Ohio's No. 1 loudmouth, Cleveland afternoon talker
Mike Trivisonno, knows gambling. Trivisonno - Triv, for short - spends much of his free time playing cards, online and with friends. When he's not playing cards, he's talking about playing cards during his daily drivetime show on AM powerhouse WTAM. And when he's
not talking about gambling, he's polluting the airwaves with his caustic, uninformed brand of right-wing talk. Hiding behind the myth of independence, Triv is equal parts partisan hack and professional wrestler, a bullying, ignorant boor armed with both an agenda and an attitude. With that background in mind, it's important to take note of Triv's latest on-air ploy, an effort that seems to effortlessly combine his two interests. His plan, discussed Tuesday:
A sucker bet disguised as anything but.Here, in short, is Triv's plan, an invitation he extended to Ohio's U.S. Senate candidates -
Sherrod Brown and Mike DeWine - and also to Ohio's gubernatorial nominees,
Ted Strickland and
Ken Blackwell. Each candidate would appear on Triv's show to answer 10 questions, some written by the host himself, some by the show's audience. In answering the questions, the candidates wouldn't be allowed to disparage either their opponent or their opponent's party. Plus, the candidates wouldn't have the benefit of hearing what their opponent said. Seems fair enough, right? A shot to impress a massive, captive audience and woo voters to your side as election day approaches. The opportunity to interact with the people, again putting forth your agenda with strength and conviction. This would all be true
if we were talking about anyone other than Triv, or his show. And here's why.
Triv, contrary to his on-air statements, is a rabid right-winger. Billing himself as "Mr. Know-it-All", Triv's "takes" include wanting restaurant workers with HIV to be appropriately "labeled", calling his African American show producer a "nigger" in jest, ranting about how foster parents scammed the system to take advantage of regular stipends for special-needs children and, in general, blaming the poor for their condition, telling poverty-stricken women to sop having children and calling the poor lazy. Triv hates politicians - and by "politicians", I mean "Democrats". He hates Hillary Clinton with the heat of a thousand suns, is threatening to leave the country if she is ever elected president and often badmouths her husband, especially in comparing the former president to the Oval Office's current occupant. To Triv, Democrats are willing to do anything - including see America attacked again - to get elected. To that end, the so-called war on terror is a frequent Trivisonno
hobby horse. Democrats, he says, either can't or won't admit that we're in a conflict for our very survival. Citing friends in the know and using flimsy evidence, Triv frames the threat of terrorism as not only a war for our survival, but also a struggle at home between the patriotic Americans who fight to protect us and the wishy-washy Democrats who don't even realize they need protected. It gets better.
If this is possible, Triv's listeners, at least the ones calling in, are
less informed and
more caustic than the host. I can think of no better example of this than in the days following Hurricane Katrina. Triv's callers, by a large margin, followed the lead of their Republican counterparts:
They blamed the victims. Driving through the steady rain caused in Northeast Ohio by the remnants of Katrina, I found myself listening to the show. True to form, no more than 30 seconds passed before Triv started into a diatribe about those living in the disaster area. As I wrote then, "If they knew Katrina was coming, he yelled, why didn't they leave? If you know you're living in a hurricane-prone area, he continued, why don't you move?" Caller after caller, I continued, "spewed one ignorant, bigoted opinion after another. As those trapped died and many remained stranded to our south, the phone lines at WTAM were jammed with individuals blaming those trapped there for their predicament. Arguing that they shouldn't be required to provide their hard-earned money to help those living in a doomed city. Bemoaning the victims' collective stupidity for not realizing they chose to live in a hurricane zone." Hateful call after hateful call.
Triv said nothing. Nothing more, sadly, than saying that if we bothered to rebuild New Orleans, it would only be destroyed again thanks to another storm.
When I point out Triv's own words and those of his callers - again,
Media Matters, come to Ohio - what happens? I get e-mails from Triv's followers that confirm my suspicions.
Here's one: "Do you really think Mike Trivisonno admonishing poverty-striken young, husbandless females to stop cranking out babies at the taxpayers expense is hateful and spiteful? Man, you are totally out of it, as are most liberals. Go ahead and continue to subscribe to what's
truly destroying this country. When it all folds, I guess we'll be blaming it on you and your ilk. What a waste of bradband (sic)." So there you have it. Getting back to the on-air proposition,
those would be the listeners writing questions. And
that would be the host also writing some and asking them all. Honest, informative give-and take? Or partisan trap?
You be the judge.If Tuesday's show was any indication, Triv's offer appears to be little more than a smokescreen. Reporting that Brown's campaign had turned down the offer - an official reminding the station that Brown regularly offers himself to WTAM for interviews and would again - Triv took the time to insult the staffer who declined the invite. Then, he started to play a chant that included himself and his colleagues. "Sherrod Brown turned us down! Sherrod Brown turned us down!" Trust me, it was as annoying as it is representative of the show. Triv, in the early stages of a rant, then pulled an O'Reilly, telling his audience that Brown was scared to appear on his show. How could any candidate, he said, miss the opportunity to speak to so many people? Brown has the Democratic base locked up, Triv added, just as DeWine has the Republican base in his corner. However, the host concluded, it was "his ass", as someone supposedly in the center, that the candidates would have to convince. And, accordingly, the asses of his audience, which Triv contended contained voters of every stripe. (I would contend that, with the exception of the show's scant sports coverage, any Democrats listening to the show do so for the same reason people on the freeway slow down to eyeball a traffic accident.)
On paper, Triv's last point is right. But in reality, where elections are
actually contested, he's sadly mistaken. Because Triv's mind is already made up. So, for the most part, is his audience's. And none of the evidence points to the contrary. Sure, on paper, Triv's big idea has merit. Who wouldn't want the chance to reach so many potential voters? Positive earned media, in a tight race, has almost limitless value. But who could confidently state that, in its final execution, the "non-debate debate"
wouldn't have a strong partisan lean? What's stopping Triv and his listeners from injecting bias into their questions? What's stopping the host from injecting his views into the questions? Who's making sure the questions themselves are factually accurate? Further, what's stopping the Republican candidates from making unsubstantiated claims about either their plans or their opponents? Sure, the rules don't allow it, but what could Triv offer DeWine or Blackwell other than a half-hearted, after-the-fact admonition? This format doesn't discourage insults, distortions and lies. Quite the opposite. And Triv knows it.
I have a suspicion that the only reason Triv specified that the candidates not be allowed to mention either their opponent or their opponent's party is because he often accuses the Democrats of offering little more than attacks on Republicans, especially the president. He never does this about the Republicans' petty attacks. I'm also suspicious of Triv's motives in the first place, as he seemed quite content to insult Brown and call him a coward for refusing to be ambushed. I'm sure he'll do the same thing should Strickland decline the invitation. What of DeWine and Blackwell should
they turn Triv down? I'd expect treatment with kid gloves from the host. It's what he does. Posing as a moderate while slandering the Democratic Party is Triv's sad act. And, while I appreciate the opportunity this type of invitation would typically represent, I can't help but agree with the Brown campaign. When something looks too good to be true, it often is. Tell me, however, what would
you do if faced the decision?
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