Howard Kurtz’s Trivialization Of the Word ‘Trivial’

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “trivial” “as of little worth or importance.” The Cambridge Dictionary defines “trivial” as “having little value or importance.”

But despite the definitions from those and other dictionaries that define the word similarly, the word “trivial” has become an important  much used adjective by cable news hosts when the subject concerns former President Donald Trump’s alleged hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

The alleged Trump payment to Ms. Daniels has, over the years, become an important news saga for cable TV producers, hosts and guest “analysts.” At various intervals, it has ascended to the top of cable news coverage, descended when cable producers thinks there are juicer topics and for the past several weeks has again reached the apex of cable news coverage because of the possibility that the twice-impeached former president might have to locate his presidential library at Riker’s Island or Alcatraz. 

The most recent extended misuse of the word “trivial” that I saw was on Fox’s March 19 Media Buzz program hosted by Howard Kurtz, who describes his program as a week’s review of the news, when as any fair-minded viewer of the program will admit it’s just another of Fox’s right-wing programs, not as bad as Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity or Laura Ingraham, and lesser Fox hosts, but just as one sided.  Nevertheless, just as is most of Fox programming, Media Buzz is a contemporary version of yellow journalism.

While it’s clear for viewers of Media Buzz (and I have been one for many years without ever buying a product from that My Pillow Guy), is that Kurtz’s program tilts to the far right.  This is evident from the basket of guests he books on his program, the two most frequent being Mollie Hemingway, the editor-in-chief of the online arch-conservative magazine The Federalist, and Ben Domenech, co-founder and publisher of The Federalist who left the magazine last year to become editor-at-large of The Spectator.

It is the more soft-spoken, but very conservative Domenech that together with Kurtz trivialized the word “trivial” during a lengthy discussion regarding Trump’s alleged hush money pavement to Ms. Daniels. (Actually, I believe that a hush money payment of $130,000 is a trivial sum for someone like Trump to buy silence. Maybe that’s why he keeps denying the affair and the payment.)

On his March 19 program, Kurtz showed clips from even anti-Trump commentators who said the allegations against Trump were trivial. (I don’t know if the clips were taken out of context, but if they were it wouldn’t be the first time on Fox.) Kurtz also said that “most people” don’t consider the payment allegations “that important,” although he didn’t show his research backing up his statement. But it was Domenech, whose TV demeanor I find much more pleasant than his former Federalist colleague Hemingway, who raised the adjective “trivial” to new found heights.

He said about the hush money allegations, and I slightly paraphrase, “it’s a thin case;” “it’s ridiculous and over the top;” and “it’s an unimportant matter,” to name only several of his statements belittling the accusations.

As befits a conservative thinker, Mr. Domenech also referred to PR adages that date back to the era of the Neanderthals, like “Trump is controlling the narrative” and is  “ getting ahead of stories about  his being arrested by speaking out.” Perhaps, Mr. Domenech forgot how those strategies worked for BP, Boeing, Wells Fargo and so many other entities and individuals that used those flawed theories, including Mr. Trump. Research proves those tenets don’t work and should have been trashed during Calvin Coolidge’s presidency.

Perhaps, Mr. Domenech should advise Mr. Trump to follow my theory that I have put into play during PR crises – “Perhaps the best strategy for the client is to say nothing and let the lawyers do the talking.”

So if the great majority of right-wing Trump-supporting individuals are calling the charges against Trump “trivial” and Trumped up, I have my own definition of “trivial.” 

Trivial: It’s not trivial when the word is used in connection with hush money paid a few days prior to the 2016 election in order to sway the election. In that case, it’s a crime. And it’s not trivial when Trump asks his supporters to take to the streets and protest if he is arrested. In that case it’s tantamount to inviting violence.

The Important Lesson For PR People

During PR crises, Perhaps the best strategy for the client is to say nothing and let the lawyers do the talking.