If a powerful elected official announced he was a white supremacist and was going to bully educators into a sharp reduction of teaching about Black history and racism, you would expect media outlets to treat him as a racist, right? But as long as he doesn’t call himself a racist, some newsrooms would prefer to call him an “underdog” who’s “building his brand.” We’ll talk about the frustratingly slow pace of national journalists to recognize actual threats to democracy and American values.

Monday: 

• Carlene Bechen, Terry Bell, Kristin Lyerly