ABSTRACT
The groundwork for misinformation and mistrust was laid long before the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of the political ideologies that surfaced on social media were rooted in the communication practices of President Donald Trump even before he was first elected. Journalism, reporting, discourse, and analysis are key components of metajournalism and contribute to collective memory. Collective memory and metajournalism are part of the communication ecology of historical events. Collective memory and metajournalism provide context for how the public interprets presidential personalities. This chapter uses a temporal case study methodology to evaluate Trump’s comments around certain key events leading up to the 2020 election as well as the metajournalism around that discourse. It also makes recommendations as to how journalism can consider political coverage and social media discourse in the future and the memorialization and misinformation surrounding it.
