Remember, too, that both Lauer and Trump are NBCUniversal celebrities who have earned millions from and for the networks. (Vanity Fair magazine even reported that NBCUniversal boss Steve Burke had spoken hypothetically with Trump about continuing The Apprentice from the White House.) Moderating the first presidential debate on Sept. 26 is NBC anchorman Lester Holt, a nice and competent fellow, but facing the same pressure as his fellow teammate Matt Lauer to not offend their once-and-possibly-future NBC star Donald Trump.
And remember that Anderson Cooper of Time-Warner's CNN, the all-Trump-all-the-time network, and Martha Raddatz of Disney's ABC News will anchor the second presidential debate (to her credit, Raddatz did a good job during the 2012 vice presidential debate) -- and that the final, crucial close encounter between Trump and Clinton will be moderated by Chris Wallace of Fox, the very "news organization" that joined with Donald Trump to gleefully spread the Big Lie of Birtherism that served Trump so well with free publicity (and Fox so well with ratings) and that Trump now conveniently and hypocritically repents.
We wait breathlessly to see if during that debate Wallace inquires of Trump: "Did you really believe that lying about Barack Obama's birth was good for the country?" And: "What is your source for saying Hillary Clinton started the rumor that Obama was not born in America?" And: "How do we know you won't change your mind again and raise further doubts about whether the president is an American?" And -- to pick up on a suggestion from The Washington Post's David Fahrenthold, who has been reporting on Trump's charitable giving -- or lack thereof: "Mr. Trump, will you now follow through on your promise to donate $5 million to charity once you were given proof that President Obama was born in the United States? What charity do you have in mind? One of your own, perhaps?"
Wallace has already admitted he is in no position to hold Trump accountable for the lies he tells in the "debate" -- that "it's not my job" to fact check either Trump or Clinton during the course of their appearance with him. That should be pleasing to Roger Ailes, who was fired as head of the Fox News empire for scandalous sexist behavior but who is now giving Trump debate tips. Wallace is on record saying how much he admired and loved Ailes, to whom he owes his stardom at Fox -- "The best boss I've had in almost a half a century in journalism," Wallace said.
Such conflicts of interest at the core of the debates reminds us of what Woody Allen said back in one of his earlier, funnier films -- that the whole thing is a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham. And why are we so complacent about the hijacking of our political process -- that it has descended to this level where the two parties and the media giants pick as the only surrogates of the American people the minions of an oligarchic media riddled with cronyism and conflicts of interest?
So yes, scrap the debates as they are and rebuild. Even with a few days left until the first one there's time to call everyone together, announce that our democracy deserves better and change the rules.
John Donvan of ABC News, moderator of public broadcasting's excellent Intelligence Squared US debates, has been making the media rounds urging that the debate format be changed to Oxford rules -- to formally argue resolutions like "Resolved: The United States Should Withdraw from NATO," in which the candidates would make brief opening and closing statements and in the time remaining question one another about the issue at hand, under strict time guidelines At Change.org, 60,000 have signed a petition urging this be done. You have to wonder what would happen if those 60,000 and more turned up outside the first debate at Hofstra University on Sept. 26, exercising their constitutional right of assembly and demanding, not just urging, this better way.
Or why not put the League of Women Voters back in charge, with just the two candidates and a ruthless timekeeper on the stage insisting that they keep to stringent time limits and behave like human beings? If they don't, on their heads be it. The timekeeper could even pull the plug early if things got out of hand.
Which brings us to the #1 Question: How can anyone keep Trump in bounds? He makes up the rules as he goes along. He is a pathological liar and overweening narcissist who, as Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo reminds us in a chilling take on the man, has more than once hinted at the murder of Hillary Clinton. Says the astute Marshall:
"The salient fact about Trump isn't his cruelty or penchant for aggression and violence. It's his inability to control urges and drives most people gain control over very early in life. There are plenty of sadists and sociopaths in the world. They're not remarkable. The scariest have a high degree of impulse control (iciness) which allows them to inflict pain on others when no one is looking or when they will pay no price for doing so. What is true with Trump is what every critic has been saying for a year: the most obvious and contrived provocation can goad this thin-skinned charlatan into a wild outburst. He's a 70-year-old man with children and grandchildren and he has no self-control."
Does anyone really believe a candidate so unstable can or will engage in serious debate? And if our first line of defense against his volcanic lies -- journalists supposedly committed to truth -- crumbles, how will we ever clean up the contamination?
Something's got to give. We can't go on like this. We can no longer leave the electoral process to the two parties or the media conglomerates with whom they're in cahoots. The stakes are too high.
*Michael Winship is the Emmy Award-winning senior writer of Moyers & Company and BillMoyers.com, and a former senior writing fellow at the policy and advocacy group Demos. Follow him on Twitter at @MichaelWinship.(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
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