It's down to the wire and Donald Trump is embracing a scenario in which Liz Cheney is positioned to have guns "trained on her face." The vicious remarks, which Cheney has since condemned as echoing the behavior of a dictator, came at an event with Tucker Carlson that also saw the former president calling Joe Biden a "stupid bastard" and Kamala Harris a "sleazebag."
But headlines are still laser-focused on Biden reportedly calling Trump supporters "garbage" after a comedian called Puerto Rico an "island of garbage" at a MAGA rally last weekend.
Now, I don't think Biden's words were exactly wise; no one wants to repeat the supposed outrage of "deplorables." But days out of an election that could open a horrific new chapter in US history, how is the media still covering this "garbage" moment? "Did Biden's 'garbage' gaffe upstage Harris's closing argument?" Politico asked this week.
Even this morning, alongside coverage of Trump's violent remarks, the New York Times ran an opinion piece headlined "Can we please mute the president for a few more days?" Maybe it's my anxious state, but all this has me livid today. Hear me out:
Trump’s menacing language—a constant for almost a decade—rarely draws the notice that Garbage-gate has received. To call this imbalance typical both-sidesism fails to adequately convey the failures of the media in 2024. We’re all a bit desensitized. But the use of such violent rhetoric by hideous men within reach of the White House should still shock us. Anything less, well, is garbage.
That strange yelp you hear in the background? Yeah, that's your newsletter writer shrieking in pure agony.
—Inae Oh
