Give Trump credit when due
By Peter Funt
Stuck in a hotel room watching CNN the other day, I happened to catch live coverage of Donald Trump’s short speech about the First Step Act, concerning criminal justice reforms. I was bowled over. If I had been reading an unlabeled transcript, I might have thought the speaker was Barack Obama.
Imbalances and outright abuses in our criminal justice system are a plague on society. And here was Trump, the law-and-order president, urging passage of legislation to limit mandatory sentences, especially for drug offenses, and advocating new funding for sweeping anti-recidivism programs.
Trump also said this: “Today’s announcement shows that true bipartisanship is possible.” Yes! He’s correct — and that’s big news.
I kept expecting Trump to put his foot in his mouth by shifting to “criminals” in the migrant caravan, or ranting about “crimes” he believes were committed in election recounts. He did not. He was entirely reasonable and on message — albeit with a prepared text — about a vitally important issue.
When it ended, however, I had a sinking feeling. What if mainstream media were to underplay or even ignore this very positive news? After all, members of Trump’s team, most notably Kellyanne Conway, have stated repeatedly that media dwell on Trump’s problems and fail to give appropriate space to meaningful achievements.
In the hours that followed, CNN devoted almost all of its time to “chaos” in the White House: Trump’s mood, Melania Trump’s effort to get a national security deputy fired, and charges and countercharges about the election results. The First Step Act was barely mentioned.
I was able to check two broadcast networks. On NBC’s “Nightly News,” the story was covered reasonably well about eight minutes in. But the “CBS Evening News” never mentioned the story in its half-hour report.
Never mentioned it!
The next morning, the story was practically invisible on the nation’s front pages with no page-one coverage in The Los Angles Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, or USA Today.
Only The New York Times, among papers I surveyed, stepped up, making the story its lead of the day atop page one. In an editorial, The Times added, “In this early test, the president is signaling that he indeed wants to make progress on critical issues that enjoy broad support.”
Meanwhile, progressive commentator Van Jones told CNN’s Don Lemon, “I say, the 99 times I don’t agree with the president I’m going to give him hell. But on this one, I’ll give him a salute and applause.”
What followed was a Twitter backlash against Jones from liberals who were troubled by praise, any praise, for Trump. Jones replied via Twitter: “There are 200,000 people behind bars. They have no hope, no help. We haven’t passed a bill to help them in almost two generations.”
The president himself has noted that he could work with the new Democratic majority in the House on many issues from drug prices to repairing infrastructure and, yes, on criminal justice reform.
Trump’s opponents along with media who objectively cover the White House must walk a fine line. They should criticize him when he deserves it and must hold him accountable for his many misstatements. But they can’t succumb to temporary blindness when the news is positive.
As the second half of Trump’s term begins, reforms are needed in criminal justice — and also in how politicians and the media conduct themselves on the rare occasions when good news happens at the White House.
The viewpoints expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Independent.
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Articles related to “Give Trump credit when due”
Mudslinging, smear campaigns, and why I haven’t attacked Donald Trump
I’ll give Trump credit for being the single most divisive president in modern history.
Other than that, he deserves credit for NOTHING. Get real.
Credit is indeed due to President Trump for the following accomplishments:
1. Generating a tax cut that primarily benefits the richest, most affluent portion of our population.
2. Increasing the national debt significantly.
3. Pandering to fringe groups who have been allowed to come out of the woodwork and promote racist, misogamist and bigoted beliefs.
4. Promoting fear against “others” such as minorities, migrants, transgenders and others as a way to get and maintain power. This is a pattern used historically and currently in countries under dictatorial regimes.
5. Showing that ignoring facts, lying and exaggerating events on a regular and continuous basis is easy and does not yet appear to have negative consequences.
6. Attempting to roll back worthwhile environmental regulations and safeguards for the sake of monetary gains.
7. Alienating leaders in countries which have been our allies and appearing to favor totalitarian leaders in countries which have been our enemies.
8. Promoting strong nationalistic ideas (“USA First”), which in our current technological world situation is short sighted and dangerous. Historically such narrowly focused countries have invariably failed.
9. Promoting widespread distrust of the media and Federal Law Enforcement agencies.
10. Illustrating what a human being with narcissistic personality disorder acts like when given unlimited power.
11. Managing to accomplish all of this in less than two years.
If President Trump manages to not implode mentally or physically within the remaining 2 plus years of his presidency, he will probably continue to add to this list and likely set records that will never be broken.