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Trump's interview on Fox News was not journalism

Posted on by Kennedy
Trump's interview on Fox News was not journalism

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Donald Trump appeared on “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo” and unleashed an endless stream of lies, threats and nonsense – you know, the usual.

And how did Bartiromo, once a respected business journalist, react?

Mostly by doing nothing. She just let him go. Now and then she offered modest resistance, but sometimes she outright encouraged him.

That wasn't journalism. It was more like propaganda.

And it's not particularly surprising. Bartiromo has long been a far-right apologist. And Trump has long lied about almost everything. It's just a little mind-boggling to sit there for an entire hour and realize the danger that something like this poses.

Trump initially said there was “something wrong” with Kamala Harris.

Trump began the interview by saying of his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris: “She can’t talk. There’s something wrong with the candidate.”

Silence from Bartiromo. The same silence followed when Trump said of President Joe Biden: “He has no idea what’s happening.” To be fair, he spends his days sleeping.”

Trump said he was leading every poll in every swing state. He's not, but that's typical political posturing. “I know you’re the leader in all these swing states,” Bartiromo said later. It's one thing to let him say whatever he wants. Not a good thing, but a thing. It's quite another to agree with his nonsense.

And when you ask the presidential nominee of a major political party whether he's worried about violence by terrorists on Election Day, he replies that he's really worried about “the enemy within, the people within,” which he describes as ” radical-left lunatics” and continues: “They should be very easy to handle, if necessary by the National Guard and, if really necessary, by the military.” Don't you want to know more? Isn't this at least worth a follow-up question?

Is Trump really saying he would use the military against political enemies?

Is Trump really saying he would use the US military against people whose policies he disagrees with? Maybe he made a mistake? Maybe he's joking? Because no candidate could really mean that, right? By the way, in case you're wondering who these enemies are, Trump named Rep. Adam Schiff, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in California.

Bartiromo simply moved on. Pathetic and dangerous. And yes, Trump definitely sounded like he meant business.

Bartiromo asked Trump about the lies he spread about the federal response to Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton after he repeatedly talked about “how poorly they did in North Carolina and parts of Georgia.” A lot of governors have done a good job, but the response from the White House was terrible, the response from her (presumably Harris) was terrible.”

In fact, even Republican governors have praised the federal response. Beyond mere campaign mudslinging, the concern is that the relentless false claims about FEMA's assistance to hurricane victims amount to discouraging people from asking for the help they are entitled to and desperately need .

What about Trump's lie (not their word) that President Biden took money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to use against migrants?

“No, no, it came from there and everyone knew it and it was published by them and all of a sudden, a week later, they have a different scenario,” Trump said.

Do you have any evidence? This is a question that comes to mind. It's a shame Bartiromo didn't ask about it.

Bartiromo asked some good questions. But here too there was either a nod of agreement or nothing at all. She asked about Trump's alleged 200% tariffs – this would increase the cost of goods, she stressed. He said that wasn't the case without providing an explanation and she said, “It has to be passed on somehow.” At that point, Trump basically said it was more of a theoretical number being used as a threat.

And isn't it dangerous to encourage Israel to attack Iran's nuclear facilities? “No, you can’t allow them to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.

You can't call it journalism. You can call it irresponsible

During the interview, the Chyrons offered information like this at the bottom of the screen: “Trump is holding big rallies on the campaign trail” and “Trump: We're running to save our country.”

There was more, but you get the point. This was the safest of safe rooms. Harris was criticized for appearing with entertainers such as Howard Stern and Stephen Colbert, who appeared to support her. (Stern supported her. Colbert had a beer with her.)

But that’s it – they’re entertainers. Bartiromo is a journalist. At least she used to be. After Sunday's interview, it's hard to think of her as anything other than a Trump supporter who brought him on her show and let him campaign.

Granted, she knows her audience who will pick up on whatever “that” is. You can't call that good journalism. You can call it irresponsible.

CNN's Chris Wallace talks about his new book: Trump and the 1960 election that changed politics

Reach Goodykoontz at [email protected]. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. X: @goodyk. Subscribe the weekly film newsletter.

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