When we complain about the media, this is why
What’s wrong with this picture?
In most situations, comparing a political opponent to Adolf Hitler might seem like an extraordinary step. For Joe Biden’s campaign, it has become part of the routine of running against Donald Trump.
When the former president said that undocumented immigrants were “poisoning the blood of our country” during a New Hampshire rally on Saturday, a Biden campaign aide charged with monitoring Trump immediately circulated the comments to staffers, according to senior officials.
Within hours, the campaign released a statement attacking Trump for having “channeled his role models as he parroted Adolf Hitler, praised Kim Jong Un, and quoted Vladimir Putin while running for president on a promise to rule as a dictator and threaten American democracy.”
In fairness, the article goes on to explain, correctly, that Trump is evoking Hitler in his speeches. The Biden campaign even sent the article around. But my first reaction to seeing it was that this frame of the story — Biden has done something unusual — was the opposite of what it should be, which is that Trump is doing something unusual. It should be:
“In most situations, a candidate affirmatively quoting Adolph Hitler is an extraordinary step. For Donald Trump’s campaign, it’s become part of his routine.
When the former president said that that undocumented immigrants were “poisoning the blood of our country” during a New Hampshire rally on Saturday, a Biden campaign aide charged with monitoring Trump immediately circulated the comments to staffers, according to senior officials.
Joe Biden didn’t compare Trump to Hitler. Trump compared himself to Hitler by blatantly using his fascist rhetoric. The Biden campaign rightly pointed it out as has everyone else who is shocked and appalled by what they are seeing. It’s not a “routine” campaign ploy which is how that sounded to me.
Anyway, this is how Trump’s fascism gets normalized. It’s not by seeing him say what he said, it’s by the press framing it as “routine” politics.
Happy Hollandaise, everyone