At a recent event, Donald Trump sat for an interview with Bloomberg News editor-in-chief John Micklethwait. In front on an audience, the interview was meant to be about economic policies. However, Micklethwait used the end of the interview to bring up January 6 and question Trump as to whether or not he would allow for a "peaceful transfer of power" if he lost.

As someone who has been critical of Trump and the rioters on January 6, I can't say I was happy with all of Trump's answers. January 6 was a uniquely bad day in American history, and while I know I'm in the minority here when I say this, I think the people who pulled the craziest stunts there were not good people but were people role-playing at being patriots because they wanted to create chaos. 

But when it comes to the "peaceful transfer of power," Trump boarded Marine One on January 20, 2021, left the Capitol grounds, and Joe Biden was sworn in without disruption. That’s the reality. 

Yet, the media remains fixated on January 6, endlessly questioning Trump about the “peaceful transfer of power” as if voters haven’t already moved on. Sure, Americans might not love what happened that day, but when it comes down to the most important issues of the 2024 election—Trump, not Biden, is the candidate they trust.

This Washington Post write-up is a solid case in point. The focus of the article is on Trump side-stepping the question of a peaceful transfer of power tying the riots and the Inauguration Day as the same when they were not. 

Micklethwait pressed Trump on whether he would “commit now to respecting and encouraging a peaceful transfer of power” if he loses in November.

When Trump said the transfer of power in 2021 was peaceful, Micklethwait said it was peaceful “compared with Venezuela, but it was by far the most, the worst transfer of power for a long time,” drawing boos from some in the audience.

The crowd in attendance did not seem to like the line of questioning, and while the crowd was mostly Trump supporters, poll after poll shows that the wider voting public prefers Trump on the biggest issues shaping their lives: the economy, inflation, immigration, and crime. 

These are not abstract concerns—they are day-to-day realities for Americans struggling to make ends meet, secure their communities, and deal with an immigration crisis at the southern border. But instead of focusing on these critical issues, the media continues its relentless pursuit of Trump’s comments on January 6, an issue that is much further back in the minds of Americans.

This is classic agenda-setting journalism from Micklethwait and the rest of the mainstream press. The media isn't reporting on what voters actually care about—they’re doubling down on the narratives that matter to them and trying to make the issue of the "threat to democracy" and January 6 a top-of-mind issue for voters who are currently worried about their grocery bills, mortgages, community safety, and other real issues. 

Meanwhile, Biden and Harris skate by without meaningful questions about their policies (or lack thereof in Harris' case) as Americans face sky-high grocery bills and worsening public safety. Kamala Harris, in particular, continues to avoid committing to real solutions, yet reporters give her a free pass while nitpicking every word Trump says.

The disconnect between media priorities and voter concerns couldn’t be more obvious. For voters, January 6 is a historical event—something they’ve processed and put behind them. They care far more about how the next president will fix an economy in decline, bring inflation under control, and secure the border. Yet, reporters still seem more interested in catching Trump in a rhetorical trap than holding Biden and Harris accountable for today’s problems.

In the final stretch of the campaign, voters are making their priorities clear. Trump may not be everyone’s favorite personality, but when it comes to handling the issues that matter most, he’s the one they trust. The media can keep rehashing January 6 all they want, but Americans have moved on. It's about time journalists do, too.