TheAdvocate
MSNBC’s decision not to air Trump’s Iowa victory speech live ignites right-wing firestorm
Christopher Wiggins – January 17, 2024
Conservatives are seething online after discovering that MSNBC chose to protect its viewers from former President Donald Trump’s penchant for lying in front of cameras when the network did not broadcast his victory speech after Trump won the Iowa caucuses on Monday. Rachel Maddow announced the decision during MSNBC’s special broadcast covering the vote results.
Maddow explained the rationale behind this editorial choice.
“We will let you know if there’s any news made in that speech if there’s anything noteworthy, something substantive and important,” Maddow said. “There is a reason that we and other news organizations have generally stopped giving an unfiltered live platform to remarks by former President Trump. It is not out of spite. It is not a decision that we relish. It is a decision that we regularly revisit, and honestly, earnestly, it is not an easy decision. But there is a cost to us as a news organization of knowingly broadcasting untrue things that is a fundamental truth of our business and who we are.”
MSNBC ‘s decision was met with sharp criticism from right-wing influencers and commentators. One conservative influencer expressed their displeasure on X, formerly Twitter, remarking, “WOW—Rachel Maddow admits on air that they’ve decided to censor the leading Republican candidate’s victory speech and will decide what they want the public to know later. This why no one trusts the media—their tactics are exactly like 1984.”
Mercedes Schlapp, a well-known figure in conservative circles, joined in the criticism. She accused Maddow of engaging in “Marxist propaganda” by choosing not to broadcast Trump’s speech live, accusing the anchor of censoring a political candidate.
The situation highlights the ongoing challenges media outlets face in maintaining journalistic standards while addressing the diverse expectations of a politically polarized audience at a time when one candidate has proven himself to be a serial liar.
According to the Washington Post, Trump told more than 30,000 lies while in office. He has told countless more since he left office in 2021.
In contrast to MSNBC’s decision, CNN did carry Trump’s speech live for a time but chose to cut the speech short and return to analysis.
Trump solidified his position as the GOP frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, with his rivals coming in far behind. The caucuses, which saw the lowest turnout in a quarter-century, delivered Trump a roughly 30-point win, surpassing the previous record for a contested Iowa Republican caucus, the Associated Press reports.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis finished a distant second ahead of former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. While Trump’s victory strengthens his grip on the GOP nomination, DeSantis and Haley face an uphill battle to become his strongest challengers.
During the evening’s coverage, CNN anchor Jake Tapper highlighted a striking entrance poll in Iowa, which found that a majority of Republicans did not believe that President Biden had been legitimately elected, Forbes reports. Tapper noted that while this belief was false, it demonstrated the extent to which Trump had reshaped the Republican Party and convinced Republicans of his ideology, “even when empirically false.”
The Iowa results set the stage for the upcoming New Hampshire primary, where a shrinking field will compete to gain momentum in the race for the Republican nomination.