Television news networks largely ignored former President Donald Trump's suggestion that Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, deserves to be executed. Only CNN and MSNBC covered Trump's inflammatory Truth Social post about the general, while broadcast news outlets and Fox News completely ignored it.
On September 21, the Atlantic published an article that included interviews with Milley, who is about to retire. The piece is subtitled “How General Mark Milley protected the Constitution from Donald Trump'' and quotes a report that Milley “believed that Trump was ‘shameful’ and ‘complicit’ in the January 6 attack.” Milley also told a story detailing Trump’s disdain for veterans injured in combat.
The next day, Trump attacked the general on his social media platform, Truth Social, accusing him of behaving in a manner “so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!”
Despite the extraordinary nature of Trump’s suggestion, from 8 p.m. ET on Friday, September 22, when Trump posted on Truth Social, through 9 a.m. ET on September 26, 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 all failed to mention the post.
Fox News also failed to mention Trump’s attack on Milley. By contrast, CNN and MSNBC devoted 21 and 41 minutes, respectively, to Trump’s Truth Social post in the same time period.
Given Milley’s possible involvement in multiple Trump indictments, former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal noted that Trump is on “thin ice” regarding his online behavior, potentially violating protective orders to prevent the former president from tampering with witnesses.
Cable and broadcast news have a history of normalizing Trump’s behavior and ignoring the unprecedented comments the former president regularly makes. With the 2024 election nearing, TV news outlets must break out of this pattern and hold the front-runner in the Republican primary accountable for his racist, misogynistic, untruthful, dangerous, and bizarre behavior.