Boston Globe columnist Joanna Weiss says it’s time to “cut off” Donald Trump, and she’s attempting to enlist the media’s to help do so.
“If CNN has any backbone or sense of civic duty, it will disinvite Donald Trump from next week’s Republican primary debate. If other TV news operations have any self-respect, they’ll do the same,” Weiss wrote in her latest column.
CNN is set to host the fifth GOP primary debate next Tuesday, Dec. 15, at which the self-funded billionaire and Republican front-runner will again take center stage.
“Strike Trump from the booking lists of talking-head shows … keep him off late-night comedy TV. It’s been a good run; they’ve all squeezed ratings and advertising dollars from the Trump juggernaut. Now they need to stop treating him like an honored guest,” Weiss continues.
Weiss claims the air time the billionaire receives, and the constant discussion of his candidacy, “amounts to more than journalism.”
She cites data from the Television News Archive showing 16,000 mentions of Trump in the last month, compared to 5,000 for Florida senator and GOP hopeful Marco Rubio and 6,000 for presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, to reinforce her argument.
“Between the heavily-promoted bookings and the knee-jerk deference, it’s a rolled-out red carpet and a gilded platform, a legitimacy beyond what he deserves,” Weiss contends.
According to Weiss, who believes Trump is “trolling the election,” the Republican front-runner “isn’t a credible candidate.” That’s why, she argues, he shouldn’t be earning the news coverage he does.
“He’s a broader, uglier, more successful version of the guy from the “Rent Is Too Damn High Party,” a novelty act with a one-note message, playing a game with the media and the electoral process,” she writes, adding, “the rest of us don’t have to play along.”
