Just Stop Talking About Trump's Criminal Cases. They Are Overshadowing More Important Issues | Opinion

The modern era of the 24-hour news cycle began in the mid-90s, with the sensational criminal trial of O.J. Simpson. It was a spectacle like nothing before on television. As the Washington Post's Kent Babb writes, "never had one news event been covered so continually," with CNN and Court TV having "made the bold decision to cover every turn of the case, no matter how meaningless." CNN devoted 70 correspondents to the trial, and across a 1-year period, 38 percent of all ABC Breaking News segments were devoted to OJ.

It was a true "media circus." Simpson's murder trial might not have been the most consequential thing happening in the world at the time, but it certainly captured the most attention, with 150 million people viewing the verdict on television.

The sensationalism around the OJ Simpson trial should be a warning for our own time. With a big celebrity on trial, it's easy to get sucked into the drama and to lose sight of the things that matter most in the world. Now, with Donald Trump facing nearly 100 criminal charges across four jurisdictions and the U.S. facing the unprecedented possibility of an ex-president being tried in a criminal court on live television during an election year, we need to try to keep Trump's legal issues from becoming an all-consuming national soap opera.

Of course, even more so than the OJ case, the Trump trial is inherently big news. The former president of the United States is being accused of serious crimes against the country. I'm not saying it's not a massive news story. But the risk is that it will swallow up everything else, that the colorful characters and day-to-day ups-and-downs of criminal procedure will receive incessant airtime, with critical stories of major human consequence being neglected. The 2024 election might center entirely around the question of whether the former president will be going to prison. Major policy issues that affect the lives of millions will disappear from public discussion completely.

It's not like there's nothing else going on. Many Americans are in a dire economic situation, with food insecurity on the rise, despite the Biden administration's efforts to paint a rosy picture of "Bidenomics'" effect on the country. A summer of searing heat and the horrific wildfire in Maui have demonstrated just how urgent it is for the country (and the world) to get off fossil fuels, which we're still not doing. The war in Ukraine still has no resolution in sight, and Americans deserve a public conversation about whether this country's role in the conflict, supplying military aid but declining to push for a diplomatic settlement, is constructive or harmful.

Meanwhile, dangerous tensions with China are being inflamed, which could lead to a calamitous war on a destructive scale never seen before. People can't pay the rent, and many sleep on the streets. They can't afford their healthcare.

There is no shortage of serious problems facing the country that deserve the public attention of our media and politicians. But the next year is going to be all about Trump, isn't it?

I'm sure the media will give us detailed introductions to all of his various "co-conspirators," many of whom will become minor characters in our national reality television show, just like Kato Kaelin and Lance Ito had their fifteen minutes of fame 30 years ago. And we'll have nonstop updates on every little twist in the case, every hearing, every motion.

Certainly, if Trump has committed crimes, let him be duly tried and convicted. Some of the charges against him are more solid than others (quite predictable, given that there are now 93 of them). But the whole proceeding should be solemn and take place in the background, while the forefront of political life should focus on issues rather than individuals.

Sadly, I suspect that instead, we're heading for a wearying national spectacle of trial after trial after trial. I, for one, am not looking forward to it.

Donald Trump can't be ignored. He's too consequential. But it's also the case that Donald Trump has always attracted far too much attention, an obsessive media focus that makes it impossible to keep people thinking about less lurid but far more important matters.

As this extraordinary, historically unprecedented situation unfolds, we should force ourselves to peel our eyes away from it long enough to remember everything else going on in the world. But I'm not hopeful.

Nathan J. Robinson is the editor in chief of Current Affairs magazine and the author of Responding to the Right: Brief Replies to 25 Conservative Arguments.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.