Donald Trump’s inauguration will surely be interrupted by throngs of protesters denouncing his presidency and what he represents, but the media will show only a fraction of those demonstrations, if that, according to one prominent pundit.
Robin Andersen, director of Peace and Justice studies at Fordham University, appeared in the 2001 documentary, Not My President: Voices From the Counter Coup, which documented George W. Bush’s rise to the presidency amidst massive protests.
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“Forty percent of the public still believed that Bush had not been legitimately elected, yet there’s almost no discussion of these electoral problems or the constitutional crisis,” Andersen explained in the film, adding that the protests must’ve garnered no more than 10 minutes of total coverage time on the major networks, despite their size.
“It was a diverse crowd with lots of things to say, but they weren’t given a chance to speak, they weren’t given a voice,” Andersen explained.
Drawing parallels between this election and 2001, when George W. Bush was elected, Andersen believes that Trump will have less hurdles to jump in order to assume the presidency.
“There will certainly be similarities, but Trump doesn’t have the legal delays that the Bush administration had, so the idea that the inauguration is a coronation isn’t going to be part of the protest discourse,” Andersen told AlterNet.
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“All Trump will have to do is keep somewhat quiet and do the bare minimum to look like a human being and they will anoint his appearance.”
Though progressives will be showing up in record numbers, as has been announced by many groups, Andersen believes the media will instead choose to “balance” that out by giving air-space to all other Trump supporters who will be there.
“The protests might present an alternative frame, because Trump has asked his supporters to come to Washington. Bikers for Trump will be there,” she explained. “There will of course be tens of thousands more progressive protesters, but the mainstream media will ‘balance’ that out and make them seem equal...And they will of course emphasize any tiny bit of conflict that occurs.”