Media Elites ‘Already Exhausted’ Covering Trump’s Resurgence

The media world is feeling a familiar strain as President Donald Trump makes a dramatic return to the White House. After a four-year break from his news-dominating presence, establishment media personalities are already voicing frustration, claiming to be “exhausted” by the constant flow of developments surrounding Trump’s policies, executive orders, and public appearances.

For these commentators, who had enjoyed what they describe as a “vacation” during what they described as President Joe Biden’s more subdued administration, it’s a rude awakening. And with Trump’s return to office, the deluge of headlines seems like a nonstop avalanche.

Though it could be argued that the reason the media is feeling “fatigued” has more to do with their willingness to accurately and fairly report on the Biden Administration than a change of pace in news-generating headlines, as Biden also signed a staggering number of executive orders in his first days in office.

It could also be argued that if the press took their responsibilities more seriously during the Biden administration, and investigated pressing stories like the Hunter Biden laptop, Joe Biden’s mental decline, and the botched Afghanistan withdrawal, that they’d be more prepared for a change in leadership.

The shift between the two presidencies has been stark. Under Biden, media coverage often felt like a series of lukewarm reports, with Biden appearing less in the public eye due to health concerns and aides shielding him from interviews. Biden’s approach to the media was marked by occasional press appearances but a general effort to limit his interactions with both the press and the public.

In contrast, Trump’s return to the Oval Office has immediately flooded the media landscape. From sweeping executive actions to high-stakes international maneuvers, it seems that every day brings a new headline about the former president’s bold policy moves. His influence on the news cycle was already being felt before he was officially sworn in, with his return to office functioning like a headline-generating machine in overdrive.

One of the earliest voices of media fatigue came from Tara Palmeri of Puck, who lamented, “Day four feels like month four,” describing the overwhelming sense of exhaustion she and her colleagues are experiencing while trying to keep up with the relentless pace of news emanating from the White House. Palmeri’s remark is telling, as it highlights not only the quantity of news being produced by Trump’s administration but also the sharp contrast in how the media covered Biden despite many significant and high profile controversies.

“Exhausted yet?” asked Susan Glasser, a staff writer for The New Yorker, in a snarky tone directed at readers. Glasser’s article, which compiled a list of Trump’s actions in his first three days back in office, paints a picture of a president with a seemingly endless agenda. From pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement to threatening trade wars with Canada and Mexico, Trump’s early days have been marked by sweeping changes that have sent shockwaves through the media.

For many in the media, the term “Trump Time” is a reference to the intense and often chaotic pace of the first Trump administration, where every tweet and every statement seemed to demand an immediate response. According to Brian Stelter, media personalities have been “getting back on Trump Time,” a shift that brings with it all the challenges of covering a president who generates constant news, both by his own actions and by his frequent public statements.

Public trust in the mainstream media has been in freefall for years, with a dramatic drop in confidence reported by Gallup polls in October 2024. According to the poll, Americans’ trust in the media to report the news “fully, accurately, and fairly” has hit a record low.

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