Let's Compare the Coverage of Biden's Putin Gaffe and Trump's Plea for Putin's Help

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a39584206/trump-putin-help-biden-gaffe/

No paywall
https://archive.ph/GbUed

Donald Trump gets special treatment from the press, and it's to his benefit. This is hard for many to process because of how obvious it is that most members of the mainstream media hate Trump and find his behavior disgraceful. But that's not the dynamic in play here. The fact is that Trump's exploits are so far outside the bounds of acceptable behavior for human adults, much less people vying to be President of the United States, that the press doesn't know what to do with him. He short-circuits people's brains.

The whole universe of covering politics pre-2016—with its gaffes and scandals and all the rest—was turned upside down by his approach of never admitting error on anything ever. The one time he kind of apologized was when he was caught on tape bragging about sexual assault. The rest of the time, he said all 20-plus women who accused him of sexual misconduct had made it up. Liars. He said we should ban all believers of one religion from entering the United States. He called John Lewis, who was nearly beaten to death marching for the liberation of his people at Selma, "all talk," "no action." Buttressed by the closed media ecosystem in which his fans live, and where none of his misdeeds exist for more than a nanosecond, he was impervious to the press, which couldn't really come to grips with him in the first place. Armed with the conventional weapons of political war—in which it has always been a player—the mainstream press was faced with a series of nuclear scandals that scorched the political landscape and left it disoriented, particularly when he'd change the subject to another scandal by the next day.

This would be one thing, and almost understandable, if the mainstreamers did not simultaneously hold other politicians, particularly milquetoast Democrats, to the old standards of gaffe. In fact, the conventional-weapons gaffes—The Emails, The Deplorables—are beaten to a pulp, maybe because the press still knows how to respond to them and the miscreants involved still harbor some capacity for shame. And that is how we get to a place where Joe Biden faced day after day of incessant coverage, a sustained barrage of negative questions and headlines, for his statement that Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power" as he continues to commit atrocities in Ukraine. This was a diplomatic mistake, even if Biden has stood by the comment as an expression of his personal outrage at Putin's conduct. It was worthy of the press's attention. But how much, and for how long? Particularly when the leader of the opposition party, Biden's 2020 opponent and most probable opponent in 2024, is saying this shit.

Aaron Rupar
@atrupar
·
Mar 29, 2022
Trump calls for Putin to release dirt on the Biden family right now since now "he's not exactly a fan of our country" during new interview with Real America's Voice


Watch on Twitter

Aaron Rupar
@atrupar
Extended clip is worth watching: "As long as Putin is not exactly a fan of our country... I would think Putin would know the answer to that. I think he should release it... you won't get the answer from Ukraine... I think Putin now would be willing to probably give that answer."


Watch on Twitter
12:37 AM · Mar 30, 2022

OK, first of all, can we all admit now that it was bad that Putin actively backed this guy in 2016? Somehow this was in doubt over the last five years. Now that people's memories have been refreshed with regard to Putin's resumé as a mass-murdering war-crimes aficionado, can we come to the consensus that it is a negative attribute for any American presidential candidate to have his support? How about the fact that Trump has never had a bad word to say about the guy? Is that bad? That the most recent former American president and the guy currently bombing maternity hospitals and theaters full of kids seem to share a similar view of how things ought to work? In the run-up to the invasion, all Trump thought of Putin's moves with respect to Ukraine was that he was using his power in a "smart" way. The idea it was morally wrong did not occur to him, because it never does. When he now describes the invasion as a "mistake," it's in a tactical sense, not any moral one.

*snip*

[Vinca]

1. It's really outrageous. I can't believe the faux Biden controversy has gone on for days and days

and days. I wish every media person who opens their pie holes would be asked about their opinion. Should a beast who is slaughtering innocent women and babies and elderly - among others - be allowed to remain in power forever? If so, why? Biden was 100% correct in what he said and the media can STFU about it.

[sop]

2. "A gaffe is when a politician tells the truth."

"A ‘gaffe’ is the opposite of a ‘lie’: It’s when a politician tells the truth,” wrote Michael Kinsley in 1984. It’s become known as Kinsley’s Law of Gaffes or a Kinsley Gaffe: “A gaffe is when a politician (accidentally) tells the truth.” Obviously, Trump has never been guilty of making a gaffe.