It’s time for TV news to stop playing the stooge for Donald Trump, Washington Post

Donald Trump said “Jump,” and TV news said “How high?”

It happened again on Friday morning when the Republican presidential candidate held the media hostage for nearly an hour after promising a major news announcement.

. . .

While they waited, and waited, Trump provided what amounted to a campaign infomercial and shamelessly promoted his new Trump International Hotel in downtown Washington.

Trump as recently as Thursday night had declined to put to rest his long history of promoting the false idea that the country’s first African American president was not born here. Based on implausible conspiracy theories, that idea was never more than a thinly-veiled appeal to racism, intended to delegitimize Obama’s right to hold the highest office.

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Indignation in the immediate moment should turn to soul-searching in the boardroom and the newsroom.

This can’t happen again.