Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at FreedomFest, Saturday, July 11, 2015, in Las Vegas. Trump said his comments about immigration have become a movement and has pointed to violence perpetrated by immigrants in the U.S. illegally to defend his stance. (AP Photo/John Locher)
“Since the first Republican presidential debate, Donald Trump has received more attention on the nightly news than his 16 rivals — combined.”
Looking for news about John Kasich or Chris Christie or Rick Santorum? Well, good luck since an analysis for CNN’s “Reliable Sources” offers a seemingly empirical take on what has seemed obvious: You’d need the Navy SEALS to find much coverage of The Others.
Trump coverage doubled all the other coverage on nightly newscasts on NBC, CBS and ABC between Aug. 7 and Aug. 21.
Nightly newscasts obviously have their own problems but still attract the sort of older, dominantly white male audience that might well vote in high rates during presidential primaries.
And the CNN dissection found that “Trump talk totaled 36 minutes and 30 seconds on nightly newscasts from NBC, ABC and CBS.”
Jeb Bush was next but far behind. “John Kasich received 2 minutes 29 seconds of coverage between August 7 and 21. Marco Rubio received 1 minute 35 seconds, and Chris Christie got 1 minute 16 seconds.”
So what’s up?
Frank Rich, the former New York Times theater critic and opinion columnist who now works for New York Magazine, told CNN that Trump has made this race all very interesting.
Rich’s notion is not so much that he’s sucking out the oxygen from current political debate but he is the oxygen.
Perhaps. But there’s also a lot of seeming celebrity pandering. Most notable is the ability of Trump to get himself air time on virtually any TV program by speed-dialing in and, then, just being candidly outrageous, hypocritical and unfettered.
He’s perfect for this moment’s media zeitgeist: provocative if not measured, nuanced or especially smart on many issues.
And he’s suggested the perils of conventional political wisdom. Remember those nasty comments about John McCain not being a Vietnam War hero?
Those would do him in, right?
The only question now is what cable channel will announce a speed-dialing exclusive with him in the next 48 hours.
They could, of course, just say no.
