Clickbait Fuels Obsession on Biden's Age
A smart friend challenged my notion that media erred in making Biden's mistakes a leading story while looking calmly on evidence of Trump's cracked psyche. Trump's bizarre jabbering is not as newsworthy, he said, because his followers don't care. That may be so, but it says volumes about his ability to run the most powerful country on earth.
As for the politics of it, fence-sitting independents should be taking note. Wonder how they feel about Trump's latest horrifying brag that he would encourage Russia to "do whatever the hell they want" to our NATO allies if they didn't spend enough on defense.
What ultimately matters is what our leaders do. Biden just got Democrats to go along with a very strong border control deal that made virtually no concessions to his party's left flank. Trump, for all his hollering about chaos at the border, bullied Republicans to kill the bipartisan agreement precisely because it would have ended the chaos. He needs America to fail as a campaign strategy.
Biden is leading the West through several international crises. He's rebuilding the country's crumbling roads and bridges. He's bringing back factory jobs. The economy sparkles. So what if he walks stiffly and can't remember a date from nine years ago.
My theory is that some media deemed "liberal" see a business model in whipping up the anxieties of their audiences. You can see it in the hysterical coverage of errors Democratic presidents make whereas gross memory lapses from Trump get filed as "Well, that's just Donald." Fearmongering does work as clickbait, you know.
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Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com. To find out more about Froma Harrop and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.
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