Bret: Worse is always possible in this administration. But Sanders set a benchmark for awfulness that was a thing to behold. It wasn’t simply that she spun the news or shaded the truth, which many people in her position have been known to do. It wasn’t even that she lied, though she did that with abandon.
It was that sneer of hers, the consciously curled lip, which seemed practiced before a mirror, that communicated bottomless contempt for individual journalists, for the profession of journalism itself and for the very idea of truth-as-such. She combined the sincerity of Elmer Gantry with the moral outlook of Raskolnikov. And there will be future spokesmen who will model themselves accordingly.
Then again, I sometimes felt that some of the White House correspondents made it easier for her with their own showboating. I often fear that the Trump administration has a way of bringing out the worst in us journalists — our self-importance, our belief that we are in sole possession of the truth, our habits of editorializing when we (pundits excluded) should be trying to tell the news straight.
How do you rate the performance of the press in the Trump era?
Gail: I’m kinda proud of us, in general. There are some great reporters out there, struggling to be evenhanded while covering an administration that tells lies around the clock.
Bret: Agree.
