The debate is a critical opportunity for media to regain credibility

However, ABC’s moderators at next month’s presidential debate have the chance to atone for CNN’s non-moderators in the first debate and improve on the coverage of Trump to date.

At Mar-a-Lago, I was struck by the missed opportunity to ask critical questions including inquiries about his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection; his refusal to accept the 2020 election results (or to pledge to accept the 2024 results); his antisemitic remarks (saying any Jewish person who votes Democratic needs their “head examined”); substantive matters from his campaign and Project 2025 (deporting 11 million people, Schedule F, weaponization of the Justice Department); allegations concerning a possible $10 million payment to Trump from an Egyptian bank; and false assertions as to how his record compares with President Joe Biden on crime, border crossings and the deficit, to name but a few topics. Certainly no one had the temerity — at a time Republican vice-presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance (Ohio) is making spurious attacks on the military record of Democratic vice-presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz — to ask about Trump’s five draft deferrals and friendly “bone spur” diagnosis.

Also missing was any follow-up to bizarre exaggerations and lies (e.g., his crowds were bigger than the March on Washington, he was taking a break for the Democratic National Convention which is still two weeks away). And the cable TV networks carrying it failed to do simultaneous fact-checking. (The entire tale of “going down” in a helicopter with Willie Brown was made-up.)

Worst of all, the after-the-fact coverage did not begin to convey the incoherence, disjointedness and lunacy of the entire affair. One had to look far and wide for headlines that appropriately captured the essence of the event. Vanity Fair went with: “Trump Spews Lies, Disparages Harris’s Intelligence, Insults Jews, and Rambles About ‘Insane Asylums’ in Unhinged news conference.” The Guardian used: “Trump lashes out at Harris and falsely claims no one was killed on January 6; Former president attacks Democratic rival in rambling news conference and complains media is favoring her.”

Trump looked tired, worn and wane. He was, as he likes to say, “low energy.” I was hard pressed to find any report explaining his diminished appearance — in stark contrast to the pile-on after Biden’s debate appearance. Commentator Charles Sykes came closest to capturing the spectacle:

Most media accounts do not come close to capturing the wretched shambolism of it all, and some reporters scrabbled desperately for nuggets of coherence in the former president’s rolling gibberish.

But I want to come back to the main point: What in G-d’s name did we just watch?

For an hour yesterday afternoon, we were subjected to the maunderings of a mind utterly untethered from logic, facts, and decency. Trump clearly suffers from a severe and apparently debilitating case of Crowd Envy....

This Trump, however, was also something else: a rattled, deflated, joyless, and frightened figure. There were the usual insults, fabrications, and lies, but this Trump seemed less menacing than simply old and tired — a man without a single drop of joie d vivre.

Most outlets ignored all that, and instead went with anodyne reports that featured his agreement to show up at the ABC debate on Sept. 10. The New York Times gave an antiseptic account. The closest it came to describing Trump’s derangement came halfway through the article: “His wide-ranging remarks were sometimes meandering.”

That’s the least of it!

The avoidance of discussing Trump’s mental and emotional defects has been profoundly disturbing throughout the campaign. STAT explains what has been evident to any sentient person:

This shifting from topic to topic, with few connections — a pattern of speech called tangentiality — is one of several disjointed and occasionally incoherent verbal habits that seem to have increased in Trump’s speech in recent years, according to interviews with experts in memory, psychology, and linguistics …

At STAT’s request, four experts reviewed four clips of Trump’s speeches in recent months, and compared them to speeches from 2017. Several noticed Trump’s 2024 speeches included more short sentences, confused word order, and repetition, alongside extended digressions such as Trump’s comments on Biden and Cary Grant, or in another speech, comments on banking abruptly giving way to Trump lamenting the cost of electric cars.

The vast majority of outlets continues to ignore Trump’s mental and emotional state, now compounded with a whiff of desperation and depression. One is struck by the contrast to the pile-on after Biden’s disastrous debate performance and demands he exit the race. Perhaps political reporters should reach out to “experts in memory, psychology, and linguistics” to explain Trump’s performances.

Nevertheless, the media will have another opportunity to provide the warranted scrutiny of Trump, who remains an unrepentant insurrection leader. The ABC moderators could certainly improve on the CNN debate in a number of ways.

First, the moderators either need to fact check as they go along or phrase the questions in ways to let the audience know Trump has been lying. “Why did you claim your crowds are larger than the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s when that is obviously false?” “Why do insist calling those convicted of assaulting police officers on Jan. 6 ‘hostages’?”

Second, when Trump does not answer substantive questions, they must cut him off and redirect. “Sir, you did not explain your child-care policy. What is it?” Asking a candidate for specifics on his debt reduction plans, tax cuts and health care — and then following up on his word salads — should be a critical part of any presidential debate.

Third, Trump’s outrageous expressions of solidarity with dictators and war criminals needs to be highlighted. “In the last debate you said you spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin before the full-scale invasion. Is that true and if so why didn’t you report that to the administration?” “Why did you invite Putin to invade NATO countries?”

Fourth, the ABC moderators should not shy away from Trump’s recent behavior. “Why did you wreck the toughest border bill in a generation after one of the most conservative members negotiated the deal? What, specifically was wrong with it?” “You have been convicted 34 times and been held in contempt of court 10 times. How can you take an oath to uphold the Constitution?” “There is zero evidence Biden had anything to do with your prosecution. Why do you continue to say he did?”

This is not rocket science. No one suggests the media avoid exacting coverage of the Democratic ticket. But so far, the media have put their collective thumb on the scale to make Trump appear cogent, normal and informed. The more unhinged he becomes the less excusable is the watered-down accounts. It’s time they tell Americans the unvarnished truth.