Stop Letting Trump Write Your Headlines
The corporate media's ubiquitous "Trump says" framing is coverage fit for the king he imagines himself to be.
Almost every day, Donald Trump unleashes a blitzkrieg of lies. And almost every day, members of the beltway press give him the benefit of the doubt simply because he occupies the Oval Office. We’ve been watching his routine for a decade, and yet somehow, the corporate media still has no idea how to cover him — or any of the other pathological liars in power.
Now it’s true that some stories knock down Trump’s absurd claims in the body of the story. But the headline (often the only thing readers actually absorb) usually does Trump a tremendous favor by writing the story on his terms, with his words.
It’s the “Trump says” framing — and it’s everywhere.
Trump says he’s canceling the Iran strikes because a deal is pending. Trump says vandals are responsible for the Reflecting Pool turning green. Trump says he can keep imposing tariffs regardless of what the Supreme Court ruled. Even when Iran says there’s no deal. Even when the courts have already shut him down. The headlines still give his baseless assertions instant legitimacy.
Take the Reflecting Pool that Trump had painted “American flag blue” this summer (courtesy of $15 million in no-bid contracts, including to a prominent donor). For weeks, he insisted “Criminal, Radical Left Vandals“ cut the waterproof lining and caused the algae bloom because they “truly hate our Country.”
Interior officials had already told reporters, before Trump ever made the vandalism claim, that the outbreak was caused by residual algae sitting in the supply lines during construction. Then last week, his own U.S. Attorney, Jeanine Pirro, quietly dropped the charges in three more of the vandalism cases, including one against former Olympian David Hearn.
Trump’s response wasn’t to acknowledge he’d been wrong — it was to bash Pirro because she “folded like an umbrella,” adding, “I guess she choked.” (No one will be surprised if Judge Jeanine is out of a job soon, following in the footsteps of other high-profile women in his orbit).
The real story is that the administration manufactured criminal prosecutions to cover up for their own incompetence and corruption. Not that Trump “says” there are vandals. (Confused old men say a lot of things).