James and Deborah Fallows on Trump's Alternate Reality and the Concerns of Small Town America
Episode 51, Sep 18, 2020, 10:00 PM
Journalist James Fallows and author Deborah Fallows call out the media's inability to show Trump's abject lies for what they are, and also revisit the smaller communities they have worked with in the past to explore how national politics often overlook them.
A major contributing factor to Trump's success in 2016 was his love-hate relationship with the mainstream media. Whether it was giving the then-candidate a disproportionate amount of free press, or an unwillingness to be critical in a misguided attempt to appear balanced, news agencies everywhere unwittingly aided and abetted the President's rise to power. Now journalist James Fallows argues they have neither learned their lesson nor are they willing to be held accountable for their irresponsible behavior. Also, author Deborah Fallows suggests that in remaining hyper-focused on the "sport" of national politics, little attention is ever given to the real needs and interests of communities outside urban coastal areas.