Thank you for this column.
However, you may be overestimating the addiction to Trump by a significant number of citizens. I have no addiction to him, and know many other people who feel the same way. No interest in every speech, or utterance on the way to Marine One, or his "campaign rallies."
Am bored and disgusted by endless talk of his psyche, comparisons to reality tv, his need for adulation or else --- over and over again, every hour on cable news.
If Trump lives in an alternative reality, in some way the media does, too.
I'm a news junkie and I want news. How is Angela Merkel holding her country together? How is Macron doing facing ugly opposition to him in the newspapers and streets of France? Why are we fighting in Yemen?
I no longer watch any news except Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O'Brian.
It would be good if you followed your own advice in this column: start covering what Trump does and the lethal impact he's having on our country. The policies, and how we are affected by them at home and abroad.
You can suck the oxygen back from him if you're willing to.
39
“Yet I worry that our national nonstop focus on Trump is helping to usher America into a hole: a Trump obsession. The danger is that Trump sucks up all the oxygen, so that other issues don’t get adequate attention.”
Nick - perhaps you should have a good heart-to-heart talk with your publisher, the New York Times about this issue. I am tired of reading about how bad DT is - there is other news and other stories I subscribe to the NYT to learn about.
19
Yep. Ignore this fool. Please.
14
Yes, Nicholas and the NY Times. PLEASE stop writing about his chaos. I have just been summarily deleting all NYT articles about Trump. I am sick to death of hearing about his latest stupidities. Most especially the Mueller investigation, his desperation to bring down Trump, and Trump's appointments and un-appointments. The sturm und drang is deafening, sickening, and enervating.
Let's all just agree to ignore the White House for a while except when there is news about the Korea's, Afghanistan, China, or Iran. Everything else is trivial. Syria is toast---nothing is going to happen there that the Russians and Iranians don't want to have happen. The corruption in the Ukraine isn't going to end. The EU will continue to slowly collapse under the weight of the immigrants they can't, or are unwilling to, send back from whence they came, and the EU's Total Fertility Rate of 1.6 means civilization death. Japan is going down, too.
We have BIG problems right here in the USA. Let's pay attention to them by electing REAL people who are centrists and will do something useful about them.
19
A storybook emperor once gained enormous attention by parading down the street in his underwear. I see little difference here, except in this case the would-be emperor is butt-naked, and is himself the source of the deception.
It is overwhelmingly obvious to even the most casual observer that the man is a flim-flam artist of the highest caliber, that he is fundamentally dishonest, immoral, rude, and opportunistic to the extreme. There isn't a redeeming quality in his body.
And yet the press is intent on breathlessly following his every move, creating insanely false equivalences about whether he is in fact parading down the street, naked, telling everyone he has the most beautiful clothes anyone has ever seen.
The press created this monster, and they're all lining their pockets with the profits while the rest of the world, in all the ways mentioned here, suffers.
I can't wait for this national nightmare to end.
18
Trump's term in office so far as been more akin to a "dog and pony show" than anything else. He is the biggest waste of time the American people have ever had to deal with and he just keeps getting worse. For this reason, I for one am pulling the plug on my cable tv. Just sick and tired of having to look at Trumps unrepentive con artist face or hear about his latest meltdown every time I watch the news (on any or every network). Thanks again Mr. Kristof for a good column.
10
Oh, boo hoo. Why not have your editors (do you still have any over there?) focus the reporting on issues and how this administration is affecting the public weal? You know, journalism. Not tabloid-style gossip? Or find a rehab facility for the "addiction." Just sayin'.
17
Well said Mr. Kristoff - we should all be strong enough to look past the unethical and appalling shenanigans of the curent WH occupant to focus on what's more important. Easier said than done I'm afraid.
Love the term "trump porn" - it's addictive and slimy yet you can't turn away
5
Instead of wasting their energy and their time in criticizing Trump, the Democrats should ignore him and work on their alternative platform.
65000 people will die in 2018 because of overdoses. What is their plan to solve this devastating epidemic {assuming their base wants to solve it} ?
American life expectancy has fallen for two years in a raw? What is their plan to increase it ?
Gun violence claims a life every 15 minutes? What is their plan to bring down gun violence ?
Impeach Trump as the one and only whim isn't a platform.
14
Then please tell your editors at the NYT that the first order of business is to stop covering Trump’s tweets.
19
The "liberal" news media plays right into the genious of Trump's ability to be in the limelight and and to increase his celebrity.
5
Mr. Kristoff is right of course but there's another aspect to the daily trump reports that had been even more irritating. It can best be described (from my point of view) ever present in local news, and in tandem with the measly half hour network's national broadcasts is the "Normalization' of the donald.
There is nothing normal about donald j trump. Long before he even became fearless leader, appointed by our failed electoral college system of selecting president and vice president. he and voice puppet pence, are probably most unnatural politicians since man running for Senate tells rape victims that female body rejects unwanted male fluids. This happened in Missouri, no? Heartland thinking. He received huge push-back and forced to drop out.
Why not trump-pence axis get rejected now not later? News business lost narrative and now, well ex-KGB man calling shots. Good luck America,
Do Svidaniya!
5
How about a Trump free day at the Times. How will you fill the news hole?
13
Hey Nick, we all have to make a living.
Some people write about Trump. It makes money !!
Some people sell pharmaceuticals at huge markups. Sick people are motivated. It makes money !!
Some people lobby Congress to get regional cable monopolies. It makes money !!
Some people get rid of laws to protect that protect our environment. It makes money.
In our culture, our economic structure rewards bad behavior, and right now, the devil is making a lot of great deals.
6
Yes. I'm staggered and disgusted by the how Trump has so easily sucked the media into his narcissism. I heard a journalist speak of the difference between the pen and the sword, and my sense is that most of the media, with a few gratifying exceptions, has chosen the sword in covering Trump with such gleeful repugnance. Why--money, the emotional satisfaction of calling out Trump's obvious flaws? Trump isn't the only one undermining our institutions.
52
Nicholas, you are spot on about the impact of becoming addicted to Trump's crazy and dangerous daily behavior. I hereby declare the intention of entering addiction treatment. How? I've been sucked into the vortex of information seeking and commenting. It only stokes my own fear and anger about the sad and dangerous direction this country is moving. Just this week, the Republican legislature here in Iowa enacted the most restrictive abortion measure in America. They are doubtless quite proud of their 'achievement'. But here at the medical center where I work, the OB/GYN department is trying to figure out how to train residents, and how deep the impact will be on our program and on the state of Iowa. Some day, one of the legislators who voted for this bill will come to us, or their female loved ones will, asking for help with a gynecologic cancer. She will be told "sorry, but the doctor who developed a new treatment for that disease just left us for UCLA."
So here's my pledge, to stay sane in the era of Trump, while dealing with this calamity effectively. I pledge to refrain from posting comments (though I love the commenters in the NY Times and Washington Post). I'll stick to reading your columns, in silence, while pledging to do my part to help elect good, stable, compassionate, and wise fellow citizens at all levels of government. My next comment will be celebratory.
73
I say hail to The Times. And thank you.
We stayed on top of the criminal activities during the Bush/Cheney administration, and there were daily articles blasting his lies & exposed the run up to the Iraq War. His hiding the caskets of dead American soldiers. The televised hanging of Saddam Hussein, which Bush treated like a WWE event.
The military profiteering by Cheney's company Halliburton and by Erik Prince. The horrors of white phosphorus for Falluija's citizens. How weapons storages went unprotected in Iraq and stolen by guys in trucks who made ICDs and used them on our troops. But the Iraq oil fields were protected.
How our troops' vehicles lacked armor. The deception by Bush in trying to privatize social security. The outing of a CIA agent to punish her spouse. Bush's thousands of vacations in Crawford Texas. His absences from military service in Texas Nat'l Guard. His appointment to the presidency by the Supreme Court. His disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina. Levees flooding while he campaigned in Arizona. Flood victims on the streets without food in Louisiana as citizens were treated like thugs. And many drowned from a poor federal response. FEMA failed. The trailers caused cancer. The poor were literally bussed out of New Orleans to far away states. 8 horrible years. Ridiculous tax cuts. A major recession, housing crash, stock market crash,no job creation, 800,000 monthly jobs lost.
We were "awoke" then , and we're "awoke" now thanks to
articles such as this.
7
A wise analysis of our multi-pronged predicament. The Stormy Daniels-Michael Cohen scenario is stark evidence that we've even become slaves to the the gossipy side of this exploding circus. Mueller? Yesterday's news. Who cares about corruption or treason anymore? Or victims?
4
Trump is what's wrong with this country. He's the short attention span, fast food, fat and sugar, reality tv, twittering idiot that everyone wants to watch. He's the circus. The water cooler conversation piece. We have got to grow up.
5
Trump is the paradigmatic Ugly American.
4
The Rohingya are victims of ethnic cleansing, not "genocide". Genocide is an attempt to kill every member of an ethnic group. It doesn't lead to refugees in neighboring countries (where the Rohingya are finding refuge); it only leads to corpses).
Careless use of the term minimizes it when it does occur.
3
It is a leap of fail that such exiles will be accepted where they are deported to.
1
Modern Progressives all too often act like the conservative right they excoriate. They gave Clinton full credit when he actually inherited a booming economy from Senior Bush. They threw palm leaves in front of Obama’s donkey when he received a Nobel prize for simply being a great orator yet today they poo poo the thought of a Nobel prize for Trump even if North Korea denuclearizes and they give full credit for the growing economy to Obama. It’s why I no longer call myself a Democrat. They think and act like the people they hate yet want the high ground on issues so they can socialize with progressive snobs and look down their noses at those greedy, Bible stomping deplorables they openly detest. Liberal lites.
7
Here's a topic for Kristof: the superspecial just plain folk in his hometown of Yamhill, Oregon, who, he says, voted for the occupant of the Oval Office solely on the grounds of economic anxiety. Well, wages aren't going up, jobs lost are not coming back, and those who voted for the aforementioned still overwhelmingly support him. What HAS happened? Lots of bigotry. Lots of misogyny. Would Kristof care to analyze the policy implications of the commentariat continually trying to look for the good in those who have not displayed it themselves?
6
Kristof is right. We are addicted to Trump. He is the disconnect in our lives--the great paradox. We are facing the fact that as a nation we are being ruled by someone who is a combination of infantile brat, mob boss and despot. We have never seen anything like this in our history, and we are at once ashamed and horrified that such a creature could be at the head of our nation.
The worst part of this is that Trump feeds on the horrified attention we direct at him. He is an emotional leach with a hole in his heart that can never be filled--a black hole that aims to suck up every drop of emotional energy in the universe.
The perversity in Trump's psyche is that he does not discriminate. Excoriation and opprobrium are just as welcome to him as sycophantic pandering and empty praise. It is all attention directed at him, and that is what drives him.
He screams ME, ME, ME! at every moment of every day. We are drawn in by this monstrous horror, and cannot look away--even for the infinitely more important crises and needs existing in the world.
Part of the journalistic problem is "scoop addiction," With Trump it is a scoop every minute. A horror every second.
We must break ourselves of this habit. Perhaps we should have a rotating media pool, as often times happens in limited news opportunities. Monday, the Times; Tuesday, the Post; Wednesday, Reuters; Thursday, McClatchy; Friday local rotation. Then share the reporting.
Maybe with rationing we can finally control him.
3
All of you people in media enabled this jerk, so live with it. You all thought he was a joke. So who's laughing now?
7
It is really difficult to avoid Trump's every ridiculous tweet and statement, especially all the lies. At the same time, it is not useful to dwell on him, especially in the political arena.
Local and statewide Republicans are still on the Trump bandwagon, hopefully to their detriment.
As a Democrat, I focus on what Trump does more than what he says. At the same time, I have been urging local candidates for governor and the U.S. House to focus on their own message, not on an anti-Trump message. I'm convinced this is the route to winning in 2018 and beyond.
2
Having to beg for an insulting tweet from Trump is beneath you, Nicholas. Save your energies for the Third World and forget this one.
3
Duh... many of us have been saying and thinking this from the beginning. The addiction started with and is yet constantly fed by YOU the media. Get over the lying idiot and perhaps he will sink into the garbage heap of history where he belongs. His days are numbered.
3
I remain convinced that Republicans love Trump, even if they think he is a clear and present danger to the nation. With the media focused on everything Trump says and does, especially if it's inane or a clear lie (as it often is), there's no time for the media to actually do its job anywhere else, e.g. looking at what the USA is doing in the rest of the world, or even what the administration and Congress is doing in the USA.
FortheloveofGod, get off Trump, let him sink into oblivion, and focus on what's happening in the real world, where Republican Congresspersons and the Republican administration are taking a sledgehammer to the common good!
4
Nick Kristof is a truth-teller. If he says we're Trump Porn-addicts, then we are. Donald Trump is THE story about our grotesque hinge of American history today. The photo of our leader, surrounded by mic booms (Brenner, NYT) tells more than a thousand words. That we are all sick to vomiting about Trump-all in our world today doesn't mitigate the colossal whole catastrophe that will be revealed in history books later this century. As the rise of the stink-flower of fascism in Nazi Germany was revealed after the quasi-Armageddon of World War II, so will the story of Trump be told in the near future. We pluribus unum are angry and sick of having our oxygen sucked out of America by our President. Won't someone please step forward to lead us out of the muck and mire and complicit corruption we are drowning in? Where is Barack Hussein Obama, now that we so desperately need him? Kudos and laurels, meanwhile, to Senator John McCain, who is tilting against the G.O.P. Presidential windmill in his book, "The Restless Wave".
1
Kristof is right about America's fixation – especially the media's – on Trump, but he overlooks a critical facet. Trump is an *enabler*-in-chief.
Trump has brought many wrecking crews into his Administration: Pruitt at EPA; Mulvaney at the Consumer Financial Protection Board; Sessions at Justice; DeVos at Education; Carson at HHS; Pai at the FCC. They and others have been neutering and dismantling the effective, basically ameliorative Executive Branch so many Americans believed in (albeit not uncritically). By not filling senior Executive Branch positions, Trump has left many agencies rudderless (a mixed "blessing", in view of the characteristics of his appointees).
Trump has furthered Americans' baleful contempt for "government" not only through his remarks but through his determined mismanagement.
OK, President Caligula it is!
1
Why you don’t stop covering ever time he blows his nose?
6
The vodka has been flowing and the congratulatory toasts have been ringing throughout the Kremlin since November, 2016. Putin won the election.
Addiction? No, the Useful Idiot is making us all sick and he can't be ignored until a cure is found.
3
Could the New York Times and every other major publication in the world (and I include my own Canadian media outlets) please get together and establish a #NoTrumpNewsToday day? Writing about how obsessed and addicted we have become to reading about Trump qualifies as Trump news! When is a media outlet going to show leadership and stop sucking us into this madness by the hour? I am reminded of the brilliant Gary Larson cartoon in which one brave sheep among a herd of them rises above and shouts: "Hey, we don't have to be sheep!" Who is going to step up first?
63
The media is addicted to Trump. He’s cheap and easy to cover. Even the normally sensible Nick Kristoff seems to have been sucked in.
The dregs of America are deeper and more vile than we ever imagined.
3
Trump is sucking out all the oxygen in the room in great part because Congress is helping him do it. How can progressives do anything but protest and complain when there is no one in Washington, D.C., or in many state houses, who has the power to listen and means to do anything? Republicans are in favor of this administration's policies, otherwise they would be doing something to stop the carnage. They are utterly disinterested in anything that is happening outside the borders of the U.S. Hopefully, all this will change after the November 2018 midterms.
1
They can do more than protest and complain?
Never would have guessed
At the risk of sounding like another progressive snob, Trump is the most important issue for our long term future.
The current trends are not good. His praise of authoritarianism, his attacks on a free press, his attacks on the judiciary are becoming accepted by too many. Combine that with successful attempts at voter suppression and Gerrymandering by the GOP and you have a recipe for the end of the Republic.
If that occurs no other issue today will matter. That should concern both liberals and conservatives but somehow most of the latter is unconcerned.
If Democrats don’t take back the House in November the fate is probably sealed.
2
In the primaries, the Republican Party could have drawn a line in the sand and said, "this candidacy violates this party's conservative principles and belief in institutions and character. We are withdrawing permission for you to use our name in this campaign. You'll have to run as an independent." I was surprised that it did not do this. Instead, it sealed it all with the oath of party loyalty to the winning candidate. If Trump had had to run as an independent, the outcome of the primary might have been a Kasich nomination. In a 3 way election of Trump vs. Kasich vs. Hillary, I am not sure who would have won. But in any case, the GOP normalized Trump's behavior the most. Now such behavior has a precedent. It will be interesting to see if this kind of behavior continues in future elections. In this light, local elections in in Alabama and W. Va. suggest that things could go either way.
1
Yes.
1
You left out something kind of important: the media were addicted to this guy long before he took office. And the media played an enormous role in getting him elected - breathlessly reporting every stupid little thing he said and did, literally minute by minute because that's his attention span. And his attention span became the media's attention span.
Coupled with reporters' antipathy toward Hillary Clinton - screaming at her about the emails, constantly, as if that were some earthshaking event - the media's role in defeating her was arguably greater than her own failings.
This sorry excuse for a human being, let alone a president, is addicted to the media as they are addicted to him, and as partners in mutual addiction they got him into the White House - where absolutely nothing has changed. The addiction goes on and reality and humanity fall by the side of the road.
The election of 2016 will go down in journalistic history as one of the Great Fails of American news media, equal to if not surpassing their role in causing the Iraq War, with effects just as devastating.
You didn't go far enough back into history, Mr. Kristof - it was all of 24 months ago, which says something about the media's memory as well as its attention span. Shame on all of you.
3
It is not the people who are addicted to Trump, it is the media. Trump's lies and absurd behavior was a source of endless fascination for the MSM--and they hoped revenue--during the campaign. They (including the Times) called it "ëarned coverage."
During the campaign, everyday, there were up to four lead articles in the lead news column about Trump's lies and absurdities. I predicted that this UNEARNED coverage would win him the election. It was no longer news that Trump was absurd and a liar. It should have been page 15 news. Still should.
I became tired of Trump and so much coverage very early on in the campaign. I yearned for serious political coverage--especially about Bernie Sanders and his ideas, who was muted and raked over the coals by theTimes and others. Democrats are still setting themselves up to lose by running as the anti-Trump. When they talk about anything else, it is immigration, transgender bathroom issues or abortion. Many natural Dems are against these issues---afraid of immigration, for example. What we all agree on is the need for real medical care, anti-poverty programs, and other economic issues.
3
'oxpeckers on a rhino’s back'? more like 'flies on dung'
PS - and at the very least spare us all Mr Combover's picture on every day 's front page articles (are u listening NYT?) and allow us our morning coffees bagel without indigestion and agita.
2
The USA is toast.
2
It’s not the public’s addiction. It’s the Times partisan addiction.
6
I'll add one more sin of omission to Kristof's excellent analysis. There are still some 200 suicides of Iraq, Afghanistan, or Vietnam vets a day in this country, and Trump has done nothing but fire the head of the VA and attempt to replace him with someone who turned out to be eminently unqualified. The list of his failures is the list of our own.
3
It is absolutely true that there are many things going on everywhere. ** I pose a casual and ethical argument: if the authority practically endorses repetitive communal harrassements to be okay to go, in a form of given-ready forgiveness over ethical liabilities; that sets off those who repeat their acts - however bad the acts may be - as many times as possible; because such an endorsement creates a conviction such that cover-ups and hush-ups are guaranteed communal practices. **The happiest are rogues and criminals, no doubt. The community may feel good as well, because, they too, can do anything under a guarantee of being forgiven. **The norm may be on the locality, The outsiders would be regarded as contradicting their interests and solidarity. ** In short, in this picture, contritions are expediently renewable as frequently as possible. I see Jesus nowhere in such a practice.
Nothing focuses the attention like incoming missiles, imminent death. With a leader willing to sacrifice his soul in eternal hell--to save us from global warming with a nuclear winter--it is hard to think about much else. He feels dangerous to all humanity. It is indeed hard to stay connected to individual peril when universal peril is front and center. Yes, we must maintain that connection at the peril of losing ourselves.
1
"His tweets against immigrants may be cruel, but his actions are crueler ..." Trump is doing real damage. And he does get a lot of benevolent, conventional media coverage.
The question of how to appropriately cover him is more difficult than it looks. This is one of the greater intellectual challenges of the present era.
He is a "TV president" who manipulates the media. In real life, however, he is an unfit and indecent president. Separating young children from parents at the border is immoral and indecent.
Trump is pushing the Republican orthodoxy, which is cruel and brutal, and wildly unpopular. Some count the failure to enact it as one of his successes.
The news media still persists in covering him as if he were a conventional president. "It can't happen here." This is the same failure of imagination that most of us have experienced.
It could happen here. Our democracy could go up in flames. The president could be a white supremacist. A fascist could be elected.
Now studies have confirmed that our greatest fears were essentially correct. This White House is as bad as we imagined it could be.
1
The people, through the electoral college, elected a 24 hour a day reality show as president. The people or Mueller have to fix that. Journalism in the 21st century cannot do it. In fact, when Katherine Graham was the publisher of the Washington Post before Watergate she ran stories and interference for LBJ. The grand difference is LBJ gave us stuff like the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights act, Medicare, Medicaid and Headstart. Trump gives us, to borrow a phrase from the Clinton era, "bimbo eruptions" and other types of eruptions.
Journalists need to deliver information their paying public wants. This is not a journalism problem. This is a people-Trump problem.
2
Yes, you are correct. Way too much Trump. I seldom read NYT columnists anymore. Another piece on why they hate Trump does little because I have read it so many times before. The same with the nighttime talk shows, I have seen this before, and I do not need to see it again. I would much rather read about issues and possible solutions, not outrage and snarky comments. I already know Trump is a pain. But, there is more going on in the world.
4
Yup. We are addicted to The Donald Trump is President show. Mind-blowing, gripping, unexpected and harrowing plot twists and problems... and he’s so much fun to make fun of! Not until he causes a catastrophiy that affects enough Americans personally will this situation change.
1
Yup. Our fake president, however, is not enormously important. He is, in fact, a small, angry, ignorant man. Mr. Kristof is obsessed with the wrong aspect: it ain't Trump himself that's the problem. The problem is that millions of Americans are morally, politically and intellectually carbon copies. Their president has allowed them to float upward through the sewer system and stand together in the sun. They don't have the money, but there's the fantasy. They are little Trumps in everything but weallth. This makes them more ardent and more dangerous.
The word "deplorables" was accurate. Add "despicable" and "contemptible" for richer flavor. What is moving the ground beneath me is the realization that 20 to 30 percent of the eligible voters in this country have been and continue to be as bad, as hurtful, as rigidly hostile to the needs of other human beings.
Trump doesn't bring out the "best" or the "worst" in these morons. He makes them something they have never been before: "the most...."
Thank you for putting the focus "beyond Trump". I have subscribed to your weekly newsletters. May I suggest that we also undertake a deep analysis (beyond "the old white without college education" demographics) of the malaise in our social, economic and political system in the Western world (and not just in US) that resulted in the election of Trump in US. We have learned very little from the crisis of the early 80 and 90's. We dismissed the "occupy Wall Street" movement as scattered and without focus and critical mass. Ditto for the 2008 disaster. We should not be surprised today that we have Trump in US, Brexit in UK, and an upsurge of the far right movement in Europe, without mentioning Putin and Xi in Russia and China respectively. Where are the policies for addressing the impacts of robotization, AI, social media, a contract based labour force, the disappearance of the so-called middle-class, the cost of housing in our metropolis, and so on...
1
It's an addiction but it's also based on the need to know what he's up to so we can prepare ourselves. That being said, he's helping the GOP to accomplish its main mission in life: the complete dismantling of our social safety net and the opportunities we used to have for a decent life assuming we worked hard, were able to save money, and obeyed the law.
3
I would phrase it differently. Instead of focusing on Trump, we need to focus on the 38 years of a Libertarian Dystopia mainstreamed by Reagan and solidified with Fox propaganda following the elimination of the Fairness Doctrine. In other words, 100% of the factors that led to Trump are still intact, and we need to change that.
2
We had better be "obsessed" with coverage of the damage Trump is doing to civility, respect for law and judiciary process, respect for an independent and vigilant press, plus respect for multiple political parties and a variety of political views in a functioning democracy.
It is downright bizarre for a member of a major news media organization to try to imply our situation with Trump shouldn't be constantly monitored and reported.
3
Donald Trump is a master media manipulator. You Progressive journalists fell for his act. That’s how he got nominated, that’s how he got elected. Now we’re all paying for journalism’s failure as a profession. He calls you fake news. Why do you think? Because when you are enraged you can’t do your job effectively.
2
During Watergate, people's constant attention to Washinigtn scandals was so intense that People Magazine was started to cater to our insatiable need for celebrity gossip. The same syndrome is evident under Trump. We can't live with him, and we can't live without him.
1
Love the word “commentariat “; such a Russian tinge...
'Those issues are rather more important than the question of whether Stormy Daniels slept with Trump.'
'Daniels slept with Trump'? Talk about blame Le Femme Fatale! That implies that Daniels, the agent and subject in this sentence, was primarily the one at fault.
No, Nicholas, Daniels did not 'sleep with Trump', an inaccurate, coy and outdated euphemism for what took place. Rather, Trump, a rich, powerful narcissistic white man took advantage of Daniels' vain hope she might appear on Trump's Apprentice, in order to commit adultery with Daniels, adultery being then and now a crime in the State of New York.
Nicholas, you continue to miss the point about Daniels. Trump tried to shut Daniels up and lied about it. Trump, we now know, repaid his thug attorney fixer Michael Cohen to shut Daniels up. Another thug threatened Daniels in her gym's car park.
Daniels is the patriotic American, the woman of steel, the woman of style, the courageous speaker of truth who will bring Trump down. Your refusal as a political analyst to see this is as woeful as your refusal to take Bernie Sanders seriously as a candidate for 2016 POTUS and your equally calamitous refusal to see the threat presented by Trump until it was too late.
2
The mystery is, who sends the children of refugees to foster care and who puts the chemicals in the food and who lets women die of cervical cancer? Who obeys the orders coming down from the White House?...and why?
1
This newspaper is one of the outlets that puts him front and center, every day, It takes a lot of digging to find news about anything other than the circus in DC. Not even suicide bombers, earthquakes, wars, or other world catastrophes make it to the first page anymore.
3
Dear Media nationwide: Just stop writing anything whatsoever about Trump for ONE week. Stop giving him what he craves most: the spotlight. Seriously. Ignore him. Join forces and ignore him en masse. See how much better the world will become, magically, overnight. You are the problem. Only you can fix it. Please, Dear God, shut up about Trump.
Thanks.
4
And yet, here are the titles of the articles which make up the five "Op Ed Columnists" on line: Kristoff "Our Addiction to Trump." Douthat "How Trump is Winning." Dowd "The Naked Truth about Trump." Collins "Don and Rudy Disaster Twins." and Stephens "Trump's Dangerous Global Retreat."
4
Trump has sucked the oxygen out of the news
cycle. I hate to watch news on TV(knowing most of
it will be about Trump). I wonder about the voters
who elected him, 40% who approve of him as
president and support his policies. A British
newspaper in 2004 headlined how 63 million
voters could be moron to vote for George Bush. Donald Trump received 62 million votes. When Donald Trump started his birther campaign against
president Obama, 40% believed him. This group
of 40% is with him and he needs to persuade 11%
to win the second term. Yes, we should worry
about president Trump but we should worry more
about 62 million voters.
3
I can recall opening the NYT and seeing 4-5 negative front-page pieces on then presidential candidate Romney. Romney was a gentleman. He didn't tweet. Was a faithful husband. He made one damaging comment. And, yet, the NYT pursued him ruthlessly.
No, NYT, your problem is not with Trump. It's your obsession with all republican presidents. And, please, stop blaming Trump for your obsession with him. It's embarrassing to watch.
4
I'm sorry, I think that Trump has to be called out for each and every lie and bad decision he makes and stupidity he utters or tweets -- unfortunately this was not done during the pre-election days, many of the lies were just laughed off or ignored, but now it is important to highlight them and if they amount to illegalities hold him accountable.
3
This is just too much - you devote an entire column lamenting the fact that we are addicted to Trump and he is taking up all the oxygen. And, then in the next breath ask him to mention you on Twitter? Followed up immediately with a plug for your newsletter? I am not sure what is worse - the White House and its current occupant or the NYTimes and its journalists/columnists. Interestingly as you all continue down the rabbit hole, the Washington Post is cleaning up.
1
It's not an addiction, it's an annoying preoccupation. You can't get rid of Trump because, like that fly which keeps buzzing around you, it just won't go away. The difference is this insect in the Oval Office, and is far more dangerous than your average annoyance. It wields extreme power, to inflict pain not only on one individual, but an entire nation and the world. Most of US did not choose this addiction. We chose the opposite. The irony is that millions who did not choose to inflict this pest on the world are now mired down with this unwanted decease spreading across the fruited plain. Were Republicans more concerned with the General Welfare of the country and not protecting their jobs we might have less to fear. But we know that, unless change is made, a drastic reversal of fortune, in November, there is little hope anything can be done to remove this plague, which has spread to every nook and cranny of this country, for some time to come. For now, all we can do is suffer through this fool. That is the sad state this country is presently in.
DD
Manhattan
2
I enjoy watching the liberal columnists here at the NYT falling for Trump's confusing, chaotic obfuscating approach at politics.
I'm sure he's never read Machiavelli, perhaps the "Cliffs Notes" version! But he unwittingly, perhaps naturally, has taken control by controlling the national conversation and agenda as a good ruler should as per "The Little Prince".
Thankfully for Trump, commentators here have no choice but to follow his path. Some of the more astute may realize the trick and folly of what they do and even boldly mention it as here. But they can't stop. They must feed the liberal readership that loves to hate Trump sooo bad it feeds their soul. The ones that buy this paper!
Can't blame the commentators. It's a job, somebody's got to do it! They're all in! Increased readership is quite egotistically satisfying and job securing!
Trump would wisely follow the great wisdom of Mohammed Ali. "Rope a dope"for a couple years till no one cares anymore. Then counter!
2
I agree with Nicholas Kristof that indeed we--and that includes me--are much too caught up in the never-ending drama that this horrific person sitting in the Oval Office creates. On the other hand, I also believe that without the reporting that is done by the skilled reporters at the NYT (and the Washington Post to name two papers of real record), we could more easily allow ourselves to fall into the trap Trump has set because, since he has no use for laws and the rule of law, our democracy has already begun to crumble because of him and the fact that Congress does absolutely nothing to abate the horrors coming out of the White House. So, yes, we should focus on all these others issues which, by the way, the NYT does report on although usually not on the front pages. But we need to also have the information of this wannabe dictator's actions.
1
Exactly right. The media are so obsessed with Trump that other major issues just vanish: when was the last time anybody mentioned the Muslim ban, or looked at the people who have been vetted and can't come into the country? What about the dreamers? Or the American families split up because immigration deported a parent (usually, one who was contributing to American society). It might be a good idea to assign three editorial writers a day to specific important issues, and not let everybody write about Trump.
We made Trump president: we deserve him.
With the U.S. news media the "best" stories are those with the highest visual appeal. Trump WANTS to be a spectacle. Print journalism competes for the same audience, so follows the video journalists down the Trump rabbit hole, where we all live now.
Important issues are being researched and discussed, the most important of which is climate change. But spectacle is easy to cover and oh so entertaining. It's like we're all watching a reality tv show on which those bad things will only happen to those poor creatures far away on planet Earth.
Thanks, Nicholas, for trying to put the brakes on. Unfortunately, they don’t work once the car is off the cliff. Try a parachute.
4
It's not just the 'addiction' to Trump, it's our addiction to competition and entertainment. And, one might add, baseless stupidity.
1
Yes, you are right in many ways. BUT, in this column you not once mention the sins of our Congress, which are worse b/c they have the ability to balance the powers of our government, as designed and written in our Constitution. Trump holds a lot of cards in this imbalanced politic, and he has created all the worst scenarios dancing in our collective nightmares. But, the likes of those elected officials, ALL OF THEM, both parties, has strengthened his control b/c they are not doing what they should to maintain some sanity. So many have been bought and bribed, bullied and numbed. Our 535 elected officials have the power to engage and bring intelligent debate and resolution back; but they do not. Trump is not the only evil one here, and you never even mentioned that. Sad.
3
Thank you for this column. Have been ruminating of late like a scratched record about the dangerous symbiotic relationship between Trump and the media.
Basically, the media has become, at the bidding of Trump, his spokespeople. Everytime Trump tweets a stupidity, the media spends all day from morning till night broadcasting it and talking about it.
He plays you like a clever puppeteer, while you call him an idiot and dumb. He is the clear winner and benefactor of the media's obsession. This cannot end well.
3
Mr. Trump has always had a sort of odd, negative charisma -- you can hear the hollow thrum in the patter, but it's hard to tune him out. He's very skilled at turning his own brazen antics into media attention that he then exploits to generate more (money, influence, power) for Trump Inc. This article rightly makes the point that the focus on Trump personally obscures crucial national and international issues. But that personal focus also obscures the context of his political rise. In the years before he announced a presidential run, Trump was exploiting political divisions that were already well-established and was courting press attention by promoting the ugly and pernicious "birther controversy". And it worked out for him -- kept him in the public eye; established his conservative bona fides; meshed with the Republican Party's obstructionist politics and ultimately made him their leader. The norms of governance and politics that Mr. Kristof mentions had been under assault for decades before Trump entered politics directly. The long-term attack on the values of civic engagement and honest debate are what made Trump's presidency possible.
the media must still accept its complicity in the making of 45. and, i speak of the media in general, tho especially of cable news. even as his manifold scam and depredations were well known, the focus on 45 the candidate was on 45 the entertainer.
i think the thing that got most media types up in arms over michelle wolf's presentation wasn't her depiction of sanders - one of them, after all - but her torpedo amidships at their selling of 45 as novelty without any real work being done.
wolf said of kelly and sanders what 45 has said of women time and time again since he first stuck his nostrils above the swamp's waterline.
Right on. Too much trump poison. NYT should devote 1 page in the middle left for t man news and the rest to real news.
2
The "focus on Trump" hinders not only other stories, it dilutes the Trump story itself—by normalizing his insanity and abuse of WH authority. Focus on REMOVING him from office by showing HOW he abuses our nation, rather than simply reiterating what he's done lately.
2
Mr. Kristof, many readers of the NYTimes follow the real and serious news as well as the Trump parade. We are very concerned about the many problems we have at home and abroad. But there is not very much we can do about any of these problems until there is a change in our governing policies. The first step is to expose Trump for what he is: a man with no morals, who will do anything to salve his ego, who has no regard for all citizens of America but only those who will swear allegiance to him. You are right that the news media is a business and seeks profit wherever it can find it. But Trump's incompetency needs to remain on our radar until change in Congressional leadership can be effected. If you and others in your profession could take action, for example declaring a No-Trump day of news, we might be able to affect Trump's control of the media and the public. I encourage you to collaborate with your colleagues and take this or similar action. We readers will reward you with a great sigh of relief, however brief it may be.
Never forget those who are almost 100% supportive of Trump,when they should instead be using the Constitution, the source of all US laws, to rein him in :
The Republican Congress.
Because of Congress, the United States of America is becoming a nation in which the Rule of Law ,so vital in a democracy, will no longer be paramount.
This is indeed ominous.
1
So, stop covering so much of what Trump says. Every week collect his most significant tweets and publish them. And yes, start covering other stories that show the effects of what Republicans have done.
3
What Trump does as President is less important than the historical forces that put him into office in the first place; he will be gone in 3 or 7 years. I am more concerned about a movement emerging that will consolidate and perpetuate his disdain for civil discourse. So I basically ignore reporting about Trump, especially his tweets. And in this vacuum, like Kristof, I am astounded by the lack of reporting on any other substantive issues. This country is turning into a very different place while we are focused on Trump, who will ultimately be relegated to a historical footnote.
2
While I agree that we should pay more attention to what Trump is doing and not saying, I just keep coming back to the same thing: despite Trump's fondest wish, he is not a dictator and was elected. Isn't the real problem the United States electorate? What are we to do if 40% of our fellow citizens who happen to be in the right states are happy with Trump's presidency?
7
All true. The things he and his crooked cronies are doing are devastating. So let's get rid of him in any way possible. He and Michael Cohen, Scott Pruitt, the republicans in congress and many others are effectively a crime syndicate.
Don't forget Ukraine has refused to cooperate in the investigation now that the administration has agreed to sell them weapons.
Trump is a criminal.
And I deeply resent his stupid fake last name being the first word I have to read every morning.
7
We are not addicted to Trump. Trump is a cancer we cannot rid ourselves of.
8
With the disgraced likes of Clinton, Lynch, Comey, McCabe, Page, Storzk, Baker, and Weiner; you are so right. Only they could make Trump an interesting read. Now that the NYT and Post has created this cottage industry of Russian collusion, it is getting very boring. It is a shame that Stormy is not nearly as attractive as Monica and she is hardy worth the ink to read about. Talk about over exposure...
2
Of course I'm addicted to Trump. Every morning I wake up hoping to read that he's been busted along with his posse of sycophant swamp creatures. Hopefully the roundup includes Pence. As least Trump is the devil you know.
2
Dear Nick:
Why not just admit that he’s made you and your fellow progressives nuts because you still can’t come to grips that he won and continues to have tens of millions of supporters? Why not just admit that you’ve done a horrible job covering him, and he’s caused you to neglect journalism, and engage in such stupidity as the White House Correspondents Dinner last weekend? And that this is on all of you, not him?
Even in this column, you take him to task for “tearing children away from their refugee parents at the border and sending them to foster care.” This is a textbook example of the problem. You know full well that there are reasons for this, related the multiple documented cases where children are exploited by strangers to gain entry to the country. Controversial and debatable? Certainly. But that you choose to demagogue it tells us that the media will continue to embarrass itself.
3
In the Sunday Review section on the front page of today's online version of the Times, 7 of 10 articles are about Trump.
5
I skip over them now. Like children's toys on the floor.
2
I pay to read the New York Times, but I go to the BBC website when I want to know what is actually going on in the world. Try it. You will be pleasantly surprised.
Or don’t try it, if you are too busy reading the dozen Trump-related pieces in the New York Times today.
8
I believe that until we all can laugh at Trump, he'll not go away. He thrives on conflict and needs adversaries to pump up his inflated ego. He's all ego, all the time. What would deflate him would be to call out his boring performances and laugh in his face. The man is a joke and ought not be taken seriously.
He is a spectacular diversion so those who truly hold the power, I.e., those who own congress people, can do whatever they like. We are scandalously ignorant. America is absolutely teetering
2
It appears the New York Times, along with the rest of the 'mainstream media' (whatever that means) has been just a tad slow on the uptake.
None of this is new. It is, in fact, how a loudmouthed, know-nothing, blatantly racist lout like Trump got himself elected President of the United States. His campaign thrived on Trump's reprehensible conduct; the nonstop media outrage; and the normalization of Trump and Trumpism fed by media efforts to treat him as a legitimate candidate and the foibles of Hillary Clinton as functional (and utterly false) equivalents of Trump's unparalleled lies, fraud and corruption.
It's pretty hard not to be addicted to finding out about Trump's behavior given the fact that he is so out of control, is a compulsive liar and a narcissist who cares more about himself than our country.
1
Trump is like a pestilence. He infiltrates and infects everyone who touches him in any way. Or maybe a better analogy would be the Greek myth of Medusa--everyone who looks too long at the monster is cursed and turns to stone.
Who will be our Perseus? Robert Mueller? James Comey?
Or, perhaps more likely, Stormy Daniels.
2
So, stop it, already! We're all missing all those critical items because YOU (media) are not REPORTING them. YOU are analysing the circus acts, not the issues. YOUR addiction is OUR problem. Are you going to be journalists, or corporate profit schills? You've already chosen the former. Only you can change what you cover. I'm not holding my breath.
4
The NY Times, Washington Post and CNN are obsessed with Trump. The American people are not. Trump is a boom to these news outlets. What would the Times opinion writers write about if they didn't have Trump?
3
Interviewer: "Did Michael Cohen make payments to other women on behalf of the president?"
Giuliani: “I have no knowledge of that, but I would think if it was necessary, yes."
Analyst: Giuliani seems to imply the remaining money slush fund—from Trump and loans—in the last 3 months of the campaign went to other Trump mistresses. If it'd juts been Daniels and McDougal, Rudy would've know that as Trump's lawyer. Trump implied he was getting Rudy up to speed.
http://thememoryhole2.org/blog/doe-v-trump
I religiously( my only religious act) skip over every trump bird brain tweet and every article on interpretations of the latest lie. Reading only about trade negotiations, Korean Peninsula. Etc. Why does the NYT give the scandals so much coverage? Boring.
2
You are right on the money Nick. So stop writing about him.
4
It's all cover for making the federal judiciary a nuclear wasteland.
3
We have met the enemy and he is us, so said Walt Kelly in the Pogo strip. Well, we too have met the enemy and become addicted. Not only addicted to his stupidity, debauchery and buffoonery but we accept it as normal for this president. Religious folk forgive him, the greedy cash their dividends, and I find myself rooting for Mr. Kim to make a fool of him.
1
Some decades ago I saw a documentary about people who were trying to get American network television to publicize the Ethiopian famine.
Only after the famine was so far gone that there was Cecile B. Demille biblical grade camera footage was there even 30 seconds of coverage, about a year and a half in.
Every minute of television programming that involves talking heads chewing Trump cud, is a minute that could be covering something more important.
The sadness is that graft and grift is not interesting, not in any kind of profound or moral sense. And that what we're watching today, about compromised behavior with the Russians, or with Stormy Daniels, is devoid of anything that affirms beauty and humanity.
I remember my parents telling me not to watch soap operas, or much TV at all when I was a kid. Junk turns your mind to mush, they said.
1
I am a lifelong Democrat disgusted by the current occupant of the White House.
He has caused irreparable harm to our government in numerous ways such as calling the press the enemy of the American people, compared our law enforcement and intelligence agencies to Nazi's and Storm Troopers, called Democrats who did not applaud his State of the Union address "traitors" and has cast doubt on our judicial system and the courts. He has made his hard core base of tens of millions of Americans believe that anyone who does support him is a liar and an enemy of our nation.
I hope that the Democrats choose a candidate who can inspire our fellow citizens and not someone who is polarizing and so far left that centrists and moderate Democrats are made to feel unwelcome in the Party.
Every night CNN is wall to wall Trump. They have not stopped since the Presidential campaign when they did not give any other Republican running for the nomination a chance to be heard. Every night there are panels questioning everything Trump or his subordinates have said.
Our health, environmental, and safety laws are being severely weakened or repealed with zero commentary from the media. Our voting rights laws are being gutted. Police are no longer held accountable by the Justice Department for their treatment of minorities. Why are none of these things being discussed?
By obsessing on Trump night in and night out the networks we rely on have abandoned our country just as they did in the 2016.
3
Here's a suggestion. Suppose newspaper columnists and other media types show us the way, I just scanned the front page of the new york times opinion section and practically every opinion column headline talks about trump. It's not only the NYT it's the washington post too. Personally, I am not clicking into anymore Trump articles unless I hear he is either impeached or indicted.
4
Frank Zappa to Alice Cooper: Did you kill a chicken onstage?
A.C.: No.
F.Z.: Well don't deny it!
Two years later Alice Cooper was the biggest live act in America.
There is no such thing as bad publicity and Trump knows that. He literally kills chickens onstage everyday and dances around the carcasses.
We yell: Get rid of that chicken killer! and he grins and tweets and lies. 24 hours of cable a day.
2
I have a request for the Times editors. Cut any story where the headline starts with the words "Trump says ..." At least half of his tweets and other pronouncements fall into the category of blowing off steam. Much of the rest seems intended to buoy his supporters and antagonize his adversaries. Little of it seems to be of any actual consequence, but the constant reporting of it gives the President the forum and the foils he craves. Focus instead on what is actually happening, not just in terms of DC or the next election, but in the states and everywhere else.
4
Trump terrifies me. I'm like a prey animal that must not let itself lose sight of the vicious predator stalking it. I feel like a prisoner tightly chained to a chair in front of a 24/7 TV reality show that is unbearably stupid & cast with obscenely untalented actors. Worse yet, I think I know how the show is going to end & it's going to be a disaster.
That said, Mr. Kristof, I sincerely thank you for your wise & truthful words & for reminding me of what is truly important. Vital issues that will affect our children & all of humanity must not be allowed to slip under our radar just because we are hypnotized by the dancing monkey in the White House.
I was sad for America when “The Apprentice” was a thing.
The false prophet had arrived.
I had a sense of foreboding at that time, and I’m guessing I wasn’t alone.
6
My tension since Trump's somewhat election hasn't abated. I read every newly uncovered disgusting bit about Trump because I long for two: The End.
Or, I have become addicted. That makes it cold turkey time to quit Trump.
1
You can say the news is dominated by Trump but in some places it is dominated by attacking Trump. I agree that the press should open space for other topics.
5
Mr. Kristof, your article lists a number of domestic and international critical issues that need to be addressed and which are, if not ignored, at least not given the attention they urgently require. There are, however, serious problems in our own hemisphere that are willfully ignored which also directly and indirectly affect the lives of millions of people: the attack on democratic principles and on the rule of law in countries such as Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba where human rights and personal freedom are being abused without the United States even raising a voice of alarm, much less doing anything about it. Perhaps the free press in the US could devote some time denouncing the crimes being committed by ruthless dictators, such as Maduro, Ortega, and the Cuban puppet regime in our so called "backyard."
You read my mind, Mr Kristof. I came to the Times this morning from the BBC News web site where the lead story was about the Iran agreement. When I saw yet another story related to this president on the Times pages, I thought oh, no. Not again. There must be something else going on in the world. Perhaps the Times can't afford foreign correspondents?
3
So the New York Times must start putting articles and stories that have anything to do with Donald Trump only in the second section of the newspaper, the first section is for all other news that you discussed in this article. This will allow us, the customers, to decide if we’re going to even look at the B section.
We will read all the important news in the A section—-Knowing that the words of Donald Trump will not appear at all in the A section.
Any stories with Donald Trump must only appear in the B section, and the customer can decide if he or she wants to throw that section in the garbage. So I have solved the problem—-Trump Addiction is cured.....Can I get a Pulitzer prize or win a talk with Michelle Wolf for an hour?
6
You know the NYT's can't do that. Trump sells papers, get journalists on T.V., writing books, exclusive breaking news, etc. You may remember the Huffington Post tried that in 2015. That ended quickly.
They don't put all these Trump articles in the paper for personal enjoyment, or public service.
They put them in here because that's what the vast majority of it's liberal readership wants to read about and want to pay for.
Until that changes, nothing will change. Trump Wins!
1
""Our" Addiction to Trump"
Speak for yourself.
I'd be very happy starting right now to never hear his name again.
He is a completely amoral, worthless and banal figure with absolutely nothing of value to offer anybody.
3
I couldn't agree more. I, too, have fallen into the Trump trap of "All Trump, All the Time", robotically checking his idiotic tweets in the morning and then stewing about them until the next round twenty-four hours later. It's positively unhealthy, irrational, and just plain stupid, yet there I am: it's hard to ignore a bellowing ape who got very lucky and ended up in the WH in spite of himself. And, yes, this fixation causes me/us to ignore other pressing issues that will, as a result of inattention, fester far after Trump has gone to his too-long-delayed reward. That said, Nick Kristof, how about you, a man of considerable influence -me, I'm a backwoods nobody- for starters, initiating a national "Ignore Trump For Just One Day" movement? Imagine: one day, nation-wide, without seeing or hearing about or thinking about this grotesque creature. The rebuff might, inshallah, drive him over the brink, cause a genuine come-to-Jesus moment, and inch him towards a righteous resignation. At this point, I'll take anything.
Your absolute best.
We are clearly in a transitional moment so far as "news" reporting is concerned. Times subscriptions are up, but much more digital than print. Facebook shows you "news" you will "like." But it is not a Trump addiction--when a clip of him appears on cable news, I switch channels: he makes me ill--so much as a bind reporters and editors will have to undo.
HE'S PRESIDENT: absurdly, illegitimately, but really bigly. So how not report the latest idiotic tweet? how not show him at his "reality show" rallies? Reckless, racist Rudy knows that once he's the president's lawyer he gets on Fox, he gets lots of attention. He's a shameless, narcissistic fool, like Trump: but how can you not cover him? So it's not an addiction. Meanwhile, what it is and what you/we can do about is an important consideration.
1
When one observes the recent protests against Emmanuel Macron's policies in France, it is hard not to be disturbed by Americans' comparative passivity in the face of Trumpism.
It is as if Americans were under the sway of Stockholm Syndrome, deeply resigned and enthralled by the sordid spectacle of stupidity and cynicism Trump projects to the world with nary an afterthought about the future.
3
The majority of Americans did not vote for Trump and are disgusted with him just like the French are. The French were addicted to the escapades of Hollande...but not the majority of the French. We must all learn to think of the world and its politics in nuance, not generalizations.
A few years from now, historians will point to this week as the moment when China’s military crossed the line by placing missiles on artificial islands in the South China Sea.
And when the historians examine the headlines and opinion section of the New York Times to understand how the US was so blindsided, they will discover only articles and editorials about the peccadilloes of President Trump.
8
I'm not addicted to Trump. I am weary of his ceaseless maniacal transgressions and all the efforts needed to contain them. A hard core of Americans stick by this man because he aggressively defends American interests abroad, unlike the sissy Obama, and makes a serious effort to defend our borders and national security from illegal immigration and terrorism. He doesn't pander, like the Democrats, to eternally discontented, radical sexual and racial fringe groups. Maybe the Democrats should pay attention and become the party of Scoop Jackson and Jack Kennedy once again.
I am no longer turning the television on..I am working state by state in the mid-term elections to help my fellow Americans with funding for childhood programs, state health care options, human rights..please join me in this..thx
3
Trump should be our main preoccupation. As long as he is president, we cannot focus on GOOD policy. Korea? China Trade policy? Iran? All major problems that will blow up.
Stormy Daniels, the porn actress, may be our savior. The Stormy saga titillates us, but it has focused the "storm troopers" on Michael Cohen and his Russian mob connections. Cohen will give Trump up when faced with going to jail.
I’m so over the addiction to Trump I couldn’t bring myself to read this column.
4
"Trump porn."
That captures the essense of our media now. And I assume Trump loves it that way -- pathological narcissism knows no constraints and celebrates! its sucess at drawing all susciptible attention to its only interest or concern, itself.
But Trump is so far below the high bar set by actual porn (not that I've ever seen any) that this fails to capture the sadism that is obviously in his heart and that he gleefully inflicts on our government and our culture and real human beings every.single.day.
If prayer was demonstrably helpful in negotiating with the mysterious creative event that is this Universe, most of America would become monks and nuns overnight and Trump would be rendered an impotent, disgraced little antichrist and his name purged from all non-porn publications.
1
Well, I'd say the media has a huge Trump addiction, but please don't project your addiction on the rest of us. Before all this Trump nonsense started I spent at least an hour reading the NYT and other newspapers. Once it got to be almost All-Trump-All-The-Time I started skipping any article with the word, "Trump" in the headline. That cut my reading time by two thirds. Seriously, this media obsession is a true Chicken Little Doomsday Obsession. Look, media (NYT in particular) we know he's a terrible person. We know he doesn't belong in the White House. We know it's a mess, but until something like actual verifiable proof comes along, and until the midterms have a ghost of a chance of flipping the House and Senate, we are going to get on with our lives. Don't worry. We won't forget you. We won't suddenly forget the strange state of the government. How about a little faith in us, ok? Yes, I know we threw you for a loop when your polls predicted Clinton for a win and she lost. Yep, you blew it on that one, eh? Also, Clinton seems determined to live in November 2016 forever. But you, and she, need to move on. When the truth comes out, report it. When real proof emerges, report it. Until then, however, please trim the Trump Fat in your stories, ok? It's just becoming a backseat driver with an annoying voice.
2
The hardest thing for me to believe is this: its taken you in the media 2 years to acknowledge your obsession with Trump. All through the primaries, the general, past campaign, post election....each day, no one has been more obsessed than NYT! The second obsession was, Hillary. It was so obvious to us, from the get go. So much so that all of you completely ignored Bernie and his message and his followers, as though they were non existent.
7
Trump dominates the national and cable media. In New York he also seems to dominate the local news stations. I was at a party in New York last week and most of the conversations were about how horrible Trump is.
Out here in “flyover country” people talk about the opioid crisis, kids behaving badly on prom night, local politics and of course sports. I don’t hear that much about Trump. Of course a lot of these people voted for him. Just saying that it seems to be a liberal fixation.
1
C'mon, you can't be serious. You’re in a position to change things Mr. Kristof yet all you do is complain that you just can’t help it and remind us of all the things you should be covering. The media that gave Trump millions of dollars of free advertising to get viewers and clicks and subscriptions, creating a monster and making it President now tells us they just couldn’t help it because after all they had to have their profits.
Year after year for the last thirty the press has issued mea culpa’s about the horrible way it covers our elections, always eschewing serious issues for personality and horse race analysis, but it is a broken record because the media can’t change. The Times with its overwrought and inaccurate coverage of Clinton’s e-mail server is as responsible as CNN and Comey for making Trump president.
As long as we get our news from profit making institutions we will be pandered to instead of informed. The saddest thing for me is that I never thought the Times would lead the pandering parade, but they do. The Times coverage of race, #metoo, Jenner and Cosby is pandering to its liberal readers. The media isn’t failing but it is completely out of touch with the people, that is why they are always surprised that the people go for clowns like Palin and Trump. A press that was doing its job would have prevented their rise instead of enabling them.
Maybe they just can’t help it, but Mr. Kristof please spare us the hand wringing.
3
This. You nailed it.
I’m a professional wrestling fan (and a liberal). In professional wrestling we call what Trump is doing “working the marks”. That means getting emotional reactions out of the fans who easily suspend their disbelief that wrestling is a performance.
On the other hand “smarks” or “smart marks” know that it’s all a show and remain skeptical.
As a smark, I’ll tell you what is obvious. Trump is WORKING you. He’s a monster heel for the Left and he’s making the Left look like a bunch of fools. If you can’t see it, it’s because you are in it. Your outrage does nothing, you are just a spectator making him a huge star. In wrestling we call this “getting over”.
I am a patriot, and I see the erosion of our institutions happening. However, the hypocrisy of the progressives saying they want to protect our institutions, while sneering at the electoral college, condemning the second amendment, trying to impeach a lawfully elected president is obvious to a smark. It’s the partisanship that tears us apart, not Trump. I know the Right started it, but doesn’t mean you need to go off the cliff too. Until you see this, you are part of the problem. Don’t be a mark. If you want Trump to be a good guy, he will be. If you want him to be a bad guy, he’ll do that instead. It’s on you.
70
You can't blame us for Trump's deficiencies, intellectual failings, poor judgment, his campaign meeting with Russians and others linked to the Russian government. It's his wreckage. It's on him. Not us.
Instead of golfing and watching TV, he could have studied governance, laws, policies, historical perspectives, the constitution, rule of law, separation of powers, bill of rights. If he was moral like he pretends, he wouldn't be scandalized by affairs with playboy bunnies and porn stars. Shall I remind you the fraud proven to be Trump University? Never has an elected president had to pay out $25 MILLION after being successfully sued by duped students. Thousands of them. He's fully scandalous. His doing, not ours.
34
Trump will never be a good guy. Never! He wants evil. He worships evil. And if we can't speak up against absolute evil and try our best to do something then we are also condoning evil.
28
Ideologues feed their addiction, and partisan reporting, in which The Times engages, is like an opoid.
Perhaps it's time to re-examine what it means to be "progressive". Does it mean one must be an ideologue? Or can progressives kick their habit?
2
Kristof and Dowd say the same today and are absolutely right. I no longer read either NYT or WaPo much less any lesser sites because I'm nauseated by the unceasing headlines about "Trump said..". Who bloody cares what the showman's outrages du jour are. Until the media fixation heals, I'm outta here. Though I keep giving money to NYT/WaPo out of sympathy for the digital conundrum, but I've had it with their 'reporting'.
2
He's right about Trump. Trump can't or won't lead. But the ugliery truth is Democrats can't lead either.
1
Well, our addiction is partly due to the fact that he's the President: the most powerful person in our country of 330 million. We put him there. Something is very wrong with us.
I believe in Kristof and the NY Times. Though imperfect, like all of us, they have much honor and message of honor for us. I need this, I need to believe in honor and respect and love.
Trump has helped America by making us see how bad we've become. Our leader is a bully, shyster, narcissist, hater, greedy, traitor, liar, serial-adulterer, draft-dodger that calls McCain and POW's 'not heroes' because they were captured.
The evangelicals, conservatives, Republicans, right-wing media, and self-proclaimeds 'patriots' support him. So, this has been good to pull off the mask of these groups. They aren't more 'moral' than Democrats; far from it. They're showing us their true values are with the moneychangers and the recent tax cut is a good example. You want fake? Just look at the supporters of Trump.
I'm not addicted to him, and, he'll be gone soon enough. I hope I'm addicted to equality and compassion and love for my fellow citizens. I pray I am.
We must become more equal. We must fight this criminal concentration of wealth into the billionaires of this country and the world. This wickedness is destroying democracy and community. Yes, economics is a over-riding 'value' in our societies. And this is an area we seem to play dumb in, and so just try to avoid (at our own peril).
Addicted to love. Now.
1
THIS is why we have Trump. Whiny clueless Libs caught up in fantasies of undoing Presidential elections because you don't like the outcome is not OK with the American electorate. Not the vast majority anyway.
You know Trump will easily win again. Right?
6
Well, if there were no Trump seizing the throne of the Union in 2016, what would the leftist radical Democratic presse have to write about?
1
policy, so no one seems to care.
1
Not a single mention of Michelle Wolf, who brought up this exact point at the White House Correspondents' Dinner?
1
Creating a Trump addiction is part of his scheme, his PR, his modus operandi. Trump thrives on this pervasive 21st century illness called self branding. It’s the nauseating flood of Kardashians, Kanye Wests, Trumps, ... empty headed bling-bling blah-blah. Donald Trump learned this long ago, creating a brand of his name since he was never accepted into NYC society, (because he has no merits and is sickly uncouth). So he self branded, a floozy way to the headlines. However now as President, it is torturous for all of us to separate this crass self promotion from the honorable office of the President of our beloved USofA. The only way to keep focus is for our esteemed journalists such as Mr. Kristoff to continue to show him for what he is. We support your relentless descriptions and truth telling. Never have journalists worked so hard. We admire and thank you.
1
Donald Trump is not solely responsible for the cruel separations of immigrants from their children, or severe cuts to reproductive health programs (usually fueled by opposition to Planned Parenthood), or for the relaxation of environmental regulations that protect our air, land, and water.
He stands on the shoulders of Republican ideologues, white evangelical Christians, NRA members, and angry voters who resent paying taxes and distrust the federal government.
And this helps explain why many of us are addicted to the sick feeling that results from digesting more and more news about heartless, racist, hypocritical, shameless Donald Trump. It’s because he teaches us every day that we have NOT understood what our country is made of. America is, in fact, not a gentle or inherently generous nation, not a beacon of democracy or anchor of world peace, not a reliable ally or a charitable defender of faraway people who are suffering. Many many of our citizens obviously welcome a ranting demagogue, they like him just fine!! they like him hot!! and these men and women ... voters ... constitute a big part of the USA.
This is hard for a lot of us to accept, to believe. But every new day we learn it again.
This morning, like most mornings, I opened the NYT home page. On my screen, without having to scroll down from the top banner, the name "Trump" appears 10 times, spanning 8 distinct articles and opinion pieces. This is not healthy.
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Carol Griffen
The healthiness of the repeat appearance of the name of the President of the United States would depend undoubtedly on the importance and timeliness of the articles and opinion pieces.
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Come on, sarah. Be honest. It's an addiction. Rhetoric about the "presidency" and "timeliness" cannot disguise it.
Therefore we need to urge the NY Times to read Kristof's article, step back, consider ways to shift away. Then tell readers how it that change will work.
6
Points well taken. The side show distracts from devastating policies at EPA, the packing of extreme conservative Judges and the beginnings of mass deportations to come. His supporters don’t care what he does as long as he does their bidding for them.
1
What Trump does as President is less important than the historical forces that put him into office in the first place; he will be gone in 3 or 7 years. I am more concerned about a movement emerging that will consolidate and perpetuate his disdain for civil discourse. So I basically ignore reporting about Trump, especially his tweets. And in this vacuum, like Kristof, I am astounded by the lack of reporting on any other substantive issues. This country is turning into a very different place while we are focused on Trump, who will ultimately be relegated to a historical footnote.
Trumpism contains an element of wanting to end history.
2
Trump is the trainwreck from which we cannot avert our eyes, watching in wonderment and disbelief as we tacitly ask ourselves,"How did this happen?" Just as we think that the nadir has been reached, experience has taught us that each day will bring something more grotesque, salacious, and outrageous. There is no bottom to the perversion Trump and his minions have visited on this country. There are so many other issues that require our attention but helplessly watching our country damaged as an unsupervised two year dismantle it without an adult around to stop it, is mst important. Without a sound country, how can it intervene in all the other catastrophes that are occurring?
3
We know how it happened. The Electoral College is a historical monstrosity rooted in slavery. Sadly, this nation is too juvenile to do anything about it.
1
Excuse me for saying that nothing is more important than getting rid of Trump. Forget the gun issue, me too, Iran, S Korea, drugs, etc. Get rid of Trump and everything will be better immediately. Of course we will still have a dunce of a Pence to deal with. But first things first. Then take back the house and senate. Then impeach Pence for lying to us about Flynn.
Nothing is more important.
When Nixon finally got flushed, Spiro Agnew had been replaced with Gerald Ford.
1
We are obsessed because we are afraid. We thought it couldn't happen here.
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No matter how much I try to disengage from the news/chaos in search of peace, the NYT app fed me headline after headline of Trump insanity. I eliminated the app, read what I choose on my computer, and delight in the NYT addition of "Welcome to the Week in Good News". Imagine more baby humpback whale news! Thanks NYT.
In the meantime, I've alerted all my friends to call me when the Mueller gavel comes down.
No doubt Mr. Kristof is right--Trump is certainly fascinating to cover--and interesting for news junkies to watch HOW he is covered. The media has essentially gone from being defenders, apologists, explainers, and lapdogs of the Obama Administration, to being "...oxpeckers on a rhino's back", under trump.
If nothing else, what we are witnessing is the death of journalism. Watch any of the daily press briefings conducted by Sarah Huckabee Sanders---and you'll appreciate the difference. While reporters behaved like obedient poodles during the Obama press briefings...they behave like a pack of jackals going after Trump. You can taste the pure hatred and venom in the room.
If media types wonder why their profession is held in such low esteem, it's the partisanship, stupid. There are no objective observers of the facts anymore--just biased zealots, whereby 90-95 percent of them are shills for the Democrat party.
The partisanship has become so obvious, the electorate has practically stopped paying attention. We know...just about every story regarding Trump--or anyone in his administration, will be written in the most unfair and disparaging light. We know...in order to find the truth in any story...take what the reporter is selling--and believe the opposite.
The harder the press beats on Trump, the more his numbers go up. What does that say about the credibility of the media these days? Yeah--it's corrupt.
5
SHS and Kellyanne Conway are the spit of Trump's contempt for everyone else.
1
The New York Times must take Trump to task whenever he shifts positions or changes a narrative of events and call these actions what they really are: lies. Just because this authoritarian wannabe thrives on chaos and deception doesn’t mean the rest of us have to accept his warped modus operandi. Trump was, is, and always will be a self-obsessed and insecure bully. Keep reminding Americans of this charlatan through his evil words and deeds.
Trump is trash. One of the things not mentioned in your column is that Trump is pushing to create more nuclear weapon pits from plutonium at Los Alamos National Laboratories in New Mexico. Along with modernization of nuclear weapons we will spend one trillion dollars over the next decade. Trump has done nothing to protect the world's environment and his appointment of Pruitt to the EPA will further destroy the world's enviroment along with the US environment.
2
We can start by registering to vote
Then vote out the enablers at every level
Deny the imbecile the means to do more damage
Abd continue to work making ours s better and more inclusive society
Including his supporters when they come back to reality
After they spend their $1.50 tax cut
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It’s “Trump Derangement Syndrome”. And he loves it.
I have tried to create some Trump-free zones in my life but it is very hard. He is the President, thanks to cranky (some misinformed, so,e not) Americans who voted for him and millions who didn’t vote at all.
Reporters must cover him, I understand that. But perhaps it would benefit everyone if responsible newspapers, like The NY Times create a Trump-free zone as well let’s say Tuesdays (as long as no real catastrophe occurs) - NOTHING on Donald Trump at all.
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"Two thousand years from now, historians may be lecturing on Trump the way they now discuss, say, the challenge to Roman institutions from Caligula."
Rest assured Mr. Kristof that few people are concerned with or study ancient history of any sort, including that of Rome and if they do, then Caligula is not high on their lists of topics (He is more popular for those making modern porn movies). In two thousand years I doubt anybody will care. (I hope that universities are still teaching history then. I am not optimistic).
Mr. Trump, for all his faults, provides entertainment and diversion and an easy topic when one has to knock out 2 columns or so every week.
You are right. There is so much else happening, but for most people, that is so boring. Change the channel.
2
So, let us trust Mr. Mueller to do his job!!!! Trump feeds off of all of the attention he has been getting for the past two years (during the primaries) and thereafter.
So, stop feeding the monster. Lay off reporting ALL of his nonsense for the next couple of days (this approach must be done collectively by all media outlets).
See what happens- he’ll become a little more “over the top,” doubling down on the behavior. That is what happens during “extinction” when rewards (attention in his case) are withheld. The rest of us will get a necessary respite from all that is Trump. A stress-free couple of days.
2
A chocolate addiction is healthier; a Trump addiction is a form of coprophagia.
So it took you two years to figure out that many NYT editorial writers, columnists, contributing opinion writers, and readers--and many other people in this country--are addicted to Don Trump. That fact has been pretty obvious to me for a long time. Pretty much 90% of all NYT editorials and columns in the last two years have been about Don T. Many columnists only write about Don T. They repeat themselves week after week. They repeat each other. And it is an addiction. This obsession is something that a psychologist should analyze. Really. I really think that the NYT actually loves the fact that Don T is President. Trump Obsessive Syndrome is like a drug. The whole world is perceived through Don T. Don T. is all that the addict can see. A little moderation is all that I ask for. Just acknowledge that there are a few (actually many) things going on in the world that Don T. not behind. Really!
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Trump is the addiction of the media and has been since he de-escalted down to his paid audience in his Tower building. You took his every word, no matter how untrue, nonsensical and hateful as they were, and printed them on the front page of every newspaper and top of the broadcast as if they had any relevance, meaning or intelligence to a civilized society. Since then you have earned almost nothing and continue in your daily diatribe of fake news based on the overload of fake in the White House. Why not just print what is true without reference to whatever he says? Make him irrelevant except for those who deliberately choose to follow him. Try to implement the journalistic principles you may have learned in school or on the job. Be a leader, not a follower!
Just curious, but is it possible to NOT ATTACH a photo of him with EVERY SINGLE Trump related column as a step, albeit a baby step, to interrupt his ego maniacal vanity (as well as to save my stomach from turning)?
1
Mr. Comey says the most extraordinary thing about Trump (the one and only thing he admires) is Trump's energy. Comey also says Trump seems to have a hole inside him that forces him to seek constant gratification.
That combination is extremely frightening. It means Trump will not get worn down, tired out from keeping up his facade of being a President. That means he will never cease to his destructive path in order to satiate that hole inside him.
I once thought that the pace of a president's schedule, meetings, speeches, trips would tire him out, slow him down. That would be the world's salvation from him. I hope Comey is wrong, that Trump faked his energy level.
Yes, Trump is everywhere, but how can you not ignore him if he threatens to blow up KOREA or threatens to separate children from their mothers, at the border
Remember when we fought so hard against 'normalization'? We lost.
Amazing is it not? It is as if we have all stepped on the tines of a garden rake and stood there watching in disbelief while the handle arcs its way up and into our face with ever increasing speed. His ability to destroy is outstripping our willingness and ability to contain him.
God save us: God save the Constitution.
1
I’m not addicted to Trump.
I’m held hostage by Trump.
1
" but you’ve publicly denounced me only once — and so incoherently that I couldn’t print out a quote to impress my kids. "
No, those are the good ones!
The incoherent ones cut to the heart of the matter!
He's incoherent!
Nicholas, your employer could do better at throttling back the coverage of Trump, in particular this whole Stormy Daniels mess. Just last week, the front-screen story was about who paid or didn't pay, followed by what Rudy said, followed by what Trump said about Rudy, ad nauseum. It makes the Times look like a hybrid of a tabloid and People magazine. Stop already!
This whole thread is about what a louse Trump is. So we already know that. Let's focus on the administration's policies. Let's cover the Congress's refusal to be the check-and-balance. And let's only cover the investigation when the main thread, Mueller's work, is making news.
3
For many of us, the continuing infatuation with the self-absorption, filthy deceit, incoherence, incompetence, and general stupidity of this meglomaniac and his regime is based in a continuing disbelief that this is happening at all.
Until now, the assumption that a fascist mafia thug in both the spirit and form of a Mussolini caricature would be uninvited by constitutional checks/balances was a given. It was woven into our hearts and psyches by a Good Faith System that the people we elected, no matter what their political philosophy, would buffer such a malignancy from forever compromising the Constitution.
The obvious danger here, of course, is that we all run the risk of marveling the spectacle until we're all under water. Hopefully, we're becoming as addicted to practical activism. Even just with extended family is a start. Yes, the ultimate action is voting in the fall, but it's an afterthought compared to what can be done NOW. And daily armchair indignation isn't part of that equation.
1
Yes you should be kissing his feet. He keeps your dying business alive. He is causing more Americans to be engaged in their government, whether they like him or not. He is expressive, something that everyone likes in a leader, as opposed to a scripted talking head. It is a shame you can't get yourself to be more balanced in your approach to him.
2
Blaming Trump for Global retreat is quite unjust; the chief architect of US retreat is Obama's/Kerry's frigid 'middle east' policy. Obama's crossing 'redline' rhetoric for Syria fell miles short of his verbosity. Obama/Kerry joint venture for handing Syrian realpolitik to Putin/Lavrov was quite detrimental to US foreign policy. Russians/Iranian in the guise of wiping out Da'esh finished all the opposition to Assad's military orchestrated by FSA and certain other opposition groups. US lukewarm response in imposing retaliatory sanctions to Putin's take over of Crimea and declaring war on Ukraine was not practically endorsed by EU. EU especially Morkel/Hollande were at cross roads with Obama's stance on Eastern Ukraine. Palestine Israel conflict was having a 'lost child' status during eight years of Obama's two terms at the white house. Netanyahu despite ridiculing/insulting Obama repeatedly kept expanding his west bank settlements and ruthlessly continued multiple sieges of Gaza killing scores of Palestinian civilians. Obama couldn't close Guantanamo base besides his election promises. Obama's Afghan/Pak policy was absolutely chaotic. Obama continuing US rendition camps across the globe and using predator drones to kill/maim opponents is derogatory to human race and civilization. Trump is more 'novice' than Obama but damage has already been done. Trump of course has added insult to injury and Bill Clinton wonders how Hillary lost with Putin's maneuvering!!
I prefer the word "infection" to "addiction".
1
Because reading about Stormy Daniels is more titillating than reading about the deficit or homelessness.
It also sells more eyeballs on online screen time.
2
I think the thing that drives me up the wall about the coverage Trump receives in the media, is the deference, if not respect exactly, given to his words. “Mr. Trump announces ...” “The President indicates ...” “New vision promoted by Prez ...” Blah, blah, blah ...
And so many of these reports, presented with an air of professionalism and seriousness, as if they were based upon the meaningful and rational thought processes of a genuine national leader, are based upon the inane ramblings of someone who seems incapable of constructing a coherent sentence.
“We have seen what needs to be done ... and even so much worse is happening as I stand before you. It’s really quite simple, but you have to have the knowledge ... and Crooked Hillary and Lying Comey are the enemy, of course. But it’s going to be great - the greatest in the history of this nation, I’m told by many. We’ll see. You’re gonna love it.”
And the media will take a word salad like that, and try to derive some meaning from it. Please, guys! Stop maintaining even a semblance of respect for the nonsense that spews daily from Trump’s lips, and direct your sights on exactly the kinds of real issues (and underhanded dealings by this administration) that Mr. Kristof mentions. I, for one, will thank you profusely for that.
127
I agree..state by state..fight and vote your values in every election, show up to support candidates and encourage and educate others to do the same even if some of the elections are not in your backyard.. step by step..each step put together becomes a staircase to something higher.
13
You got it right: “Mr. Trump announces ...” “The President indicates ...” “New vision promoted by Prez ...” Blah, blah, blah ...
Why don't we call him by the same nomenclature that he used to describe a Federal judge as "a so-called judge"?
Here's to you, Mr. So-called President.
23
Indeed, pay attention to what he does. And one of the things he does is nominate vastly unqualified people to run federal agencies and cabinet departments, with the complicity where required of the GOP senate. Animal House is running the government, and Trump is Dean Wormer.
1
"In short, think of this as a multifront war. Trump is mounting one assault on our values, institutions and policies, and we have to fight back."
Love ya Nick, but next time, instead of lamenting Trump and rehashing his low-life antics, do what you do best.
Give readers some hope and simple action steps to take which will get the attention of our leaders in DC. As well as a listing of the top, most effective organizations we can support to counter the malignant policies we read about with this criminal administration.
Better use of your column space.
I'd like to see a public service push, supported by video and social media of the most popular mass culture figures in America (from Oprah to LeBron, from Tom Hanks to Beyonce, from Obama to Ellen to anyone who young folks revere) encouraging people to register to vote.
The Great American Registration.
If our brave soldiers in uniform can sacrifice so much for our freedom, including their very lives…
Then, the least you can do is go online, or go to your county offices and register.
No sacrifice or blood required.
Promote that Nick.
As much as you write about Trump.
1
Although true and to the point articles like this just feed Trump's ego. He doesn't care if coverage is negative or positive as long as he's at the center. Like any spoiled child he will continue to act out as long as it brings him the attention he craves. The best strategy to defeat Trump is to ignore him, thereby depriving his fire of the oxygen it needs.
I am an adult child of an alcoholic. I know what Trump triggers in me and why I wake up every morning and turn on my i-Pad. He is the unpredictable, scary parent with all the power, and I need to be hyper-vigilant and stay informed about his behavior, because I never know what's coming next. Will he start a nuclear war? Will he send The Dreamers packing? Will he fire another one of the supposed "adults in the room?" The list of dysfunctional possibilities goes on and on. Yes, I'm no longer that powerless child, but fear is buried deep in me, and staying aware feels like what I need to do as a proective measure. It's as exhausting and upsetting to my nervous system as it was all those many years ago, but it's hard to stop watching. He's a threat. That part doesn't feel like my childhood experience; that seems quite real. I think he's a threat to all of us.
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" .. He is the unpredictable, scary parent with all the power, and I need to be hyper-vigilant and stay informed about his behavior, because I never know what's coming next .."
Psst! Lot of us feel the same way about Sanders and E. Warren. Our solution? Argue even *more* with the IRS, because Sanders has never done anything productive without taxes.
Exactly, Kathryn,exactly!
Trump is a malignant narcissist and knowing that a family whose household is turned chaotically upside-down by living with such a member in its midst, I remember it being crystal clear what he was capable of doing to a NATION.
He is a threat to us all.
Yesterday I read in The Guardian that he hired a private Israeli spy agency to investigate American diplomats with the aim of undermining a treaty with Iran that was co-signed by the United States and its allies, but opposed by Israel.
This is treason .
21
Kathryn,
You have described how I feel exactly! My situation is somewhat different in that I had a Sociopathic mother, and Trumps behavior mirrors hers. He fits the profile exactly!
I too am triggered by him, and the total lack of power I feel. I have gotten involved in local politics and joined Indivisible and ACLU. I donate money to Dems and others as I can. That helps, but until Trump is removed, and his abhorrent cabinet and sycophants as well, I will remain hyper-viligant!
15
As the NYT has started trying to rectify its bias in obituaries toward white males, it may also want to consider devoting part of its front page to stories overlooked because of reporting taken up by Trump's legal troubles and fact vetting.
Government plays important roles in peoples lives. The amount of headlines that Trump is generating that are of the "can you believe he did that..." variety vs. "this is what government is doing/proposing to do and this is how it will affect" you makes me feel that the true mission of journalism has been hijacked, just as it was during the worst of Watergate. I appreciate that it is necessary, but it cannot be forgotten how many critical discussions get placed on hold because of it.
2
Will the pbs news hour, and the media just report trump at the end of their news, or bury news items about him somewhere ? Does anybody care about his meeting with lithuania’s head of state ? It wont happen of course. So we will have to skip 99 percent of the daily news coverage.
Mr. Kristof,
You and the rest of the press are understandably addicted, as you say, to the antics of Trump but I think that what weighs heaviest on the minds of many Americans is the inscrutable support and tolerance he receives from his base.
Even if it is only a electoral minority, the Trump base is comprised of millions of Americans who give the president a “mulligan” for unprecedented moral and ethical corruption and then turn around and accuse proven honorable and patriotic Americans of conspiracy and in-American activities. For example, McCain, Hayden, Brennan, former presidents and statesmen and many, many others to numerous to detail.
From my street-view perspective, honest-to-God family and friend splitting hatred has broken out between the “mulligan” folks and those like me with a different perspective.
Reading “Grant” by Ron Chernow was frightening because it became abundantly clear that little has changed since the American Civil War except for the flipping of the party names.
The situation today feels like much more serious than just an amusing circus of different political perspectives with a clown president and I hope the press doesn’t become too easily distracted from the big picture.
1
The man is a lout and unfailingly boring, and I wish no one would write about him or his followers ever again. If we completely ignored him, maybe he'd shrivel up from lack of attention. The world is full of wondrous things as well as complicated problems that are being ignored. Please never write about him again. Please write about anything and everything else so that maybe the world can become sane again.
2
Every decision he makes is short-sighted and self-serving, so I don't trust him in dealing with those issues. Best to sweep him out of the way before he does anymore damage, and the more scandal, the more it mires him down.
It's interesting, Nick, that both you and Maureen Dowd are talking today about the Trump Addiction. Interesting to me because yesterday, right before reading Dowd's column I had a conversation with my self about this exact thing: I am addicted to Trump. Since 2015 it's all we've heard and read about: Trump, Trump, Trump. That's THREE YEARS now. I am sick to death of him. I am sick of seeing him, hearing him, reading about him. And yet.....I want to know, "What happened today in Trumplandia?" and so I watch and read.
Michelle Wolf was right. The press/media has been so helped by Trump, their bottom line has increased with more readership, more subscribers that they can't stop. And he IS, unfortunately, the president and could, with one order, send nukes to N. Korea or Iran, and we could all be wiped out. If it wasn't for the nukes, I don't think I'd be so worried. But we do have nukes and we seem to have people that just cower in front of Trump. Why? Because they are scared of his tweets?!!
We are in a terrible pickle in America. A situation that could possibly end America. It could end in a new Civil War for all we know because all he wants is to support his base and denigrate all others who do not support him.
Perhaps the media could come up with a system: Every other day we cover Trump. On that other day, we cover everything else! But something has to change. We have to break our national addiction to this most horrible man.
2
I think that the problem is not that there is too much focus on the #PLIC, but that it never reaches the people who support him, and who, with few exceptions, only hear and read about what a wonderful job he is doing.
While it is not the job of the NYT to engage in propaganda - I am afraid that is what is needed to reach the people who, in this environment, count.
Yes, the addiction to Trump and to clicks is tiresome. Then again, an unhinged person with their finger on "a bigger button that actually works" can't be ignored.
But I long for the days when the NYT published long-form pieces, with riveting style, about things I needed to know.
As the greatest advertising practitioner in history (Bill Bernbach) once said:
"All of us who professionally use the mass media are the shapers of society. We can vulgarize that society. We can brutalize it. Or we can help lift it onto a higher level.”
1
Yes there is a Trump addiction, esp with people that watched his show. But I like many others never watched it, or any reality TV for that matter. And I am sick to death of Trump, the whole circus and the media. I wish he would just go away and take half of you guys with him.
4
Hmmm. I am sure that the idea for this column has been on a back burner in your mind for some time. Did Michelle Wolf's call-out of the media's infatuation with Trump move it to the front?
Trumplestiltskin is nothing but a distraction. This piece is correct. Ignore him and try to focus on all the horrors going on behind the curtain.
I'm not addicted to him; I'm tired of him. Sick and tired of him.
Mr. Mueller cannot finish his work soon enough and the new Congress next January cannot come soon enough.
Trump is a sickness of the body politic and a perversion of the presidency and the notion of good and decent governance.
Trump is bad programming and I hope the show is cancelled soon. The longer it goes on, the more damage is done.
We're 16 months into his term and I'm exhausted by it all. Exhausted by the endless lies, exhausted by the horrible policies, exhausted by the erosion of norms that have taken 242 years to build, exhausted by his authoritarian instincts. Trump isn't addicting, he's tiring.
1
Again and Again. McConnell is Palpatine, Ryan is Darth Vader, and Donald is Jar Jar Binks.
Unfortunately, George Lucas called out our present situation in his three boring Star Wars prequels.
Bottomline: Pay attention to the Sith Lords, not the Clown.
Trump is not the problem , he is only the rotting carcass of a once great country. Fewer and fewer of us remember 1964 when America finally ratified "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."
The GOP convention in San Francisco was the backlash to the Civil Rights Act and as the Klan, Nazis and John Birch Society marched outside the Cow Palace with their Goldwater signs inside the convention Goldwater, Nixon and Reagan factions took over the GOP. The Rockefeller, Scranton and George Romney factions became endangered species and equal rights for all became the threat to liberty and the pursuit of justice.
There are two very different Americas with two very different understandings of what America is. Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue has come to mean something very different than equality before the law.
Law and order and justice are not the same thing and Donald J. Trump is the law and order President of a country unknown to Nicolas Kristof.
1
Why not reserve a little box on page 2, near the Table of Contents, for the latest Trump tweets and quotes? This gets them out of the way every morning, and frees up the rest of the newspaper to cover events of the day.
1
I was in Kenya on the day Obama won the presidency. One of the proudest moments in my American citizen life. I thought we as a country were going somewhere. Having trump win proved to me how complacent and confident my liberal ilk had become and how backwards and corrupt the rest of this country is.
Let's quit harping on what a vulgarian he is but focus on the work that needs to be done. Get involved in your community, talk to your neighbors, spend time with your family members who voted for the one you didn't vote for. But don't give this so called president power over our democracy.
Honestly, he's just one Big Mac away from a serious cardiac event anyway. The rest us will still be here, regardless of what happens to him. We've got work do and a country to save.
1
I blame uncompromising progressives for Trump. They’ve created the anger that led to Trump. It’s so so easy to be liberal on issues like illegal immigration. So easy to take the high ground when it costs you nothing. Nicholas Kristof and his fawning followers come across as progressive snobs to working class people who must compete with the millions of immigrants that have crossed our borders illegally and now want citizenship. From landscapers to painters, to roofers, carpenters, cooks, mechanics and painters our trades people have been asked to accept lower wages while the upper middle class progressives like Nicholas are insulated from wage competition in organizations that require citizenship (which includes all federal, state and local governments and major corporations. They also benefit from the cheap wages. Easy to be liberal on immigration isn’t it.
Hammer or nail ? This is the question I ask my liberal friends who voice similar complaints to Kristoff. "He is systematically undermining American institutions and norms that underlie democratic government: courts, law enforcement, journalism, the intelligence community, truth."
If THAT is your real issue (the nail) then presumably you would endorse a Republican who was less temperamental but otherwise followed conservative thinking. Mitt Romney anyone ?
But then Kristoff moves on to criticize "his efforts to curb reproductive health programs". Agree or not, Republicans have been pro-life for a very long time. That has nothing to do with Trump. " And his lifting of environmental regulations ..." Same story. The right has rejected environmental zealots since long before Obama appointed Carol Browner (who once said she favored regulations in order to impede successful countries like the US).
If these and similar issues are your problem with Trump, then the cataclysmic reaction to his ranting is just a Hammer - an easy target to cloak what is really just your rejection of conservative thinking.
If anything, Trump is more moderate on spending (vowing to protect Medicare and SS). His anti-trade stance sounds a lot like Sanders. So really, the one area where he has pushed the Republicans rightward is on immigration. But is his scapegoating of those here illegally really that different from liberal scapegoating of the rich white man as the cause of all problems ?
1
Kristoff blames the media's Trump fixation for not covering real stories like Opioids, Yemen, Rohingya, etc. They weren't covering these things under Obama (willful ignorance I guess, problems don't sell in the Obama utopia), so why should they cover them now. In my lifetime, I have never seen the media attack a President with the intensity, vitriol or mendacity with which they cover Trump. All in an attempt to undo an election and disenfranchise voters. For the media, undermining Trump is the priority. You can win awards, get on TV and attract Twitter followers if you say bad things about Trump. If the media has it's way, Trump will be followed by a Democrat shell they can fawn all over, and then get back to transgender bathrooms, free stuff, taxes and reparations.
1
Thanks for sharing these thoughts. But isn’t it the same point that Michelle Wolf made at the WHCA dinner? Seems like your colleagues aren’t ready to accept this message.
Trump watching is a form of sickness that will probably be in the next DSM. Then I think, why do I watch? It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion and you want to be in on the grand finale. FOMO - fear of missing out. People like Trump usually are homeless ranters that stick to their weird actions until people call the police just for a little peace and quiet. Because Trump has money and is very good at cheating we are denied that wonderful conclusion quickly - but we all pray it will come.
In the meantime, I watch because the guy has power - the hidden weapon that could come out at any moment and destroy us, a country, any one. We look for subtle clues. "For want of a nail, the war was lost." So far, world leaders seem to be boxing him in, deftly avoiding most of his rhetoric although he has managed to escape on environmental protections.
While the pundits may say, ignore him and he'll go away, I don't think so. If you ignore a problem, it doesn't go away, it just gets worse. I applaud all of the people that are writing letters on all subjects, the experts who are writing books and columns, appearing on TV, and calling him out on every stupid thing he says and does. Keep up the pressure, we'll find the right nail somehow.
Let's start by having all reporters and news sources (starting with the Times) stop reporting what Trump says unless it's the verified truth. No more quoting his lies, in other words. Just ignore them. Of course, you'll need to offer the WH a chance to respond to every story on matters they are involved in, but if they respond with a lie, simply say "We asked the WH for comment and they replied with a lie." Dialing down the noise would be awesome.
Oligarchs aren't limited to Russia, in the US they are behind the scenes. Trump is the face on their agenda and with every headline he creates the damage the members of his Cabinet do on behalf of the ghosts is not reported. Trump has been an exceptional distraction creating a division within this country in order to divide and conquer the majority of the citizens who will bear the brunt of pollution, warped tax overhaul, insufficient health care, the list is unending.
His behavior has revealed the diabolical betrayal, the violation of the oaths the Republican members of Congress have towards those they represent. Their silence, despite an unfit liar leading them, is active collaboration and condones every corrupt or immoral action Trump commits at the expense of the American people and international stature.
Republican Evangelicals appear to be not the Christians they claim to represent but a cult as strange as Scientology. Their fixation on the Embassy in Jerusalem, abortion, evolution, denying science, discrimination, LBGT issues, a balanced budget abandons the Christian premise of helping others in need, empathy, tolerance, compassion and treating others as you want to be treated. Trump is their hero, their Savior for their ugly set of values.
People fear terrorists, Ebola, North Korea or Iran that fear is misplaced. This country is infested with a far greater sickness.
As we gradually cease to become outraged, are we carelessly opening the door to the "new normal"?
2
The trump carnival act at this point is secondary to focusing on getting people of all ages and backgrounds to vote in November. There is little enough in the mean time that we can do to induce the GOP Congress to honor their oaths of office. They have sold their souls for a tax cut and the opportunity to cheer Scott Pruitt, Ryan Zinke, Betty DeVos, Jeff Sessions, Ben Carson and the rest of the criminal fraternity in this administration...
Throw them all out...
Thank you, finally, for this moment of sanity from the NYT. However, you dropped the hot potato of the "business model" issue pretty quickly. Is the NYT willing to forfeit revenue to return to the journalistic standards it abandoned when it joined the Total Resistance to Trump movement? Does it even have the clarity of mind left to know how to do this? Will it be able to lead its readers through the same detox?
The damage Trump has caused to many of us goes deep, and the medium in which this battle has been waged has affected our brains and nervous systems. The resistance needs to re-organize.
Please, please - less ink for Trump!!!!!!! Some days, I count how many times his name appears on my screen view of the NYT. Most days, I don't bother. I do yearn for deeper coverage of the important issues of the day, on the regulatory front, in terms of climate change, in terms of the opioid epidemic and Congress' collusion with pharmaceutical companies and rich doctors. I yearn for better coverage on the international front.
Mr. Kristoff, you often bring those important matters to my attention. Not today. Just another Trump piece...
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Kristof needs to qualify statements such as "we are collectively addicted...". Kristof may speak for all "progressives" but he most certainly does not speak for me.
1
The Romans had bread and circuses. We have Trump. And WE are supposed to be more advanced ???? Thanks, GOP.
You are absolutely correct and attacking Trump is not the wsy forward BUT the collaborstors, yes we are looking at you Mitch, need to know the people will hold ghem responsible for ghe damsge done by Trump. if the dems take the house in 2018 and the presidency in 2020 the republiczns, again Mitch looking at you, will NEVER, get anything and will not be invited to the table.
Is that what anyone wants? No of course not but grudges run deep.
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WOW! Very impressive, Nick. You write Trump tweets almost as well as Trump. My only minor criticism is, at the end of the tweet, you left out, "SAD!!"
This has been a problem since at least Clinton, and through W and Obama the media's obsession with POTUS has ranged from excessive to obscene. Since Trump it is obliterating the news, 25/8/366.
There is a big world out there, beautiful and troubled. Please tell us about that and the rest of America. Trump will tell us about Trump. He does not need the media help and enabling. Leave him on Page 3 where he belongs.
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Talk about a false equivalency. I have never seen such obsession with any other president, to the point that almost every hour there's some new report about what Trump tweeted or said. I know you're not really disagreeing with Kristof, but the history is far off.
The media does need to switch its focus from tweets, speeches and firings. As Kristof says, look at the policies. In relation to the immigrant/refugee deportations, I look and listen to my Liberian students, for instance, who find themselves or relatives in danger of being shipped out of the country, separated from their children, perhaps after decades in this country. Let's look at clean water standards being lowered or farmers being hurt by tariffs. These news items, if they appear at all, are almost never the headlines; a Trump-related comedy skit receives far more attention. Let's focus on the people.
Trump is more like Julius Caesar than Gaius Caesar Germanicus or Caligula as he is more commonly known. Gaius Caesar was the fourth emperor after Julius Caesar, Augustus and Tiberius. It was Julius who overturned the Roman Republic and initiated the Roman Empire. Caligula cleverly undermined the Senate and neutralised its power but it was Julius, whose personality and charisma with the plebs, destroyed its traditional authority.
Unfortunately, unlike Julius Caesar, Trump has no military credentials and no experience in governing.
I completely agree that the media is obsessed with Trump. Myself as a consumer of news am not. I’m frustrated at how the political content dominates the nytimes and have reduced space for other journalism. The recent article that is entirely dedicated to highlighting the fact that Giuliani’s comments were made on Fox News is a good example of these not quite worth of space articles on Trump. And do we really need to read about it on the times every time Trump tweets? And then do we really need three op-ed perspectives on that one tweet? Yes there’s important political news that should be reported on to continue to fuel the liberal resistance. Can I please read those without reading nine other repetitive articles? Maybe this digital format is for the millennial to be more like Twitter but I am an older millennial and I don’t open my times app for this type of content.
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Mr. Kristof, I hope you sent this to all your colleagues at the NY Times and other news organizations...
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It's not an addiction. He's in our face. Fall asleep watching the news--- his angry loud voice will startle you.
Wake up to the knowledge he's a threat to democracy and rule of law.
3001 lies since day one in office, brazen, contemptuous.
He took office by polarizing hostilities into a racial divide.
It's only going to get worse.
Will civil liberties will be protected? The egalitarian spirit of the law? Trump ushered in a new age of inequality, division, contempt for the rule of law. Put regressive men in judicial positions. Said a woman getting an abortion should be punished.
Millions of women rallied against him on his inauguration day + a year later. Young people can't stand him. Even high school kids. He's a dominant male authoritarian. And dangerous. We're not addicted to him---we're horrified.
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There’s obsession, then there’s vigilance. There’s the internet and its asocial networks, then there’s actual, tangible interaction and confrontation with moral, social, cultural, and economic realities in our wide open and day-to-day lives that, unless I am fundamentally and thoroughly compelled to probe and push through, will isolate and leave me and many others behind.
This is an unprecedented perilous period in history and our lives, and it daily dares each and every one of us to distinguish symptoms from systemic change, and we are practically forbidden our freedom to do so by our blithe regard to how the very underpinnings of community- education, the environment, and not just healthcare but basic personal wellbeing- are systematically degraded by political and corporate ill will.
I resent the assertion that Trump is just a tease.
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As I think about this column it becomes more clear that the Crazy Man just exacerbated many problems that were lying near the surface. He is not the cause but the instigator of all the wailing, moaning and exasperation. I see the blame more in the rise of the t party, evangelicals, and extremists Republicans who started planning their takeover at the end of the Reagan years. In addition the Democrats wanted to reward the old guard Clinton people and did not allow the new guard to be more on the forefront. This nightmare will end but it will take years and the rift may never heal. The progressives need to fight back as dirty as the extremists and spend as much as possible to overcome this threat. I am waiting for the midterm elections and that may reveal solutions.
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Nicholas, this is really a two-part story. The mainstream media's love for Obama so blinded them to the most basic falsehoods and failures of his administration that they were adverse to reporting anything that was unfavorable. With Trump, they see everything as bad and terrible, run stories on a daily basis that allege he is some sort of tyrant and that the latest revelation from either Mueller, Stormy Daniels or some talking head means Trump will be gone shortly. The true story is about the press missing important stories over both periods of time, but for different reasons.
The oddity of it all is that President Trump's administration is more transparent then Obama's, and for all Trump's anti-press rhetoric, it was Obama who sought to jail journalists to force them to reveal sources, not Trump.
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Huge! And, as always well put. But... there is no more crucial or effective path to all of what you are talking about than defeating Trump and the enabling, and in my opinion, effectively treasonous republican members of Congress, who are the source of our third world attitudes. We must, at this point, use all of our spare energy in contriving to defeat these destroyers of our democracy and our leadership role in the world. We face an existential threat. Nothing is more important at this time because nothing will be done about anything else until we have American leaders. I truthfully don’t even know who these guys are and I’m scared.
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America was already in a hole. Trump may have deepened it but he did not create it. The flags were there, flying high, but then, Americans love flags. Trump was not a successful business man—he played one on TV and sold his name to other developers. His first billion (in today’s value) was inherited from his father.
When the Penn State scandal broke, the revenue numbers were there for all to see, but attention was on the alleged sex crimes. Who cared that TV and other revenues had rotted the heart of American academia? The rot continues. Penn’s revenues for 2016-2017 were reported at $144,017,055, with football top of the list and basketball a close second. Education in America always had a strong utilitarian bent, but even that faded with the TV-sports era, and with it, knowledge of history and civics also faded. Populist pied pipers like Reagan, Limbaugh, the Fox gang, Gingrich, Norquist and a host of others dazzled sports fans for whom politics became just another contact sport. Meanwhile, our visa programs ensured that Colleges and Industry had a ready supply of qualified graduates from foreign countries. That was not an “open borders” program: it was a closed educational route to prosperity for America’s minorities. Trump is a sign of an underlying disease. America’s immune system had better kick into action before the patient loses its humanity.
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Yep, and to their credit, the print media that I read (the NY Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post) are not the worst offenders. TV news is, especially MSNBC and CNN. I appreciate any news about legal matters, politics and other substantive matters dealing with President Trump, but I find commentary on his dalliances to be just plain boring.
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A good first step would be to ignore Trump's tweets. There is nothing to analyze or decode there -- no substance, no help for our nation.
For our next move, we could ignore Trump's speeches. They consist of empty blather, insults, and threats. They change like the weather. They have no thoughtful content.
Kristoff is correct that we should focus on what Trump does. His thoughtless and cruel actions threaten our nation's health, our fair elections, our social conscience, our foreign policy, the integrity of our democratic values and our justice system, our religious freedom, our public safety, and our basic human compassion for our fellow citizens and immigrants. Around each of Trump's destructive acts we can build a meaningful national conversation about how to heal the damage -- and our free press can lead this constructive effort. In this area, there is much to discuss.
For example, we can engage in a a widespread effort, both nationwide and in our state and local communities--and led by our brilliant journalists and researchers--to brainstorm further possible methods to ameliorate climate change and global warming. All other civic and international solutions do depend on the preservation of our planet, after all.
Trump has become a national sideshow. We can turn aside.
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The political removal of the President from office will require large numbers of voters maintaining a sense of outrage for long enough to become polically motivated, organised and engaged. Satire would seem an obvious tool to achieve this. However it has often been said that Trump's behaviours are so extreme that they are beyond the reach of satire. The man is a caricature of himself. If we are denied satire as a route to outrage then ridicule is an easy option. Plenty of material and ridicule can provide a short term hit which is both satisfying and empowering. This hit is what we are addicted to. The trouble is ridicule diffuses outrage if overdone. So...the only solution that I can offer is to stop laughing at him and just remember how dangerous he is. Dangerous to social cohesion and world peace and dangerous for the future of our planet.
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DT is doing on a national level what a psychologically sick member of a family does to all members of that family: they commandeer all the family psychic energy to their own needs and simultaneously destroy the ability of other family members to control their own lives or to expel the “sick” member. Character counts in elections but so does sanity. DT may appear normal because he verbalizes the things that many people think, but most of us understand the selfishness and destructiveness of these ideas when projected onto a national agenda — and most of us didn’t vote for him, a fact that irritates him no end.
Sadly, his Party is more interested in vulture capitalism than in the morality they used to talk about and they will stick with him to the bitter end unless the public turns on them. He and they are national destruction writ large.
2
This is what got trump elected and what keeps our attention from how his administration is wrecking havoc with our institutions. If the news spent as much time digging into the failures of the tax plan, abstinence education, the rise of hatred, what the epa is doing. Only some newspapers like the Times cover this, while MSNBC and CNN foam at the mouth over the last tweet.
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Yes, I agree with so much that is said here. Especially that President Trump is the master reframer and the master distractor and doesn’t care about anything except his agenda . Power is intoxicating . Has there ever been a President that the Press pushes in our faces 24 hours a day and is so unfiltered
This is a wake up article .
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Our addiction to Trump stems from our rage at the systematic damage he is inflicting on our country.
Since we lost hope in our institutions ability, or will, to remove him from office, we watch, listen , read and talk to each other in constant search for signs that his demise is near.
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This is basically an old echo. We all know we're addicted to Trump and he does his job well in distracting us from the real problems happening to real people. But thank you, Nick, for reminding us again and providing us with important cases we should care about.
Actually Mr. Kristof, two of the three genocides you mention as examples of other important news tie into Trump, because they are backed by the US Government. I mean the ongoing genocides in Yemen and Gaza. But they don't tie in conveniently for the Trump haters because they were similarly backed by previous administrations so they don't feature prominently in the news.
But they sure make me mad. As I said elsewhere, the Saudis are known to have been among the main sponsors of 9/11, yet now we have our military actively assisting them in wiping out the Yemeni people as a whole. It goes to show that our rulers have no more regard for innocent American lives than for the lives of innocent foreigners. And I don't mean Trump. I mean Bush 2, Obama, and Trump. And in fact we still have high regard for the first two of these monsters. So what do you think of that? How did we Americans become so self destructive?
As for the genocide in Gaza I don't mean the present massacres. I mean the long standing Israeli program to gradually degrade the conditions of life there, to the point where there is no clean water to drink, no building materials and no medicine. And when the Gazans demonstrate at the border, which is the only way they will be noticed by the outside world, they are shot down. And this takes place under the international sponsorship of the US Government, which vetoes any interference by the UN. But you can't blame it specifically on Trump, since it is long standing US pol
3
I open my email from the NY Times today and discover, and not for the first time, that all three Op-Ed pieces are about Trump, and have his name in their title.
Our Addiction to Trump.
The Naked Truth About Trump.
How Trump is Winning.
Is it maybe the press who are addicted to him? I would love to read Op-Ed's on more interesting topics and people.
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I think it is less an addiction than it is the natural desire of human beings to want to see the bad guy get his. The man is so obviously the villain in the story of our country that we wake each day wanting to see his downfall. It is because we were all raised on stories wherein justice prevailed.
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'He is also being investigated for possibly obstructing justice and colluding with a foreign power’s attack on our electoral system.'
For the umpteenth time, Trump is not being investigated by anyone for the mythical, nonexistent crime (under US federal law at least) of collusion.
Every accurate report on the indictments brought by Mueller and the US grand juries have stated clearly that Mueller is investigating Trump's associates for the federal crime of conspiracy. That is, conspiracy to defraud the United States,viz:
18 U.S. Code § 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud United States
'If two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.'
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/371
1
Mr. Kristof is right. Let's ignore Trump' reality show, the daily litany of lies at the White House briefings, the goofs of his inept underlings, the daily scandals and concentrate on what's really important. I would like to see more reporting on how Pence's evangelical Taliban is trying to turn this country into a religiously intolerant theocracy; more reporting on the environmental damage Pruitt is doing at the EPA. More reporting on the corporate mergers this administration approves of and those it doesn't (the Economist has an excellent article on why Spring and T-Mobile shouldn't be allowed to merge). More reporting on what government programs are being cut and which ones expanded. Basically, more reporting than the tabloid stuff we seem to be getting on a daily basis in print and on air.
2
Also, getting very tired of SNL's Trump skits. Have been for some time. They weren't funny before or during the election and they're not funny now. Colbert also has to turn down the volume too. It's getting redundant and predictable. And unfunny.
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So true.
The situation is most pronounced on cable TV (CNN, MSNBC) where it’s Trump 24/7. And not about what he’s doing in terms of national policy and international affairs, but mostly about Stormy Danials and Russian Collusion. Maybe they are gaining viewers as a result of this coverage, but I am watching those stations less. Until they have something new to report about Trump scandals they should move on to other important topics.
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I don't disagree with NK — but:
1. He could use his amazing position and talents to write about something else then — a little cringeworthy to use the space to do exactly what the stated problem is.
2. More than this, I worry that the constant attention on Trump and the White House gong show is actually proving the limits of journalism to 'change the world' or keep power in check in a vaguely democratic society. No matter what gets revealed, he remains president. That for him, must be very, very amusing.
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"Those issues are rather more important than the question of whether Stormy Daniels slept with Trump."
If Stormy Daniels, or (in diametric opposition?) the chaplain, can bring Trump (and his petty GOP enablers) down, then those are the most important stories of the day. All the other things you mention will then be allowed to resurface to the top of the news, where they belong.
So talk on -- and write on -- about Trump, unapologetically. Freedom of the press is our way out of this hole, our way to begin moving forward again.
"Covfefe!" will be our battle cry -- for now -- and in two millennia hence, chiseled into the Rosetta stone of our collective memory.
1
I agree. The media needs to radically shift the terms of its engagement. Stop dancing to Trump's drum. Stop normalizing it all. Step back, figure out how to responsibly report him out without being so shaped by (and attentive to) his endless provocations.
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Mr. Kristof, your comparison of Trump to the cruel Caligula seems apt. But a better match might be that of wily Augustus, first emperor of Rome after the decline of the Republic, who served bread and circuses to the plebeians. Sadly, it is all circus. We are not even being given the bread.
I have been wearing a button that says "Elect a clown, expect a circus"
1
An addiction you clearly contribute to and profit from every bit as much as does this "news"paper as well as the rest of the massively profitable entertainment juggernaut that put us in this mess to begin with. Look at all the attention you're getting. Works every time.
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I blame the media for getting Trump elected. He was given constant air time as he does now. I feel that the Trump news stories are the medias cash cow. I also feel that it is dumbing down our nation by not putting focus on the other critical stories that need telling. Oh wait, that doesn't bring in revenue. I am truly saddened that our news outlets have gone the way of the National Enquirer in how they tells the news nowadays.
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So glad Michelle Wolf said it out loud so the rest of the echo-sphere could reflect on her comments and see the truth in it - so I appreciate your expounding on the subject more - but, I would like to see one of my favorite columnists discuss this in a broader picture - especially in the past when all the news was in a tizzy over Bill Clinton's missteps. When the broader part of the country felt he made a stupid mistake and it was all about consenting adult sex, the media focused a spotlight on it day and night. I stopped listening or reading to most all news sources because, every day and every hour, you dwelled on the Lewinsky affair. Then, after 9-11 happened, we find out that - lo and behold, Clinton had been working on the al qaeda thing all along, yet who knew? I hope this reflection today will improve the new media for the better in the long run because it seems you guys repeat this behavior over and over again. (CNN is awful like this - who can watch it?) It would make for a better country, I am sure of it.
1
What continues to astound me is the way almost every article in the NYT, no matter how mundane or disassociated from politics, eventually disintegrates into a rant against Trump, as if he were personally responsible for everything a progressive finds distasteful or negative. He is even criticized for actions which progressives rallied to support in the Obama years. I think you progressives are going to melt down again when he is re-elected by a majority of deplorables, who are, by the way, Americans.
3
And your esteemed newspaper is as big an offender as any news outlet. I can't think of a single day when the front page Didn't feature one of the Trump's tweets, no matter how unimportant it was. It's the times and others that make it All Trump All The Time that gives him another podium for his insanity and cruelty. You did the same with Hillary, but mostly to hammer home falsehoods or breathless exaggerations about her use of unofficial email. The media -- even respected sources -- is nearly as complicit in our "president's" election as are the awful people who voted for him.
6
every night after work i watch the recorded pbs news hour. I skip past all the trump segments and look for real news. He is very boring.
1
As much as I like the NYT and WP....grass root efforts on the issues that matter will knock the Trump name of the front page...not opinion pieces or Congressional leadership. Congress has punted, we are on our own, and will be better for it.
Although it is wearying to be in a semi-permanent state of outrage and feel “addicted” to reading about and commenting about Trump and his latest assaults on the Constitution, the environment, the justice system, the poor, the sick, minorities, and just plain human decency, it is a small price to pay in order to NEVER EVER normalize this presidency. Next November cannot come soon enough. VOTE!
4
What happens in a country where you have a President who lies, cheats on his wife, doesn’t pay his taxes, spreads vicious rumors and innuendos to advance his personal agenda, engages in corrupt business practices, encourages hate groups and divisiveness,
calls for the jailing of patriotic and hard-working government officials, questions the basic tenets of our democracy, violates long-established ethical conduct guidelines and visibly enjoys getting away with it?
I believe you get hundreds of thousands of other Americans -- no, make that millions of other Americans -- saying to themselves “If he can get away with that, why can’t I?”
4
There's no excuse for the media's addiction. It's like the working class fell into a well 40 years ago and some old guy from Queens comes along and says, hey look, there's a bunch of people in a well, and then everyone starts talking non-stop about the old guy and forgetting about the people stuck down there. It would be funny if it weren't so tragic. I'm actually starting to think you guys hate us.
Trump obviously represents the worst of America’s neoliberal dystopia. With the popularity of Bernie Sanders, we can see that it is no longer taboo to speak of socialism. I have recently published a book about the socialist theologian Paul Tillich entitled What Rough Beast. Unfortunately the Harvard Divinity Bulletin will not allow me to advertise it because socialism is still taboo at Harvard.
1
And I hope socialism is forgotten too. It's based on the false premise that governments can create wealth, and on a follow-on false premise that governments can equitably distribute wealth.
The best governments can do is enable wealth creation (e. g. infrastructure improvements; protecting the homeland; sensible not excessive regulations, etc.). To do this enabling, first governments have to take wealth from those who create it
"we’re locked in a symbiotic relationship with him."
Yes, but it is also a symbolic relationship with Trump.
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Trump is a symbol. He is a cartoon character who gets attention.
Why can't other politicians use symbols and cartoon characters?
================================================
For example, he uses the OK sign all the time. Why can't other leaders use the OK sign to put Trump down?
Instead, leaders and the press ramble on and on, they are easily forgotten. Why not invest attention grabbing devices for attention?
2
Agreed. The more interesting story, which no one will cover, is what our addiction reveals. It reveals that:
1.television is far more destructive to our character than has been reported, and television, in, targeting our most primitive, aggressive predilections (smart marketing), is making us less civilized.
2. More destructive than the media's addiction to Trump, the media's failure to report on the reality that human population growth, essential to the economic model of free market capitalism, is a more insidious, but more dangerous threat civilization. If the scientific and technological advances of the past 50 years had been applied in a world with a stable population, we would likely be in a much more secure, and healthy world, than we were 50 years ago, rather than the more dangerous, divided world we are in, where a few of us live in wretched excess, and far more live, a little less poor, but more powerless than ever.
No matter. I greatly respect your love for those among us that suffer, and your willingness to speak out for them.
It's a perfect stormy. As soon the world wide web had enticed the vast majority of us to become stuck fast to its stickiest algorithms along comes this opportunistic predator, this uncouth voracious beast whose name is Trump; to defame and desecrate our highest values as it goes about its selfish business of destroying countless decent aspirations. And there are more important things to talk about?
I have physically felt the stages of grief and loss for my country over the last year. "American Exceptionalism" is dead and that may be a good thing if redemption awaits. Being a global laughingstock brings a healthy humility. Perhaps the taunts left and right of stupid and snowflake will eventually exhaust us. The city won't get far without the farm and rural areas will grow to respect diverse cities that thrive with employment, innovation and progress for all is good for them as well. Our media filters will evolve to reject rantings and spot demagogic hate. If you spot it in others, you got it yourself. Like torches at night and white hoods hiding faces, we will stop hate in its tracks and see our commonalities again. This is my hope.
All Americans owe a huge debt of gratitude to the Fourth Estate for the critical role they have played, and continue to play, in saving our democracy over the last year and a half. The current withering attack on our democracy and on our values is the greatest since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, and much of it has come from within.
It would be helpful if the media paid a little less attention to the buffoon in the Oval Office. With constant coverage of much of his nonsense we only encourage the narcissist.
1
nobody's paying attention to anything but Trump. the price of oil is up to 70 and world inventory rapidly declining. when it hits 120 and Americans are paying 5 a gallon again Trump will be going down in flames...if he doesn't get us all killed first.
2
Finally! Thank you for this. If one turns on TV for news we get all Trump, all Stormy, all Russia collusion and nothing about the Rohingya or YEMEN - where we and our friends, the evil Saudis, have created a humanitarian disaster. To see that kind of news you have to check out the BBC...or international news sources on the internet. I guess American TV gets to advertise more cars and meds if they stick to all sleaze all the time.
3
You're not kidding about the non-stop, sleazy ads for only drugs and cars. Great combo!
1
Finally (well maybe Paul Krugman, too), a pundit who openly admits and writes about what the rest of us have known since Trump came down the escalator in 2015, namely, that the news media is addicted to Trump for the ratings and revenue he brings to the news business and to its practitioners (book deals, lecture fees, higher Q ratings, etc.), a relationship that former NYT Public Editor Margaret Sullivan has correctly called a "co-dependency".
The Trump presidency is nothing less than a takeover of politics and political journalism by the entertainment industry and the Big Five entertainment companies (Comcast, Time-Warner, Fox, Disney and Viacom/CBS) that own an estimated 90% of all news content in the US.
In 2015, faced with the potential ratings disaster of a Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton race and following eight years of low ratings with "no drama" Obama, the cable networks decided to intervene in the political process by importing one of their own entertainment figures, reality TV star Donald Trump.
They then directly and unfairly subsidized him with an estimated $2 billion of free, unlimited and unedited air time for his rallies and phone call-ins, a privilege they granted to no other candidate, thus allowing Trump to completely bypass the normal fundraising/vetting process that all other candidates are forced to undergo.
The 17 conventional politicians who ran against Trump never had a chance. The entertainment-celebrity world takeover of our politics is complete.
3
Thank you Mr. Kristof for saying in your editorial what many of us have thought but do not articulate . You are indeed correct- it is vitally important to follow what this president DOES rather than what he SAYS. Many of us as Americans, find ourselves annoyed and irritated by the continual bellowing of a president who shows himself to be a a habitual liar,and a man who has little or no moral code. Yet what is most concerning is Donald Trump's complete disregard for the rule of law in this country, and his behavior has repeatedly shown us that he is more of an Autocrat than a Republican . When a president of the United States repeatedly appears to shirk his commitment to the oath of office that he took, it is indeed grounds for us paying very close attention to him.
This is indeed history in the making, but it is a dangerous and dark part of our history in the making , and that is why we cannot help but follow what is happening to our country because of this man .
3
Good article. It's a shame that the press doesn't do any reporting on the issues that are really important such as: the efforts to eliminate North Korea's nukes, the dangers that China poses to our current technological superiority, the good news about the economy, the benefits and the substantial costs of illegal immigration. But the press's failures are leading to the demise of the MSM -- a good news story that they won't be around to print.
1
You should hope this chapter is not the end of MSM, as you posit. The press might just save us from the fascism that we are at risk of developing. A perfect storm of a complicit GOP, supported by deplorable americans, led by oligarchs, publicized and endorsed by an entrenched right wing propaganda machine.
Covering Trump is NOT an addiction. Mainstream media enough already. Enough noise.Enough Trump. What else is going on in a troubled world? You can do it if you try. Maybe the bottom line will not be as hurt as you fear.
2
Disagree, it's the media that is obsessed with scandal. Try finding something else on TV "news". How about the media explaining the Iranian agreement more clearly, our troops in perilous situations in Asia and Africa, visual effects of climate warming, investigations on Flint water disaster, millions uninsured? Cover and revue ISSUES other than giving more attention to this lying media hog in the WH. My library card is getting good use.
3
This is also a classic article format where the good journalist gets the attention from the Salacious story while they denounce it. Its the best of both worlds!
A very timely column, Mr. Kristof. I had decided a few days ago not to read any more articles which included the name Trump. I normally avoid ignorance, vulgarity, and corruption among others, and there is too much surrounding the Trumps.
I will support Democratic candidates and I will vote for them.
My attention will now focus on matters more important than the Trimp Circus and Americans crudeness.
3
I do wonder sometimes, to use a parasite analogy; that if the media stops feeding off of its host [trump], and/or we stop feeding off of our host [media] one of the parasites will die off or find another host. I don’t see how it can happen though. While I agree with your premise in the article, the truth is this is not something to be ignored. We are living through an historic American moment in time. Our Democracy is being challenged. Our collective belief if morality, ethics and civility is being thrown into question. Forget about trump, he’s just the vessel. But he is manifesting the voice of a marginalized part of our society we all thought was just a lunatic fringe. I for one am looking at this chaos as much larger than trump, and it’s important.
4
If we want to defeat Trump and the Republicans who follow his lead, we must win elections in November and in 2020. Another point I'd make is that the press does little to cover what Democrats want to achieve when they regain power. They do indeed have ideas and goals; let's see them grab some headlines. Fix health care. Establish a fair immigration policy. Fight income and wealth inequality. Encourage strong unions. Break up monopolies. Raise the minimum wage. Fight for equal rights for all. Pass sensible gun regulation laws. Support #MeToo.
4
Our brains accept his lies as fact the more he repeats his false reality, and the more the media reports it, even if the reporting is to correct the fiction. This is called the Illusory Truth Effect, a cognitive bias that happens essentially when our brain gives up and automatically accepts as fact/reality whatever has been repeated ad nausea.
Combine his "very, very, very" frequent fibbing crafting his self-image and world view with his Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), and "truth" is dead. Sad.
The media could combat by explaining regularly the above anytime his NPD truthiness and alternative facts manifest, which unfortunately would be daily. But maybe with enough repetition to combat his torrent of lies, reality would eventually sink into and become accepted by the brains of most Americans. 2018 and 2020 will tell whether it worked.
6
Did you and Maureen Dowd, and perhaps Ross Douthat, collude on the content of your columns? You bemoan the media's addiction to Trump, Ms. Dowd on the symbiotic relationship between media 'success' and Trump's flavor of the hour pronouncements, and while Mr. Douthat's piece on Trump winning does not mention the media, I imagine that he would agree that the media's obsession with him might actually be helping him.
So much of what Trump says is of such utter nonsense or so lacking in decency that it's worthy of being reported only in the basest of tabloids, yet it gets continuous coverage everywhere. Wouldn't it be nice if, as you suggest, if the media focused more on what he does as opposed to what he says? But that, I fear, would take much more discipline than the media possesses.
2
"....a child in the U.S. is 70 percent more likely to die before adulthood than one in other advanced nations." People keep comparing us to "other advanced nations." We have Trump, Pence, Pruitt, Carson, Sanders, Steven Miller, the NRA and Ryan, McConnell and the other wingnuts of the Republican controlled Congress working as hard as they can to Make America the 1950's Again. You can stop calling us an advanced nation.
3
It’s called self preservation. When there is a crazy acting person possessing a deadly weapon in the vicinity, one focuses on that person. Trump has the most consequential job on Earth but he is not acting reasonably, so everyone is worried about what might happen.
3
Next time write an essay about life in America without mentioning Trump. Describe the poor education, the false sense of security when finishing school, the drug addictions because we don't know how to handle boredom, the lack of grasping what the world is all about or how to stop wasting money like the silliness of driving massive cars to pick up a little kid from school, to live in an expensive house three times the size of what we need, or whatever. Trump has nothing to do with the failure of this country; it is the deep weakness of Americans from any possible perspective which is the White Elephant in the room yet to be acknowledged by any American, any newspaper, any teacher. America has flunked big time, that is the issue and has nothing to do with Trump.
Apparently, you couldn't think of even one positive action MR Trump has taken.
What's that saying about bad publicity being better than no publicity. He's been tooting his bad publicity horn forever.
The attention paid to Trump, which is indeed excessive, is not ABOUT Trump. He is merely a yardstick, a point of reference — he represents the depths to which this country is willing to sink. Trump is us, and like the Felon-in-Chief, we are a failure in our commitment to democracy.
2
I very much agree. So what’s the fix for this? And what Dem has the attention-grabbing chops to go against him and get air/print time for 2020?
Excellent column, Mr. Kristof. As Rachel Maddow has said, "Watch what he does, not what he says." And what he (and his minions) "do," is horrific. See, e.g., Scott Pruitt's EPA (putting aside Mr. Pruitt's numerous corruption scandals).
6
Thanks, Nick.
Keep helping direct our focus to other vitally important issues
- besides the all-the-time-all-drumpf.
Wow, where to begin? Yes, indeed, it is not only you journalists but many of us readers who are addicted to the crimes and misdemeanors of Donald Trump. We can not totally blame the news' outlets that our iPhones and iPads bing before we barely open our eyes each morning. After all, we can live without them. But who wants to? The first words we read as we rub those very eyes are inevitably about yours truly. But here's the rub...I personally need that "fix" of his latest egregious actions and behavior. For me it helps me not to become complacent, but instead to frankly maintain my outrage. That in turn motivates my fighting spirit to make sure this guy is only a one term president and also to stay focused on this nation's many needs. So keep it up you fine Times' writers. And let's just say it is not an addiction but rather our daily vitamins to give us the energy to send Mr. T packing and our country once again back on track.
50
Good point that if we hear less about Trump, we might get complacent. And the he wins.
10
#MeToo and students against gun violence are groups to support. Frankly, I hope both grow stronger in the face of the 2018 elections. A population that turns against Trump at the ballot box would be a wonderful comeuppance.
A day without Trump is a good day and we voters have it in our hands to accomplish it.
6
This is an apt piece. However, it isn't just Trump who is neutering a progressive, humanitarian agenda, Congress -- controlled by all Republicans -- makes it hard to continue to push for reforms and assistance for the poor when there is ZERO chance than any intelligent, helpful initiatives will be implemented. At some point, it makes ordinary people just throw up their hands in the face of such moneyed obstruction and say "what can I do, it doesn't make any difference!"
3
Re: "Two thousand years from now, historians may be lecturing on Trump . . ."
Two thousand years from now there will be no life on planet earth, thanks the Republican Party's global warming deniers.
6
Sadly, one must look to the BBC News, The Economist, or other foreign news outlets for a non-Trumpian perspective.
5
When I watch cable news or read the N.Y. Times, I am struck by the endless, hysterical anti-Trump mania. President Trump had turned the news business into reality TV and supermarket tabloid journalism. Unfortunately, the news business doesn’t know it. That’s where the disconnect is. Reporters think they are still living in the 20th century when they and their audience regarded the news profession as a noble occupation. Now it’s TV wrestling. Pre-scripted, exaggerated, CNN-MSNBC-Fox c-list talking head panelist tag teams. NY Times stories quickly thrown together by multiple authors, full of unnamed sources, manipulated facts and obvious bias. Villains and good guys. Readers and viewers want spectacle. It makes me sad to see smug reporters mocking, eye rolling, hyping non-stories and writing to the party line. They act so cocky when they endlessly attack the Trump administration but they are devaluing themselves and their profession. 47% of Americans think the media makes up stories. That doesn’t seem to bother Mr. Kristof or his colleagues. If nearly half the people who knew me thought I was a liar, I would do something about it to earn back their trust. Instead the media doubles down on Trump Derangement Syndrome. Andre the Giant would feel at home at the N.Y. Times or any cable news network.
7
The real danger to America from the Trump phenomenon is not what he does or what he says, nor how he got to where he is.
What we should be worrying about is the unintended consequences of journalists en masse waging what can only be termed a propaganda campaign against a sitting American President, and an administrative establishment willing to corrupt the agencies they lead in order to bring Trump down.
Make no mistake. There is a concerted coup d'etat underway. It has been going on since the day he was elected. All normal restraints have been cast aside in the name of this "holy cause."
Trump may do good or bad. We may hate him. But in the end he will leave. The Constitution says so. But the warping of our Justice System and Fourth Estate will have consequences which will linger on forever.
I keep hoping the NYT and other national thought leaders will come to their senses and realize what they are doing to themselves is more important and dangerous than anything they can do to Trump.
Think I exaggerate? Look at the headlines in today's editorial columns alone. See a pattern?
4
He may leave. That does not mean the Constitution will outlast him.
Who is this "we" of whom you speak? It's your bubble i guess, but i couldn't tell you the last time i clicked on a Krugman or a Blow or a Collins column. 1000 recommends to Stan Continople below who totally gets it. Because it's obviously easier to obsess over Stormy Daniels or wait for Miller/Godot than to deal with the abject failures of your own party. What i'm addicted to are the issues of universal healthcare, jobs, wages, education, transportation, housing costs. So mea culpa, i guess i'm waiting for my own Godot from either party.
3
*Mueller, not Miller.
America loves a spectacle, and Trump is the political equivalent of a car crash. Whether you are delighted or horrified, Trump is a magnet for attention and it is hard to look away.
The one talent Trump clearly has is the ability to read a room and play to the crowd before him. What comes out of his mouth is only for that moment, that swell of applause. His hand picked crowds adore him!
Trump's words have no bearing on what came before and what will come after. And like the emotionaly stunted man child Trump is, he blurts out bad words and looks for the reactions around him. Delighted in the response, Trump goes even further. And it is clear he sees his presidency as another episode of Celebrity Apprentice White House. All the "Stay Tuned" comments and hints of more to come, bigger and better, like nothing you've ever seen!
We do need to cover Trump. But not the theatrics. The media needs to present lies as lies. Report the facts, but don't give Trump the screen time. Being POTUS is not a sweeps rating stunt.
I always thought Reality TV contributed to the dumbing down of our country. It is the original "Fake News", presented as real while being scripted and edited. Trump is what you get when you believe it's true,
Vote Democratic on November 6th. Changing Congress is how we begin to fix this.
3
Trump knows exactly how to control the media and in so doing he has become the only voice, the only representative, the only federal official of our entire government. He is the ultimate manifestation of the revenge effect of our high speed super connected technology. He is using the office of the presidency and our sophisticated interconnected technology as a super megaphone, blasting our consciousness with his persona, his distorted view of reality, and his loopy logic. He is changing not just the media's focus, he is changing the way we American's tolerate what we would consider intolerable just a few months ago.
75
Democrats need to read this column because it portends what could happen this November and in two years when Trump runs again.
While we are disgusted with Trump and his sorry band of misfits like Pruitt, Pence, Giuliani, DeVos, Carson, et al, we can’t look away either because we are mesmerized by the circus.
For Democrats and independents, we have to admit that Trump is possibly the most talented politician in terms of pleasing almost everyone for different reasons. He motivates us to watch him in ways that other politicians can’t imagine for themselves.
It’s one thing to run against Trump as a generic democrat and another to find a candidate(s)capable of beating him in the mid terms and beyond.
As Kristof points out, we’re addicted to the entertainment of 24/7 Trump.
2
Can you name an issue on which the Democrats can run in 2018 and 2020 other then the visceral hatred of all things Trump?
Can you name an candidate or two that the Democrats can offer in 2020 who will be able to attract the moderates and independents that actually decide the elections?
Can one say that Tom Perez and Kieth Ellison speaking clearly and convincingly to that group of voters?
No?
Neither can I.
That, for the Democrats, is a REAL problem and a REAL PROBLEM NOW !
3
Perez no, Ellison yes. Problem is they shunted his supporters out of the DNC because they made the donors and lobbyists unhappy by talking about single-payer healthcare and jobs and wages.
It seems, though, that Democratic candidates are realizing that they need to focus on serious issues that affect the voters, not just the more sensational Trumpian scandals. But you're right that the direct results of Trump's cruelty should be shown regularly to the public, rather than, say, parsing Giuliani's crackpot TV appearances.
This is such a dangerous time for the country that I don't think the word addiction really applies when following Trump. People all over the world wake up every morning and - for good reason - check to make sure he hasn't started a nuclear war.
3
Nick -- you are on-point with: "... the biggest Trump scandals are not what he says, but what he does." His words and tweets are mere mis-directions for his actions, which have set our country, and our world, back decades. Climate, peace (esp. Middle East), diplomacy, healthcare, ... And this is our best candidate for a Nobel? America must do better than this, come November.
But the addiction? It is more like nausea -- every day, I wonder what's next.
2
Great essay, Mr. Kristoff. There is nothing li’l trump hates more than being ignored. So, take action; ignore him. ... and vote.
3
My fantasy is that finally the media gets burned out by reporting Trump's lies which are reversed a day later with another story which also turns out to be untrue. They decide to cut Trump off, and all his sycophants like Sarah Sanders too. Once cut off, Trump would be deprived of the air he needs to live on and poof, he's gone. Will it happen- will the curtain be pulled back on the Wizard of Oz?
We did witness a few Fox news people ( I will never call them journalists) become exasperated with the latest Guiliani fiasco. Dare I hope?
1
Michelle Wolf was spot on. This administration lies, cheats, obfuscates and deflects. The media eagerly gravitates towards the salacious shiny objects for their stories because it sells. Meanwhile, thinking people who still want substantive news are left begging on the real damage they are doing.
Yes, the administration is bogged down in scandal. Yes, they are selling us snake oil. But the dismantling of our foundational principles is well under way and we may never fully recover.
3
Well said!!!
Michelle Wolf scolded about the media's Trump co-dependency at the WHCA dinner, and the audience didn't like it. Trump may be a narcissistic man-child doing anything, even things that are self-destructive, to keep himself as the center of attention, but he's been a godsend to his supporters, those folks who found Obama too perfect, too correct, too boring. To them the media frenzy is just the sort of love-hate entertainment they loved about "The Apprentice." Meanwhile the comedians have ratings a bonanza--Trump, his wife and family, his corrupt governance and party are easy pickings. The falling subscription rates for print and news show ratings get a daily fix--hear me, Charles Blow, Jake Tapper, et al? So Nicholas Kristoff condemns it--and writes about it. The solution is to just report the facts, and stifle the urge to giggle or pontificate. The rest of us need to go the polls in every election on every level and vote against the Republicans so that they either are obliterated as a political force or learn that they have to self-police and stop enabling demagoguery, because Trump is merely a progression in what the party has allowed itself to become.
3
When the president comes on tv, my favorite thing is the mute button on my remote, followed by the off button.
3
Trump must be vigorously opposed, every day, every damaging decision.
He is leaving an indelible stain on our nation.
7
Its very good of you to remind us. It's fun to watch Trump's scandals and shake our heads in amazement and righteousness.
But we need to talk about how government money is being spent, and where it should be spent. I want money to go for effective drug treatment programs, not to build a wall.
We need to talk about the problem of monopoly in our economic system and how it's wreaking havoc with consumers and employees.
Trump is attention candy, that both sides are indulging in. But we all love a good juicy sex scandal. Where would Trump be without his sex scandals? His high profile divorce from first wife made him a celebrity. He would just be another crooked real estate speculator.
1
I resent the implication that some of us have a weird fascination with Mr.Trump.I read every word the New York Times writes about his presidency but it makes me sick.I have the same interest in Trump that I had with Bull Connor at the height of desegregation in the south or indeed the progression of the Ebola epidemic in this country.They and he are catastrophic and are a scourge on our nation's well being.I am glad that TV and news organizations are making money so they can hire the best reporters.We need to know the truth when our democracy is threatened.
1
After submitting my own comment, Janet, I read and couldn’t agree more with yours. Thank you.
1
The reason we’re addicted is because the consequences are so dire!
I am gravely concerned about the environment, anti-abortion legislation, the disintegration of science and logic. Yes, the Stormy story is intriguing, but that’s not the reason I’m checking my phone all day.
3
No, Mr. Kristof, WE (the people) are not addicted to him. The media is. Michelle Wolf said it best. You created a monster, and now you are profiting from your creation, while the world suffers. There was a time when you could have ignored Trump: before he became president. Now, he can't be ignored, because everything he does affects the whole world. Medias is as responsible for his election as those who voted for him, and as those who stayed home and did not vote. When will you face that truth?
4
Yes, the Trump team are keeping its economic royalist and "values voters" base happy to the detriment of the country in the long term. But it's hard to look away from the nearly daily nasty car wreck that is the POTUS himself.
1
Kristoff's column hits the center of the bullseye. We've long surpassed 1001 headlines about what a an unhinged, destructive, con man Trump is. And he IS all that and worse. But it has become like an addiction where we need our daily hit of Trump the Terrible story. So 90% of the time when you tune in at the top of the hour, for example, CNN, there will be "Breaking News" about the latest Trump tweet followed by one of the familiar panels of "journalists?" shaking their heads and clucking about Trump's latest assault on reality. And so many other issues that deserve our attention become "page 20 stories" or just effectively invisible.
2
Another fine column by Mr. Kristof. The obsession he identifies arises, I think, in part from strategic considerations. Trump, for the reasons described by Kristof, represents a serious threat to the welfare of the republic, one recognizable, moreover, by principled conservatives as well as liberals. As long as both groups focus on this menacing figure, they can form an alliance of convenience. What other issue could unite Gail Collins and Bret Stephens, or Nicholas Kristof and George Will? Consider the mix of ideologies represented by the pundits on MSNBC's Morning with Joe. Trump, as other observers have noted, creates a common cause with which people of disparate outlooks can identify.
Since the president adheres to no principles or ideas that transcend his own interests, he cannot drive a wedge between the two wings of this coalition. Even the tax cut, which he endorsed with his usual mix of lies and misleading statements, offended many conservatives because of its impact on the deficit. His indifference to the high standards of personal behavior required of a president, moreover, disgusts both liberals and conservatives.
Those conservatives, of course, who prize political power over integrity have harnessed their ambitions to this incompetent demagogue. As Ryan has discovered, however, only sycophants can satisfy Trump's base, in the House and among the electorate. Whether the anti-Trump alliance wins or loses, its members will keep their self-respect.
I agree with this wholeheartedly. The addicts on both sides do the country a disfavor by not focusing on policy rather than personality or character or morality. It really does not help our country if we are wallow in our fears and obsessions. The country voted for Trump and he will be president for several more years at least. If we focus on policies we can at least (hopefully) advance the issue. When we focus on Trump's character, we advance nothing.
Very valid and well-written article but you missed the most important and critical issue of all. One that, if acknowledged and vigorously addressed will make the path toward resolution of all others viable and achievable. Your article is a classic example of what is so wrong. If the headline didn't say "Trump" very few people would choose to read it. Of those who did read it even fewer would understand the word "commentariat" or know an oxpecker is a bird, know what and where Myanmar is or give a hoot about the Rohingya genocide, have an clue of Bill Gates philanthropic initiatives or the devastation of malaria throughout the centuries, locate Yemen, Saudia Arabia and Gaza on a map much less understand the excruciating Middle East conundrum and on and on. Lots of words above but one word says it all "IGNORANCE. Ignorance, and the apathy it evokes, are the penultimate enemy. You are pushing 60 but even you know very little of the world before you were born. You may know OF it but you don't KNOW it. That may be just a fact of life but, at least, you are making an attempt to know of it. Many of the whippersnappers in the media and the public don't even CARE to know or don't even know how to find out. The destruction of the American family, the usurpation of its parental responsibilities by an incredibly impotent education system, pandering by politicians and exploitation by special interests are components of the "perfect storm" that brought us to this sorry state.
41
The fascinating horror is not Trump. Trump, himself, is a social, political, moral obscenity. Not just as President, Trump, the man, was the epitome of rich, privileged indecency long before he became President. That was and is his brand. The horror, one we still don't want to stare directly in the face, is our fellow Americans who elected him and who still largely support him. That is the true nightmare. Democracy can be rescued from corrupt leadership. But how can it be rescued from a corrupt citizenry?
6
Thanks. I had never thought of trump being in the focus of a business model but yes he is. That's why I started to subscribed to the digital Times for the few years. Obama? No. Bush? No. Netflix? No. trump may want a cut in the NY Times profit but the truth is that with the trump administration antics - you just can't make this stuff up! I had depression before (I didn't care about living) but now days, I can't wait to go home from work and read about the next installment of what trump did next. trump has made me a happier person
and I want to thank him for it.
2
"We avert our attention", what do you mean we? Trump is a media creation, trump TV coverage sells tires, psoriasis cures, reverse mortgages and tampax, more or less as he did we he acted the part of a mogul on TV.
Popular media, particularly TV, has rarely lived up to its potential as a source of information and instead treats subjects superficially. Lots of missing Clinton emails to speculate upon during the election but could media journalists find a single one one of trump's affairs or a recent tax return? No. Trump and his minions like Conway played the media exactly what media wanted, advertising time with good demographics, Could one journalist have stoped Conway with a simple "just answer the question don't change the subject".
So now we have a cartoon like character, Homer Simpson comes to mind, playing the part of what used to be the most respected position in the world. A buffoon who only does what his masters in the NRA and the Kremlin tell him. From the collective we "thanks".
1
Having voted for Obama 2X and Trump in order to support candidates who might - just might - not be corporate shills, I am less disappointed in Trump than I was in Obama.
This absence of disappointment might be because the MSM is so focused on with whom Trump had sexual relations, and how much it cost.
Having been divorced myself, I can tell you Trump negotiated much better deals to get women to leave than most of us relatively successful men
1
Let us hope that Nicholas Kristof, for the sake of his street cred with his kids, is singled out by Donald Trump for insults and abuse in a Tweet or as an impromptu TV digression from the topic of some scheduled White House meeting with a visiting dignitary.
In the meantime, all journalists should take heed of the observation that they created and now sustain Donald Trump’s monopoly on the news cycles. They should listen to Mr. Kristof’s warning: “So we complain about Trump being insular and parochial — but we’ve become insular and parochial as well. We’ve caught the contagion that we mock.”
All of the issues, foreign and domestic, which Nicholas Kristof discusses today need to be our focus. It is very ironic that the “Counselor” of our unbalanced and dishonest president gave us advice for the right way to handle Donald Trump.
Although she simply wanted to divert attention from some ridiculous lies told by her boss, Kellyanne Conway, pleaded with a CNN anchor that we should ignore what Donald Trump says and “look at what’s in his heart.”
Journalists need to pay attention to what Donald Trump says AND to the human suffering which reflects Trump’s failure to act responsibly. Reporters, columnists and pundits simply have to stop allowing the tail to wag the dog.
1
I have an issue with the word "our". I am not addicted to Donald Trump and his every tweet. Fully half of what you "addicted" journalists print about Trump can be replaced by the news you lament not covering instead, without any loss to any of us.
I don't remember during the Nixon years these excruciating exposes about his associates who were eventually convicted of wrong doing regardless; the wheels of justice turned and that president fell, as will this one.
Listen to and report instead the eloquent resolve of Comey and the methodical work of Mueller. Find opposition voices and give us more than sound bites. Show us what those people are doing to prepare for defeating Trump in November. Let us know how we can get involved most effectively. Then you might feel better that you are not a patsy being played like a sap for Donald Trump's benefit.
4
TinyPriest, what you suggest is still Trump all the time -- Comey, Mueller, opposition voices, how to defeat Trump in November, etc.
Let's go with Kristof and see more about other news and the effects of bad policies on trade, diplomacy, the economy, etc.
EPA, Housing, the out-of-control military budget, etc. all need to be covered more. So many voters don't really get it how much damage is being done by restoring pollution, ending financial safeguards, etc. It's not only Pruitt's scandals, for example, but the regulatory damage that has been done. Let's focus on that, not the personalities so much, dreadful as they are.
Liberals, and the mainstream media (but I repeat myself) are so invested in discrediting and destroying Trump that they aren't focused on issues that matter. Forget Trump's tweets - they don't mean anything and will change tomorrow. Forget collusion with Russia - it probably didn't happen but it's a great distraction for the media. Forget the border wall - it's unlikely to happen.
Spend your time on what Trump does, not what he says.
1
I no longer worry that Mr.Trump is the problem. He, like all unpleasant, undesirable, and self-obsessed irritants, will always be a type that is ever with us.
But we are the problem. We. It is our response that is troublesome. We are not so much addicted as we are afflicted.
The pain and suffering coming at us and the world is a given. Our inauthentic response is both a disappointing and sobering diagnosis of what's to come.
The way we giggle and squirm, jump on the bus and careen down the twisted, dangerous, mountain road of blinding voyeurism, is a terrifying commentary on our intellectual unwillingness to think clearly in the face of vapid threat.
We miscalculated Osama bin Laden. We overlook the assault rifle infestation because we want to be able to shoot whomever we wish whenever we wish. We ignore the truth -- not because it will set us free, but because it will reveal the more disturbing reality that we love our chains and our torturers.
Mr.Trump is our blind spot. He is the perfect storm of latent ideological terror, tormented gunman in crowds of innocent people, and demented kidnapping of human slaves for underground pleasure and pornographic consumption.
This failure to understand what is happening in front of us is sad and tragic.
Contrary to Sir Kenneth Clark's partially hopeful ending words in the 1969 BBC "Civilization" series -- we might not be able to be optimistic nor joyful at the prospect before us.
We are sleepwalking toward a sheer drop.
2
"Those issues are rather more important than the question of whether Stormy Daniels slept with Trump."
If Stormy Daniels can bring Trump down, then that is a most important story to tell. If Trump is ousted, then all the other things you mention will be allowed to resurface to the top of the news, where they belong.
So write on about Trump, unapologetically. Freedom of the press is our crucial lifeline out of the abyss; it is our way to begin moving forward again.
Do you remember that post tweeted out in the early morning hours a year ago: “Despite the constant negative press covfefe …?”
"Covfefe!" can be our battle cry, for now – and in two millennia hence it will remain chiseled into the Rosetta stone of our collective memory.
3
Unless we stay focused on our battle to defeat Trump and Trumpism, there is literally and figuratively no air to breathe in the room. Of course, we can have a multi front vision on other issues, but the most significant change that we can make is a change in leadership to repair the damage done to our values, our institutions, and our policies.
Trump is like a Matroyshka doll with bombs inside bombs exploding daily to destroy our focus and attention. He has done the work for Vladimir Putin to erode faith and hope in this country. That we sit back while he continues to rage and ravage the USA is not due to our stars but to ourselves if we are underlings.
2
Kristoff writes: As president, Trump is enormously important, but there’s so much else happening as well. Some 65,000 Americans will die this year of drug overdoses, American life expectancy has fallen for two years in a row, guns claim a life every 15 minutes and the number of uninsured is rising again even as a child in the U.S. is 70 percent more likely to die before adulthood than one in other advanced nations. Those issues are rather more important than the question of whether Stormy Daniels slept with Trump.
And none of these problems were ever effectively dealt with by the Government Industrial Complex in the last thirty years! That is why everyone talks about Trump all the time: he is trying something new...and the harrumphers and self-proclaimed ruling class can only sit and rage. They don't have the willingness for self-examination to see that THEY are the problem Trump says they are. Impotent rage-iacs. Raging against they dying of the light.
1
I don't understand why the media doesn't ask the obvious question -- why is this happening? Who could gain from it? In whose interest is it to shred our democracy and rant and rave against all our core values? The answer is obvious. This election, this president can only be understood only if we understand Russian history of the last 35 years. And no, it's not some fancy plot. Locking in Trump in the 1980s up to the current time was just something the Russians do. He was an obvious target to be an asset. He is vain, venal, and needs money. Russians did just what they do, have always done. They took advantage of the situation and continue to do so to this day. They are the obvious ones to profit by our demise and loss of leadership in the world. When will we see that Trump is the Godfather of the Russian mafia in the West? He is truly the agent of our enemy, though he may not realize it and certainly will never admit it. But will we? If we don't, our end is surely in sight.
3
I completely agree. The press's hanging on every word Trump says and obsessively repeating and talking about it got old, oh, since forever.
The most offensive thing about the narcissist is not that he wants everyone's attention, but that he gets it.
What I wouldn't give for everyone but his private circle of friends and family to just ignore him! Maybe then he'd go away.
1
Wonderful perspective. How about speaking with the media moguls to push to get us more information. Put the Trump tabloid news in one section. The national news Trump effects in another section. Separate the Trump noise from the rest.
1
2000 years from now they’ll discuss this time? How about we may not make it to 2100? Where’s your terror of global warming? Why is that not even listed here? Carbon blasted out into the atmosphere in record amounts this year.
I completely agree about what you say about Trump. He’s the story 24/7. Why not offer suggestions/directives on what to do in place of obsessing about Trump. (You don’t mention that Trump behavior is classic narcissism, we are all in the thrall of his neediness.) Why not speak about what can be done for the Rohingya people? Is there anything I can do? Besides be politically involved here at home and make donations? And Syria, Yemen?
Instead of bemoaning our addiction, let’s get tools to overcome it!
I believe we will vote in record numbers in November, not against Trump, but for gun-control, environment, and human rights.
But what environmental damage is being done now that cannot be undone? You don’t touch on that.
63
Yes to all your thoughts. We need leadership by responsible media. Why not Nicholas Kristof assigned to organize what specific non-profits are DOING about U.S. problems, for example: This week Doctors without Borders reports on number of people received hospitalization in ______. Another example: Flint, Michigan, reports, today's water situation, call a resident there & let her know though you live in N.Y. or Oregon that you're concerned, will keep after congresspeople. CREATIVITY from media & ourselves. (Thanks for reading to my rant!)
We have lots of significant problems, but carbon dioxide isn't one of them. We'll deal with global warming just fine. It may even help agriculture.
I am Trump numb. He is so persistently awful, his administration so persistently toxic and corrupt, their actions so persistently reactionary and bad for anyone who isn't making a gazillion dollars polluting the waters or financially raping the unsuspecting, that I start to tune out.
So the Trump drum beat is necessary. He has promised the earth to large swath of desperate Americans, and given it to them in tons of toxic waste, and upbeat tweets. But they still suffer, and may eventually start to notice. Don't think I am telling the truth? Drive I-99 through PA or I-86 across NY's southern tier. Really, I have seen it, and so should you.
It is a real story, because all of those others that Kristof mentions, all those stories of violence and cruelty have a chance to become OUR story if we don't wise up. Trump is anything but wise.
4
We're not addicted. We're horrified and worried. The man is unfit, unprepared and way too self-absorbed. That makes him dangerous.
Even members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee had concerns he had the nuclear codes. He's far too petty and vindictive to be leader of the free world.
And clearly this White House is in disarray and constant chaos. That we're talking about his payoffs to silence women says plenty.
5
Whenever there is a tragedy on television, like a horrific school shooting or an act of terrorism, I always wonder what is happening in the revenue generation departments at major networks.
Is there somebody there who makes sure that the ads that pop up during the commercial breaks are appropriate & chooses the ones that are best able to resonate with viewers at a time heightened emotions?
A friend's father, when I was growing up, worked at CBS. His job was to match the commercials with the demographic that was attracted to a particular show. If that night, the evening news was going to run a segment on tanks, he made sure there was a rough Chevy truck commercial right afterwards. He explained that a huge number of people, mostly men, watching the segment on the tank would at some point wonder what it was like to drive a tank. Some would even imagine themselves, maybe not like Dukakis, steering it through muddy divots in the landscape, or gunning the engine and pushing over trees. Then, at the commercial break, just when the copy written for the commentator left them with a sense of anticipation, before cutting away, the viewer would be primed to see a Chevy truck. You might not be able to drive a tank, but you can buy a big truck.
I think about this every time I watch the news report on Trump's latest act of stupidity. The talking heads swirl up emotions. Liberals clutch their pearls. Cut to the break and an adjustable bed, where you can rest, and have some control.
1
Trump makes himself impossible not to be noticed. He is addicted to attention, positive or negative. In the real world, people turn a blind eye toward addicts, preferring not to notice them. In Trumpworld, we are all eyes and ears and awaken each day to get our fix, even as we suffer through it.
It's a symbiotic sort of relationship, where the public is addicted to Trump and Trump is addicted to the public. We have become the junkies we despise.
Kristof hits the issues on the head, it's what Democrats need to run on, not the Russia affair, not Stormy Daniels, but real problems affecting the American people.
3
"Or look abroad. In Myanmar, the government is engaging in what many believe to be a genocide against the Rohingya minority. Gaza is erupting, and there’s heightened threat of a new war in the Middle East. The U.S. has been complicit in Saudi Arabian war crimes in Yemen. The carnage in Syria continues.”
I didn’t realize you had written on Yemen. Thanks for speaking out on the war crimes being committed , by the Saudis with our support. Hope you will continue covering this. Our reason for being in Syria and elsewhere because of humanitarian reasons rings hollow. I had hoped Trump was going to get us out of the Middle East, but he is only continuing what our Permanent State has been doing.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/31/opinion/columnists/yemen-...
MSNBC is pleased to pay Rachael Maddow 30k a day to cover Trump and Russia, so she will not cover inconvenient facts that would be damaging to their business. Other corporate media is also pleased not to cover stories that will hurt their bottom line, by covering Russia and Trump non-stop.
1
Well I'm not addicted to him. I'm sick and tired of him. I'm sick of his face being in my face every time I turn on the tube or try to read this publication. I'm sick and tired of the sound of his voice. I refuse to be distracted any longer by his latest belligerent rant, insult and outrage while he's burning down our institutions, taking a torch to truth, civility and the rule of law.
He insists upon being the center of attention 24/7 and the media capitulates. That's his addiction. Quit feeding it. Our attention and energies must be on putting out the fires he started and mitigating the damage.
Mostly I'm just tired of lugging around the burden of his constant presence - like having a boulder (or a monkey) strapped to my back. I'm cutting him loose.
4
For some time I have been changing the channel whenever he appears. The twisted villains of "Criminal MInds" are somehow more congenial.
I found GW irritating, and Cheney infuriating. With trump the reaction is truly visceral --- profound disgust verging on nausea. His "policies" are one thing (detestable in the main, even when coherent, which is a rarity); as a person who purports to represent me to the world another --- and not a trivial matter either. Since my childhood was disordered by Sen. Joe McCarthy and his minions (not least of whom was Roy Cohn, who did a lot to create the trump monster now defiling Lincoln's seat) I cannot recall a public figure who is so hate-inducing. Though clearly he is laboring under a monstrous inferiority complex,I cannot find anywhere in me a shred of compassion for him as his behavior reeks of mean-spiritedness. Most disturbing, however, is the malign joy that his cult followers display when those of us with some concept of decency are upset by him.
1
For those obsessed with politics it seems like trump is a either catastrophe or a dream come true. For me... life is no different today than it would have been had Clinton won. Ho hum. The trump show is boring and irrelevant.
1
The other side of this "Addiction to Trump" argument is that as president of the United States, we are all effected in one way or another, to what he says...or doesn't say.
And the fact that he is apt to change his mind within seconds, makes us all involuntary subjects to whatever comes out of his mouth.
Of course, the most unfortunate aspect of this fact is that Trump is addicted to getting this kind of attention.
1
Wolf was right on target. I'm not addicted to trump and have to pick my way through the stories of his birdbrain tweets, in order to find information on trade talks etc. have a daily scandal sheet on the bottom of the page for reporting who he's sleeping with or the lie of the day. You're feeding the addiction.
Let's start with Kristof. I challenge him to write 10 consecutive columns which do not mention Trump -- which focus on malaria, drug overdoses, the uninsured, the undereducated and so on.
1
Your addiction to the fire-slaying dragon in the White House echoes today's column of Maureen Dowd (reading each other minds?). Yers, Trump does not deserve all this undivided attention for his forgettable constant stupidities...but not the cruelty of edicts that his cabinet members follow, witness Scott Pruitt's war against mother Earth, where greed supersedes the environment anf human health and survival. May I suggest we pay particular attention to a group that could stop all this Trumpian madness, as it remains complicit in Trump's mafia, the republican party? Republican congressmen and congresswomen's dereliction of duty is the 'elephant in the room'; for the good of the country, and restoration of trust in democratic institutions, citizens must become responsible and show up at the electoral booth this November...and send those un-representatives packing.
1
I commend the thinking on this article. I believe the general public is not just lazy but not apt to dig into anymore then, Trumps bombastic quotes and or Stormy Daniels on the steps of a courthouse.
Donald Trump has succeeded in his gaffes, lies and videotape daily even the most ardent news junkies forget the scandal or head shaking incident from 48 hours before. For me its Russia and Trump, not Stormy or the bigotry. The daily lies are status quo ( sadly).,For Trump to align and in a backhanded way join forces with Putin is a scary future. If the public are having a hard time following anything " over there" in Moscow, wait till Putin Pods infiltrate ballet boxes seductively and quietly, similar to
Invasion of The Body Snatchers. That my friends would be subtle but scarier then Kevin McCarthy at the end of movie, " They're here...Your Next!! ... Your Next!"
1
The antidote should be public opinion and political will of a party that supports a very different agenda, but I beleive, and I hope I am wrong, that as a nation, we are stuck in the mode of worship of a virulent capiitolism and identity political divide, abetted by private campaign floods , which makes any reach for a greater more benevolent government solutions suspicious and unwelcome. We need better education and access to college and job training, Healthcare and widespread efforts to uplift and bring quality of life back to the common working person, better incomes ,etc. As common sense as this is to the rest of the , our unfounded and stoked fears of socialism and glorification of trickle down,privatization and entrepreneurship, and pretense at a survival of the fittest mentality, means we still have a long way to go before we will ever beleive we are our brothers keeper and that we are truly all in this together. Meanwhile we have a predator/prey society where much of the prey has been convinced they are predators.
1
It's always "blame someone" isn't it? Blame the media for its obsession (driven by readership levels and the following advertising revenue). But what drives readership levels & advertising revenue? Well readership (or viewership) of course. And who are the readers, the viewers? The people. It is us the people who ought to be in the crosshairs of blame. It is us who are Trump obsessed. Someone said that Trump is the inevitable culmination of over two centuries of American thought and action.
1
The late musician Frank Zappa once said, ''Government is the Entertainment Division of the military-industrial complex.''
Trump is not only entertainment but diversionary to the theft of our treasury and destruction of our nation.
"Look! Another tweet!"
It's all too obsessive on both the far right and left sides.
I for one am ready to go to a desert island until he is gone.
It will take decades to reverse the recent downfall of our country, if we ever recover at all.
9
Is this an addiction or are we standing on the event horizon of a Trump's black hole? With addiction there's the possibility of recovery, we can decide to give up our Trump-drug, go through withdrawals, but a black hole will suck us in permanently.
2
The sole virtue of Trump’s presidency is that the cockroaches in the body politic have come into sunlight and the more they damage the nation the more they imitate his unflappable ignorance and ineradicable arrogance. The rubbish of Congress mirrors the lies, incompetence and fraud of Trump and his cabal of hucksters and whores. While Kristof sounds right he seems to ignore that Trump ignores policy in favor of his gut which has made him a ruinous entrepreneur. When I read of Trump’s North Korea policy I cringe since no such thing exists and apparently no one nearby has explained to the chucklehead that Un is talking peace because he’s convinced he can obliterate his enemies with more than the empty goofy rhetoric of his father and grandfather of bygone decades. What media doesn’t discuss except in passing is the horror of climate change denial that has permeated the Republican Party at least since Reagan and now in Pruitt and the other oil and coal whores has made of them traitors to this nation and to all of humanity. Climate change denial is as disingenuous as Holocaust denial and will murder many millions more. Pruitt is the Abbas of climate change and Trump too is the jihadist in the room. Only when Capitalism founders under the cataclysms of climate change will such traitors come to Jesus. Brethren, with evangelicals like these we don’t need Satan. Trump embodies evil by his carelessness — the famous germaphobe who has sex with strange women without a condom.
5
Excellent piece. As a nation we historically are positive (both idealistic and realistic) but it is nearly impossible now not to become psychically affected by the constant breaking news related to what we now recognize as Trump's SOPs. Trump and his cabal are an abomination and pollution. So, thanks for reminding us to recognize that “the biggest Trump scandals are not what he says, but what he does.” Personally, if I, for one, am going to get out of this psychic rut, I have to get off my butt and try to do something real to limit the lasting effects of this truly toxic administration.
3
our addiction? Stop writing about the bozo!
6
Yes. I'm staggered and disgusted by how thoroughly Trump has sucked the media into his narcissism. I heard a journalist talk about the difference between using the pen and the sword in his work. The media, with few, gratifying exceptions, has happily picked up the sword, abandoning objective journalism in pursuit of what? Profits, the glee of calling out Trump? I've lost respect for those whom I considered sound reporters.
1
Zbigniew Brzezinski once prophesized that Capitalism will be moving toward a 20/80 population, i.e. 20 % of the population will be doing the 'real' work and the other 80% will need to be entertained (i.e kept busy), I think he called it 'titty-tainment' back then.
If that is true or not, what is if there is an evil seed of a cynical idea that springs from that Pareto fact. Namely, why do we need to keep and entertain them anyway?
What is if there was a grander plan to laterally select who is in and who is out (the agenda of far right and populists, by that I mean marginalization of minorities, demonization of religions, discrimination by race, sex, gender, age, etc.), that fits perfectly to the agenda of central - right who concentrate on vertical selection (like tax cuts for the rich, gentrification, proclaiming policies that reward economically performing citizens, cutting back on social services, essential medical services and other things that you have mentioned in your article). Such harmony of plans!!
We will see more governments of central-right and right parties with these transversal selections in their agendas.
I can't help but feel that every time someone in Austria says 'the boat is full' and we can't take anymore, there will come a time, where the boat will become even smaller and those who were in are from now on out. But we are all ignoring it.
Like the biblical flood, but this time it's an economical flood that keeps rising until only who will survive?
3
Yes, this article and almost every other story in the New York Times is about the idiot-in-chief. All media outlets including your paper are doing us a disservice by focusing all he news on this moron. That’s mainly how he got elected and on his path to ruin this nation. There are many more important issues facing our country and planet and should not be eclipsed by this gas giant!
4
So, so true. And it is not just TV news, or twitter feeds. I look at the progressive NYT's front page layout and I realize critically important social and political issues are way down the page on the left or far down in the World section. Trump is at the top left every day with a second Trump piece below and in the center column we go to diet, exercise and" how can I live longer pieces". Trump coverage has certainly made my world smaller and I do not like it. Trump porn clicks are taking up time we could spend expanding our world; instead those clicks are sucking us into his narcissistic world.
3
The earth is being altered by human activity, particularly our waste products, and we really are promoting the sixth great extinction, perhaps even of ourselves. But, from leaders all over the world, all we see is breast beating and posturing, like male (and they are mostly male) gorillas, chimpanzees, stags, dogs or cocks, vying for dominance (psychological or physical) while the environment goes to hell in a handbasket around them.
3
While this is undoubtedly true, and exactly what DT wants, the peril of our turning our attention elsewhere (Rohingya, Syria, Our Kids) is that he will stonewall any progress there (remember the $350M he promised for "Fighting the Opioid Epidemic"? Seen any progress? But the conversation closed. #Metoo? Stormy Daniels. Is she part of the solution or part of the problem?)
As long as the conversation is about DT, he doesn't care. Well worth the $130,000 someone paid her, whoever it was.
DT knows that the best way to change the conversation is to throw some money at it. Doesn't have to be much. Doesn't matter who pays for it. Just look at the man on the screen, not the man behind the curtain. His Tribe knows this. Consider the Correspondents' Dinner. Was it about Michelle Wolf or Sarah Huckabee Sanders? Or about the Man Who Wasn't There?
Yes, DT has sucked all the oxygen out, and we are all slowly being asphyxiated. Like carbon monoxide poisoning, all we will know before we die is that we have one terrific headache.
3
The circumstance described by Mr. Kristof is almost identical to the pre-election coverage of Trump by the news. Network panels constantly discussed Trump's campaign rhetoric and behavior only to be interrupted by switching to live feeds from Trump rallies. Trump became an instrument to jack ratings, while other candidates like Bernie Sanders were virtually ignored. These same forces are still at work. The entire lineup of shows on MSNC and CNN are dedicated to an ongoing critique and expose of Trump while ignoring almost all other news. It is the news' responsibility to avoid this temptation to not pander only to ratings and to show a more complete picture of the world. It is the public's responsibility to demand more universal coverage.
4
I hope the editors of The New York Times exercise some editorial judgment when treating Trump's obsession with the trophy women he pays for as lead front page news. It leads to political fatigue when serious issues -- corruption, Russian sabotage, trade, Korea, Syria -- merit the same serious coverage as Trump's intended distractions and attention-getting. Like Stormy Daniels currently or his consumption of cheeseburgers.
Kristoff is right in saying that Trump sucks up all the oxygen and serious issues are left gasping.
Constant journalistic hysteria over trivia just normalizes Trump and lets him hide in plain sight.
Granted many of Trump's on-the-fly shot from the hip actions on serious issues seem as impulsive as they are wrong. But over-covering him without discerning what's actually important instead of drowning us in Trump's barbarian antics is less than what I expect from The New York Times.
By reducing his entire administration to just himself, which the media oblige him, Trump controls the agenda and dictates what's newsworthy. Even the two articles about McCain in today's Times highlight Trump.
The more outrageous Trump is the more attention he commands. He knows that and plays the media like a violin.
Already the threshold for outrage has been raised so high reports of Trump running a sex ring out of a DC pizza parlor would merit barely a yawn.
I remember it as all the news that fits and not everything on Trump that gives you fits.
77
Economy 101:
Trump, Business Model, NY Times
" Trump has been 'rocket fuel' for NYT digital subscriptions, CEO says ... On CNBC's "Power Lunch," New York Times CEO Mark Thompson said "there is no question we have got some rocket fuel in the subscription ..."
https://www.cnbc.com/.../shares-of-new-york-times-surge-after-subscriber- growth.html
"Donald Trump remains the key area of focus for NY Times readers, who are 226% more likely than the average person to search for “trump” and 116% more likely to search for “trump news.” The Times’ investment in covering Trump appears to be paying off"
http://www.hitwise.com/articles/ny-times/
2
Finally, someone speaking honestly about the media keeping the plethora of Trump articles high in order to pander to readers, thank you. It detracts from other issues, but ironically the basis of Trump being in office is due to a combination of media 'inbreeding' and incompetence by Democrats. This story is the one that needs to be addressed in order to find a path out of the wilderness, in addition to keeping track of other important issues.
Probably the fixation on Trump by Democrats is due to a kind of trauma, the disbelief that something like Trump could happen, and especially to be a primary cause for the event. I'll venture that once Democrats get over the trauma and accept their role in Trump being in office, they'll also get over the fixation and actually use data and rationality to make sure the country has two viable political parties again.
Several years ago while at lunch with a member of the Religion Department here in Princeton, expressing my disgust with the state of our political class I said, "They go to Washington as virgins and leave as whores." His responded, correctly I believe, "I'm not sure a virgin can get to Washington any more."
Trump is a moral outrage to be sure but his supporting cast on Capitol Hill little better, and by that I mean both Democrats and Republicans, and the simple truth is that our national nightmare will not end until the bribes and payoffs known as "campaign contributions" are eliminated from our political system.
10
Yes. As petulant an adolescent is our President, the press seems even more sophomoric in its coverage of him. Which makes its addiction pathetically transparent for ratings and profit. The country and real issues be damned. Dumbing down everyone.
3
At another time, the adage was "if it bleeds, it leads." That has been replaced by "if it is Trump, it leads." As someone addicted to ratings, this must be Heaven to him. Hell must therefore be an irrelevant status.
Given his penchants for firings, tweets, outrageous lies and accusations, he will be the lead story for months to come. The only one who can beat him in the ratings game now is Mueller and he avoids the spotlight. So, until he acts maybe the best way to handle the "Trump and Juli Show" is just turn them off.
2
Keep the focus on Trump AND the Republican Party.
November is critical. We must do everything possible to vote any and every Republican out of office.
It is the only way to stop Trump and his enablers.
6
My hope is that after Trump leaves office - however that happens - that he and his family will remain the addition of every forensic accountant the country can train so that his scam collapses.
1
Are WE obsessed with Trump or is the news media obsessed with him? When important non-Trump world and domestic news is ignored or glossed over by the media, I posit that it’s the latter. Journalists create obsessions and then state that the public is obsessed.
3
Same goes for the Democratic Party. They need to get beyond being the anti-Trump and get together on a program. What do they stand for?
5
The Dems appear to be all about DACA, sanctuary cities and the promotion of illegal immigration. Oh and free stuff for them all.
1
Dare I say, somedays I wonder if trying to kick a heroin addiction would be easier than overcoming my almost pathological fascintion with Trump.
In no way do I want to denigrate the difficulty of overcoming physical addiction having seen it up close with family members.
Mine is an intellectual addiction trying to figure out why people will vote against their own interests.
While Democrats have alienated the working class by delivering on few promises while caving to Repubs on myriad reasonable issues that could help, the Repubs have the simple elevator speech:
"They (Dems) disrespect your religion (by protecting the rights of non-Christians), want to take your guns (by wanting to have simple background checks), want you to pay taxes, (to pay for infrastructure, schools, safety and basic social needs), take away America being the greatest nation God ever invented (No parenthetical needed).
Ultimately, the Repubs asked their supporters if they beleive in them or the supporters' own eyes seeing the denigration of the Republic.
Trump is the voice of those people who beleive they have been wronged and blame not the pols in the tank for special interests, but people different from themelves.
I was coming of age in the late 60s, a time much more chilling than the Trump era, thus far.
3
Two centuries or more ago Americans drafted a constituton based on the ideas of the Enlightenment i.e. based on logic, facts, rational and science. For nearly 200 years the USA was the example for the rest of the western world. These days attention and appreciation of the masses has shifted from your basic values to scandals. The media and press just feed that fascination for scandal. It is their livelihood. It is an illusion, I know, but the media totally ignoring Trump and concentrating on the merits, qualities and values of the actual government work by Congres and the Executive (however boring at times) would stop this failure. After all, we all get fatigued and bored by this all too obvious incompetent attention seeker. Giving him such attention has no added value.
3
People are tired of the nonstop focus on Trump by the liberal media and they are not listening anymore. Most of the nasty stories about Trump are about scandalous activities that he engaged in before he was elected president. I am certain if Trump had any idea 10 or 20 years ago that he would someday be president he would have behaved differently and more responsibly.
1
It is extremely important to report on Trump's cabinet, the absence of leadership, incoherent policy, corruption and obstruction. But pointing out where the media is surrendering their platform for reporting on these issues really doesn't do much for actually getting anything done on these issues once reported. We have a Republican congress who will simply never address these matters as they have thrown in their lot with Trump. Of course this guy loves the attention. His big money donors also love getting exactly what they've wanted for decades but couldn't acquire because of Democrats with critical thinking skills.
Trump supporters have not yet been impacted by the bad policies being implemented or the absence of action on things like climate change and healthcare. But they eventually will and it will be ugly.
Tyranny and an authoritarian governments require "willing participants" and we have that with the Republican Party. It is this what should be the focus of all investigative reporting. Those willing to support the lies and obstruction have to be exposed. There's still room for reporting on Trump's scandal's and ridiculous tweets, but the enablers of the destruction of revered institutions that made this Republic the democratic envy of the planet require the attention they deserve. People know the truth about Trump now let the media report on those willing to attempt to distort the truth. We can begin with Devin Nunes and Mitch McConnell and go from there.
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A suggestion to Mr. Kristof and the NYT: Just as there are lists of Trump's many lies, please make and publish a list of the many policy outrages of this Administration. You could perhaps subdivide the list into the utterly despicable (policies promoting xenophobia, racism, misogyny; separating children at the border might be a good start); the "causing direct harm to Americans" (depriving people of health coverage, encouraging polluters, encouraging fraudsters); the "long term harm (climate change, hollowing out the State Department, increased deficits to enrich the 1%). It would be a long list but a good reminder that whatever Trump's moral failings it is the harm the Republicans are doing to our society that is the great crime that must be stopped.
5
The press is profiting on giving Trump the attention he craves. Stormy Daniels should be an aside. Pruitt is doing daily damage. McConnell and all of Congress is doing daily harm to our republic. The press can't seem to pull off of the increased revenue. It isn't unlike the fact that the press gave him so much free time, and helped put him in office.
1
Not only addiction but obsession too.
Those in the MSM who pick fights with Trump only make themselves look bad. Ironically, his voters identify more with Trump than all of his detractors in the media, e.g. Mika Brzezinski. The MSM is there to report facts and not wage a personal war with the duly elected POTUS. The obsession does no one any good. It only makes some in the MSM look petty and thin-skinned, exactly what they accuse him of being. HIs supports see the hypocrisy. And at least Trump won via the democratic process, not so the media personalities.
The MSM trips over themselves reporting on him, he is probably glad to be the center of such attention. It gives him a cause to campaign against.
Just as the caravan will probably backfire, if it has not already, the MSM's obsession with Trump will probably backfire too. It may have been that the MSM ironically and unintentionally partly helped get him elected, and ironically, they are on track to support his reelected, too.
We are obsessed with Trump in the same sense as we are obsessed here in Florida with hurricanes. The may wreak havoc on all those things you love and cherish.
The problem with Trump is that he is SO bad, that it is difficult to pick what to be upset about. The environment? Women's issues? Education of our children? The Middle East? Korea? Trade? Taxes? He has been a disaster in all these areas and more. Where do we start I, for one, am exhausted after only a year and a half.
1
Trump is important. He is the president. But he is really nothing more than the front man for the monstrous Republican Party. He is the embodiment of republican policies; he is their creation in their own lying, cheating, divisive and destructive image. Trump is what you get when you allow an assault against government to proceed unimpeded by one of the two principal entities charged with upholding and advancing that same government. Reagan-Norquist-Gingrich-Bush-Cheney-McConnell- Trump!
Where did anyone think this craziness would end?
And yes, we do give Trump too much attention. To name just one of many salient stories lacking coverage: McConnell has wrecked the blue slip process. This is enormous, and isn’t getting attention as we worry about Trump. This may be the single most important and most destructive act of the Trump era so far, because it will unfairly unbalance the judiciary to the right and will have deleterious effects for generations that we can’t even begin to foresee.
The end of this experiment called american democracy is nigh. Democracy is being replaced slowly and surely with rule by interests who don't worry about the rights of individuals. Call that what you will, but none of us who care about the collective good will welcome it.
1
Amen. Nevertheless, the addiction has prompted so many to simply awaken from complacency. In what other administration were it even imaginable that the afternoon White House press briefing would become the only reason to turn on the TV before the 6:30 network news?
Of all the opinion writers at the NYT I come to rely on Mr. Kristof to inform us regarding what’s going on in the rest of the world. I appreciate his insights on Trump but as this piece points out we see and read so much of it that sometime it doesn’t even matter anymore. Mr. Kristof: Comment if you must about Trump’s latest tweet or rally but please keep reminding us what the rest of the world is doing and the needs of human beings outside the U.S.
Excellent column. Democrats are in serious danger of being seen as having no platform except opposition to Trump. Of course, Democrats should stand for the rule of law, specifically the completion of the Mueller investigation. But Democrats also need to stand for popular progressive economic policies - like increased minimum wages, re-unionization of the American workforce, reduction of corporate tax give-aways, expanded access to education and health care, expanded job re-training programs, and increased federal funding of Social Security.
Conor Lamb showed how it should be done - run on a progressive economic platform and largely ignore Trump. Voters who want to punish Trump will vote Democratic regardless of the volume of Democrats' anti-Trump rhetoric, and moderates and independents will be persuaded by a progressive Democratic economic platform instead of alienated by a platform of anti-Trump bile.
politicsbyeccehomo.wordpress.com
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Of course, trump is likewise addicted to BEING in the media, and will forcefully insert himself into the daily news cycle if he has to dial up the tv station himself to rant for a half hour.
This is a classic and three-way co-dependent relationship.
And if the path of your tour bus were blocked by a boulder on a narrow mountain road, you would surely be spending more time talking about the boulder, and progress in sussing and dislodging it than plans about your destination.
Because trump is not only diverting discussion of these problems. He is actively blocking the resources to address and solve them.
Being right about the problem of addiction to trump does little to change the situation. Admitting the addiction is always the first step (that was Michelle Wolf's most biting point -- for which she was roundly condemned by the media. A very contentious intervention.) But it does little to change the problem. The boulder is still there.
And unfortunately those who ignore the news of trump also tend to ignore news in general. Many of them are trump supporters.
1
Yes , I agree with so much that is saud here. Especially that Trump is the master distractor and the master refermer and in the end doesn’t care about anything except his agenda and his power. Power seems to be intoxicating. Has there ever been a President who has been in our faces 24 hours a day or who has been so unfiltered . This is a wake up article.
I have been arguing this point for a long time. There are only so many waking hours in a day. Trump occupies way too many of them (my wife suggests this frequently). We ignore your fine list of concerns and more - many more.
I applaud your opinion piece but find the solution elusive. Afterall, it is Trumps MO to engage us all the time with his rabble rousing rhetoric. He doesn't care about inaccuracies, inconsistencies or abuses, because he can always change his mind. In fact, it's expected. It's as if your next door neighbor kept bursting through your front door yelling about this or that while you are attempting to have a phone conversation with your physician or financial advisor or your life navigator (wife in my case).
In contradiction to your point, it IS our responsibilty to hold the Predator in Chief responsible. Therefore our addiction can't be abandoned without feeling guilty (as in Germany during the 1930s).
Perhaps the dual pronged approach could be to continually make references to the promises of candidate Trump. My two favorites:
1. A better healthcare plan for everyone - cheaper and better.
2. A huge infrastructure plan to rebuild our nation.
Which is fine, but how to ignore his actions which hasten the destruction of our planet?
1
This is so frustrating!
We, the cognizant elite, are all agreed upon the scourge of The Trumpet. But there doesn't seem to be a strong consensus on how be rid of it.
Let's address the real problems like some of your readers have highlighted :
"fear & anger sell much better than knowledge & empowerment."
"The reality is that American media do not, as a rule, investigate the powerful half as much as they should."
"the Republicans have forced us all to play by their market-driven, anti-democratic rules"
Let's focus on shaming the Republicans who enable this outrage and push Trump to the "2nd page".
My husband and I, rarely broach the topic of so-called 45th. Rarely. When it does come up we its a mistake and drop it quickly. We both stay informed but rarely talk about it. Have talked about is why it is important to be informed. I'm horrified that our country has someone so unqualified and untrustworthy living in the white house. This is why I want to be informed. Wish there was a totally, completely separate section in all the major news sources for reports regarding 45th because it's not relevant to the real issues including climate change and other truly critical global conditions. Didn't need to read about Obama when he was in office because I trusted him. There is no trust here in this situation. Obama urged us in his last speech as President - our rights can't be taken for granted - this freedom, dignity and integrity as a people. I'm not addicted to Trump. I care about the our Nation it integrity, freedoms with responsibility to one another and truly sense very quickly this is all falling away. I am deeply saddened and do feel we are at the mercy of a con man and his family and those in his orbit. I long for the day when the Trump name is not splashed all over the front pages (can't even find the words to describe) matters deeply unfitting to the Presidency. Literally my stomach often feels ill. I wish him and his family the best. I just truly wish they were not where they are it feels very unsafe.
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Thank you for expressing my thoughts so clearly. Now, about those primaries.
Mr Kristoff is right of course.
All we talk about is Trump.
But why?
Well part of the reason is before he came along the country was well on its way to becoming a European country. That is a Socialist one.
Politicians were falling over one another to introduce more liberal ideas.
The Press was loving it, and the man in the street felt he had no voice.
Along comes Trump and upsets the applecart.
Think about the reaction to Macron who is trying to change some of the Socialist agenda in France.
After the election Trump should have been crushed like a bug.
But lo and behold he did not let that happen.
Socialists will fight to the death to defend their principles ( See France above.)
So sure the press is going to keep Trump in The headlines.
He represents their worst nightmare.
As long as the “news” continues to be a noxious mixture of opinion and entertainment targeted at various markets, this problem will continue. Trump is the result, not the cause.
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'Surrendering everywhere else'---you said it, Kristof. Glad to see a NYT columnist writing this.
TV coverage of the hourly sordid White House Crime Revelations is now obsessive and almost unwatchable--- panels of lawyers/experts detailing the latest sensations, tweets & twitches from a bizarre president. Then speculation---if this, then that, but we don't really know yet... etc.
As Andy Borowitz satirized --- millions of ordinary Americans are volunteering to work for the Mueller team for free, doing anything, if it will speed up the investigation to get some results already.
Trump coverage crowds out discussion of many crucial issues affecting all of us.
When will our columnists finally grapple with how we might fund truly affordable, universal health care, as dozens of nations do. Not trendy?
Don’t like the GOP tax bill? What rates would be fair and adequate for a modern democracy?
How do other countries manage to achieve a higher rating of economic equality on the intl GINI Index?
How can we be protected against a future 08 Crash, if the govt won’t restore proper bank regulations?
Campaign finance---too boring? When will our columnists stop avoiding our underlying, legalized corruption that blocks all progress?
If the media ignores this, what good is its 1st amendment protection against censorship? The pressures of money and conformity in effect censor media coverage of crucial issues.
Multi millions didn’t vote in 2016. Trace cause and effect.
2
A perfectly reasonable and aspirational article but for one critical flaw. Having identified the braying donkey in the room, namely, Trump is the business model and financial salvation for most of the media, Mr. Kristof just moves on.
Either We the News Consuming People need to demand broader coverage and actually click on non-Trump stories, or we need to wait for CNN at al to abandon the profit motive.
Many of the Comments for this and other NYT columns and articles suggest that you all think Trump will get his comeuppance in November. But you hated him just as much before he was elected -- and he was still elected. Please don't assume that lots more people are appalled by him now. His favorability numbers are rising! I wouldn't be surprised if he wins again in November. I hope not, but I think it's crazy to expect a blue wave.
1
The media created Trump. It supported him, giving him an estimated five billion dollars in free air time during the campaign. Hours of an empty podium with the news host breathlessly speculating and analyzing what deranged thing Trump would say next. MSNBC, CNN, and of course Fox all contributed to this and are now profiting handsomely off Trump and in particular, the Russian collusion story, a story, as was revealed in Wikileak's Podesda emails was cooked up by the Hillary campaign to defect her own Russian connection with the Uranium One scandal. Anyway, it doesn't matter. The corporate media in this country is forever tarnished, which is why most people get their news from independent sources via YouTube and other social media venues. Oh, and Flint still doesn't have clean water Mr. Kristof.
I propose a monthly Trump-Free day where the media worldwide voluntarily defer reporting on what he says, tweets or does. Last day of the month would work.
Of course some of the media will refuse, but who reads or watches them? Nobody Just the 24% of the electorate that voted for him. Let’s appeal to the 50+% who didn’t vote.
May the 31st be Trump Free!
The problem with following an articulate opinion writer is that we can't always be sure if "Our Addiction to Trump" refers to the press corps or to all of us.
I eagerly await the demise of this administration, and yet, look forward to digesting the analysis in hindsight.
The end of Trump will precipitate a national withdrawal period. How will we respond to quiet, cooperative, rational leadership?
Those who are obsessed with Trump are missing he boat. At first, it was not clear how dangerous he might be. But now it is clear that he is basically a figurehead and that he is not the one making the big decisions that have caused so much harm since he was elected.
It amazes me that so many miss the fact that Trump is ineffectual. What gets done is either the work of Congress or cabinet members who don't seem answerable to Trump, like Pruitt and Homeland Security. The legislative agenda under Trump was created by the Party leaders and wealthy donors. And when programs have been formulated, opinion polls give the voters input.
When all is said and done the bad things that have happened are those that satisfy power centers without regard to Trump. Whenever anything has been seriously negotiated, Trump has virtually dropped out of the process. Even his input into the tax bill had little relationship to specific provisions, which make the tax bill go.
Trump is basically a figurehead. His most important role is as an anti-establishment symbol. As we learned in 2016, there are an awful lot of Americans who feel left out by the Democrats. They are, of course, the source of Trump's populist support. And you don't solve that problem by cataloging all of Trump's lies. Rather, you reach out to those who are alienated and find ways to bring them back into the fold.
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Too many of the alienated just want their mascot in office. The only fold they want is their own, as scandalous and dark as it may be. They apparently feel left out, marginalized, and otherwise hard done by, but they’re only hoping trump will bring everyone to their level—they don’t seem to feel the need to rise to a better level.
It’s telling that they readily accept his lies and his exaggerated promises, without expecting real results. It seems they don’t care whether their station in life actually improves, as long as others suffer—whether that suffering involves discrimination, damage to the environment, loss of international standing, or witnessing the daily depredations of an immoral, self-obsessed individual.
8
Glad NYT showcased this as I was tempted offer similar comment. Being president is a real job, which Trump consistently fails to do by almost any reasonable measure. This feels like one of those historical moments in which an eight year old has inherited the throne and while technically "the king" and the head of government, everyone around him is struggling to deal with the reality that they are supposed to run the government according to the whims of an eight year old.
The real tragedy is that being president is a real job. Trump's dishonesty and blowhard inflation of the value of everything he is a part of makes him a great at marketing. But he is basically a ranter whose rants have struck a cord with a lot of people who feel left out of the economic elite that they felt that Hillary Clinton represented, but which cannot be translated into policy, at least not without obscene misrepresentations.
Not the last of the awfulness of the Trump sex life reporting, the Russian investigations and vetting of his absurd tweets is that they obscure reporting on how incompetent he is.
10
I’m tired of hearing that Democrats have left people out. Republicans are far, far worse in that regard. Fox and Trump have tried to convince people otherwise, and they have successfully done so, but that doesn’t make it true.
18
I agree that we are addicted to Trump news. If for no other reason, I now check headlines early and often, because the man, aided and abetted by the nematodes in Congress, might unleash something horrific at any time that endangers national security or the economy. However, I don’t think that has taken the focus away from the real needs of our communities and people. Everyone I know is more engaged politically and with progressive organizations than at any time in the past. We all know that we have to change Congress in order to take the rule of law back from those who would allow its destruction.
Excellent column. You do make clear that in certain ways Trump is the story. He is a major threat to us and to the world. But if we are going the neutralize him we have to win the mid-term election. And in order to do this the media has to talk substantively about the failure and horror of his programs and appointments, and less about him.
6
Agreed. I don't have cable but watch CNN while on the elliptical at the Y. Every other day. The characters rotate somewhat but the content doesn't seem to change. Except thank god they're not inserting inexplicable quickshots of Stormy Daniels every 5 minutes anymore.
1
I've read that as print journalism declines, the center has moved from large cities where advertisers were the primary funders of the big city papers.
The decline in those papers--Chicago, Denver, Baltimore, LA, the list goes on and on--has meant a decline in coverage of local issues.
National news now takes center stage and Washington is the center if that. Young journalists appear to be flocking there.
And many of those young journalists, I've read, have a different conception of their role than that of previous generations. Many apparently see their role as being part of the Resistance, and see no problem reporting the news while expressing their opinions about it in other media and on talk shows. Many reporters apparently spend a lot if not most of their time on Twitter.
When you throw Trump' s daily, sometimes hourly, antics into the midst, you get what we've got today.
3
I've laughed until I cried many times after reading what Trump says or tweets, because it so outrageous. My wife becomes very upset because of this. I guess I shouldn't laugh. It's the same as watching the school buffoon who acts out in class and nothing gets done. The problem is that the buffoon is now the president.
You are right Mr. Kristof. I am also afraid that we as a country we do not have the attention, the will or care to solve our problems. I've mentioned to people that Pakistan just experienced the warmest day anywhere ever in April(122dg). Most did not know.
6
Thank you Nicholas! Right on. And we need more attention paid in the press about what this Congress and our institutions are doing, and not doing, to address these and other important issues.
10
Not to mention that The Con is filling the court system with right wing imbeciles!
I agree that the national media focus gets lost in the endless Trump loop but I disagree that other issues are completely overlooked. This is an election year and the Democratic candidates in my state are focusing on the issues while the Republicans are running on Trumps coat tails. I do not think we can avoid discussion of the scandals, nor should we. The mass corruption in this administration needs to be constantly under a microscope.
6
Thank you. It's about time that someone pointed out that there are more important things than the flim-flam no matter how engaging it is.
15
The basis of our addiction is laziness; Americans have had seven decades of extraordinary post-WWII success to become self-indulgent, spoiled, and certain of their exceptionalism. Thus, the common core American values are expressed in 30-second sound bites, 280-character tweets, and tabloid headlines, all of which take no effort to absorb uncritically. Their appeal is to those with no or only technical education, not to those with an education in the social sciences or the humanities--if they are not blinded by ideologies, whether regressive or progressive. The future does not promise improvement; anyone who tries to talk to recent graduates at any level finds them less informed, less skilled, and less capable of critical thinking than previous graduates. We have subsidized ourselves with ambitious students, especially in STEM subjects, from abroad; that subsidy is ending, partly because other nations want to keep their best and the brightest for themselves, but also because Trump and his my-white-skin-is-my-only-asset followers want to keep them out but not get the demanding education to replace them and maintain the American standard of living and way of life which we tout but do not support with the effort required.
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Mr. Hayes the big question for your very insightful post is how do we turn the laziness around? As an instructor faced with the latest population of high school graduates I am wondering how do I get them engaged with deep-seeded learning in this world of soundbites that you so accurately describe...
As a once-upon-a-time peripatetic instructor in high schools and colleges, I have no simple answer, and I think that there are many answers, not a silver bullet. But I would be completely competent in my subject, confident in my competence, and committed to my subject as my way of helping my students. I would continue by having high standards, insisting on mastery (and making demands to that end), and being respectful, fair, and helpful at all times. While students' parents have their jobs, students should understand that education is their job. Finally, the teacher should make it clear that, whatever the teacher requires of students is not done for the teacher, but for themselves. they do not work for the
I completely agree that the daily barrage of soap opera drama emitting from this White House and covered 24/7 by the media is blinding us to the real and present dangers all around us. Last night at dinner with friends we all sheepishly admitted that too many evenings are spent watching MSNBC with bated breath, a lot like I used to watch "General Hospital".
What we need to remember right now is the adage, "All politics is local." Avert our eyes from the Trump debacle and put our focus on local and state races and the November midterms. Here in Florida our current governor, Republican Rick Scott, is challenging Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, and has a real opportunity to take his seat. Even though Scott has presided over relatively strong economic growth, he has descimated public school funding in favor of private school vouchers, and for profit charter schools. Even the touted "gun reform" bill recently passed was simply lip service to regulation, mostly in the form of an unfunded mandate to put armed officers in every school.
Many states will also have governors' races in the upcoming midterms. I agree that we can't take our eyes off what is happening to our country at the macro level, and by extension the rest of the world. But we all need to take a page out of the Doug Jones and Connor Lamb playbooks. Focus on local and state issues. Build a strong, positve grassroots coalition with candidates who can speak to all.
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I have found politics to be scale-independent: the same infantile pettiness prevails from co-op boards to Congress.
1
The addiction is actually about the addiction of so many Americans to Trump.
3
"It’s not optimal to have as president an authoritarian who denounces journalists as enemies of the people, but he has given us a sense of mission and a “Trump bump.” Every time he denounces us, we get more subscriptions ."
Nick , nothing is "optimal " in today'world, when even media sometimes have to choose between . profit and principal. Over the past 3 years, a new golden age of print end Electronic has risen, making Journalism seem sexy again.
in the end, it's not so much how you write but what you write about that determines if a piece has value. I would posit that journalists have a duty to severely limits the amount of coverage of trump crazy, which he dumps on us to turn our eyes away from
the main issues going on in this country.
I'm talking of course about new or important laws designed to roll back protections for all Americans regarding immigration, food safety, car safety, racial justice and women's health rights.
That list goes on forever.
12
Trump is just flinging sand in the face of the American public as the federal judiciary is rendered down to Trump's standards of venality.
Interesting that Mr. Kristof mentioned an addiction to Trump only as a metaphor. There is medical evidence that the body's response to stress can be literally addictive.
So for many of us, our morning plan is a cup of coffee, a burst of adrenaline and cortisol on the Trump outrage du jour, and we're good to go.
And it's Trump, so you can skip the post-lunch coffee and get a stress booster delivered from the White House.
We're all headed for rehab...
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Neil Postman foresaw this decline in media and cultural consciousness decades ago: “Our politics, religion, news, athletics, education and commerce have been transformed into congenial adjuncts of show business, largely without protest or even much popular notice. The result is that we are a people on the verge of amusing ourselves to death.”
We now have a show-business president who is the product of our show business culture and is "amusing us to death."
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This book is my Bible. Highly recommended.
"Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business" by Neil Postman (1985)
1
I read and re-read Postman's 1988 book. It is scary how right he was.
1
See Aldous Huxley's Brave New World - in which the masses are addicted to happy pills leaving them unable to think clearly enough to know or care what is happening to them, let alone mount an opposition. We not only have the pills but also the electronic media stimulation of almost the same areas of the brain, providing "pleasurable sensations" through readily available online games, meaningless chit chat with online "friends" we hardly know, hits of Trump's silliness in tweets, etc. etc. Of course, that is only for some of us, for now. Eventually, he and his enablers will widen their enemies lists and eliminate many more groups than those they've already targeted as they ram through their short sighted agenda.
I plead guilty! My news world and conversation is all about the idiot that is reported to be in the white house.
Fortunately my wife and my actions remain on helping the poor. Yesterday we went to the grocery to get milk and cheese and bought $49 in groceries for the food bank collection outside the store being held by the local Lions club.
I believe that this is how We Americans are really acting!
14
Many fine points as usual from Mr. Kristof. However, the "addiction" he refers to is squarely in the hands of corporate media owners and managing editors (print and, more significantly, broadcast/cable). There's a reason beyond those cited by Kristof why it's a steady media drumbeat of Drumpf, Drumpf, Drumpf. That reason was articulated by Les Moonves and other media mavens: it's good for the bottom line. I'd add that it's also easier than funding consistent, in-depth investigative reporting that appears on "Page One" clickbait. Perhaps instead of paid pundit/"experts" who have undisclosed financial ties to the industry sectors they represent, the corporate broadcast/cable "news" media could spend some of that money on actual reporting beyond the latest Drumpf twitter blast. Those blasts are having the desired effect by the oligarchs who benefit from the GOP grip on federal and state governments: distract, distract, distract.
Good luck, America and, as Kristof knows first hand, the rest of the world we're busy policing with our trillions in war spending.
17
Covering Trump offends very few advertisers.
1
I think the real issue reporters are missing is that as long as the focus is on Trump's latest outrage, the less it is on what's becoming more obvious. Trump is unable to govern. Even the tax bill was not of his making. He almost derailed it. Other than EO's, he's not governed at all. Even small town mayor's in my state can formulate and pass legislation.
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Those concerned with real problems pay more attention because they want to understand the facts and truth. Those unconcerned pay attention to Trump but watch Fox News almost exclusively because they are afraid to learn and admit the truth because it invalidates their choice.
16
Absolutely true. But how could you write this article without mentioning climate change?? We have such a small remaining window to intervene for our own future survival and for much of life on this earth. We should all be talking about this and strategizing and taking action every day. We're asleep at the wheel at the worst possible time in human history.
Yes, the world has many pressing issues. But every day that climate change is not among the lead headlines is one step closer to oblivion.
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Trumpism is a blanket rejection of the methods and ethics of science.
7
Re: Climate change. It's interesting that Krisoff says that historians 2,000 years from now will look back on this. Uh....no they won't. There won't be a civilization on Earth 2,000 years from now. I'm not sure we'll last 200 more years with harsh storms, rising seas, changing weather patterns, temperature climbing, animal species going extinct rapidly, etc.
And who do we have at the EPA? Scott Pruitt. Doesn't give me much hope that humans will make it down the road another 2,000 years.
5
Thank you, Mr.Kristof, for reminding us that there are many other issues that we need to pursue, equally or more important than Trump's latest tweet tirade or sound bite. Every rational American should choose one of the issues you mentioned and pledge to champion it in some way, even if that just means they will keep bring those issues to the forefront through meaningful discussion among family and friends. Let's not forget gun violence. I hope all Times readers looked at the just released CAP report on this issue:
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/guns-crime/reports/2018/05/04/45...
In the meantime, keep reminding us of the truly important work that must be done. And if Trump slams you in a tweet, retweet that comment, as I do not choose to follow him on Twitter, but do follow you!
11
I think Mr. Kristof's article gets it right and Ms. Dowd's column, while generally correct, misses its mark.
Mr. Kristof correctly points out that the Trump spectacle is a shell game, to distract us from the real game that's going on with this administration.
I remember those dark days and months after 9/11 and then after several months, realized the narrative of fear was being used for a different end by the Bush Administration but that's how Republicans operate.
Just look at the so-called "Middle Class Tax Cut" that Trump just passed: it's going to cause our deficits to soar and the Republicans will use those deficits to justify taking away many of the social safety nets like Social Security and Medicaid!
We know what their shell games are really about!
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Who? Oh, that guy. What a loser.
22
"In America today, it’s all Trump, all the time. We’re collectively addicted to him." I think that phrase applies mostly to the media. They're too frequently reporting what COULD happen as a result of his actions or inactions; past, present or future. The constant attitude of breathless shock and impending apocalypse to be revealed in the next chapter only serves to desensitize the public. Reduce the unceasing speculation and reiteration.
15
I see your point and agree with it in many respects. Just the other day CNN 'treated' us to Trump's full NRA speech, including airport appearances. I would have preferred just a gew highlights.
On the other hand, Trump in the White House is like having a raging forest fire just a few hundred yards away, and closing in fast. It's hard to concentrate on anything else until it's put out.
46
Maybe “lowlights” would be more accurate.
1
Required reading! Mr Kristof, you have emphasized what is most important in America today! The Press is focusing much too much on 45 to the detriment of all societies! Correctly, some of his and his cronies’ actions need reporting, but never to the exclusion of other catastrophic worldly and local events, as you so correctly identified them.
To the Press, who may have unwittingly aided in the election of 45, turn your focus toward the critical events killing and maiming innocents ‘round the world and ways their leaders can help their people with humane protection and a good life.
This is the goal of important reportage, not the sensational yellow journalism abounding throughout broadcast and print media today. We are grateful for your precision and clarity in this editorial!
8
Everyone is finally realizing that the press inadvertently elected trump because of free publicity that the gop did not have to pay for. It is americas obsession for scandal that placed him in the presidency......just by concentrating on the absurd antics he created. That is why people don't read newspapers except about scandal. Too many people just react to events than try to understand the cause. We have become hypnotized by sound bites because we have lost the concentration necessary to understand oral and printed word. Please America wake up, use your brain power to prevent the theater of the absurd from taking over our lives and the rest if the world.
58
I feel sorry for the Trump voters who genuinely thought he could pivot. That he would actually hire the best people, actually skip golfing, actually make the best deals. Because they've sacrificed their values for a Supreme Court vote that may never come, or may never go their way. Even if Roe v. Wade were over turned there are now so many states that would countenance abortion, it's going to be a Pyrrhic victory.
12
I do feel sorry for them; I feel more sorry for me.
2
Tom Barrack, old friend of Trump (how is that even possible....but oh well) and manager of the Inauguration money said when Trump was elected, 'Now you'll see the softer, kinder Trump". Well, Mr. Barrack......we're still waiting. Guess you didn't know your 'old friend' as well as you thought you did.
Trump has no softer, kinder side. Period. He's a wannabe dictator and he sure doesn't want to be the 'benevolent' kind. He wants to be Putin, Xi, Erdogan, Duterte all rolled into one.
1
Even during the primaries, I kept hope that his name would not be the top story. It continually has been. Now I hope the day will come in my lifetime that his name will not appear on any news page.
19
I'd like to read some articles about him after he goes to prison. You know, every once in a while, how Trump and his Crime Family are doing in prison. Those are stories I look forward to in the future. Maybe that hope will keep me alive way beyond my time.
1
Agreed, where are the discussions regarding infrastructure, the plight of 3 million homeless children, the division of our country, the regal disdain by the elites of 80% of Americans. The threat of conflict between Israel and Iran, the Syrian destruction of their citizens, Kurds, Palestinians. The good economic news, just in Michigan the announcement of 15 new factories, the scramble to fill 186,000 jobs in the Mitten State. Instead the media bites a minnow and proclaims they caught a whale.
My husband and I have taken to watching BBC and CNN International in order to find out what's happening elsewhere on the planet and put Trump into better perspective.
But the minute I have some time to myself I'm back with my iPad reading everything NYT, WaPo and the other real news breakers find fit to print on Trump. I wish I could look away, but with scandals and outrages piling up like dead leaves in winter, I keep hoping for the one that will be too much even for Sean Hannity to stomach, the one that will finally topple this presidency. And fearing the one that finally makes our slow slide from republican democracy inexorable.
I never, ever would have dreamed Ben Franklin's fear for the fragility of the "American experiment" was so prescient: "A republic--if you can keep it" indeed.
76
Has any reader a memory of having daily access to the personal thoughts of the President of Our United States? I don't.
This guy, with an authoritarian personality constantly Tweets his explosive reactions and thoughts about random encounters during his day playing president of our United States. The relentless and flummoxing tweets are not the words of a rational human being . If you miss one, tune in to your TV news agency or read the news print.
How can one not pay attention? Trump is the Commander and Chief of our nation and, the GOP whose job it is supposed to be the voice of everyone of us remains suspiciously silent.
Mr. Kristof, I do not call it an addiction. I call it a shock wave morphing into fearful outrage.
The lot of 'them' have got to go before it's too late. November 2018 vote them out. All of them.
23
I agree with this argument. Other issues are definitely being neglected. For example the global impact of the US State denial of climate change and the deregulating actions of the EPA .
49
As Social Security and Medicare go, so goes our nation!
1
This is an outstanding article. I agree that Trump
is an unfortunate reactionary diversion from confronting
a host of issues such as poverty and early childhood interventions and global security. It is critical that Democrats promote positive solutions to these serious problems and not just react to Trump's slogans and conduct. I am confident that they will and pray that American voters will respond positively to this and eventually reject Trump.
56
I think this is accurate overall. Trump desperately needs attention and he is adept at getting it, clearly more so than ever since January 20, 2017. The best thing we could probably do is to make it clear that we are busy people with important things to attend to with our jobs, families and communities. We don't have time to deal with an incredibly needy personality in the WH who should feel fortunate we pay for his housing and transport. He should be judged on results and held accountable when he violates laws, rules, or established policies. Essentially like any other employee of the US government. Not so unreasonable an expectation is it?
39
Your advice to all Americans to go about our business and only respond if we have to, legally, to him is the advice the Italians have given us. The Italians went through this horribleness with Berlusconi. Attacking his morals and personality didn't work so they only confronted him legally and that's how they won. The moral outrage, they learned, did not help a bit to get rid of him.
I hope we can do that. Because he's making us sick and maybe that's what he wants to do. Easier to control when people are afflicted with health or emotional problems that all this stress has caused.
2
Half the Country may be under the spell of 'Bottom', but behind him is to be found The Republican Party. Dispersed, fragmented, self-destructive, and above all, weak and dangerous to our National Well-being and Future Generation.
Less coverage about Trump, and more focus on getting this Right Wing of The Eagle to function. The Trump saga and its dynasty is crumbling. Do you remember, Mr. Kristof, the political slogan 'United We Stand; Divided We Fall", because our Country is stumbling down the Hill.
In the rural region of Upstate, not far from The City, Trump is rarely mentioned these days. America is not a Tale of Two Cities with dwindling expectations. Our Political Parties are not mortal enemies.
America has so much to offer and we are not asking for the Lion's share. We are in need of work to place food on the table and educate the children. The Economy is booming apparently, but not for those who have been forgotten and are fortunate to work at the Dollar Store; so tired and despondent, while substance abuse continues to rise and hope fades.
For want of a clear Governance Policy, 'The shoe was lost; for want of a shoe, the horse was lost; for want of a horse, the rider was lost; for want of a rider, the Country was lost; and, All for the want of a clear Governance Policy', and the choice is ours, The People, as to whether we want our Country to remain a Democracy.
19
Two millennia ago, the Roman emperors tapped into the psyche of the masses and discovered the secret to staying in power. They came upon the formula they called "bread and circus." Give the people bread and circus and all other issues fall by the side of the road (or, they would say, the Via Appia).
The Roman formula is as true today as it was in the days of Caesar. "Bread" is the economy and "circus" is entertainment and distraction. If the economy is humming (and it is) and there is entertainment and distraction (more than a bacchanal these days) those in power will remain in power.
The coliseum in Rome is a monument to the emperors' strategy - and, in our era, Joe sixpack is fine with that.
38
Yes, where is the mainstream press coverage of the slow but steady effort to call a constitutional convention under the terms of Article V of the U.S. Constitution? Nothing sexy about this story to catch the attention of the public, but if the remaining six or seven state legislatures approve of the call, the significance to the citizenry could be profound.
16
While I agree with you about the danger of a ConCon, we simply can not fall into the what if/what else trap on issues of this magnatude. Right now, cons have all 3 federal branches and 80% of the states so getting rid of a few (even Trump) will not change anything and to be honest, I don't know a way beyond civil war to stop this train wreck.
Thank you Nicholas, at least you have the self awareness to see the Trump addiction. The best thing that we can learn from Mr. Trump is to question our own beliefs.
Let he is without sin throw the first stone.
Someone has to be the grownup in the room.
If we really disapprove of Mr. Trump, we can do more by avoiding all social media, than by finding new negative adjectives to describe him.
9
If the People turned off the TV and CBS decided The Trump Show was getting very low ratings and no longer economical, Trump would be cancelled. If he no longer got his high ratings for his tv show Trump's White House Years and his rallies were not breathlessly covered word for word, maybe we could just cancel him out. The media knows we're addicted and like sugar water to the hummers, they feed him to us.
1
According to most polls, people prefer progressive polices. (Too alliterative?) The downside is those actually cost money to implement and that greatly upsets the donor class of both parties. The Democratic leadership is perfectly happy with our Trump-addiction, because in lieu of any actual agenda, they are banking on it to catapult them to victory in 2018 and 2020. Nobody knows what they would do once in power because, my guess is, that it would be something resembling Hillary's rejected "incrementalism", actually code for dragging your feet on economic anxieties and concentrating on issues like immigration and LGBT rights that won't cost their donors a dime in additional taxes or wages. In their support of the .01%, Schumer and Pelosi have much more in common with McConnell and Ryan than we'd like to imagine.
12
His assault on truth has rocked the foundation on which I am able to see all the needs of the world. To deal with serious issues, one has to approach with basic truths intact. That kindness is a virtue. That knowledge is valued. Foundations have crumbled. I don’t want him to sense that he has “won”, but his words and deeds have threatened our country, as real as any threat of foreign power.
18
The dangers of the Trump presidency alarm so many of us, but our other passions are more varied and diffuse. We need to focus on a unified sense of priorities, but I don't know how to get there. Suggestions?
6
Make limited promises in states like Wisconsin. Explain how you are going to deliver then, deliver.
The vagueness in Hillary’s campaign was not helpful. It appears once again that Democrats are groping their way through ambivalence and uncertainty while Donald polarized on race, wealth levels and every other form of communitarian responsibility. We simply have to be more definitive about what we want and how to get there.
9
The Democrats should focus on 6-8 major issues that they want to fix. The candidates should meet or communicate with each other on this so that when they get elected they are ready to form a solid bloc to effect real change. I would like to know that a large group of newly elected senators or representatives can hit the ground running.
1
In contrast to the few serious issue-oriented reporters, such as Kristof of course, the lack of substantive reporting by political reporters long predates the Trump presidency.
With so many policy alternatives to discuss in the 2016 campaign, and one candidate with detailed policy positions,
https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/
the political journalists discussed what "blood coming out of her whatever" meant for about a week (and emails for about 60 weeks).
Trump has been effective at tapping into the extreme laziness of TV types from Chuck Todd to Matt Lauer (uninformed, unqualified misogynist host of the "national security forum").
Each morning Trump tweets something outrageous, and the TV people blab about it all day.
Of course now no patriot can escape worrying about the destruction of America's democracy and the flouting of democratic norms and laws, thanks to
1) 75,000 Jill Stein voters in 3 states who did not see the difference between someone like Garland and someone like Gorsuch
2) The entire Republican Party, which sold its soul to get Gorsuch on the Court to protect the Republicans' Citizens United money-is-speech-corporations-are-people gravy train from the NRA and others; tax cuts for the wealthiest donors; and, after decades of their desiring this, a chance to destroy Social Security, Medicare, the public schools, immigrant families. (and in fact, just about everything that helped to make America great).
But (hopefully) we still can: Vote.
122
Yes, we can still vote - unless our insecure voting machines are hacked....
6
Thank you for your post. You said it all. VOTE.
4
I'm detecting some signs that the media obsession with Trump may be starting to subside. The cynical among us might observe an increasing suspicion in media circles that Trump mania might be counterproductive in November. They may actually be sensing that there is a large segment of the electorate who are more interested in policies than in circuses. And the time may be approaching for those involved in the Resistance to come up with some positive proposals.
But then again, it may be too late.
9
My wife and I came to your conclusion, Mr. Kristof, about a week ago after spending hours and hours listening to the same stories about Trump, Cohen, Stormy, Kelly and now Giuliani with little change in the overall picture! So, we decided to take a short trip to Monument Valley and take in some of the national beauty of our country instead of listening, continuously to how the "swamp" is degrading our country. What a surprise! We walked away three days later with a renewed dedication to listen to news that is important to the world, not that that salivates over Trump, Trump, Trump! Thank you for pointing this out in this timely article!
29
Nick -- it's the mainstream media that's totally addicted to Trump mania. Every media outlet refuses to leave their comfort zone of denial because they still can't believe they got the outcome of Election 2016 wrong. Nick Kristof et al are so used to picking who is going to be the president that they totally ignored the voters. Voters? Well what do voters know? The media picks the president. End of story.
6
Dear Mr. Kristof,
While one of your fans and a NYT online subscriber, I cannot help but observe that the New York Times and other media companies helped Donald Trump win the presidential election. The relentless focus, fascination and front page photographs during the presidential campaign were one-sided in the extreme.
Please lead by example, as usually do, by reporting on the issues, some of which you mention in your article. Let's not turn the Times and other newspapers of national and international repute into grocery store tabloids. That's what it feels like these days.
50
Yes, tabloid. Relentless photos of Trump shoved at us, on both TV and the paper. Does the media think this attracts instead of repels? I'm turned off.
I want to be informed, but.....how much can I take of this obsessive, repetitive and narrow media coverager? They amplify Trump, then bash him.then splash photos everywhere of his hostile, agressive, authoritarian face. Reality TV news.
We also need deep coverage of crucial issues affecting our lives---- jobs, health care, education, taxes, retirement. What's the Dems' proposals on these?
Right. The NYT's obsessive coverage of Don Trump during the campaign gave him tens of millions of dollars of free publicity. A somewhat speculative case could be made that the NYT gave Don T. a fair amount of help in getting elected President. The NYT should maybe learn something from the past with respect to the November, 2018 election: quieten down. Have only 2 or 3 editorials/columns per week. Especially tell the more leftish columnists to quieten down. Maybe then the Democrats can pick up a few seats in Congress.
1
I have a question, Mr. Kristof: "Were we ever addicted to Obama?" Or is it even a question worthy of discussion since No. 44 was 180 degrees removed from his successor in every positive way imaginable?
Republicans attempted to marginalize him--not because he was a Democrat but because he was black.
They went after him for attempting to get all Americans affordable health care. No Republican votes on that.
They went after him because he had the audacity to wear a tan suit at work.
They went after him because he allowed a young boy to touch his head. In the Oval Office for God's sake!
They went after him because he tossed a football back and forth. And while all these audacious things were happening, the good old U. S. of A. just slid down the bannister of nations to where we're now keeping company with start-ups. Now that they have their puppet in the Oval Office, we don't hear as much as a peep about his scandals.
The media must continue to ride herd on this rogue elephant. If they acquiesce to his absurdities, they will go unreported and unremarked--which is precisely what he wants. He needs the spotlight that is shone on his sins of omission and commission. The more he is visible, the more it helps his brand; this, I'm certain, is his thought process. He sets the cats to fight in the alley but watches from a distance, grinning.
The media shouldn't be obsessed with Trump; it should just do its job, something it didn't do in 2015-2016.
We're all paying for that.
83
@Sox -- great point about the tan suit, but it wasn't the "tan suit" Republicans found fault with, it was President Obama's tan complexion the GOP faithful had a problem with. The suit was just a pretense. The Republicans just didn't like Obama's color, period.
25
Is it obsession with Trump that leads to reporting the the US has pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord and TIPP and is threatening to pull out of the Iran deal and Nafta? Is it obsession with Trump that reports violations of WPO? Is it obsession with Trump that reports promoting guns in the wake of Parkland? Is it obsession with Trump that reports undermining the EPA?
Stormy Daniels can be attributed to obsession with Trump, but much of the Trump reporting is sadly recounting the damage he is doing to our country and to the world.
17
I can't believe you couldn't find one positive thing Trump did. Are positive actions and achievements aren't newsworthy anymore?
8
Sorry. But I can't find one positive thing Trump did either. And it's not only because of all the negative things he has said and done, which are many.
7
Marika,
It would be of far more substance and helpful, if you as an American citizen, would remind others in our midst, of some positive acts on the part of Trump, to refresh our memory and give us a clearer outlook.
1
One cannot find something that does not exist.
2
Trump has a lifetime of practice at working the press. He knows that the more outrageous he behaves and the more controversial things he says the press will cover him and ignore whatever he wants them to ignore. It's no accident that anytime a policy that will negatively impact the American people is about to go into effect Trump will tweet something outrageous and the press falls all over themselves to cover it. Before we know it that thing we were supposed to care about is quickly forgotten. Perhaps the press should focus less on Trump and more on what he's trying to cover up. But of course that type of journalism doesn't make as much money.
18
This is horribly, obviously accurate. Rose is burning, Trump is fiddling, and the press is dancing to his tune. We need to broaden our view and address serious issues home and abroad.
4
Each of those policy and global issues is important, but the catch is that Trump has influence over them.
The drug abuse crisis? Trump used a State of the Union address to call for executing dealers, and he pretends that his border wall is the answer to circulation. Meanwhile, Trump's Attorney General wants to incarcerate users and even go after marijuana smokers in states where it is legal.
Gun violence? Trump recently spoke yet again to the NRA, and has clearly retreat from any regulations he ever entertained.
The bloodshed in Gaza? Pompeo is a mouthpiece for Netanyahu, their lethal tactics, and the far right Likud agenda.
The catastrophe in Yemen? Trump happily helps the Saudis bomb civilians and establish regional dominance over Shiites. Speaking of which, the Iran deal hangs by a thread; if Trump rips it, nuclear containment is out the window.
The best guidance for media is to extensively cover candidates for the upcoming midterms. Congress is the strongest antidote to Trump. Helping voters see how lawmakers would or would not counter Trump's policies is how to use your power right now.
11
Trump is not very interesting, much less fascinating. This makes the media's dependence on him for "news of the day" all the more baffling. The Russia collusion story, with smoking guns from only bit players, became boring months ago. It's become more like a comic book than a non-fiction thread of intrigue and dark characters. This said, Trump has been more masterful at using media than they him.
5
Trump spent years developing a way of manipulating the media, and it has gotten him all the way to The White House with a little help from Comey, Putin, and the outdated Electoral College. We are in the midst of the second minority presidency of the young 21st century. And, as bad as the first one was; and let's never kid ourselves it was VERY bad from an unnecessary, expensive war complete with torture to two tax cuts for the wealthy and finally a major worldwide economic collapse--the Great Recession of 2008. Now with Trump we have had one massive tax cut for the wealthy, cuts to health care for millions, deportations in the tens of thousands, a brewing trade war with China, and what appears to be a prelude to another major war in the Middle East, this time with Iran. And, we are all watching helplessly as President Trump aided and actively abetted by the Republican Congress is waging a demolition derby against the Constitution and the "rule of law" that he mistakenly believes should serve him and not the nation. The attacks against his own Justice Department including the FBI are like his tweets on a 24/7 news cycle that keep us all watching in horror as to the latest attack on our democracy and the very basic sense of human decency. It may be "addiction;" it may be "fear and loathing;" it may be disbelief that he can lie so recklessly, attack so viciously, treat women so shamelessly, and face no consequences other than the looming shadow of the Special Counsel.
34
Could it be that the rise of Trump is a prelude to coming end of the American Exceptionalism? Afterall, every Empire began with a rise, a dominance and a fall. Is America's dominance crumbling under the dead weight of a Trump administration?
I don't think so. America is certainly going through a reckoning right now, but I believe she will reclaim her rightful place in the world as the indispensable lighthouse guiding the world to a just and peaceful future.
In the meantime, the peoples of the world need to realize that America's absence as the leader of the world is only a temporary phenomenon caused by her temporary soul searching episode.
America will return to the world stage better, stronger, fairer and friendlier.
2
I wish i could agree. The country could not be more divided than it is now. The Civil War was we orse but we know it never really ended absent an enemy from without. Well we have one, irrespective of any claim of collusion, we can all agree the Rusdians interfered in the the election but there ia a huge contingent including the president who do not seem conxerned. Imagine if Sanders had been the democratic candidate and the Russians had interfered on his behalf. Would anyone be anything but outraged and calling for dramatic and devastating sanctions?
8
you say America will return to the world stage better, stronger, fairer and friendlier. 4 things? But who will write the script for that world stage presentation? Will it be like reality tv or reality? Give one example of what and how.
All Trump all the time is how media helped Trump get elected in the first place. I kept hoping to see something--anything--about the many other candidates in the race, but somehow, whether in print or on TV, the subject was Trump. (We didn't need Russia's help.) And you're still wondering how to shift the focus to other people, other topics. Watch or listen to Amy Goodman's extraordinary program, "Democracy Now." It's astonishing how much is going on in the world that isn't about this reality show mafioso and his various scandals and idiocies. But that's what media folks want to see these days. We don't. You guys choose for us.
38
Mr. KRISTOF:
I do not have an "Addiction to Trump." On the contrary, I am very happy with what he has done for America thus far.
6
Sarah: Can you name one positive thing ("positive" in your eyes, of course) that Trump has done that is remotely different from what any Republic president with a Republican-Controlled Congress would have done.
Note:
(a) the question is rhetorical (and no, Korea doesn't count - but you have to turn off Hannity long enough to understand why)
3
Do you have children?
Are you happy to leave them a world with constant extreme weather -- droughts, hurricanes, tornados, wildfires, oceans and rivers flooding our coasts and banks,? Are you happy to have them breathe filthy air, drink polluted water, eat foods grown in contaminated soil?
Do you want your children to be educated? Do you want them to know how to survive in the world you'll leave them? Even if you are wealthy and can afford private schools, those who will be performing the real work will barely be able to read or do simple math if current trends continue. These are the people who will complete medical forms, build homes, install wiring and plumbing. -- Sixteen years ago, my mother died because a young clerk couldn't read simple medical instructions. Our public schools have only become worse, and the current secretary of education is intent on weakening them.
Do you want your children to have good, reliable health care? Even if you are wealthy and can pay for private care, if the nation as a whole does not have good health care, all of its citizens are at risk when the inevitable pandemics strike. If you are not wealthy, how do you expect your children to pay for the costs of care and medicine?
Are you happy to leave your children with a national debt of more than a trillion dollars?
Do you want your children to be bullies and liars and cheats? This is the model Trump is setting for young people today.
Do you want your children to have no morals?
2
Sarah, this is a good attitude on your part and it might help to share with some others, all this happiness that Trump has brought to our Country.
Memo to N. Kristof:
What issues are you going to research and write about as you wean yourself off this trump addiction?
I'd enjoy reading in depth articles you write about the all the ways government action and inaction impacts American children under the age of 10.
Start with education, and tie it to the actions of the current Dept of Education and its Secretary. Move on to the health insurance issues under the current Dept. of Health and Human Services. Then write about how changes in clean water and air, and how the use of agricultural chemicals under Pruitt's EPA, impact children.
All of this has been covered in print and on the air. And then disappears.
Will you be the one to keep the drums beating? Keep taking a look at each cabinet department and how each one's actions impact our children.
Looking forward to reading your columns on what government is doing as opposed to the magic tricks on the national stage. And looking forward to seeing how your influence on your colleagues inspires them to do the same.
136
Excellent post. This should have been a NYTimes pick. Your suggestions are spot on.
6
The healthy thing about our addiction to Trump, despite all the noise about “normalizing” this and that, is that with every announcement of some new mummy discovered in the desert of his former life, people continue to go “oh … my.” Nothing really has been normalized, and he continues to amaze in the depths of his out-thereness.
That’s a good thing. It means that whenever he’s done with us and we’re done with him – tomorrow, 20 Jan. 2021 or 20 Jan. 2025, we’ll be accepting of a new president whose peccadilloes are as boring as George H.W. Bush’s aversion to broccoli.
But Nick is unlikely to be satisfied by Trump: he doesn’t EVEN get the distinction of Trump saying of him “Crackpot Krisitofff is the WORST lying reporter at the FAILING NYTimes EVER!!!” Life can be a bummer … and then you die.
I have one of those INconvenient memories that forgets very little. I started reading newspapers regularly during the early days of the Nixon administration, and through ALL of the tenures of the succeeding worthies who have held that office newspapers and pundits have excoriated or heaped unleavened praise on the occupant – and kept our fascination with the president at obsessive levels. As acknowledged by Nick in his column opening, it sells newspapers, and these days attracts clicks and Internet, cable and broadcast viewership; and, with all that obsession, money to the Fourth Estate and talking-heads generally.
2
But, clearly, information pimpage is not “giving up” on other topics. Whether it’s #MeToo or teachers’ compensation or LBGTQ issues or voting rights or any number of other issues of the day, someone in the MSM, sooner or later, will notice that we’re discussing and in some cases moving forward on these issues under Trump faster than we have as a society since the 1960s. Amazing that a guy who can still elicit the reaction “oh … my” to truly outrageous behavior … could also have such a productive impact on our society.
2
@ Richard Luettgen - trump is having "a productive impact on our society" - the same way tornados have a productive impact on the landscape.
2
Teachers who work hard and abhor seeking help from the government have been pushed to such extremes by cuts in funding and a clueless administration that wants to fit them with guns rather than school supplies are now going on strike in a massive scale.
Thank you donald trump!
Women have been abused at every level society and their abuse has been ignored and worse -- when seeking justice they have been blamed and even accused. We have a president who has abused a list of women as long as your arm (with many more who have not spoken up, we can be sure) and have witnessed trump deny, blame and silence with threats as well as money. The #MeToo movement has certainly moved forward!
Thank you donald trump!
And then there's the gun issue, where trump likes to give his puppet show version of the Paris shooting, with all the awareness of a 10 year old playing cowboys and Indians.
And so on. " Amazing that a guy who can still elicit the reaction “oh … my” to truly outrageous behavior … could also have such a productive impact on our society."
Yeah. The reaction is a prissy "Oh my!" And trump is a positive force for progress. By negative example, or like the measles and smallpox.
Perverse, Richard.
2
I would like to add that TRUMP IS focusing on the most important global issues, namely The Koreas, China, and Israel-Iran. That’s plenty. If we make progress in any of these crucial areas that will be more than our previous three presidents.
5
No offense, but there's a YUGE difference between "focusing on the most important global issues" -- and actually getting something done.
Don't put the cart before the horse.
22
The most important global issues are our changing climate, overpopulation, growing unequal distribution of wealth, and our present industrial revolution in which people are being replaced by machines. Trump is incapable of focusing on any of them, and even those who can and do focus on them are overwhelmed.
11
For a news source that gives ample attention to the stories that this piece says are under covered, watch the PBS Newshour. For example, in the fall they did a series over several weeks on the opioid crisis.
50
Michelle Wolf put this better. After pointing out that the media loves Trump, she concluded: Flint still doesn't have clean water.
The reality is that American media do not, as a rule, investigate the powerful half as much as they should. This newspaper went along with the Iraq war's false justifications, often gave Obama a pass, and served as cheerleader for candidate Clinton while ignoring Sanders.
278
" .. she concluded: Flint still doesn't have clean water .. "
She was wrong. Read this from the local Flint newspaper --
http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2017/12/state_says_flint_schoo...
" .. Flint Community Schools won't allow the state to flush lines or test water inside any of its 13 buildings .."
Flint has been Democrat-controlled for 50+ years. Their wasteful foot-dragging has contributed to this crisis.
Read Frank Rich's "The Original Trump" in NY Magazine, in which he concludes that "No behavior is too appalling to sophisticated New Yorkers as long as you are skilled at trading power and influence. Roy Cohn knew this. And he taught it to his longtime client only too well."
I could never understand the support for the Iraq War (my son was a Marine lawyer in Ramadi) pushed by many in the media (I'm not naming names). And oh I supported Bernie too....though I did vote for Clinton. But this article was an eye opener for me.
5
"This newspaper went along with the Iraq war's false justifications, often gave Obama a pass . . . "
Absolutely true. But in relation to our present situation, it's more important to note that during the Obama administration this newspaper & the MSM gave the Republicans a pass. The behavior of the GOP leadership during the Obama administration was not one whit more coherent or honest than Trump's. But the media, and the Democrats, treated them with a deference that was, in effect, a collaboration with their criminality.
9
One century at a time, Nick. Right now we are lost in 17th Century England.
6
Yes, Mr. Kristof, you’re so right. This president is a walking serial, a Saturday matinee cliffhanger that has the antagonist in mortal danger, yet miraculously escapes peril before our eyes and wades into more danger in the next episode, only to somehow wriggle free of his own snares. This is an unusual presidency because the occupant of that office is not a really a statesman but a cartoon, a bumbling Elmer Fudd who always seems to be in over his head.
Journalists haven’t seen this act before so they’re mesmerized, astonished and aghast that this cartoon has come to life. This man has to be seen to be believed, thus the attraction and coverage given the president. This ongoing soap opera in the undrained Washington swamp is “As the World Turns”, “A Secret Storm” and “Dallas” combined into a reality show that’s as incoherent as the president’s vision for America or his policies that seem destined to be overturned by the courts. This president is Nero without a fiddle who has thrown not evangelical Christians but American democracy to the lions.
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@Silver Vibes (Lionel Hampton): No; DJT is not Nero. He's more like Massala in Ben-Hur: pure evil, just for the fun of it. Knows he's wrong but doesn't care. What's worse is that 85% of Republicans feel the same way. Don't let the 40% base fool you: it's the GOP in state legislatures in Congress and A.L.E.C., the Kochs, the Mercers. The Roberts Court (the five hard-right votes) are in this together, too. They want a plutocracy of the white and the wealthy. After they've won, they'll turn Clarence "Uncle" Thomas out on the street.
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Your column may have backfired. There is too much flattering of 45 here. You mention his name numerous times and say that he will be studied centuries from now. That's what he WANTS.
Michelle Wolf at the Correspondence Dinner last week was right. You guys are obsessed with the man. I liked him better on The Apprentice.
I want Obama back.
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But it's true. He will be studied into the future, across the world, as the shame of America, as a warning to the world of what a democracy can fall into. Who cares what he wants or doesn't?
You watched the Apprentice?
We need to move beyond Obama, who of course is much superior to this caricature of a leader. We need a leader to really strongly push for a health care system that doesn't use our taxes for insurance co. profits.
Our last 2 Dem presidents cooperated too much with GOP. The worst damage of Trump is to make us tolerate a mediocre Dem, for relief.
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I was sad for America when “The Apprentice” was a thing.
The false prophet had arrived.
I had a sense of foreboding at that time, and I’m guessing I wasn’t alone.
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I agree with your first two paragraphs.
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Coca-Cola was excoriated for their efforts to increase"share of stomach". We need to think about our "share of attention" and the allocation we give to Trump.
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“[Trump] is also being investigated for possibly ... colluding with a foreign power’s attack on our electoral system.”
If another country wants to change the outcome of U.S. elections the most effective way to do it is by hacking our electronic voting machines.
NYT: Computer Voting Is Open to Easy Fraud, Experts Say https://tinyurl.com/ycanp24r
Thirty voting machines were hacked in 90 minutes at last year’s DEF CON conference. The machines have security flaws — even teenagers are able to hack them.
How a 16-Year-Old Hacked a Voting Machine [at DEF CON 2017] https://tinyurl.com/y7dxpb56
The hack from the Emmy nominated documentary “Hacking Democracy.” https://tinyurl.com/y7c9oopu. (The full-length video can be found on YouTube.)
Victoria Collier in her piece below points out that researchers from Johns Hopkins, Princeton, Rice, and Stanford Universities, the Brennan Center, and the GAO have shown that elections can be hacked (or manipulated by insiders), and it can be done by using self-deleting code.
How to Rig an Election https://tinyurl.com/y9xx63f6
“In 2005, the non-partisan Commission on Federal Election Reform, chaired by Jimmy Carter and James Baker, stated unequivocally that the greatest threats to secure voting are insiders with direct access to the machines. ‘There is no reason to trust insiders in the election industry any more than in other industries.’”
Other democracies count their ballots by hand. It’s the international gold standard.
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Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, and Norway went back to hand counting after realizing the vulnerabilities with computerized voting.
NYT: Fearful of Hacking, Dutch Will Count Ballots by Hand https://tinyurl.com/
Stephen Spoonamore, Computer Security Guru, Election Theft with Voter Machines
https://tinyurl.com/y7855vmp
"I am a Republican. This is not a partisan issue. This is a democracy issue. If you actually care about a constitutional democracy where every person actually votes, that the vote is validated, and the people who end up in office are reflected on the basis of the way people voted you care about this issue. If you don't want people to vote, and if you don't want people's vote to count, you want to rule without owning it by a mandate, then you are very supportive of Diebold."
Jonathan Simon: "[Election fraud] is really the hub at the center of all the other concerns that people have. And you see people whether it’s save the whales or save the forests or save Social Security, whatever it is, working very hard on these issues and perhaps not recognizing that if elections continued to be rigged their work is going to be for naught.”
Jonathan Simon: How Much Faith Do You Have in the Vote Counting Process? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TY6FCsVWGlM
More Simon interviews: http://codered2014.com/. You will learn new information from each one. He is the author of "Code Red: Computerized Election Theft and the New American Century."
#SayNoToFaithBasedVoting
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The correct link for:
Fearful of Hacking, Dutch Will Count Ballots by Hand
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/01/world/europe/netherlands-hacking-conc...
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Since Kristof writes a lot on international issues, he'd be the columnist to write on how other democracies count their ballots by hand-- 'an international gold standard.' Then go on TV with this, and publicize it.
Also other nations have national standards of conducting their voting. Here we let each state do it.
They use independent commisssions, not parties to draw voting districts. Here, the GOP does manipulative gerrymandering and voter suppression.
Where are our columnists on this. It's not just Trump.
Where’s Caligula when you need him? The guy we’ve got doesn’t have that malevolent flair. And unlike his test scores in college, he’s not likely to go down in history—other than as a disturbing footnote. He’ll be in the presidential record book all right, but with an asterisk.
Speaking of Caligula, I think I’m going to make up some “Incitatus for President!” campaign buttons. An entire horse could probably do the job better than the aft portion of one that we’ve got now.
The problem with this president far exceeds the mere destruction of government as we know it. The humane treatment of various vulnerable populations is off the table. Any man who can insult the mayor of Puerto Rico as she begs for assistance to deal with the near destruction of the island can easily rip children from the arms of immigrant parents, try to kill Obamacare, sidle up to the N.R.A. or ignore the spread of disease.
Climate change is another grim reality, given the spate of weather-related disasters that have descended like a plague of locusts during this presidency. An omen? Or just years of Republican recalcitrance and a failure to understand the science and its consequences? Dissing the Paris Climate Accord lets you know where the president stands.
Oddly, the #MeToo movement doesn’t seem to have touched—or should I say groped—the president. It brought down Al Franken for a comedian’s booby-groping pantomime pic. Yet the boob of all boobs lives to grope another day.
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I remember the San Juan Mayor's criticism of Trump. She was insulting because aid wasn't coming fast enough to suit her. I didn't see her insulting the Puerto Rican government though for blowing threw $70 B with no plan of paying it back and having no money to help the municipalities.
Not one member of the Paris Accord met its objectives last year and none are on the line to making them this year either. Informed Americans knew that China was being given until 2030 to even start reducing its carbon footprint. They also knew that we had been spending money we didn't have and costing American jobs with this program. We also had the sneaking suspicion that the only reason we were needed in the accord was so we could give them $3 B to subsidize countries that will never meet their goals.
Many of the children have been found to not belong to the person presenting them but are being delivered to a parent already here illegally. Until the child is properly identified it will be removed for identification. Some are being used to arouse sympathy and or benefits.
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D & D - divert and deflect. Trump has taught you well.
NYHUGUENOT:
From Sean Hannity's lips to your fingers.
When people talk about trump at parties they just say he is horrible. But why cannot california outlaw cars using gasoline by 2040 ? The UK is taking the lead. California represents 1/3rd of the entire US car market giving the state enormous bargaining power. The state of the bay area freeways is poor in many places, even right in front of Apple and facebook- on 85s snd 101s. There are bumps, big cracks and even potholes. These two companies alone are worth 1.5 trillion. Cant the state impose increased taxes on companies to fix the roads ? Apple just bought back 100 billion worth of their shares. Institutional and ultra rich shareholders, who own 84 percent of stocks are making a windfall out of it with no benefit to their community
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Thank you, Nick, for eloquently expressing what I have been thinking about since the first months of this administration. Those who voted for this president are clearly not getting what they had hoped for, and the rest of us are seeing the end of the societal and international progress we made over the last three administrations. I am embarrassed as an American, worried about the future of our alliances, and terrified for our next generation.
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Indeed, Nick. As Susan Glasser said in her New Yorker column yesterday, "Little more than fifteen months into his Presidency, the attention-seeking President has the rest of the world right where he wants it: hanging on his every word, clamoring for personal meetings, beating its way to the Oval Office. He is the indispensable man. ...and that’s the point: all roads now lead through Trump. (https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-trumps-washington/donald-trum...
We all are addicted to him. During the campaign, before he won the nomination, I vowed not to click on any article about him, but now I am nearly obsessed with learning his newest obscene action or speech or.... It really is sad. Worse than sad, because if we don't elect a Democratic congress this fall, vast amounts of tragedy await.
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What I’ve come to realise is that it’s not “the rest of the world” that is addicted to him. There aren’t many articles on Trump’s every tweet or statements to be found in Dutch newspapers.
It’s an American obsession. If Mueller’s investigation doesn’t lead to evidence of Trump colluding with Russia during the presidential campaign, the American people will have to vote him out of office at the next presidential elections. And in the mean time, focus on issues that will still need to be fixed, after Trump is gone.
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Canadian news sources are much more focused on how the Pinocchio President is playing at the NAFTA negotiations, than on his other behaviors.
Our Canadian economy is at stake. The rest of Trumpworld is a combo of Political Game of Thrones and Limbo Ethics Contest (how low can he/they go?) .
It’s important to debate crucial policies, but the mechanisms for effecting policy change are our government institutions, and right now they are under threat. Until we right that ship, we will not have much impact on immigration or health or anything else.
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Maybe it's just my imagination but it seems that investigative journalism has never been better. Trump has broadened the audience significantly for all kinds of issues simply by drawing more eyeballs to a vibrant on-line media.
Sure, we glance at the latest supermarket tabloid headlines about Cohen, Guiliani, Manafort and my personal favorite, Scott Pruitt. But then at least I dig into the more interesting stories about trade, immigration, environment, health care and international situations.
Just like the outrageous profiteering in the Pharma industry is driving huge R&D investments in the next breakthrough drugs, the dramatic events of the last two years seem to be rocket fuel for important media coverage.
Just make sure to save plenty of bandwidth for planetary environmental issues because that is going to get us in the end.
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Pharma spends more on marketing than R&D.
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The "mainstream" media is learning what Fox & the right wing media discovered 20 + years ago: that fear & anger sell much better than knowledge & empowerment.
I don't mean that Mr Trump's presidency isn't an appropriate occasion for fear & anger; it is. But by turning the presidency into a clown act taken straight from the right wing's fake news/entertainment industry, the Republicans have forced us all to play by their market-driven, anti-democratic rules. You can't argue with a clown, or with people who think that entertainment is leadership. It isn't just a question of the economics of attention, or available space in the paper. It's a question of how democracy & informed debate survive when the powerful have found a way to drown it out. They don't.
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" .. You can't argue with a clown .."
Legal working Americans feel the same about the Democrats and their pro-illegal immigration plans and their wild-spending ideas, sir.
Thanks for repeating HRC's 2016 speeches. Keep it up -- it will help keep the Democrats, a minor party. Peace!
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Sex also sells and, as usual, that's proving a double-edged sword to be used against Trump and his petty enablers.
Democracy and informed debate will never die because, eventually, reality kicks back in. We just need to make it over the hump of our behavioral inertia.
The Nazis did the same thing in the 1930s and it worked rather well. For a while.
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