Media Criticism of Megyn Kelly’s Interview With Eric Trump is Just Veiled Anti-Trump Bias

There is an acronym that makes the rounds in the bubble periodically called FDS. This ailment — known as Fox Derangement Syndrome — affects those who are obsessed with the cable news network and therefore throw out more conspiracy theories about it than an over served Oliver Stone in the process.

There’s also a hashtag — one that has extended beyond the bubble — called #NeverTrump. Many of these folks have become so unhinged, so beside themselves they don’t have even a fraction of the influence they always believed they had with voters — that a barrage of #NeverTrump Tweets designed to take down Teflon Don(ald) are profoundly prevalent. And… profoundly pointless given the momentum the presumptive nominee now has if recent, somewhat shocking polls showing him either in a dead heat or beating Hillary Clinton in both swing states and nationally are any indication.

But what happens when you combine FDS and #NeverTrump? You get this kind of analysis from the usually-respectable Poynter Institute. Here’s Jim Warren’s commentary on Megyn Kelly’s interview with Eric Trump last night (emphasis and commentary mine in italics):

Megyn Kelly’s detente with Donald Trump has quickly slid into virtual abject sycophancy. Last night brought a softball interview with son Eric Trump. It was squashier than some grapes I just threw out. Or at least as soft as those Tempur-Pedic mattresses they’re hawking all over cable TV (crickets…time to hang up this attempt at humor).

“When you were raised what role did your father play?” Then there was, “How are you not a spoiled brat, because you’re not?” We learned from Eric that dad was a warm, fun, loving guy who took the kids to construction sites to play on the big equipment (I guess the Occupational Safety & Health Administration inspectors weren’t around). Dad also sent roses to girls he wanted set Eric up with. “He’s my mentor, he’s my best friend, I’m so proud of everything he’s accomplished.” This ended with the host referencing Eric and his sibs. “The three of you have turned out so beautifully. The best to all you guys.” Don’t worry, Megyn, they surely will be back.

So if Mr. Warren hosted a program like The Kelly File, he would have done…what? Hammered Eric Trump on the differences between Sunni and Shia? Ask him about his ideas to lower the national debt? Maybe a rapid-fire game of word association on the Supreme Court justices and whom his father should choose to replace the late Antonin Scalia if elected?

For giggles, let’s juxtapose Kelly’s interview — which focused on Eric’s relationship with his father and growing up in a Trump household — and one NBC’s Savannah Guthrie did recently with Chelsea Clinton regarding a book she just launched. Here’s a sample of some of the questions asked:

GUTHRIE: You even share some personal stories. We see a letter that a 5-year-old Chelsea Clinton wrote President Reagan. You know, I was probably like doodling on my notepad at 5, you’re writing presidents. You talk about a time when you were a little girl and were you bullied because you were a little girl and I was thinking, you know, for a governor’s daughter to have to go through that, what are you hoping people draw from hearing your own personal experiences?

GUTHRIE: You talk about gender equality. You talk about the lack of female leadership around the world. You don’t name names, but you make a pretty good case for a female president.

GUTHRIE: What’s she like as a grandmother? I mean, paint us a picture of Hillary Clinton at home, hanging out, talking baby talk.

GUTHRIE: You say she (Hllary) sings. Does she have a good voice?

Is that interview also abject sycophancy? Should Guthrie be criticized for asking such questions of an adult child of a presidential candidate? Of course not. Savannah’s goal was the same as Megyn’s last night: Both didn’t book a Chelsea Clinton or an Eric Trump to interrogate them like the candidates themselves… didn’t need to play a game of gotcha questions. Instead, it was simply to talk about family dynamic and the rapport between famous mother and daughter or famous father and son. Both Chelsea and Eric are on the campaign trail, yes, but more for symbolic reasons (optic: adult children supporting Mom and Dad, respectively, while illustrating how well they were raised and/or reaching out to millenials).

Jim Warren and Poynter must have missed it because no such review of the Guthrie interview — which was more than appropriate — appears in his archive.

But when suffering from FDS and #NeverTrump simultaneously, “analysis” like whatever Warren served up today is oftentimes the result.

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Follow Joe Concha on Twitter @JoeConchaTV