Trump's comments are fair game, but the media isn't always helping itself in how it's reporting them
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The one name we’ve been hearing on certain cable channels almost as often as Donald Trump is Adolf Hitler.
Almost as if the Nazi leader was his running mate.
Now my view is that anything Trump says is fair game. His rhetoric is often harsh, sometimes over the top. And he’s been on a tear against illegal immigrants.
The latest blast came over the weekend, when Trump said at a New Hampshire rally:
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"They’re poisoning the blood of our country. That’s what they’ve done. They poison — mental institutions and prisons all over the world. Not just in South America. Not just the three or four countries that we think about. But all over the world they’re coming into our country — from Africa, from Asia, all over the world."
This was constantly covered on MSNBC, pretty regularly on CNN, and other than the unusual frequency, I don’t have a problem with that, it’s news. I’m never in the camp that says don’t cover what Trump says – he’s got a huge lead in the Republican primaries and a shot at winning back the White House – so he deserves aggressive scrutiny. Then you can add your commentary if you’re an opinion show.
I didn’t think it was that big a deal because Trump has said this before, using the same language. Again, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be reported, but when a candidate says something several times it usually diminishes the news value.
Republican presidential candidate former U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during a campaign rally at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center on Dec. 17 in Reno, Nevada. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Unless some in the media really, really like their Trump clicks and ratings.
Here’s how the Washington Post framed it:
"When Donald Trump began saying that immigrants poison the blood of our country in September, he could have argued plausibly that he didn’t know the construct was one of Adolf Hitler’s infamous talking points."
But now "that argument isn’t going to fly," because "he is saying it again."
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The Post helpfully provides the previous examples:
On Sept. 20: "It’s the blood of our country. What they’re doing is destroying our country."
In a Sept. 27 interview: "It’s poisoning the blood of our country. It’s so bad, and people are coming in with disease. People are coming in with every possible thing that you could have."
And then, just so you don’t miss the point, the Post adds a lengthy list of offensive comments about Muslims, immigrants, women and Democrats, going back to 2021.
Former U.S. President Trump held a campaign rally in Nevada as he battles to become the Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Politico says, and this was a constant refrain on television, that "a similar version of the phrase appears in Adolf Hitler’s manifesto ‘Mein Kampf,’ a book that some doubt Trump has read. However, in a 1990 interview with Vanity Fair, Trump’s first ex-wife Ivana Trump said the future president kept a collection of Hitler’s speeches in their bedroom."
No idea if that’s true, since Donald and Ivana were just going through their well-publicized breakup. Trump denied it to Vanity Fair, saying even if he had the speeches, he wouldn’t have read them.
Politico also says that "comparing your political opponent’s words to Adolf Hitler’s used to be controversial. But Donald Trump continues to use rhetoric that historians say reeks of fascism — and now Joe Biden’s campaign has entered a surreal routine of calling him out on it."
By the way, it’s not just "historians," it’s much of the media.
Trump remains the front-runner for the GOP presidential primary as the first caucuses draw near. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
When Trump made his New Hampshire comments, a Biden campaign aide sent them out to staffers. Uh, fine, but there is this thing called the World Wide Web where they would have seen it, or on television.
The campaign quickly issued a statement ripping the former president 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." And campaign spokesman Michael Tyler says they will call it out each time he echoes "the rhetoric of Hitler and Mussolini."
But a canned statement from the campaign, or comments by a deputy press secretary, aren’t really calling out Trump and often get little or no airtime. If the president wanted to castigate Trump, he would do it on camera. Whether it’s because he doesn’t want to be asked about Hunter or the growing unpopularity of the war in Gaza, he is limiting his criticism to off-camera comments at fundraisers.
That old Ivana interview was picked up by CNN, the Daily Mail, the Daily Beast, the Hill, the Insider…I could go on and on.
On "Morning Joe," Joe Scarborough said Trump’s language is "getting worse," adding: "I am still shocked by the clowns who claim to be media critics out there, just absolute clowns that attack the media for reporting this … You don’t understand his connection with the audience. You just have to understand you’re actually helping him by focusing on saying he is fascist."
Scarborough seems to have reacted to comments on "Fox & Friends," and I agree these reports may well be helping Trump with his base (just like the four indictments). But ignoring what Trump says – and believe me, I’m not defending the "poisoning" remarks – just doesn’t work for the media.
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The last major round of this was when Trump described his opponents as "vermin," language the media also linked to the Nazi regime.
And when Trump told Sean Hannity he’d like to be dictator "for one day," it dominated the news cycle for a week – until he then said he’d been joking. That’s how the ex-president drives the news cycle, by saying things he knows will drive the press crazy and then (sometimes) taking them back.
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Even if Trump’s critics are right, it doesn’t explain why half the country supports him and he edges Biden in many polls. With so many stories portraying him as an aspiring authoritarian who uses the language of fascists, it hasn’t changed their minds. Whether things look different in a general election remains to be seen.
Howard Kurtz is the host of FOX News Channel's MediaBuzz (Sundays 11 a.m.-12 p.m. ET). Based in Washington, D.C., he joined the network in July 2013 and regularly appears on Special Report with Bret Baier and other programs.
