MSNBC's Joy Reid warns that media outlets will cover the debate with a double standard, with Trump's answers “sane-washed” while Harris' are picked apart
Reid: “His answers are sure to be sane-washed by much of the media immediately after the debate and in the days to come to ensure that he continues to be taken seriously by American voters”
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From the September 9, 2024, edition of MSNBC's The Reid Out
JOY REID (HOST): Harris will essentially be reintroducing herself to potentially the largest audience ever to watch a presidential debate. And anyone who has been paying attention to the mainstream media understands that Trump and Harris are going to be judged on two very different scales tomorrow night. Legacy media organizations including the country's largest newspapers, which, according to Media Matters, covered 82-year-old president Joe Biden's age and cognitive acuity 10 times more than they have 78-year-old Donald Trump's age and clearly declining mentals, are going to judge VP Harris much more harshly than they judge Trump, regardless of the outcome tomorrow night. That is just a sad but true fact.
Her performance essentially has to be perfect, and even if it is, she's going to be picked apart, every word, every syllable, every comma, what she wears, how she answers the questions. While Trump, even if he rambles incoherently and lies for 90 straight minutes about tariffs being paid by anyone other than American consumers or about Hannibal Lecter, his answers are sure to be sane-washed by much of the media immediately after the debate and in the days to come to ensure that he continues to be taken seriously by American voters and that this race remains a dead heat right up until Election Day.