Media is About to Make the Same Mistake With Michael Avenatti That They Made With Trump

Coming off a trip to Iowa — aka the “land of nascent political ambitions” — personal attorney to adult film stars Michael Avenatti is talking about a presidential bid.

Instead of dismissing this as a publicity stunt, the political media class continue to provide precious airtime to the publicity hound. In doing so, they may very well be making the same mistake they made in the run-up to the last general election…with now President Donald Trump’s long-shot bid.

There is no denying it’s been quite a year for the California-based attorney, largely due to his public litigation of the Stormy Daniels affair and allegations that President Donald Trump was involved in a pay-off to keep his alleged extramarital affair with the adult film actress out of the public sphere.

In the months since that story broke last Spring, Avenatti’s visage has been predictably featured on most media outlets, in large part due to the extraordinary nature of his client’s lawsuit against the president: she is a porn star, alleging Trump slept with her shortly after his third wife had given birth, and was then paid weeks before the 2016 election to keep quiet about her story.  It’s a remarkably salacious story, and Avenatti has waged a relentless war against the president, and cable news has been his battleground of choice.

In the event you have been in a coma in the past three years, allow me to remind you how we got to where we are today:

Apart from his debatable business successes, then-candidate Trump was himself nothing more than a self-promotional television personality consistently appearing on both broadcast and cable networks because he provided remarkably entertaining moments and got great ratings. Never mind the increased viewership came as a result of bombast and over-the-top allegations that proved difficult to precisely be proven wrong.

It was Trump’s shameless hyperbole that people tuned into, either because viewers favorable to his message found it refreshing, or those who opposed him couldn’t believe the slow-motion trainwreck that was actually happening before their eyes.

And so this symbiotic media relationship impossibly led to President Trump, and is now starting to reveal itself as a means to benefit Mr. Avenatti, who seems come as close to Trump’s equal in terms of bombast, drama and suggestive allegations as any political rival. Remember his mysterious tweeting of an image of a compact disc? Remember his cryptic suggestion (without proof) of Rudy Giuliani’s alleged interest in pornography? Downright Trumpian.

For progressives bitter with getting the short end of the political stick under Trump, this “fighting fire with fire” has been a refreshing turn of events. Never mind that, under Trump, these sort of tactics have been consistently dismissed by the very same progressive set as improper and unbecoming of anyone interested in holding the highest office.

The “means to an end” Avenatti supporters have already started sprouting amongst Resistance thought leaders, in a troubling omen of what could be yet to come.

For television bookers, however, Avenatti is a gold mine. He consistently delivers what they are seeking: conflict, controversy and confidence. Which is why it seems almost more likely to turn on primetime cable programming and see an interview with Avenatti than not.

The one outlet that has been a notable exception to the Avenatti-fest is Fox News. Laura Ingraham notably asked the lawyer to come on her show to debate her one on one, an offer which he declined as he was aiming for an appearance on Sean Hannity’s program. And lest we forget Tucker Carlson’s ad hominem attack on Avenatti’s appearance, suggesting that he looked weird because of his eyes are too close together. But even this conservative media animus only fuels the hatred of Avenatti from the right, which in turn only serves to embolden his fans on the left. Remind you of anyone?

Under Trump, unprovable hyperbole has become the new lingua franca for political media outlets. And while the established punditry class formerly dismissed such campaigns as Avenatti’s as nothing more than publicity stunts, in a post-Trump world, we can no longer be so dismissive.

It’s easy to see why Avenatti is getting so much airtime. Simply put, his porn star client is suing the sitting president. But a better question might be why any reasonable person would consider Mr. Avenatti for the commander of anything other than Stormy Daniels’ legal affairs.  Well, the answer isn’t a pleasant one: we find ourselves with a dearth of respected political leaders on either side. And in that vacuum, cable news personalities have taken an outsized role in our civic discussion.

Where we once lived at a time when we’d write-off Avenatti as a shameless attention seeker looking to build his personal brand, we just mocked the very same all the way through a presidential campaign and into the White House.

Giving Avenatti airtime might make for good ratings — and provide comfort food for the anti-Trump viewership — but doing entertaining cable news hits should not be a precursor to holding the highest office in the land.

And if the media isn’t careful, they may be recommitting the very same sins that elected President Trump.

Colby Hall is the Founding Editor of Mediate, and despite doing some entertaining cable news hits of his own, has no current plans to run for office. Follow him on twitter.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.