On Wednesday, our friends at Grabien flagged down an astute piece of analysis from FNC’s MediaBuzz host Howard Kurtz on America’s Newsroom when he noted that the liberal media have an unhealthy penchant for going to an “11 or 13” on a one-to-10 scale whenever President Trump does something wrong or utters “something incendiary.”
Host Bill Hemmer invited Kurtz to comment on the media coverage of Helsinki and subsequent walkback, so Kurtz first pointed out that, as for the supposed clarification, “the media are largely rejecting it and even mocking the President's attempts at a clarification, likening it to a hostage video, saying it’s not about one misspoken word and the whole fervor is fed by leaks from insiders.”
As for what went down in Helsinki, Kurtz summarized some of the increasingly-mainstream reactions, that could be boiled down to the President’s disastrous performance being indications he’s a “traitor and treasonous, you know, he should taken out and shot, the analogies to Pearl Harbor and so forth.”
Kurtz used that as a launching point to observe that the liberal media constantly miss their chance to expand their tent by losing their minds whenever the President does something large swaths of the public would disapprove of:
[A]nd this also is a pattern I've observed, which is when the President makes a mistake or says something incendiary, he’ll go to a 10. The press goes to 11 or 13 and it convinces many Trump supporters that they’ve got it in for that guy, that he never gets the benefit of the doubt. In other words, it can be an overreaction, which is not to say that he doesn't deserve criticism for what happened in Helsinki.
Couldn’t have said it much better myself.
Kurtz added moments later, aside from the hysteria he had already noted as emblematic of the media’s over-reactive personality, “the reaction was perfectly appropriate and understandable” on substance with conservative outlets and even some Fox News hosts and pundits condemning Trump.
“It may turn out that the summit, in retrospect, will indicate more progress than we might have expected but now you even have The New York Times, Bill, just briefly saying well, this raises the question what does Putin have on Trump. There is no evidence of that but it’s made it into the mainstream conversation,” Kurtz also observed.
Hemmer had an astute conclusion based on Kurtz’s perspective and alluded to a segment on NBC’s Today from Wisconsin in which the voters interviewed largely remained behind the President despite this less-than-stellar week on the international stage.
To see the relevant transcript from FNC’s America’s Newsroom on July 18, click “expand.”
FNC’s America’s Newsroom
July 18, 2018
9:46 a.m. EasternBILL HEMMER: You've been watching and listening and reading the incoming back and forth. What do you think right now about the do over from yesterday afternoon?
HOWARD KURTZ Well, first of all, Bill, the media are largely rejecting it and even mocking the President's attempts at a clarification, likening it to as hostage video, saying it’s not about one misspoken word and the whole fervor is bed by leaks from insiders. We have seen this before undercutting the President. Washington Post reporting that he essentially ignored most of 100 pages of briefing material saying to be tough on Vladimir Putin. Axios quoting former officials on Helsinki “need a shower,” another one said “dude, this is a blanking disgrace.” They are being disloyal but also frustrated in the President and what some of them called defiance disorder blew past their advice about how deal with Putin.
HEMMER: What’s defiance order — defiance disorder, rather.
KURTZ: It's when everybody on the President's staff says don't do this, you gotto be tough on Putin. Don't stand up there. We saw this also after Charlottesville and the Presiden says, “hey, I'm President and I’m going to say what I want” and, of course, he often excels at saying what he wants, but sometimes when he says what he wants, it can be somewhat inflammatory.
HEMMER: Howard, how much do you think was based on the reporters not getting the answers they were expecting? How much of it — you know — Rod Rosenstein not getting the answer publically he was expecting based on the indictments last Friday, maybe some Republicans on the Hill not getting the answer they were expecting>?
KURTZ: Certainly there was a great expectation in the media and political world that in light of those indictments of the 12 Russian military officers the President was going to strike a more aggressive tone instead of sort of equating U.S. intelligence agencies with the strong denial — powerful denial he said from President Putin. But on this point about going too far, there has been some of that. A lot of talk in the press about traitor and treasonous, you know, he should taken out and shot, the analogies to Pearl Harbor and so forth and this also is a pattern I've observed, which is when the President makes a mistake or says something incendiary, he’ll go to a 10. The press goes to 11 or 13 and it convinces many Trump supporters that they’ve got in for that guy, that he never gets the benefit of the doubt. In other words, it can be an overreaction, which is not to say that he doesn't deserve criticism for what happened in Helsinki.
HEMMER: Okay, so you would agree that, sometimes, the first reaction, as I stated earlier, can be an overreaction, that — do you think this was an overreaction or do you think the reaction was appropriate in realtime?
KURTZ: On the substance of it, I think the reaction was perfectly appropriate and understandable and here is the difference in this case. When the President says fake news, in this particular instance, you have a number of conservative outlets and commentators being highly critical how he handled Vladimir Putin. You have The Weekly — The Wall Street Journal editorial page saying a personal and national embarrassment. You have many hosts and commentators on Fox News being strongly critical of what the President did. You have Newt Gingrich, a major ally, the worst mistake of his presidency. So what Trump did, this cuts across the usual left/right or pro-Trump, anti-Trump line and that's why there has been such intensity to this media reaction.
HEMMER: I’ll just make one more point We don't know what happened in the private meetings. I think that White House would do well to tell us if there was news or movement on things like North Korea, we want to know.
KURTZ: Sure, the — the session with Putin was more than just the press conference, but the press conference is the public stage, the white ha — white hot glare of the spotlight. So, that's all we have to go on. It may turn out that the summit, in retrospect, will indicate more progress than we might have expected but now you even have The New York Times, Bill, just briefly saying well, this raises the question what does Putin have on Trump. There is no evidence of that but it’s made it into the mainstream conversation.
HEMMER: Yeah, I saw a reporter on NBC this morning — the Today show — they were in southeastern Wisconsin, Trump supporters, a region that flipped from blue to red in 2016 they were — they were 100 percent behind him. So, they hear it in ways the media do not hear —
KURTZ: Exactly.
HEMMER: — and I think that's something we really have to keep in mind.
