Readers needed to know that, when you visit Arlington, you might not know exactly what you’re supposed to do when confronted by those rows of headstones, but you damn sure know what you’re not supposed to do. But the coverage this week left many readers with the impression that the whole thing might have been a bureaucratic mix-up, or some tedious violation of protocol. It focused on bland horse-race coverage so common during election season, rather than clearly stating what really took place: an egregious and willful violation of long-standing norms. What was missing from the coverage was a willingness to quickly and decisively state what a grievous insult the whole debacle was to the dignity of Arlington. The sacred had been profaned.
Well fucking said.
The media chose to show Trump’s empty rallies in 2016 over Bernie Sanders’s absolutely packed rallies. There were leaked conversations from high up that specifically told pundits not to cover Bernie.
More recently, the media chose to not take any of Trump’s many, many criminal acts seriously (attempting to overthrow the 2020 election, multiple cases of rape, stealing classified documents to sell to foreign governments, not paying his workers throughout his whole life, no fact checking his many defamatory claims), nor have the media chosen to cover Project 2025 nonstop, as they should be doing.
You can tell more about the media based on what they choose not to cover more than what they choose to cover.