Just 45 people in American history have ever been president of the United States. Four have been assassinated while in office: Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, William McKinley and James Garfield. Two others — Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan — were injured in assassination attempts.
On Saturday, a seventh person was added to this list when former President Donald Trump was grazed in his right ear by an assassin’s bullet, narrowly avoiding what could have been a horrific result. One member of the rally crowd was killed and two others critically injured.
The attack marked the first addition to this list in more than 40 years, and it happened live on television — the first assassination attempt of a media era that is wildly different from the days of JFK or even Reagan. The rise of cable news, and then social media, make the Trump assassination attempt a truly unique event.
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Unfortunately, our modern, unserious media apparatus is failing the test.
Very few developments in America warrant wall-to-wall coverage on cable news, but an assassination attempt against a leading presidential candidate is certainly one of them. And very few moments should unite a country like a presidential candidate being nearly murdered at a campaign rally, live on television.
Unfortunately but not surprisingly, the assassination attempt was almost instantly politicized. We saw horserace analysis in the immediate aftermath — “how will this help Trump politically?” pundits asked within hours of his surviving this horrific incident by inches. Politico’s well-read Playbook newsletter on Monday described Trump getting “another gift” when he had his Mar-a-Lago documents case dismissed, apparently adding to that wonderful “gift” of almost being assassinated.
But the far worse developments were from the press outlets that took the opportunity to make themselves the victim. CNN’s media newsletter Reliable Sources described “the blood and the blame” in a special edition Sunday, instantly making the story about how the media was being blamed by some on the right for the assassination attempt.
“Despite the accuracy of the news media’s reporting on Trump, supporters of the former president have moved to vilify and scapegoat journalists for the heinous attack, sending anti-media attitudes to alarming heights,” wrote Oliver Darcy. Ah yes — it’s the “anti-media attitudes” that matter most in this moment, surely.
The Washington Post also went straight to self-preservation rather than self-reflection and humility. It closed ranks and defended its colleagues for their coverage as they practiced “wait for the facts” restraint, and, to the eye of this observer, downplayed the significance of this event — perhaps because of their longstanding antagonistic relationship with Trump.
One of the most embarrassing revelations came from an Axios piece that focused on the incredible photojournalism that allowed America to see the defiant Trump after the shooting in instantly iconic images. Many photographers expressed worry that the photographs could turn into “photoganda,” with the “Trump campaign using them to further their agenda.” One photo editor said it could become a “kind of free P.R. for Trump in a way, and its [sic] dangerous for media organizations to keep sharing that photo despite how good it is.” All were quoted anonymously.
The entire narrative about Trump posing a grave threat to the republic is suddenly falling apart. Ezra Klein of the New York Times said on the Bulwark podcast last week that prominent Democrats he talks to don’t really believe the talking point that Trump is an existential threat to democracy, but would never say so publicly.
Over on MSNBC, the Trump assassination attempt sparked another existential crisis. Biden’s favorite TV show “Morning Joe” was pulled off the air in favor of news coverage on Monday, a move that was reportedly motivated by executives’ concerns that someone on the show might say something that could embarrass the network. It seemed to be an admission — an “adults in the room” moment.
Perhaps news executives are stepping back and thinking that talking in loose terms about an “existential threat to democracy” and treating politics like entertainment was wrong — that the risks suddenly seem very real and stakes very high. Maybe they realize that they need to get more serious about how they bring the news to their audience.
When hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski returned on Tuesday, they also took the opportunity to play the victim. Apparently their bosses told them the entire day on MSNBC would be news coverage, but by early evening, all the other regular opinion hosts were back in their slots.
“We were very surprised, we were very disappointed,” Scarborough said, and later, “Next time we’re told there’s going to be a news feed replacing us, we will be in our chairs. The news feed will be us, or they can get somebody else to host the show.”
And what have MSNBC’s viewers been told about the assassination attempt? You have hosts like Joy Reid worrying that the coverage of the monumental and horrifying event…will help Trump politically.
“People are concerned and expressing concern that we won’t be the guardians of memory, and that we will allow Donald Trump, as he is bathed in the glory and grandeur of his party, to rewrite himself as both a hero and a victim,” she said.
How utterly shameful — but how representative of the superficiality of our media today.
Rhetoric by the media or even the left should not be blamed for the assassination attempt, and more than Trump should blamed for the violent behavior of some on Jan. 6, or (for example) the actions of the Buffalo grocery store shooter who believed in “Great Replacement Theory.” Even if this assassin was an ardent MSNBC viewer and #Resistance-obsessed political junkie (and there’s no evidence that he was), it still wouldn’t be the fault of the media.
But that doesn’t excuse the media’s cavalier behavior in the attack’s immediate aftermath or the instant spin we’ve seen over these past few days.
We all experienced an incredibly historic and important event. The press coverage has failed to convey its significance, for fear of helping a presidential candidate they despise.
Steve Krakauer, a NewsNation contributor, is the author of “Uncovered: How the Media Got Cozy with Power, Abandoned Its Principles, and Lost the People” and editor and host of the Fourth Watch newsletter and podcast.