THE STEPHANOPOULOS LECTURES ON PROPER INTERVIEWS AND DEBATES:
Democrats think “democracy” should be the No. 1 issue — as they define it. And in this cycle, they’ve defined it as pressuring Republicans to accept their 2024 defeat. When they say they won’t accept defeat in advance, they get another six pestering questions about how they won’t accept election results … that haven’t happened yet.
You’re allowed to proclaim if Donald Trump wins, democracy has ended. You’re not allowed to say the 2024 election result is open-ended.
Stephanopoulos told Mediaite, “I think it’s journalistic malpractice to do a live interview with President Trump on television.” This aligns with MSNBC partisan Rachel Maddow, who always proclaims that “news” channels can’t run Trump live. That’s why you know they’ll pull out their hair watching a live debate. By that standard, Trump wins by accepting any debate terms that let him speak live.
But four years ago, Stephanopoulos demonstrated what his actual standards are, and they’re partisan. Due to a canceled debate, the candidates submitted to individual town-hall formats. Trump was perpetually interrupted and debated by Savannah Guthrie on NBC. Biden was treated to a gentle chat on ABC with Stephanopoulos, who asked nothing about the New York Post stories on Hunter Biden’s laptop. Most of the audience questions came from the left.
The networks actually delighted in the flagrant bias the next day. Biden-boosting ABC reporter Mary Bruce gushed, “Joe Biden spending much of the night looking ahead, outlining his plans for the future, while the president, often combative, spent much of the night on defense.”
This is why public trust in the establishment media has cratered. Their ideal scenario is the Republicans are grilled, and the Democrats are massaged. A few weeks ago, they touted the ideal scenario of Trump trapped in a courtroom versus Biden out shaking hands with voters on the campaign trail.
I’d add the standard “Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and it all makes sense” reminder, but as once and current Democratic Party operative, Stephanopoulos makes it all too easy.
Evergreen:
