MSNBC host Rachel Maddow rushed to cut off the network’s coverage of former President Trump’s victory speech following his momentous win on Tuesday night. Maddow cited concerns over “irresponsibility” in broadcasting the speech, despite most major outlets choosing to air the former President’s remarks.
After achieving a historic victory during the Super Tuesday primary elections, President Trump delivered a speech from his home at Mar-a-Lago in which he spoke about the state of the race and the increasing unpopularity of President Biden.
Maddow interrupted the broadcast, lashing out at the network for choosing to air the speech: “I will say that it is a decision that we revisit constantly in terms of the balance between allowing somebody to knowingly lie on your air about things they’ve lied about before and you can predict they are going to lie about. And so, therefore, it is irresponsible to allow them to do that. It’s a balance between knowing that that’s irresponsible to broadcast and also knowing that as the de facto — soon to be de facto — nominee of the Republican Party, this is not only the man who is likely to be the Republican candidate for president, but this is the way he’s running.”
MSNBC's Rachel Maddow cuts off Trump's Super Tuesday speech: "It is a decision that we revisit constantly in terms of the balance between allowing somebody to knowingly lie on your air about things they have lied about before and you can predict they are going to lie about." pic.twitter.com/w6BhrxylhB
— RCP Video (@rcpvideo) March 6, 2024
MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle interjected, urging the need to “fact check the hell out of him.” Maddow hit back at Ruhle, saying “Yes, and we do that after the fact. That is the best remedy that we’ve got. It does not fix the fact we broadcast it.”
This comes after Maddow refused to cover Trump’s speech after decisively winning the Iowa caucus in January, citing similar concerns:
“There is a cost to us, as a news organization, of knowingly broadcasting untrue things. And that is a fundamental truth of our business and who we are. So his remarks, tonight, will not air here live. We will monitor them and let you know about any news that he makes.”
This follows a trend among mainstream anchors choosing to suppress remarks from the former president. In February, Fox News host Neil Cavuto cut away from Trump’s rally in Rock Hill, South Carolina, to “fact-check” Trump’s comments about the Biden administration and election integrity.
Fox cuts coverage of Trump’s rally: Even though he’s entitled to his opinion, he’s not entitled to his own set of facts. The market has indeed been going up but it has nothing to do with Trump. There was also no evidence of a rigged election pic.twitter.com/cwj8YIc1Xo
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 23, 2024
The decision to consistently stifle the remarks of the presumptive Republican nominee raises concerns about future coverage of the 2024 election cycle. Maddow’s reaction to Trump’s win on Tuesday has many conservatives anticipating that this sentiment will be commonplace throughout the remainder of the year.
Rachel Maddow is having a conniption right now after Trump's Super Tuesday blowout
"The courts won't save us here… The only way the country gets saved is if the Republicans are blocked by the democratic process"
We haven't seen this since 2020 pic.twitter.com/PXh520xODi
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) March 6, 2024
