Sanders Joins Trump in Telling the Media to Go to Hell

Where are those medical records you promised to show us, NBC News’ Chuck Todd asked last weekend on “Meet the Press.“ Sen. Bernie Sanders sounded polite enough, as he exhaled a puffy cloud of obfuscation.

It was not hard to translate Sanders’ word cloud: Go to hell, Chuck.

A lot of that going around these days. Go to hell is what President Donald Trump said in response to his own reneged pledge to release his tax records, to inquiries about the details of his own health records, to criticism to this week’s decision by the leadership of his Justice Department to intervene in sentencing recommendations by line prosecutors in the case of Trump friend Roger Stone.

The narrow question is whether the public needs to see full health records of a 78-year-old man who recently suffered a heart attack and now hopes to be commander in chief or whether his physicians’ letters of reassurance (not accompanied by a news conference or interviews) that he is in satisfactory health are sufficient.

A much larger question is raised by Sanders’ willingness to tell Todd—and the rest of us—to pound sand, seemingly confident in his belief that there is not much price to be paid for doing so.

Sanders’ reversal on health records—in the fall he pledged he would “certainly” release “comprehensive” health information before votes were cast—is notable in at least three respects.

One, it shows how pervasive the Trump precedent is. Even politicians who stand against him on every issue, and who speak solemnly about the need to restore norms shattered during this presidency, are ready to follow trails he has blazed in taking flight from public accountability.

Two, Sanders’ evasion highlights the dilution of mainstream media’s institutional power. There has been no aspirant or occupant of the White House during the modern presidency who has not wished to say "Go to hell" to uncomfortable inquiries about health, finances, or aspects of personal lives that affect public duties. Trump and Sanders are hardly the first to do so. But the reason most politicians have historically resisted the impulse is that it came with a high cost: It was unpleasant and politically expensive to be in the crosshairs of the New York Times, the Washington Post, or a major broadcast network like NBC.





https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/02/13/sanders-trump-media-114791