Protesters share their opinion on Donald Trump impeachment
While many mainstream media outlets have aired the Donald Trump impeachment hearings that began in the U.S. House on Wednesday, the commentary by some of the media afterward was cringeworthy. Special mention goes to NBC News and Reuters, who faulted the hearings for not being scintillating enough. According to NBC News:
Analysis: The first two witnesses called Wednesday testified to President Trump's scheme, but lacked the pizzazz necessary to capture public attention. https://t.co/1UfkaeZ3I4
— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 14, 2019
Reuters followed up with “Consequential, but dull: Trump impeachment hearings begin without a bang.” Sadly, this is the kind of circus coverage that we have come to expect from our news media.
Take a look, for example, at news media coverage of recent political debates. Usually, the media hunt for, and highlight, “zingers,” “one liners” and “gotcha” attacks from the candidates, and the network debate moderators even gin up such attacks during the debates. Likewise, media coverage of the Republican House impeachment of President Bill Clinton in 1998, and even the “Starr Report” by the Republican “Independent Counsel” in the Clinton investigation, captivated public attention largely because they included tawdry portrayals of sex (between consenting adults, it should be noted).
In contrast, House Democrats are running a serious, somber Trump impeachment inquiry to match the serious tone of what is at issue: wrongdoing by Trump, largely involving the conduct of foreign policy, that may lead to his impeachment in the House, and then a trial in the Senate where, if Trump is found guilty, he can be removed from office. This case is somewhat analogous to the impeachment process against President Richard Nixon in 1974, which followed months of substantive yet often mundane hearings. Even the “bombshell” discovery of Nixon’s White House tapes came about during testimony that has been described as otherwise “boring.”
You know who was the most boring witness I ever saw? Alexander Butterfield. And he brought down the Nixon presidency.
I'm sorry that saving our democracy doesn't have enough "pizzazz" for you…. https://t.co/6cYVWe3OSa
— Ronald Klain (@RonaldKlain) November 14, 2019
Voters seemed to have larger attention spans during Nixon’s time, in part because the news media did the hard work of digging up facts and methodically reporting them. While it is true that capturing the public’s attention now would likely cause more voters to tune into the Trump impeachment hearings and become more educated about the extent of foul play and illegality in the Trump White House, aiming for more sizzle than steak is not the House Democrats’ job, nor should it be the job of the news media that cover Trump’s impeachment process. Unfortunately, the media seem more interested in selling eyeballs (the modern-day equivalent of newspapers) than in methodical reporting.
Based on what we’ve seen thus far, today’s news media likely will turn Trump’s impeachment hearings into a “he said/she said” reality show. This may help Trump, as the “bothsiderism” may cause Trump’s impeachable offenses not to seem like a slam dunk to everyone. However, the two parties in Trump’s impeachment inquiry have different goals anyway. The Democrats’ goal is to lay out the factual case and record on which to base a vote for impeachment; in other words, to maximize their credibility. The Republicans’ goal is to undermine the impeachment process any way they can, including muddying the waters, complaining about the Democrats’ supposed unfairness, attacking the witnesses, and essentially shouting “monkey!” wherever they can.
In reality, none of this may matter. House impeachment, and the Senate removal, come down to raw votes. In the House, the Democrats in the majority likely have the bare majority votes needed to impeach Trump. In the Senate, where a two-thirds super majority is needed to convict and remove Trump, the Republicans who hold the majority likely have the votes to defeat such conviction and removal. Ultimately, the fate of Donald Trump’s political career likely will rest with the voters on Election Day 2020.
Photo by Alex Liivet, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/CJJwp1
