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The Kicker

Back in the Whirlwind

CJR’s Jon Allsop on how the media handled Trump’s first week back—and what’s still to come.

January 31, 2025
Photo by Lenin Nolly/NurPhoto via AP. Art by Katie Kosma.

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Jon Allsop writes and edits The Media Today, CJR’s daily newsletter. There, he’s closely watched as the American press has struggled to respond to, and cover, the barrage of news that pours out of Donald Trump.

As a frenetic new term begins, Jon joins The Kicker to share his thoughts on what the media gets wrong—and how the political press might begin to chart a new relationship with the presidency and the public.

Read More:
*Jon’s latest newsletter, on Trump’s first week back in office
*Jon’s 2020 essay on how the media handled Trump’s first term
*Chris Hayes on attention, on Ezra Klein’s podcast
*Susan Glasser on Trump’s exhausting litany of outrages

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Josh Hersh is an editor at CJR. He was previously a correspondent and senior producer at Vice News.