I typed out a whole thing, went to copy it lest my tablet loses it, and lost it doing that!
Poiliticains have always been ridiculed and harshly criticized. This is nothing new. Even prior to tv and radio, political cartoons and ads were shocking by even today's standards.
Comedians worried Obama wouldn't be easy to joke about because he was a tad bland. It didn't stop them. The disgusting stuff hurled at him but other spheres (look at the pics in my meme), and at that level, are unparalled before or even since. Mind you, they were based on race, as opposed to policy or the way he acted or talked. GW Bush got it, Clinton too (the only thing I liked about their 16 years was the comedy). G HW Bush Sr as well, and he was on the bland side. Reagan, just like your Thatcher, only with more befuddling around the edges, so more for the picking. Ford, Carter - for those pretending otherwise, watch SNL from back then. Came with the territory. No one cried about it.
Losers mocked also. I voted for Dole partially because he was relentlessly ridiculed about his age. That was a lowpoint in politics prior to Obama in terms of going below the belt that I had personally witnessed. John Kerry, Palin, Hillary, Dukakis, Gore - who was so much of a wooden bore it became funny to mock. Incidentally, Dole and Bush Sr were disrespected by Republicans as well. They called Bush weak on knowledge of foreign policy and refrained "the wimp factor" - and he was the former head of the CIA!
Want to see hilarious? Check out the 'via satellite interviews' on Conan O'Brian with Clinton, Gore, and Kerry. Thursday nights were the tv highlight of my week. The Dole ones, not so nice. One of the reasons I got turned off on Conan.
Where has media praised, condoned, or downplayed such against Trump?
He and his base thrive on negativity and the most vile propaganda and rhetoric. If they don't like the response it inspires, then it's on them to cease the ugliness.
True, CNN and MSNBC have emulated FOX's ad infinatum announcing of the one line of the day. Which is why I watch only Rachel Maddow now. I tried watching Greg Gutfeld, having been a fan of Red Eye before he did The Five as well and became a sourpuss. But although somewhat funnier again, it's just jizzing about nothing but Trumptrumptrump.
Again, don't see where celebrity and news condoning and normalizing have to do with this meme, other than half the pics being of well known has beens. Kathy Griffith has been blacklisted too, no?