The Office star Rainn Wilson has called into question left-leaning news media outlets’ treatment of Donald Trump in contrast to Joe Biden.
Wilson, who played Dwight Schrute in the American adaptation of The Office from 2005 to 2013, made the comments during a conversation about Trump with MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle.
On the Soul Boom podcast, in an episode titled “Why Everyone's Turning Off the News”, Ruhle claimed that, since Trump’s return to office, the president is making a “concerted effort to destroy the media”.
She added that the president’s friend, Elon Musk, wants “people to leave traditional media” behind thanks to the changes that he has made since purchasing X/Twitter. However, Wilson didn’t agree with this sentiment, replying: “This is where I would push back.
“I see this kind of insight and passion being directed at the current administration, and the lack of this kind of insight and passion being directed at the previous administration.”
Clarifying, Wilson said that his remarks were aimed at “left-leaning news media organisations”.
He added: “[They] were kind of like, 'La, la, la, la, la, Everything's fine. Look, the economy's great. La, la, la. Immigration's not that much of a problem,' and really, being Cleopatra, Queen of Denial.”
Ruhle responded by saying that she felt American news outlets did put pressure on Biden on topics such as immigration, but added that Republicans are more “willing to talk about some of the unpleasant things that people feel”.
“When people say those things out loud, they're immediately called xenophobic or racist. And we have to make space for how people feel.”
Wilson then speculated: “Most people, a large majority of people who have a problem with the current immigration crisis and have for the last five or 10 years, are not racist. But are often kind of tarred as racist by the liberal left.”
Ruhle said America’s scepticism towards immigrants comes from ordinary people struggling to “make ends meet” despite working hard. “We need to give space, to sort of hear those people, hear what their needs are, and instead, a lot of those people have felt like when they voice their opinions, they're treated like they're xenophobic, and they're racist, and they're anti-immigrant, and I don't think they are,” she said.
Changing the subject, Wilson noted: “Half our guests have said, 'I don't watch the news anymore, and my life is so much better. I turn it off, I took Apple News off my phone, I don't even subscribe, I don't go on social media, and I don't read news articles, and I'm raising bees and growing poppies and washing my dishes and meditating and my life is so much better and richer for it.”
Ruhle countered this by observing: “I think you said the most important thing: 'richer.’ That's a very rich thing to say because people of privilege can afford to tune out.”
It comes after Musk said he’d be reducing his time with the Department of Government Efficiency beginning next month after Tesla reported disappointing earnings, missing Wall Street expectations. Musk said in a Tuesday earnings call that he would begin stepping back from his Trump administration role next month and return his focus to his ailing EV brand.
Musk is also said to be keen to leave his government role because he’s tired of what he sees as a litany of vicious and unethical attacks from the left, according to a report from The Washington Post.
