Media Feared They’d Be ‘Helping Trump’ by Covering Biden’s Mental State, Chuck Todd Says

The mainstream media was scared it would be perceived as “helping Trump” if it reported on former President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline, ex-NBC News chief political analyst Chuck Todd said.

Todd made his comment while appearing on “Piers Morgan Uncensored” on Wednesday. Morgan asked Todd, who left NBC earlier this year, “why was the mainstream media so reluctant” to cover President Biden’s mental state while he was in office — especially when “everyone was seeing [it] with their own eyes.”

“The only thing I can chalk it up to is this, whatever you want to call it, this fear that some members of the media had sometimes that they would be perceived as helping Trump if they somehow diminished Biden, right? That it was some sort of zero-sum game,” Todd said. “And I think this has been the fundamental mistake that many members of the traditional press have done.”

A moment earlier, Todd said the American public was able to conclude President Biden had dropped off cognitively because the media had been subtle in its coverage — hinting at him not taking questions from the press or using “the back staircase” to enter and exit rooms. But while some mainstream reporters were willing to point out his decline, Todd said the “collective media” had shown a “reluctance to draw the conclusion” the president was not as sharp as he once was — out of fear they would be branded pro-Trump lackeys.

Todd added the mainstream media “doesn’t have the influence” it once did because it failed to fully cover stories like Biden’s mental decline. Another reason, he said, is that mainstream reporters were calling for tech companies like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to kick President Trump off of their platforms, following the Jan. 6 Capitol Riot. Todd said he did not understand the push to “de-platform” Trump or anyone else.

“I thought, why would you do that? I’ve interviewed the president of Iran. I got no problem interviewing a member of Congress who chose not to certify the election,” Todd told Morgan. “I never understood that logic, when you think about the First Amendment of our Constitution.”

The disconnect between the media and the American public has been an important trend to keep an eye on, both before and after the 2024 election. An October Gallup poll found America’s trust in the media is at an all-time low, with only 31% of respondents saying they had a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence the news was being reported accurately. 

And it is not only President Trump who believes the mainstream media is “fake news.” In fact, most of his fans agree, with 88% of self-identified conservatives saying they have little to no faith the press accurately reports stories, per a March Gallup poll.

You can watch Todd’s full response to Morgan by clicking here.

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