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Washington (dpa) – “Twitter is out of control” – this is what the angry president of the United States sounds like on Friday. The most powerful man in the Western world can fire nuclear warheads, but he is no longer allowed to uncontrollably utter false or misleading claims on Twitter.
And that’s not all: During the recent appearance of President Donald Trump, several US media interrupted their live broadcasts because their allegations of alleged electoral fraud were as blunt as they were unfounded.
Three days after the election there are clear trends: Democrat Joe Biden appears to have won the election, so Trump is fighting even harder, but the American media does not want to convey that uncritically, regardless of the venerable presidency.
The “USA Today” newspaper, which is not particularly critical of Trump, stopped its live broadcast of Trump’s press conference and removed the video from all platforms. “Our job is to spread the truth, not unfounded conspiracy theories,” editor-in-chief Nicole Carroll said of the media company’s decision. “President Trump has asserted without evidence that the presidential election was corrupt and fraudulent,” Carroll wrote.
The president’s statements and press conferences are typically broadcast in their entirety by major US broadcasters, regardless of the political leanings of the media. But his appearance on Thursday night (local time) crossed a line: broadcasters ABC, CBS, CNBC, NBC and MSNBC cut off his live feed without comment during Trump’s speech. “Here we are again in the unusual situation of not only interrupting the president of the United States, but also correcting the president of the United States,” said MSNBC host Brian Williams.
Trump is just trying to use the fine airtime of the evening to spread his crude theses about the election victory allegedly stolen during the ongoing vote count, ABC moderator David Muir said. “We are not witnessing anyone steal anything tonight. This is democracy and we have asked the American people to be patient,” Muir said.
Trump’s critical station, CNN, and Trump’s home station, Fox News, broadcast the appearance live to its fullest extent. But afterward, the ever critical CNN moderators almost felt as if the emperor had no more clothes from their point of view. “This is the president of the United States, this is the most powerful person in the world. And we see him as a fat turtle lying on his back to the blazing sun, lashing out because he realizes his time is up.” Anderson Cooper said. “But he didn’t take it, and now he wants to drag everyone with him, including this country,” Cooper said.
Even on the fairly neutral business station CNBC, perplexity seemed to spread at Trump’s 16-minute performance. Commenting on the closure of the live feed, Shepard Smith, who previously worked for Fox News, said: “In my 30-year career I have never interrupted a president of the United States. We have avoided it time and time again, including when others have. But if anyone else used our platform to lie to our viewers, then we would stop them. And to be honest: enough. “
Even on Trump-related Fox News, an anchor said after the broadcast that they had seen no evidence of Trump’s allegations. The station’s White House correspondent John Roberts, who is also generally valued by Trump, said the president would be aware of his defeat given the status of the vote count. That is why he tries “to find an alternative way to keep the White House” through trials and trials.
Even Trump’s favorite medium, the short message service Twitter, where he has 88 million followers, seemed to please the president less and less. His profile there looks like a collection of warning notices from the elections. “Some or all of the content in this tweet is controversial and could be misleading regarding an election or a social process,” warned the warnings that preceded the Trump news. Twitter also restricted the ability to spread the tweets. Trumps saw in it the censorship of a liberal elite. “Twitter is out of control,” he raged Friday morning in a tweet.
The conflict is likely to worsen in the coming weeks if Biden’s predictable electoral victory is confirmed. Trump remains the rightful president until January 20, and he has left no doubt that he will fight for victory until the last demand. However, it seems that the US media no longer want to reflectively broadcast their partly unfounded claims. Unlike atomic bombs, Trump, the commander-in-chief of the US military, cannot control the media.
