker wrote a recent post about an incredible rarity — a politician forthrightly defending against the persistent and ugly attacks on trans people. The immediate subject was New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s campaign video in which he uttered this remarkable line: “Since taking office, Donald Trump has waged a scorched-earth campaign against trans people. The man with the most power has expended enormous energy targeting those with the least.” Whether you care about the New York mayor’s race or not, “it shows what’s possible when a politician decides trans people aren’t disposable.”

Readers, what are your hits and misses from your recent reading and viewing?

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