Voters who live in the heartland and outside the New York-D.C. media bubbles do not care about the legacy media’s obsession with Russia.
An Iowa radio news director emailed CNN media reporter Brian Stelter, out of all people, on Thursday to tell him that conservatives in his state are “very angry” at the legacy press because they think the media are using Russia stories to “oust” and delegitimize President Donald Trump.
“They think the Trump/Russia deal is a coup attempt by the media, and don’t think there is anything to the Russia/ Trump, Jr. emails,” Robert Leonard, the news director, emailed. “They don’t understand why the media is trying to oust our duly elected president. They think there is a double standard — why isn’t anyone investigating the Clinton campaign/Russia connections? They are standing firm behind Trump.”
According to a recent Harvard-Harris poll, nearly two-thirds of Americans believe that “there exists a campaign to delegitimize” Trump.
Reporters who have gone to working-class areas in states like Pennsylvania (“Trump’s Supporters Aren’t Abandoning Him in This Pennsylvania Town”), Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Kentucky and even Tennessee (“In Trump Country, Russia Scandal Doesn’t Resonate”) have all reported similar sentiments.
CNN, though, keeps focusing on Russia even though one of its anchors, Alisyn Camerota, said on Friday that she was actually experiencing Russia “fatigue.”
A Media Research Center study found, for instance, that Camerota’s CNN morning show New Day spent a whopping 93% of its airtime on Wednesday on Trump-Russia stories.