Maddow Launches “bag Man,” Citing Shift in Media Role From Warning to Understanding Trump Era
Rachel Maddow’s new podcast, “Bag Man,” reflects a fundamental change in her approach to covering the presidency, moving from issuing warnings about potential dangers under the Trump administration to providing context and past understanding of unfolding events.
In a recent interview, Maddow explained that during “Trump 1.0,” she focused on raising alarms about the direction the administration was taking. “I was waving a lot of warning flags in trump 1.0 about what could be going on and how we should see the risk of the kind of government Trump was trying to impose,” she said.
However, she now believes the time for warnings has passed. “Now, we’re there,” Maddow stated. ”There’s no use in warning anymore. We’ve got masked, totally unaccountable secret police grabbing women out of daycares and building prison camps everywhere. In less than a year, the President has stuffed multiple billions of dollars into his own pockets, into those of his family. He has literally torn down the White House.”
“We’re no longer at the point where we need to be warned about what’s coming,” she continued. “we’re now at a point where what we need is understanding what’s going on, knowing what our options are in terms of how to preserve our democracy, to make sure that we’re not going to be the generation that lost the republic.”
Maddow described “Bag Man” – which details the story of Vice President Spiro Agnew‘s corruption scandal – as an example of the type of historical analysis needed to navigate the current political landscape. She emphasized the importance of learning from past events, stating, “It comes from context, from understanding historical international allegories to what we’re doing. When you recognize that this isn’t the first time something has happened, you wont to learn about the other time it’s happened to see if it can inform the way that you ought to respond.” She added, “We’re kids in terms of learning about new stuff. You learn by comparison, you learn by analogy, you learn by example.”
Maddow also positioned her podcast as a non-state TV competitor, suggesting a broader shift in the media surroundings.
