MSNBC host Rachel Maddow argued Tuesday that former President Donald Trump’s increasingly erratic behavior is often downplayed by the media, which tends to normalize his statements by focusing on his most extreme outbursts. Maddow’s remarks came during her appearance on The View ahead of the debate between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Maddow acknowledged that while little is known about Harris’ debating style in recent years, there’s a clear pattern when it comes to Trump. “I feel like we know a bit about what Trump is like in a presidential debate at this time of his life,” Maddow said. Reflecting on Trump’s 2020 debate performance with President Joe Biden, she added, “By the end of that debate, Trump was rambling about his golf handicap and was getting really weird. And he is a little incoherent now.”
She expressed curiosity about whether Trump could maintain his composure during the upcoming debate, noting, “I’m interested to see whether he can kind of hold it together and whether that falls apart after the first few minutes, which is kind of his performance level right now.”
Co-host Joy Behar joined the discussion by highlighting some of Trump’s more bizarre comments, such as his fear of sharks, batteries, and windmills. “I never saw such insanity,” Behar remarked, before criticizing the media for being “a little easier on him than they were on Biden regarding his erratic talking and age.” Behar pointed out that Trump is not much younger than Biden and will also be nearing 80 during his next term.
Maddow agreed, suggesting that Trump is “graded on a curve” by the media. She explained that the press often compares Trump’s statements to his previous ones, rather than to the typical standards for a presidential candidate. As a result, the most outrageous remarks get the most attention, while other troubling comments slip under the radar.
“If you start saying I want to be electrocuted instead of bit by a shark… but he’s afraid of windmills too. Who’s afraid of windmills? It’s really weird,” Maddow quipped, referencing some of Trump’s stranger fears.
Behar compared Trump to Don Quixote, the literary figure who battles imaginary foes, including windmills. Maddow concluded by highlighting the extremity of Trump’s rhetoric. “When you say stuff like, ‘I’m going to lock up all my political opponents’ or ‘It’s going to be a bloodbath if I lose,’ every new bizarre thing needs to hit a really high bar to count as news.”