New York Times journalist Ezra Klein insists his podcast will not be a “show of resistance” under the incoming Trump administration, saying he believes President-elect Donald Trump and his movement are an “aberration.” It questions the orthodoxy of liberals.
In Tuesday's episode,ezra klein showOne question focused on Klein's past invitations to Trump supporters to appear on his show, which listeners found “very enlightening.” “The current political situation is being cast as if it is 'normal' in some sense.'' it's not. ”
“By having certain people on the show, you're normalizing MAGA, you're normalizing Trump. Any thoughts on this or that charge?” Klein's podcast editor Claire Gordon summed up the question. .
“I don't know what counts as normal and what doesn't count as normal,” Klein responded. “On the one hand, do you think Donald Trump is an ordinary or even very stable genius? I don't. On the other hand, he's been elected president three times now, or almost never.” Masu.”
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Ezra Klein of the New York Times argued that his podcast would not become a “resistance show” under a second Trump administration. (Lloyd Bishop/NBCU Photobank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
“So who is more normal, the bespectacled Brooklyn podcast host you're listening to right now, or Donald Trump? The continued effort to treat him as an anomaly has made him, and others, more normal.” “I think it's a way to keep people from looking at us,” he continued. “That doesn't mean I don't disagree with his actions or his actions in the world… There are lines that feel very clear to me, especially the weaponization of government. And I want to pay very close attention to that.” ”
“But I want to be clear: don't expect this show to be a resistance show. I'm not biased, so I don't do things like this, I don't do interviews. I'm a reporter. “I'm curious, trying to understand things so I can make my own decisions,'' he added.
Even when Times reporters vehemently disagree with President Trump and his administration's actions, they are trying to “understand” them and maintain the “balance” they may see as a challenge for the next four years. ” emphasized the importance of trying.
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Klein argued that liberals can “understand” the decisions of President-elect Donald Trump and his administration and still oppose them. (AP/Evan Vucci)
“I think there's going to be something going on within the Trump administration that goes directly toward authoritarianism, and that's that he's actually trying to do what academically calls an authoritarian breakthrough. And those are going to be different things, probably the State Department.'' Not government efficiency or what happened during Secretary of State Marco Rubio's tenure or tariffs or anything like that, but just normal politics. It simply should be reported,” Klein said. “And I think this is another aspect where the effort to make normal into a dualism, whether things are normal or abnormal, creates difficulties, and that is government. You're going to be governing this country for four years. And part of it is just going to be politics and policy, and part of it might be efforts to change or corrupt the system itself. I don't know. ”
“And I'm going to try to take everything on that level, and the fact that one thing is happening doesn't mean that I need to cover other things in either direction. I think it's a very difficult balance to strike. I did that,” he admitted. “To be honest, there was less of this in the first Trump administration.”
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Klein dismissed concerns about “normalizing” President-elect Donald Trump, suggesting that doing so “is a way to avoid seeing other people, including him.” (AP Photo/Rick Scutelli)
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Klein went on to say that between President Trump's loss of the popular vote in 2016, the Russia investigation, and the constant “leaks” from his administration about “how crazy he was,” liberals summed up how Trump's first term in office was “unjust.”
“Even for the people reporting on it, it was much easier to treat him as an anomaly because in some ways his own administration was treating him as an anomaly. It looked like it could have been just a one-time fluke: With a flap of butterfly wings, we've got this, and it's not anymore, it's what it was then, in a way. “It wasn't,” Klein said. “And my first job on this show is to be a good reporter. I understand that the show is an ongoing reporting act, but if we don't actively report on this show, I'm not a good reporter and I don't do a good job.'' Management. “
“So we'll see how it goes. A lot of them don't want to talk to me, but once President Trump crosses the line in one area, there's no more, so privately. It's not going to be policy.' Talking about things like tariffs is not the way I do my job,'' Klein added.
