On Tuesday's All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC, guest host Joy-Ann Reid devoted a segment to fretting that the dominant media have been too aggressive in covering a small number of Hillary Clinton scandals as opposed to many scandals coming from Donald Trump.
Slate columnist and recurring MSNBC guest Michelle Goldberg -- formerly of The New Republic -- complained that, when the media cover Clinton scandals, "it's a couple of things that are rehashed over and over again, and kind of picked over for any little scrap of news." She ended up fretting that the Democratic presidential nominee's poll numbers keep dropping in spite of alleged "exoneration after exoneration after exoneration."
Reid began the segment discussing an article by guest Jonathan Allen of Sideware.com complaining about the media being too aggressive in going after Clinton. Reid then fretted that Trump's taxes are not getting enough attention as she recalled:
The other issue that I think you've heard a lot of people -- at least, Michelle, in my sort of social media world -- complain about is that the media has dropped the issue of Donald Trump's taxes, which seems to be a salient issue. Let's take a listen to Hillary Clinton hitting that very topic today on her plane.
After playing clips of Clinton complaining about Trump, the MSNBC host turned to Goldberg and posed:
I mean, you know, given the fact that there are all these Clinton rules that we're talking about and she has such a toxic relationship with the press. The press is clearly not very favorable toward her. Is it going to work for Hillary Clinton to try to goad the media into covering things like Trump's taxes, etc.?
The liberal Slate columnist began:
I don't think so because I think the problem with the media is not that they are not covering things that Trump has done wrong, it's just that Trump, there are so many outrages, so many violations of political norms, so many scandals, so many lies, so much secrecy, that it becomes very scattershot, right?
She then added:
The news sort of expands to fit the space available, and so, in Hillary's case, it's a couple of things that are rehashed over and over again, and kind of picked over for any little scrap of news. With Trump, there's such a churn of, you know, new information, new outrages that you kind of, you know, you can barely keep up with it, so the weird thing about Trump is he seems to benefit by replacing each old scandal with a new scandal.
Reid then returned to Allen and wondered:
With another one. And, Jonathan, the thing which is sort of weird and interesting that it's got to be frustrating for the Clinton campaign, is that the things that you hear about her, even if it's one or two things, they create an ingrained image that you hear reflected back from voters, whereas with Trump, do you see any evidence that the things about him are becoming ingrained as his character in voters' minds?
After Allen argued that the media have an incentive to go after the Clinton "empire," the MSNBC host went back to Goldberg and followed up:
And I think that's sort of provably true, right? There is this sort of connection of interests. You have groups like Larry Klayman's Judicial Watch that will keep feeding this beast forever. Can Hillary Clinton, you know, counteract that by letting reporters on her plane and traveling with them?
Goldberg responded:
I think a little bit. I mean, again, because, like I said, I think the news expands to fit the space available, and the fact that she doesn't give people anything new ever, you know, and is kind of -- and also just the secrecy does kind of create a presumption of -- that she's hiding something as opposed to just that she, you know, hates the press and cherishes her privacy. And so, yes, I think that both kind of establishing more of a rapport with the press would be helpful, and also just giving them something else to report on.
Concluding the segment, Reid worried that Clinton is being hurt more by scandal coverage by the media than Trump. Reid: "And he doesn't seem to be losing his base no matter what, whereas Hillary Clinton, she has a huge perception problem with people -- they know her, but they still think there's something deep to be found."
It was at this point that Goldberg oddly viewed Clinton as having been repeatedly "exonerated," in contrast with other liberals like CNN's Carl Bernstein and George Washington University Law School's Jonathan Turley who have lambasted Clinton over her private email server, as the Slate columnist responded: "I mean, Trump also has a perception problem. I guess the point is, is that it's amazing that kind of Hillary's poll numbers are eroding in the wake of exoneration after exoneration after exoneration."
Reid lamented: "Yeah, and that doesn't seem to be abating anytime soon."
