Why Don't People Learn?

Our media is continuing to cover President Trump in the same way that he's been covered since the 2016 campaign, the same way that has contributed to his ability to continue to get away with ethical, legal, and personal transgressions. For anyone who understands that media coverage of the 2016 election was a big part of the problem, this is frustrating.

There is no question that the media covered Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump differently during the 2016 campaign. A study from Harvard found that, not only was Clinton covered more negatively than Trump, but also that the overwhelmingly negative coverage for the entire campaign meant that someone like Trump ("a charlatan") had an advantage. When all the media coverage is negative, a liar will have a distinct advantage.

I'm tired of the "horse-race coverage" that the media relies on so heavily, especially when they're measuring their success in clicks and likes. I don't care who's leading in polls; I want to know their ideas and policies, their plans, and their positions. Unfortunately, the media are showing very little sign of changing how they cover elections, so it's going to be up to the candidates, themselves, and their parties.

I want Trump to lose in 2020. So, I propose that every Democrat who gets in front of a reporter and/or a camera from now until November 2020 starts by saying something like, "It took the Trump administration SIX WEEKS to respond to the coronavirus, SIX WEEKS during which people got sick, people spread the disease, and people died." It should be pretty easy to focus on Trump's response to the coronavirus since it's likely to still be relevant in the summer and fall. There is plenty to criticize in his response, or lack thereof, and Democrats could score lots of rhetorical victories if they had a single, unifying message.

Yes, I know it's a negative message, which is something Democrats seem to shy away from in campaigns. But honestly, isn't it also a unifying message? Don't the majority of people think Trump wasted those six weeks, when he could have gotten the country on better footing for dealing with this virus? We could have worked harder and faster to develop tests, which are still lacking! We could have gotten Congress together earlier to develop a stimulus plan! We could have collaborated with other countries to distribute supplies and share expertise! We could have accepted the WHO's offer of testing kits!