When President Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in 1933, the nation was still reeling from the Great Depression with unemployment still sky high and the banking system still in trouble.
At the conclusion of what would become the first of a series of “fireside chats” that projected Roosevelt’s empathy, charm, humanity and leadership into the nation’s living rooms, the President told Americans:
You people must have faith; you must not be stampeded by rumors or guesses. Let us unite in banishing fear. We have provided the machinery to restore our financial system; and it is up to you to support and make it work.
It is your problem, my friends, your problem no less than it is mine. Together we cannot fail.
And how can we ever forget his preceding “the only thing we have to fear is…fear itself…” inaugural address and the many fireside chats that followed during the dark days and nights of World War II.
In his address to the nation during another dark period, the “Cuban Missile Crisis,” president John F. Kennedy inspiringly stated, “Our goal is not the victory of might, but the vindication of right- not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom, here in this Hemisphere, and, we hope, around the world.”
Immediately after the dastardly 9/11 terrorist attack, President George W. Bush reassured the nation, asked for prayers and concluded:
This is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite in our resolve for justice and peace. America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time. None of us will ever forget this day, yet we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world.
On Friday, as our nation faces an unprecedented health and economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, NBC News’ Peter Alexander asked Trump “What do you say to Americans who are scared?”
Instead of reassuring Americans — as Roosevelt, Kennedy, Bush and so many other presidents have traditionally done — Trump launched into a vicious, personal harangue against the respected journalist.
Many have tried to explain Trump’s behavior – his version of fireside chats — during a national crisis or during what Chris Hayes calls a triple crisis:
The first is the public health crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The second is the economic crisis caused by efforts to battle the first crisis. And the third is a leadership crisis caused by a person running the federal government who is completely incapable of dispatching his duties.
Washington Post columnist Margaret Sullivan explains that Trump is, more and more, “using his daily briefings as a substitute for the campaign rallies that have been forced into extinction by the spread of the novel coronavirus.”
“White House sessions — ostensibly meant to give the public critical and truthful information about this frightening crisis,” Sullivan says “are in fact working against that end. Rather, they have become a daily stage for Trump to play his greatest hits to captive audience members.”
Americans who listen to the briefings “in search of life-or-death information,” instead get the following, Sullivan says:
• Self-aggrandizement.
• Media-bashing.
• Exaggeration and outright lies
Sullivan adds, “Trump is doing harm and spreading misinformation while working for his own partisan political benefit — a naked attempt to portray himself as a wartime president bravely leading the nation through a tumultuous time, the FDR of the 21st century.”
The press, Sullivan says, “must recognize what is happening and adjust accordingly…Business as usual simply doesn’t cut it…fact-checking the president’s statements afterward, don’t go nearly far enough to counter the serious damage this man is doing to the public’s well-being…radical change is necessary.”
What should this “radical change” be?
“The cable networks and other news organizations that are taking the president’s briefings as live feeds should stop doing so.” Of course the networks should cover the news contained in these briefings, Sullivan writes, “Thoroughly and relentlessly — with context and fact-checking built in to every step and at every stage.”
To the counter-argument that “the press shouldn’t be in the business of shielding the public from the president’s statements — no matter how misleading, xenophobic or damaging,” Sullivan argues:
…Trump has proved, time after time, that he doesn’t care about truth, that he puts his financial and political self-interest above that of the public, and that he has no understanding of the role of the press in a democracy. And now lives are on the line.
The news media, at this dangerous and unprecedented moment in world history, must put the highest priority on getting truthful information to the public.
Taking Trump’s press conferences as a live feed works against that core purpose.
Here’s part of my friend’s take, in rhyme form:
The “Emperor with no Clothes”
Shows how little he knows
Trump can’t resist taking the podium and beating his chest
As he stands next to those who know best
He packs his press conference stage until there’s no more room
Then he steps forward and spouts the words of a buffoon
::
Trump claims are “modified” by experts who he brings from the rear
Often with explanations that to his statements are no way near
But the real take-away: it happens every day
It’s his on-stage rage against the “fake” news: If you don’t have facts: attack!
