NPR’s Audie Cornish: Media Are “Normalizing” And “Contextualiz[ing]” Trump’s Outrageous Comments For Him

Media Matters

OHN DICKERSON (HOST): And Audie, on that point, are we in the press kind of going overboard on the Trump hyperbole, which is to say, when he says, "Obama was founder of ISIS," does he have less room to be hyperbolic than other candidates who say things that are totally hyperbolic and nobody takes them that seriously. But he is being fact checked.

AUDIE CORNISH: I've been thinking about this this week, because I think we are cranking up the outrage machine at a rapid pace. And the thing about Trump that I maybe disagree with Dan a little bit, is that when he says something, right, that people say is controversial, he now forces everyone to repeat the falsehood, to quote unquote “fact check” it, to normalize and contextualize it for him, right? You see a lot of kind of conversations that say, "What you really meant was this and that." And he can kind of say, "Eh no, maybe, just kidding." Media is doing all the work of explaining things for him and normalizing some things that might in another context be considered socially unacceptable.

MICHAEL GERSON: And I think it's deeper than just gaffes, he's not --

CORNISH: Gaffes are unintentional. 

GERSON: Right. But he's not showing empathy. When someone opposes him, he has to degrade them. He has to dehumanize them. When you go after Gold Star families, when you go after a judge, a federal judge in your case, that's different than going after Jeb Bush, OK? It shows that you lack empathy. And that, I think, is a real problem for him. He has based his life on the notion that -- not to be a loser. He now is facing the prospect of being one of the biggest losers in American history. I don't know how he adjusts to that. We have not seen how he adjusts to that. It could be a major factor. 

MICHAEL SCHERER: The danger is that he adjusts to it by saying the whole process was rigged, and then afterwards delegitimizing the democratic process, which could be really hazardous for the country. 

DICKERSON: That's right, Dan. He mentioned when he was in Pennsylvania, he said the only way it would be the case that he would lose Pennsylvania is if the system has been rigged. This is a state a Republican hasn't won since 1988.

DAN BALZ: Right. It is a dangerous step that he is taking. And I'm sure there are people who are are saying to him, "Do not do that." I do not know this for a fact, but it would not shock me that Reince Priebus, in their constant conversations, is saying, "Don't go there. Don't do that." But it is a risky strategy, as Michael said, to, in a sense, delegitimize in advance the outcome of an election in which you may be on the losing side.