Trump’s interview by mainstream media, Meet The Press, illustrates why Trump won. It normalized all his evil acts, including tariffs, elections, inflation lies, and invasions.
Meet The Press’ Trump interview normalizes Trump.
Watch Politics Done Right T.V. here.
Podcasts (Video — Audio)
Summary
The speaker argues that America’s corporate‑run media ecosystem keeps citizens distracted and ill‑informed, allowing economic oligarchy and right‑wing disinformation—from Trump’s tariff myths to fantasies of invading Canada—to go largely unchallenged; only a robust, people‑funded independent press can halt the nation’s democratic backslide.
- Bread‑and‑circus syndrome: Cheap consumer goods and nonstop entertainment mask systemic economic decay.
- Corporate choke‑hold on news: Drug, oil, and defense advertisers blunt tough coverage, muting criticism of profiteering.
- Meet the Press is a cautionary tale. Kristen Welker’s softball interview allowed Trump to recycle lies about landslides, tariffs, and $1.98 gasoline.
- Tariffs = hidden taxes: Import levies fall on U.S. consumers, shrink wages, and finance more giveaways to the wealthy.
- Imperial daydreams normalized: Even the idea of invading Canada or Greenland passed as a “legitimate” discussion, echoing colonial logic.
Corporate media’s indulgence of authoritarian spin is not sloppy journalism but a structural feature of profit‑first news. Grass‑roots outlets, funded by small donors and guided by social‑justice values, must fill the gap and rebuild an information commons where facts, equity, and democratic accountability trump demagoguery.
Premium Content (Complimentary)
Donald Trump’s latest appearance on NBC’s Meet The Press showcased a perennial crisis in American journalism: the reflex to “both‑sides” even the most brazen falsehoods. During an hour‑long conversation, host Kristen Welker allowed Trump to repeat disinformation about tariffs, the 2024 election, and global economics, then did not discount the possibility of using U.S. troops to seize Canada or Greenland. The exchange demonstrated how legacy outlets continue to launder authoritarian talking points through the patina of credible reporting, leaving viewers less informed and more vulnerable to demagoguery.
First, consider tariffs. Trump falsely insisted that foreign governments “pay the tariff,” claiming the United States now rakes in billions daily. In reality, multiple fact‑checks and economic studies show that the costs land squarely on U.S. consumers and manufacturers. The Washington Post recently documented how his new 10‑to‑145 percent levies will drive up prices on everything from electronics to canned food, contradicting his revenue boasts. A May 2024 Peterson Institute analysis estimated that the China‑focused tariffs alone reduced household welfare by roughly 0.6 percent of GDP—about $1,300 per family—after accounting for retaliation. Even U.S. Customs data rebuts Trump’s fiction: in March, the government collected about $8.2 billion, or $263 million a day, not “two billion.” Yet Meet The Press let the exaggeration stand, muting the pocket‑book alarm bells that working‑class families deserve to hear. Progressive media would have pressed the point: tariffs function as regressive taxes that transfer wealth upward by raising consumer prices while funding tax cuts for corporations.
The interview next drifted into election denialism. Trump repeated his mantra of a “landslide” victory. Yet the program failed to confront him with the real numbers. Trump never achieved a national majority in any of his races. This omission matters because normalizing the “landslide” lie erodes faith in democracy and fuels voter‑suppression laws that disproportionately target communities of color.
Trump also painted a rosy picture of consumer prices, insisting that “eggs are cheaper than ever” and that gasoline hovers near $1.98. Reality bites harder: average U.S. gas prices are above $3.20 a gallon, and USDA data show that egg prices are roughly 40 percent higher than pre‑pandemic norms. Bloomberg’s March fact‑check dismantled the claim, citing Bureau of Labor Statistics figures showing a 23 percent grocery‑price increase since 2021. When disinformation on kitchen‑table economics goes unchallenged, working Americans are left with a distorted map of their budgets, and progressives lose the narrative battle over inflation relief measures like an expanded Child Tax Credit or antitrust action against food conglomerates.
Perhaps the most chilling segment arrived when Welker asked whether Trump would deploy U.S. troops if Canada or Greenland refused annexation. Rather than recoil at the notion of 21st‑century conquest, the question framed military aggression as a legitimate bargaining chip. Trump declared he would not “rule out” force in Greenland, citing its rare‑earth minerals, and mused that Canada “only works as a state.” The Guardian captured the international backlash to this proto‑colonial rhetoric, quoting Greenlandic officials who called the idea “an assault on sovereignty.” ABC News polling shows 86 percent of Americans reject annexing Canada, yet the mere airtime legitimizes imperial fantasies that echo Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A responsible press would contextualize the violation of international law and highlight the human cost of such adventurism; instead, Meet The Press treated it like an eccentric real‑estate pitch.
Why does this pattern persist?
In a profit‑driven media ecosystem, access journalism often trumps accountability. Welker’s producers likely feared that aggressive pushback would jeopardize future interviews, which is precisely the dynamic Trump exploits. Meanwhile, independent outlets that practice robust fact‑checking lack the exact airtime and advertising muscle, leaving vast audiences inside the mainstream echo chamber. An Associated Press‑NORC poll released last week found that most Americans already anticipate higher prices from Trump’s tariff barrage, suggesting a gap between lived experience and televised narrative. That gap widens whenever corporate media decline to confront power with data.
Progressives argue that the antidote lies in movement‑based journalism and public‑interest ownership models. Viewers deserve hosts who interrupt falsehoods with on‑screen graphics, direct source citations, and follow‑up questions illuminating policy consequences. They also deserve diverse panels that center labor leaders, climate scientists, and grassroots activists rather than habitual Beltway pundits. In the tariff debate, that would mean inviting economists who can explain how import taxes raise the Consumer Price Index and depress manufacturing employment, a connection detailed in Federal Reserve working papers.
Critics may call this approach “advocacy journalism,” but democracy cannot survive a neutrality that equates fact with fiction. By allowing Trump to rewrite basic arithmetic on trade balances, to hallucinate mandate‑level victories, and to fantasize about invading allies, Meet The Press abdicated its Fourth Estate duty. The interview’s aftermath proves the point: right‑wing outlets clipped the soft‑ball exchanges to claim mainstream validation of their narrative, while disinformation metastasized on social media before any corrective pieces landed.
In the end, the episode illustrates a harsh truth. When corporate media refuse to wield the simplest journalistic tools—context, proportion, and verification—they become silent partners in the authoritarian project. Progressives must therefore build and fund alternative platforms, press regulators to restore robust public‑interest obligations, and hold broadcasters accountable through advertiser pressure and audience demand. Nothing less will break the cycle that keeps the electorate trapped between bread, circus, and billionaire propaganda.
