Thursday, July 14, 2016

rachael Maddow studying HItler's first months in office to prepare for potential Trump Victory?










Should MSNBC's Maddow anchor conventions after Trump 'Hitler' jab?



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As MSNBC's co-anchor of the network's convention and Election Night coverage, Rachel Maddow is preparing for a possible Trump presidency in a stunning way:
By studying up on Adolf Hitler's first few months in office.
The revelation comes in the latest edition of Rolling Stone. In an interview with contributor Andy Greene, Maddow — host of "The Rachel Maddow Show" weeknights on MSNBC, says this of the Republican nominee and how he compares to the Nazi leader: "MADDOW: What is amazing is the Republican Party that picked him (Trump). They had 330 million people to choose from, and they've decided that he is the best one to be the standard-bearer of one of the two major parties of the greatest nation on Earth. Like, talk to me, Republican voters! What's the worst-case scenario for America if he wins? It can be pretty bad. You don't have to go back far in history to get to almost apocalyptic scenarios.
GREENE: Is part of you worried we're living through the first few chapters of some dystopian science fiction novel?
MADDOW: Over the past year I've been reading a lot about what it was like when Hitler first became chancellor. I am gravitating toward moments in history for subliminal reference in terms of cultures that have unexpectedly veered into dark places, because I think that's possibly where we are."
Translation: A fascist German chancellor responsible for the genocide of at least 5.5 million Jews and the deaths of almost 20 million more civilians and prisoners of war is now being compared to the presumptive GOP nominee by the anchor sitting next to Brian Williams during next week's GOP convention in Cleveland.
The four-day event will be the highest-rated programs across the board for all cable networks this year, not even close. And Ms. Maddow will be there on behalf of MSNBC not as another talking head sharing an opinion, but as one of two quarterbacks there to steer the conversation in relatively objective fashion.
This is why MSNBC needs to rethink its decision to have someone so openly and obviously biased sitting in an anchor chair, which is usually reserved for those who can play it down the middle while tossing to those on the periphery for perspective and analysis. But when one of those anchors publicly compares Donald Trump to Hitler in such brazen fashion, that should and must be a dealbreaker for the network. Period.
For contrast, let's put it this way: Let's say Fox's Megyn Kelly — who is anchoring the network's convention coverage along with Bret Baier — decided to opine on Hillary Clinton's lack of press conferences lately ("lately" as in the past 222 days). And in the process, she compared Mrs. Clinton to Joseph Stalin in terms of the way he treated the press by completely shutting it down in the Soviet Union (outside of state-controlled media) during his reign.
What do you think the reaction would be? Simple. Loud calls for Kelly to be removed, even suspended, for making such an comparison.
So will MSNBC brass act here? Not likely.
Maddow is the face of MSNBC primetime.
Trump is an easy, excusable target.
Evoking Hitler in any argument is invariably a losing proposition.
Especially when it's coming from a cable news personality posing as a non-partisan news anchor.
Concha is The Hill's Media Reporter.  

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