The media has a feast with Trump indictment

NEWS AND OPINION:

Former President Donald Trump attracted an avalanche of news coverage for his court appearance Tuesday in New York, a collective effort that included aerial footage of his motorcade and nonstop speculation from broadcast anchors and print reporters alike.

The intense interest continues, but not without criticism.

“The media’s coverage of Trump’s indictment was dumb, desperate, and a really bad sign for 2024,” the New Republic stated in its review of the wall-to-wall presentations.

Curtis Houck, an analyst for the conservative press watchdog Newsbusters.org, agreed, saying that “CNN’s coverage showed a network relapsing back to its Trump-centric days of 2015 and 2016 with imbecilic hot takes masquerading as expert analysis.”

Mr. Trump’s appearance in court provided a feast day for news organizations as well, and that feasting will likely continue. Here are just a few headlines from the last 24 hours:

“A ‘surreal’ day for Trump in court may only tear the country further apart” (CNN); “The humiliation of Donald Trump” (The Atlantic); “Trump lawyer says case won’t make it to a jury trial“ (NBC News); “Trump says Republicans in Congress should ‘defund’ Justice Department, FBI” (The Washington Post); “Donald Trump lashes out, resorting to old tactics after arraignment hearing” (NPR); “Trump indictment: US going to hell, says ex-president” (BBC); “Donald Trump’s arraignment: How the world reacted” (Al Jazeera); “Historian says Trump arrest ‘a painful day’ for America” (PBS); “For once, Donald Trump did not enjoy the show” (The New York Times); “With an ‘arraignment party,’ Trump jolts his campaign” (Politico); “McConnell lets an indicted Trump twist in the wind” (The Hill); and “In the eye of the Stormy” (The Guardian).

GUTFELD HAS A TRIUMPH

It’s been two years since Fox News late-night host Greg Gutfeld launched his funny, savvy show, “Gutfeld.”

It has much clout, having averaged 1.9 million nightly viewers over its two years on the air, according to Nielsen, outpacing ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” with 1.5 million viewers per night and NBC’s “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon” at 1.4 million.

Mr. Gutfeld is a busy guy, meanwhile. He has written his third book, which has an appropriate title: “The King of Late Night.” It arrives July 25 from Threshold Editions, an imprint of the publishing giant Simon & Schuster.

“With his signature wit and whip-smart humor, Greg reveals never-before-told stories of his upbringing and early career, what it’s like going head-to-head with the liberal media, and what it took to flip the script on the comedy landscape,” the publisher says in advance notes.

Visit Mr. Gutfeld and his many endeavors at his website, GGutfeld.com.

O’BIDEN

In the meantime, President Biden’s upcoming five-day visit to Ireland has already generated much coverage from news organizations around the Emerald Isle itself — including this summary from the national broadcaster RTE.

“Mr. Biden is expected to visit both Louth and Mayo where his ancestors hail from. His great-great-grandfather Owen Finnegan emigrated to the US from the Cooley peninsula, while another great-great-grandfather, Patrick Blewitt, was born in Ballina, leaving in 1850 to sail to America,” wrote political correspondent Micheal Lehane.

“It has also been confirmed that Mr. Biden will deliver a public address outside St. Muredach’s Cathedral in Ballina, Co. Mayo on Friday. This event is free and open to the public,” he wrote.

“The U.S. president will be based in Dublin from April 12-15 and will make day trips to other parts of the country, it is understood. Those working on coordinating the visit believe it will not be crammed … with events and it is likely Mr. Biden will attend no more than three events each day,” Mr. Lehane said in a previous report.

The president arrives in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on April 11. But another president is also coming to call.

“Former U.S. president Bill Clinton and his wife and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be in Belfast the week after Mr. Biden,” the columnist wrote, noting that the couple intend to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the landmark Good Friday Agreement, a diplomatic peacemaking process that ended “the Troubles” in Northern Ireland in 1998.

A TAXING SITUATION

Yes, it’s that time.

“Taxpayers are entering the home stretch of tax season, with returns due to the IRS on April 18,” reports the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, a nonpartisan research organization that reveals just what goes into this national effort.

“Even though the 2018 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act simplified income tax returns for the vast majority of Americans, the tax code still imposes an immense burden on American taxpayers — the equivalent of billions of hours and billions of dollars in lost income and labor. The solution to this problem is to simplify the tax code,” the group said, noting that the foundation itself has produced “copious studies” centered on ways to lessen the taxpayer burden every year.

“This tax season, taxpayers spent over 6.5 billion hours filing their taxes, an increase of 451 million hours over 2020 — after the overall compliance burden had fallen over the previous three years. Based on average private sector salaries, this represents an opportunity cost of $249 billion. Adding in the nearly $90 billion spent out-of-pocket on tax preparation, the total compliance burden of the tax code totals $339 billion,” noted the research.

Curious? Find the National Taxpayers Union and its foundation at NTU.org.

POLL DU JOUR

• 22% of U.S. adults say that their “biggest personal financial concern right now” is food costs.

• 18% say their greatest financial concern is retirement savings.

• 17% say health care costs are the greatest concern.

• 13% say paying the mortgage or rent is the greatest concern.

• 8% cite college tuition; 7% cite energy bills.

• 5% cite credit card or loan payments.

• 4% cite the loss of a job; 4% don’t know what their biggest concern is.

• 3% cite “something else.”

SOURCE: A Quinnipiac University poll of 1,795 U.S. adults conducted March 9-13; respondents chose from a supplied list.

• Follow Jennifer Harper on Twitter @HarperBulletin.