CNN’s Brian Stelter asked the questions about Trump’s mental fitness and competency that the mainstream press and especially the cable news networks have mostly avoided like the plague. Stelter asked if Trump has a mental illness? Importantly, he also asked what do we do if the President is unfit.
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Stelter said that Trump’s actions and inactions on Charlottesville are provoking are provoking uncomfortable conversations that are not held on the air or in print about the President’s mental state and fitness to hold office. The CNN host described the feeling among journalists as the questions being out of bounds, off limits, or too hot for TV. He then asked, “Is the President Of The United States a racist? Is he suffering from some kind of illness? Is he fit for office, and if he’s unfit, then what?”
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Stelter continued, “These are upsetting polarizing questions that are uncomfortable to ask, but we in the national news media can’t pretend like our readers and viewers aren’t already asking. They are asking. This is how deep the country’s divide has really become.”
The CNN host talked about the word crazy is more often used to describe Trump’s behavior in private, not public.
The easy way out of this for national media who are afraid of losing White House access would be to continue to ignore the situation, but Stelter was correct, viewers, readers, and even people inside the government are openly questioning Trump’s mental state.
It takes courage to ask the hard questions. There is a lot of group think and a herd mentality among national political press. The press turned a blind eye to many of the warning signs about Trump during the campaign, but if this president is unfit, the country needs the media to get the answers that this White House is furiously trying not to provide.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
