The New York Times and Hannibal Lecter
The paper of record is worse than you thought.
1. Media Bias
On Saturday afternoon, a former president who is currently the defendant in one criminal trial while facing three other felony cases, gave a speech in Wildwood, New Jersey.
This man—who leads most polling and is at least a 50-50 shot to be the next president of the United States—spoke for 90 minutes. Here are some of the things he said:
Silence of the Lamb. Has anyone ever seen The Silence of the Lambs? The late, great Hannibal Lecter is a wonderful man. He oftentimes would have a friend for dinner. Remember the last scene? “Excuse me. I’m about to have a friend for dinner.” As this poor doctor walked by. “I’m about to have a friend for dinner.” But Hannibal Lecter. Congratulations, the late great Hannibal Lecter. We have people who are being released into our country that we don’t want in our country, and they’re coming in totally unchecked, totally unvetted.
Surely this is newsworthy, because it suggests that Donald Trump is either suffering from aphasia or is non compos mentis. And at the risk of belaboring the point: This man could well become president.
Here is the front page of the New York Times—the nation’s paper of record—on Sunday morning:
Ahhhhh, the Northern Lights. Gorgeous, gorgeous. Also, I’m very sad that the Chuck E. Cheese band is being retired. And how good of the Times to inform casual readers that Ross Douthat appears on Page 2 of Sunday Opinion.
But the once and future president tumbling into nonsense about Hannibal Lecter?
Nothing.
Maybe the Sunday front page was cocked, locked, and ready to rock by the time Trump performed his unhinged rant. So I waited eagerly for the Monday paper: