海角大神

Here鈥檚 a meta-level pitch for a think piece: Is the US media writing too many think pieces about Donald Trump?

Is there too much press coverage of The Donald? Is the political press failing the US public by covering Mr. Trump鈥檚 controversial assertions about immigration as if they were as important as, say, Deflategate?

Yes, this is a mea culpa. Perhaps we have done wrong.

The event that finally jolted us into reality is the realization that some media outlets are formalizing their constant Trumpian coverage into Trump sections. Salon has , a column which summarizes Trump鈥檚 activities everyday in handy digest form. It includes reports on Trump appearances (an audience of 5,000 in Phoenix) and the latest and most pointed Trump criticisms (Rupert Murdoch tweeted that Trump is 鈥渨rong鈥� on Mexican immigration).

Surely others will follow this obvious lead. When some legacy mainstream publication starts a morning e-mail newsletter named 鈥淭rump Cards鈥� we鈥檒l know things have gone too far.

Critics say this is cheapening US political discourse. Trump is a 鈥渃arnival barker,鈥� Rem Rieder last month. He鈥檚 soaking up media bandwidth and reporting firepower that would be better used on legitimate candidates.

Trump 鈥渋nevitably will hijack the focus away from important issues that need to be aired,鈥� wrote Mr. Rieder.

Others in the GOP race are heartily tired of Trump-related questions. They see them as indicative of the media鈥檚 own frenzy, not voter interest.

鈥淵ou know, enough.... Nobody in the real world asks me about this,鈥� said New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on when queried about Trump鈥檚 latest immigration pronouncements

All that said we believe there鈥檚 a legitimate defense of extensive Trump coverage. We could be wrong 鈥� and you鈥檒l feel free to tell us so 鈥� but we don鈥檛 feel too bad about Trump stories.

• People like to read about The Donald. Trump stories are often derided as 鈥渃lickbait鈥� 鈥� just attempts to dredge up readers. But 鈥渃lickbait鈥� is just another word for 鈥減opular.鈥� Yes, people love to follow Trump鈥檚 actions. Should we stop providing them that opportunity because we think it鈥檚 bad for them? That sounds patronizing.

• There's lots of media bandwidth. The media does have the ability to think and write about Donald Trump and John Kasich at the same time, generally speaking. Is Ohio Governor Kasich鈥檚 problem that nobody can find out about his candidacy on the Internet? No, it isn鈥檛. Here鈥檚 a rough test: type 鈥淛ohn Kasich鈥� into Google News and see what turns up. We got 75,000 hits. Sometimes worthy candidates lag in the polls because they don鈥檛 excite voters.

• Trump might affect who wins. Yes, it鈥檚 early. At this point, polls are a rough indication more than a real reflection of voter鈥檚 intentions. But Trump鈥檚 tied for the top in poll averages. That can鈥檛 be ignored. Maybe he鈥檒l stay there. Most likely he won鈥檛. Party leaders want him to go away and many Republicans voters don鈥檛 approve of him.

That doesn鈥檛 mean his influence won鈥檛 linger. The animus he鈥檚 creating among Hispanics could influence the November vote. At the presidential level the Republican and Democratic parties are so evenly matched that even marginal swings could affect the outcome. And as we鈥檝e noted before, it鈥檚 very difficult to put together a GOP path to victory that doesn鈥檛 include Florida 鈥� a state where almost 23 percent of the population is Latino.