Kyle Melinn’s article in the Jan. 15, 2025, issue of City Pulse falls short of basic journalistic standards. It seems that Melinn had an “angle” he was aiming for and thus permitted a lot of questionable assertions to stand with no effort to present a more nuanced, balanced and factual story. In the interest of brevity, I’ll mention only a few shortcomings in the article.
Melinn glibly notes that “after billions of dollars spent against the Republican nominee, Trump still won Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.” He fails to mention the nearly $1.5 billion spent in favor of Trump or that $277 million of that total came from one individual, Elon Musk. Nor does Melinn mention that Musk basically turned the social media platform X into a megaphone for the Trump campaign or that Fox News served largely the same purpose. And not a peep about the coordinated disinformation campaign waged on Trump’s behalf.
Melinn says that “Democrats are yelping about Trump’s questionable appointments.” We’re left to infer that he means cabinet appointments, although that is not specified. But “questionable?” It would be more accurate to describe many of Trump’s cabinet nominees as demonstrably unqualified, both in terms of skills and experience as well as in ethics and integrity.
Melinn permitted, without question or comment, James David Dickson to make this assertion about Trump: “And look at the sacrifices he’s made. … He’s going to be making less money than he ever has, and he’s having the least amount of fun he’s ever had, and he’s doing it for service.” This patently absurd statement made responding imperative. Melinn failed to present information that would counter Dickson’s ridiculously false statement. At a minimum, he could have mentioned the report released in October 2024 by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee detailing how Trump overcharged the Secret Service during his first term by 300% for accommodations at his hotels, putting millions into his coffers. Melinn might also have mentioned the report also released last fall, “The intensifying threat of Donald Trump’s emoluments” (find it at citizensforethics.org), which notes that Trump never divested from his businesses the first time he was in office. He received millions of dollars from foreign governments, including $5.5 million from the Chinese government alone. It is a sure bet Trump will not divest during his second term of office either. Making less money than he ever has? Not on your life!
We live in an age of mis- and disinformation. Reliable, accurate, fair, and accountable journalism is needed now more than ever. Sadly, Kyle Melinn’s piece does not measure up.
Melany Mack
DeWitt
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wilsonflory
After reading this diatribe, I had to find Melinn's article, which I had not read. Ms. Mack makes it sound like a pro-Trump puff piece, but it definitely is not. Melinn explores the current and future impact of Trumpism on both political parties in Michigan. He quotes many voices from both sides in a very balanced report.
Wednesday, January 22 Report this