Normalizing Trump is a choice

In a recent speech Trump went Nazi even by Trump standards:

Former president Donald Trump denigrated his domestic opponents and critics during a Veterans Day speech Saturday, calling those on the other side of the aisle “vermin” and suggesting that they pose a greater threat to the United States than countries such as Russia, China or North Korea. That language is drawing rebuke from historians, who compared it to that of authoritarian leaders.

“We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country that lie and steal and cheat on elections,” Trump said toward the end of his speech, repeating his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. “They’ll do anything, whether legally or illegally, to destroy America and to destroy the American Dream.”

Trump went on further to state: “the threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous and grave than the threat from within. Our threat is from within. Because if you have a capable, competent, smart, tough leader, Russia, China, North Korea, they’re not going to want to play with us.”

I’m not sure why this appeared on Sunday rather than Saturday, but otherwise this is how to do it — strong lede, extensive quotes to provide full context, and an accurate, informative headline:

Good job by LeVine and her editors.

Then there’s the Paper of Record:

NYT covering Hillary Clinton’s “deplorables” remark vs NYT covering Donald Trump’s “vermin” remark. pic.twitter.com/SR2gLIlEvb— Gabe Ortíz (@TUSK81) November 12, 2023

With the departure of Nigel Tufnel, Donald Trump decided on some experimental material, a Jazz Odyssey if you will. I hope you like his new direction!

The fate of the republic depends in part in whether political jopurnalists do journalism, or whatever it is that the Times did here.