Donald Trump and me
I have a column, in the New York Post, on what the media needs to change now that Donald Trump has been reelected. He is owed a robust defense, one that he never got in his first term. As I wrote in the piece:
Caught flat-footed, media outlets pledged to do better.
They had missed the Trump phenomenon and swore they weren’t going to be shamed again.
So they stocked their rosters with Republicans . . . who hate Donald Trump. Close enough, they figured!
It wasn’t.
A lot of times when someone is presenting a problem, the solution involves them. As a writer, and sometimes TV commentator, the assumption when I write a piece detailing how the media has failed to fairly cover Donald Trump and thus lied to their own audience, you’d think the solution I have in mind is “and so you must hire me.”
What was cut, for space, from my piece was this:
I note this, by the way, as a sometimes cable news talking head yet I’m not offering myself up for the Trump-defender role. I’ve had a complicated journey with Donald Trump, rooting for him as results rolled in in 2016 and 2020 but either sitting out or voting Third Party in both of those elections. I did vote for him this time around, and I agree with him on most, but not all, of his policies.
And still I think he deserves more than me. He deserves passionate, rousing flagbearers who can represent not just his policies but his perspective in a convincing manner. Media outlets shouldn’t just do it for Trump, they should show that they respect their audiences enough not to lie to them about reality and give them the full picture of what Trump supporters believe.
I didn’t just vote for Donald Trump this time around, I did so very enthusiastically, on day 1 of early voting, took my picture with the sticker and posted it to my socials.
I considered myself a “would crawl over broken glass to vote Trump” voter…this time. I voted to preserve civilization, as much as we possibly still can, whether than means allowing Israel to defend itself or securing our border. Against girls chopping off their breasts because they’ve been lied to that they could become boys. For the security of Jews in America. For the Second Amendment.
And still I think he deserves more than someone like me. The truth is that for all the people who say “disregard the mean tweets, focus on the policies” about Trump, it was the policies (or, more often, the proclamations) that I didn’t love. I would joke “I have never voted for a Democrat and I’m not starting with Donald Trump.” That was unfair. But funny! Especially as Democrats tore at their clothing and yelled into the night when he won. Trump is a moderate and I am a conservative. When he makes off the cuff comments, like when he suggested giving a Green Card to every foreign national who graduates from our universities, I charitably think “hmm, let’s not.” Yes, he walked that comment back. But that’s his impulse and politically I am somewhere else. Also yes, his first term had a lot of good things in it. My favorite parts were the regulatory cuts and the Abraham Accords. But there was also plenty for conservatives to oppose. I had hoped for far more on immigration. I thought he kept bad people around for too long. Fauci was pretty openly his enemy and yet he stayed until the end.
I actually like Trump personally. I’ve met him on a couple of occasions and we had warm conversations. He also told me I was better than my friend Buck Sexton and that I was doing a good job, the last part captured on video here:
I think the cases against him are largely shams. When they searched Mar-a-Lago, and went through Melania’s shoe closet, I seethed.
But if I were asked to defend the Trump comment re Green Cards for college graduates, for example, I’d pass. He deserves someone who would not, someone who would get in that hot seat and explain his motives and what he means. He deserves someone who has worn a MAGA hat. I have not.
I’ll do defense of issues over the next four years, I’ll have takes, I’ll offer my opinion. But what Donald Trump deserves, on the Editorial Pages of “mainstream” newspapers, and on television stations that are not Fox News, is a fighter for him that will go to the mat every time. The exact same thing that every Democrat since eternity has had. It wouldn’t just be for Trump, it would be for their readers and listeners too. I wrote in the piece that when the majority of a paper’s “Republican” opinion writers oppose Trump, readers come to believe that most Republican voters do too. They have been misled for far too long.
Read the NY Post piece here: https://nypost.com/2024/11/06/opinion/the-media-owes-trump-an-apology-and-second-term-reform/
I had a 10/7 piece up at Fox News laying out how antisemitism can exist anywhere, of course, but it’s coddled and thrives in primarily the blue parts of America. I’ve got data to prove it.
Here are the interviews I’ve done on the Karol Markowicz Show (for new subscribers, this is my largely non-political show. I say it’s where I ask political people non-political questions) since I last emailed an update:
You can see clips of all of these interviews on my KarolInPublic Instagram page. If you have suggestions on who I should interview, let me know!
Over at my political podcast, Normally, Mary Katharine Ham and I have been having a really great time breaking down news stories and making fun of lots of things. Here’s one of my favorite recent clips, where we discuss the Kamala Harris proposal to give $20k to help fund the businesses of black men:
Subscribe to Normally anywhere you get your podcasts!
Thank you for reading, watching, listening! I appreciate you all so much.
Karol
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Listen to my political podcast: Normally