Trump Press Sec. Goes Full MAGA Cult in Crazed, Angry Tirades at Media

As Karoline Leavitt smears reporters with ugly MAGA tropes, a media observer explains why journalists won’t tell the truth about Trump’s authoritarianism—and why they should get this right to save themselves.

Republicans are blaming Democratic rhetoric for inciting the alleged assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. To that end, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt unleashed tirades at journalists that were soaked in MAGA derangement. One cultishly lionized Trump as a “fearless president” for standing up to “bullets” while absurdly accusing the media and Democrats of “11 years” of “hateful” and “violent” speech about Trump. The other tore into Democrats and the media for daring to point out that Trump poses an “existential threat to democracy,” as if that’s not rooted in his actual conduct, which it is. Yet if anything, the media has not sufficiently conveyed the threat Trump poses. We talked about this disconnect with Matt Gertz of Media Matters, who’s been writing well about the absurdity of inviting Trump to the press dinner.  We discuss the danger Trump poses for press freedom, why the media struggles to report on the threat despite being a target, why time is running out to get this right, and how Democrats should proceed now. Listen to this episode here.

TNR’s Greg Sargent takes a critical look at the day’s political news and the stories leading NewRepublic.com, and speaks to leading journalists and newsmakers.

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