As I suggested yesterday Donald Trump is hostage to the worst elements in his "own" party. But he isn't the only hostage on our political stage these days.
The media! Ahh, the media. All of them -- liberal, conservative, mainstream, streaming, whatever -- are sadly, hostage to Donald himself. Collectively, they rush to pounce on his every tweet rant, attempting to analyze it, wondering whether it represents his real thinking. In short, taking the President's nocturnal outbursts far too seriously.
The downside is that cooperate in Trump's smoke-and-mirrors show by giving it continuing publicity (exactly as he hopes they will do). Further, particularly when they fall all over themselves trying to make something from nonsense like "covfefe," they only reinforce the negative impression, prevalent among so many, that they are biased. Further, it leads to shallow reporting that feeds stereotypical thinking.
Can our media cure themselves? I would like to think so. On the topic of media in a Trump world, for several months now, I've been very impressed by the writing of Margaret Sullivan, media columnist for the Washington Post. See for example her latest piece, regarding the difference between media "balance" (which Trump and his administration neither deserve nor should expect), and media "fairness" (which Trump should be granted and the public should deserve and expect).