Does the Media Really Believe Everything It Says About Donald Trump?

Here’s an experiment. Tell a large group of people who depend on you for authoritative information and societal analysis that someone is fascism incarnate for months on end. Cast this person as a singular threat to democracy who, if he hasn’t already, will do everything in his power to subvert the very freedoms that their lives are based upon. After whipping the group into a frenzy, such that they react to the physical presence of this person as an occasion to riot, condemn them for acting on what you’ve told them.

Such is the case right now at Vox, which recently suspended editor Emmett Rensin for his tweets that encouraged people to riot at Trump rallies. The offending tweets were, of course, sent out on a night when an actual riot took place, when supporters at a Trump rally in San Jose were beaten, bloodied, pelted with eggs, and generally harassed by a crowd of close to 400 protesters. Rensin was castigated for inciting violence and suspended by Vox. In a statement, editor-in-chief Ezra Klein said that while Vox doesn’t “take institutional positions on most questions,” Rensin had crossed a boundary by “directly encouraging dangerous, illegal activity,” and would be suspended as such.

Continue reading "Does the Media Really Believe Everything It Says About Donald Trump?" at...