Appearing on Monday’s MSNBC Live With Stephanie Ruhle, left-wing New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof promoted his latest piece for the paper, warning of a media “addiction” to covering the “car wreck” of Donald Trump’s presidency. He confessed that journalists “blew it in 2016" and feared the President’s agenda was being implemented while his press colleagues were being distracted by “the latest shiny object.”
“A new op-ed in The New York Times reads, quote, ‘In America today, it’s all Trump, all the time. We’re collectively addicted to him. Trump is enormously important, but there’s so much else happening as well,’” cited anchor Stephanie Ruhle as she introduced Kristof. Moments later, he explained: “I’m not arguing that we should avert our eyes, that we should provide less accountability coverage. But there’s also, I think, some real danger that we allow Trump to set the agenda....”
The op-ed writer lamented: “I think we did this in the campaign, frankly, in 2016, to our detriment and to the country’s detriment, that we were like yapping dogs following, you know, the latest thing he said or the latest shiny object.” He went on to add: “And I’m afraid that we have, at this point, you know – I mean, Trump is our business model in the media.”
Ruhle pointed out how guilty the Times itself was when it came to covering Trump: “What should we do? The New York Times writes pieces on this every day. The New York Times knows exactly what readers have an appetite for reading.” Kristof admitted: “Yeah, I mean, and I must say that if I were executive producer of a show, I would be Trump all the time...”
He continued the hand-wringing: “...so many of us went into the media because we wanted to make a difference, because we do think that we play an important role informing society about important issues. And I think we blew it in 2016...”
After Ruhle claimed to “wrestle with this every day,” Kristof launched into a rant comparing the Trump administration to a crash on the side of the road:
Well, I mean, President Trump is just the ultimate car wreck. I mean, how can you go by without rubbernecking? And so – but I think we have to distinguish between what is truly important for the country versus what just is a car wreck. And so, even to the extent we’re going to have this obsession, let’s at least have an obsession not just with his words, but with his actions.
Minutes later, he implored his colleagues:
I think that we in the media really should be more willing to look in the mirror and learn lessons. As I said, in 2016 we too often, and I think it’s rude to say so, but cable television in particular, I think, has suffered from this addiction. We kept the camera on him because he answered the crisis in our business model. As long as cameras were on him and that car wreck, then viewers followed. And that was great for audiences, it wasn’t great for our profession. It wasn’t great for the country.
Despite Kristof scolding the media for being obsessed with Trump, Ruhle pointed out that he requested the President attack him: “In your piece, you jokingly asked Trump to go after you like he has Maggie Haberman, Don Lemon, my colleague Charles Todd, why?” Kristof replied: “I just feel left out. I mean, what am I going to tell my kids that here he is denouncing all these other people and, you know....it’s like being left off the White House enemies list back in the Nixon years.”
In Saturday’s edition of the Times, Kristof’s column was split between being critical of the press and blasting Trump. He simultaneously worried about journalists being “locked in a symbiotic relationship” with President while also hammering the commander-in-chief for being “an authoritarian who denounces journalists as enemies of the people.”
At one point, he confessed:
Progressive snobs like me bemoan Trump’s inattention to these global issues, but the truth is that we don’t pay attention, either....So we complain about Trump being insular and parochial – but we’ve become insular and parochial as well. We’ve caught the contagion that we mock.
Though just a couple paragraphs later, he seemed to justify all the excessive coverage of Trump by comparing him to a decadent Roman emperor:
In fairness, there’s good reason we’re all Trump addicts: President Trump truly is THE story in America today. He is systematically undermining American institutions and norms that underlie democratic government: courts, law enforcement, journalism, the intelligence community, truth. He is also being investigated for possibly obstructing justice and colluding with a foreign power’s attack on our electoral system. Epic battles will follow.
Two thousand years from now, historians may be lecturing on Trump the way they now discuss, say, the challenge to Roman institutions from Caligula.
Midway through the column, Kristof acknowledged that he, too, was an addict: “I’m addicted myself, which is why I write so much about Trump – or catch myself on a date night with my wife engaging in horrified conversation about Trump.”
The seeming contradictions in the article clearly illustrate the love-hate relationship the media have with Trump – they love to hate him.
Here is a full transcript of Kristof’s May 7 exchange with Ruhle on MSNBC:
9:53 AM ET
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Please turn up the volume, I really want to talk about this. He’s the President of the United States and leader of free world. Everything Donald Trump says and does should be newsworthy. But if it doesn’t already feel this way to you, so many people in the current news cycle, they feel like this is a daily reality show and they’re sick of it. It leaves little room for other stories that affect the lives of everyday Americans.
A new op-ed in The New York Times reads, quote, “In America today, it’s all Trump, all the time. We’re collectively addicted to him. Trump is enormously important, but there’s so much else happening as well. Some 65,000 Americans will die this year of drug overdoses, American life expectancy has fallen for two years in a row, guns claim a life every 15 minutes. Those are issues that are more important than to question whether or not President Trump slept with Stormy Daniels.”
I want to bring in the author of this piece, Nick Kristof. Nicholas, you write, I want to share this, that the media should focus on what Trump does instead of what Trump says. I agree with you, but here’s the issue, he’s the President of the United States. Everything he says matters.
NICHOLAS KRISTOF: Absolutely. And there’s never been a time when it’s been more important for the media to hold a president accountable. And so absolutely I’m not arguing that we should avert our eyes, that we should provide less accountability coverage. But there’s also, I think, some real danger that we allow Trump to set the agenda and that we, you know, I think we did this in the campaign frankly in 2016, to our detriment and to the country’s detriment, that we were like yapping dogs following, you know, the latest thing he said or the latest shiny object.
And there is so much more happening. We have to figure out a way how to cover President Trump, but also create some bandwidth for genocide in Myanmar, for those opioid deaths, for health care. And I’m afraid that we have, at this point, you know – I mean, Trump is our business model in the media.
RUHLE: What should we do? The New York Times writes pieces on this every day. The New York Times knows exactly what readers have an appetite for reading.
KRISTOF: Yeah, I mean, and I must say that if I were executive producer of a show, I would be Trump all the time because you can see that when one does cover the Rohingya, for example, that then people will switch the channel.
But I do think that, Stephanie, that so many of us went into the media because we wanted to make a difference, because we do think that we play an important role informing society about important issues. And I think we blew it in 2016, I think we’ve done much better since then in providing real accountability over Trump. But I think we haven’t done as well in providing that same accountability of other places where our society and where the international community falls short.
RUHLE: I agree with you. I wrestle with this every day and I’m not saying I know the answer ever. Do you think social media is part of the problem? I think to my show every day as it’s planned and then somewhere between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m. President Trump takes to social media, and then my show gets set on fire.
KRISTOF: Well, I mean, President Trump is just the ultimate car wreck. I mean, how can you go by without rubbernecking? And so – but I think we have to distinguish between what is truly important for the country versus what just is a car wreck. And so, even to the extent we’re going to have this obsession, let’s at least have an obsession not just with his words, but with his actions.
So, I mean, if you look at EPA, Scott Pruitt, obviously there are these incredible scandals that are juicy and wonderful. But it seems to me the biggest scandal in the EPA is the kind of deregulation that they’re doing, allowing chemicals to taint American kids. Chemicals like chlorpyrifos.
RUHLE: One of the issues, though, deregulation, I agree with you wholeheartedly.
KRISTOF: I realize this is all incredibly boring.
RUHLE: No, I’m with you. But one of the issues, whether we’re talking about the CFPB or deregulation that’s happening in the EPA, none of these things have actually gone through yet and they take a very, very long time. So isn’t it difficult to know how to measure these two things? I mean, the President, all he wants is to be on every TV network all day, every day, and he’s winning that.
KRISTOF: He is. But, you know, I think that we in the media really should be more willing to look in the mirror and learn lessons. As I said, in 2016 we too often, and I think it’s rude to say so, but cable television in particular, I think, has suffered from this addiction. We kept the camera on him because he answered the crisis in our business model. As long as cameras were on him and that car wreck, then viewers followed. And that was great for audiences, it wasn’t great for our profession. It wasn’t great for the country. And I – I do think we have to push [coughs] excuse me – all of us, people on air, writers, executive producers, to also bring in more of these other issues around the country.
RUHLE: I’m with you. In your piece, you jokingly asked Trump to go after you like he has Maggie Haberman, Don Lemon, my colleague Charles Todd, why?
KRISTOF: I just feel left out. I mean, what am I going to tell my kids that here he is denouncing all these other people and, you know.
RUHLE: Makes you feel like chopped liver.
KRISTOF: Yeah, it’s like being left off the White House enemies list back in the Nixon years.
RUHLE: I get it.
KRISTOF: Please, President Trump, if you’re watching, just denounce me, okay?
RUHLE: Hate on Nick, he want’s to tell his kids about that. This is an amazing piece. If you haven’t read it, please do. And every newsroom needs think about it, talk about it, and figure out what we’re gonna do.
