National broadcast news networks and print outlets buried recent comments from Donald Trump’s former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff retired Gen. Mark Milley calling the former president “fascist to the core.” Almost all broadcast news shows and the major newspapers ignored the comments, with only NBC’s Meet the Press and The Washington Post covering Milley’s “fascist” remarks. 

Reporting surfaced on October 11 that Milley called Trump “fascist to the core” in comments reported in journalist Bob Woodward's upcoming book War. The comments were the latest in a long back and forth between Milley and Trump, with the former president previously suggesting Milley be executed for his comments that Trump was “shameful” and “complicit” in the January 6 attack.

Broadcast and print news almost completely ignored Milley’s characterization of Trump as “fascist.” From October 11, when the comments were first reported, through 12 p.m. ET on October 14,  ABC’s Good Morning America, World News Tonight, and This Week; CBS’ Mornings, Evening News, and Face the Nation; and NBC’s Today and Nightly News all failed to mention Milley's comments. Among corporate broadcast news programs, only NBC's Meet the Press discussed the comments at all, with anchor Kristen Welker asking former Rep. Liz Cheney about Milley's comments.

Media Matters also reviewed print articles across five of the top U.S. newspapers by circulation for coverage of Milley's comments and found only one article in The Washington Post mentioning them. The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal all failed to cover Milley's comments calling Trump fascist. 

On the October 11, 2024, edition of All in with Chris Hayes, Ian Bassin stressed the need for the American press to put the comments from Milley on “banner headlines.”

Milley's description of Trump as a fascist is just the latest example of a former Trump official denouncing the extremism of the former president.

Media Matters searched transcripts in the SnapStream video database for all original episodes of ABC’s Good Morning America, World News Tonight, and This Week; CBS’ Mornings, Evening News, and Face the Nation; and NBC’s Today, Nightly News, and Meet the Press for any of the terms “Trump,” “former president,” “book,” “war,” or “Woodward” or any variation of the word “fascist” within close proximity of any of the terms “Milley” (including misspellings), “general,” or ”Joint Chiefs"  from October 11, 2024, when media outlets first reported on retired U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley's comment in Bob Woodward's new book, “War,” describing GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump as “fascist to the core,” through 12 p.m. ET October 14, 2024. 

We timed segments, which we defined as instances when Milley's comment to Woodward describing Trump as “fascist to the core” was the stated topic of discussion or when we found significant discussion of the comment. We defined significant discussion as instances when two or more speakers in a multitopic segment discussed the comment with one another.

We also timed mentions, which we defined as instances when a single speaker in a segment on another topic mentioned Milley's remark without another speaker in the segment engaging with the comment, and teasers, which we defined as instances when the anchor or host promoted a segment about the comment scheduled to air later in the broadcast.

We rounded all times to the nearest minute.

Media Matters also searched print articles in the Factiva database from the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post for any of the terms “Trump,” “former president,” “book,” “war,” or “Woodward” or any variation of the term “fascist” within roughly the same paragraph as any of the terms “Milley,” “general,” or ”Joint Chiefs" from October 11 through 12 p.m. ET October 14, 2024. 

We included articles, which we defined as instances when Milley's comment to Woodward describing Trump as “fascist to the core” was mentioned anywhere in the text in any section of the paper. We included editorials and op-eds but not letters to the editor.