It's not just the stock market melting down over Trump tariffs. The legacy media is breathlessly predicting inflation, recession, depression, every possible negative effect of tariffs. It's as if they've already forgotten just one year ago when the Biden administration raised its own tariffs on China, after keeping all of the tariffs from Trump's first term in place. "This action will protect American workers and businesses from China's unfair trade practices," said then White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, as the White House press corps calmly nodded their heads. CNN reported the Biden tariffs with a relative shrug last fall, praising Biden's "targeted approach," even though he was adding to Trump tariffs already in place.
It wasn't just the Biden administration supporting tariffs, but new evidence shows prominent Democrat leaders, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, echoing Trump's position on reciprocal tariffs.
The legacy media double standard is nothing new, but to have it on display in such a short turnaround is noteworthy. "The establishment media look at virtually every issue from an anti-Trump standpoint," says Jeff McCall, media studies professor at DePauw University. "The interesting thing is that the establishment media really don't think the American public can figure out that hypocrisy...they think that they can report unfairly, and that the American people won't get it."
As for the stock market meltdown, McCall believes the media's coverage is equal parts cause and effect. "To a certain extent, markets run on emotions," he tells KTRH. "And I think all of this media hype and this media hair-pulling is one of the things that is causing the huge drop in the markets these days."
Photo: AFP