Brutal analysis highlights media failures on Trump's threat to democracy

The U.S. media has failed to communicate the threat Donald Trump poses to democracy, a leading media critic concludes.

A recent poll shows the twice-impeached, four-times-indicted former president easily winning the 2024 election over President Joe Biden in several key states that will likely determine the race, and media critic Margaret Sullivan wrote a new column for The Guardianexplaining how journalists have failed to present the facts against Trump.

"It’s now clearer than ever that Trump, if elected, will use the federal government to go after his political rivals and critics, even deploying the military toward that end," Sullivan wrote. "His allies are hatching plans to invoke the Insurrection Act on day one."

Multiple reports have shown that Trump and his allies are planning to impose autocratic control over the federal government, but Sullivan said the media has engaged in both-sides reporting that contrasts Biden's age to Trump's "freewheeling" style as if those are comparable flaws.

"Here’s what must be hammered home: Trump cannot be re-elected if you want the United States to be a place where elections decide outcomes, where voting rights matter, and where politicians don’t baselessly prosecute their adversaries," Sullivan wrote. "Trump’s threats to democracy? That’s a harder story to tell. Harder than 'Joe Biden is old.' Harder than: 'Gosh, America is so polarized.'"

"Journalists need to figure out a way to communicate it – clearly and memorably," she added. "It’s the media’s responsibility to grab American voters by the lapels, not just to nod to the topic politely from time to time."