In the segment “How not to Normalize Trump” from last Friday’s On the Media, Bob Garfield examines the title thesis much better and more succinctly than my earlier attempt to express my frustration about the candidate’s representation in mass media.

Garfield and I both feel strongly that any news outlet writing about Trump’s more recent activities must continue to keep him firmly glued to the hate speech that ignited his campaign only months ago, most obviously (but not limited to) his general condemnation of Mexicans as invading rapists, and his call to bar all Muslims from entering the country. These public statements permanently disqualified him from modern American political office as soon as he said them, and I have trouble imagining what he might say or do in the next few months to reverse this. Making vaguely opposite statements does not count, nor does shifting his attention to unrelated topics — and yet, the short-memoried mainstream media too often act as if it does.

And that is dangerously irresponsible.