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Trump Turns Supreme Court Nomination Into Reality TV

Feb 1, 2017  •  Post A Comment

Donald Trump’s “big reveal” Tuesday night of his nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court had all the trappings of a reality television event, veteran TV writer David Bauder reports for the AP. But Bauder’s assessment may not exactly be breaking news, given Trump’s background as host of the NBC reality show “The Apprentice.”

“Trump’s announcement from the White House on Tuesday had a prime-time slot with broadcast and cable news networks all on hand, genuine suspense over the choice and, finally, the big reveal when [Neil] Gorsuch and his wife Marie Louise emerged from a doorway at the host’s — make that the president’s — request,” Bauder writes.

The article notes that Trump then asked those in the audience, along with those watching on TV: “Was that a surprise?”

“Supreme Court nominees are usually not prime-time affairs and usually not surprises; a president’s selection typically leaks to the news media before the two people make it to the podium,” Bauder writes. “Throughout Tuesday, however, anticipation built with reporters primarily speculating it would be one of two men, Colorado’s Gorsuch and Pennsylvania Judge Thomas Hardiman.”

The report notes that CNN’s Jim Acosta called the event “reality television meets the Potomac,” while NBC’s Lester Holt commented, “High drama all day as the president and his team ratcheted up the suspense,” and ABC’s George Stephanopoulos added: “We’ve never seen anything like this.”

3 Comments

  1. Telling us what other reporters said isn’t news. You are as guilty as the people you are trying to denigrate with this bogus article. All your readers know you can do better but it will take someone with integrity to tell the staff to bury their partisan attitudes. Opinions of “reporters” is BS – not news – and you know it.

  2. The whole thing was ridiculous. The Supreme Court is not a reality show, and Trump’s announcement sounded like it was written and delivered by someone seriously stoned out of his gourd.

  3. You would be better served to report news as news. Mark commentary as commentary. Gorsuch was no surprise to anyone that follows Eric Erickson, the conservative talk show host. He told his listeners 3 weeks ago that Gorsuch was going to be the candidate and detailed the reason why. It was interesting you quote FNN (Fake News Networks) Jim Acosta and the former press secretary of Bill Clinton, George Stephanopoulos. These are really objective sources.

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