In reading the transcripts from the post-summit press conferences, nearly every question from the US media was an attempt to goad Biden into making even more belligerent comments about Russia and, once FoxNews got the microphone, China, than he was already inclined to do. The press hasn’t changed all that much since the days of Hearst. In fact it’s probably worse, since there was still a muckraking tradition, even in Hearst’s papers, and the beat reporters themselves were largely working class then. If the administration shows any reluctance to escalate a confrontation, then the media is more than willing to light a match for them and then hide in the green room at CNN as it all goes up in flames. More
