It's clear to me that the so called Republican Party is in fact the party of Trump. They are supposed to be all about toughness, not snowflakes as they like to troll the libs with. However they cower at the thought of coming out against their dear leader in public unless they are not facing an election, case in point John Blake. Even Mitt Romney who appeared to grow a pair when he voted against Trump during the impeachment has apparently once again swallowed the grape Kool-Aid, indicating he would vote for a Supreme Court justice before the election. The Republicans are fascists. They have no interest in governance, no real concern for their constituency. The press has become a tool of the far right, bending a story anyway possible to make it appear that both sides are very similar when clearly they are not. As a Democrat I often point out what's wrong with our party. But let's get real, there is only one party that cares about the rights of all Americans and that's the Democrats. The press will only get worse if Trump wins again. Another victory for Trump means that it will not be long before journalists are arrested for their views. If you think that can't happen, could you have imagined four years ago where we are today with over 200k people dead because of a pandemic that this administration failed miserably in combating? Could you have foreseen that the AG of the US acts as consigliere to the president, defending him against charges of sexual harassment on tax payer money. How about being okay with Putin's bounty of the lives of our sons and daughters in the military or the fact that Trump loathes the lives of our fallen soldiers? As what happened after the fascists in the Senate cleared Trump of wrong doing, he will get another blank check if reelected for a second term, and what we couldn't imagine four years ago will appear trivial by 2024. Make no mistake, the press has been, perhaps unwilling, but never the less an accomplice in where we sit today.
The GOP wants one-party rule, which puts our democracy in danger.
Furthermore, has there been any investigation into the possibly that the GOP itself may be implicated in the money laundering and other organized crime that Trump’s been caught up in? That may partly explain the party’s fealty to him.
We have been hearing it for a long time now, the refrain that Republicans in private think like normal people.... Then, when it gets real, we get a few public mutterings from the 2 or 3 Republicans who may or may not stick to their words, followed by complete Republican allegiance to Trump's wishes. The refrain somehow makes the Republicans seem normal while the actual evidence shows they are not. I am sick of hearing this awful song. The Republicans, who evidently think just like Trump, get protected by the lie that they are decent in private.
When I heard yesterday that Romney had caved the song “I see your true colors” popped into my head. I was laughing about that with my daughter and she said she thinks that the theme song for Trump supporters is “Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies”.
The media has been holding Republicans to a ridiculously low standard for decades. I remember when Reagan gave his non-apology apology for Iran Contra by saying that his heart and his best intentions told him he hadn’t traded arms for hostages but the facts and evidence told him he had”. I expected the media to react with astonishment and disdain. Instead they gave Ronnie a pass. They gave a pass to Bush for his involvment despite the fact that he lied repeatedly for years, claiming to have been “out of the loop”. The Independent Counsel eventually got Bush to admit he had kept a diary of his involvement and cough it up. When that diary was about to be made public in Weinberger’s trial, Bush pardoned all of his co-consprirators. Barr strongly supported those pardons. The Independent Counsel openly accused Bush of “completing the coverup” yet the media shrugged that outrageous obstruction of justice off. They kept using Bush as an example of a principled Republican and Barr as an institutionalist, not a man who clearly supports an authoritarian president.
All it takes for a Republican to get this kind of treatment is for them to put on a good act. It also helps if they schmooze the media and give them idiotic, demeaning nicknames the way Dubya did. Democrats on the other hand can get tarred as a liar even when they haven’t lied. Just ask Al Gore.
Spot-on post this morning, Eric. Upsetting, but very much appreciate your thinking on all this. To say what's going on is frustrating is an understatement.
And, to your point: in case you haven't seen the NYT "The Morning" e-newsletter by David Leonhardt this morning — yet another "oh! maybe Trump could be re-elected after all!" piece. I let him have it on Twitter. smh
The Corporate Controlled Conservative Press is complicit in enabling the absolute corruption of the Republican Party and there is no limit as to how far those liars will go to normalize the decadence of the entire Party.
The CCCP has become the American version of the Nazi Völkischer Beobachter.
I’ve struggled for a while to articulate what you so clearly state...
<blockquote>The press thinks the GOP should be unnerved by Trump's obvious racism and authoritarian ways, therefore the press presents that assumption as fact, often with coverage that doesn't include a single important Republican player who's actually upset by Trump's racist or authoritarian behavior. The media's Moby Dick-like pursuit of outraged Republicans always comes up empty. </blockquote>
...that I practically leapt out of my chair.
I don’t think all the press are suckers and rubes (some of them, sure; others are apparatchiks undeniably) but this really nailed it: it’s a kind of naivety.
Maybe it’s that so much of the press is them talking only to themselves, it’s confirmation bias?
Eric — a possibility for your "Good Stuff" section: CNN What Matters e-newsletter by Zachary B. Wolf today ... WOW! I haven't seen CNN, in any of their printed pieces, do such "truth-to-power"-speak to Trump before AND to try and quell people's fears about voting and tell them how to properly do so. Very well done.
I think there has been more out there about what the treason party is doing. At the same time, I saw a story the other day referring to a powerful figure in DC who reports like because they are nice to them. The Hungarian word for the beltway political media is kurvas, and only my Hungarian grandmother could say it with the proper contempt.
It's clear to me that the so called Republican Party is in fact the party of Trump. They are supposed to be all about toughness, not snowflakes as they like to troll the libs with. However they cower at the thought of coming out against their dear leader in public unless they are not facing an election, case in point John Blake. Even Mitt Romney who appeared to grow a pair when he voted against Trump during the impeachment has apparently once again swallowed the grape Kool-Aid, indicating he would vote for a Supreme Court justice before the election. The Republicans are fascists. They have no interest in governance, no real concern for their constituency. The press has become a tool of the far right, bending a story anyway possible to make it appear that both sides are very similar when clearly they are not. As a Democrat I often point out what's wrong with our party. But let's get real, there is only one party that cares about the rights of all Americans and that's the Democrats. The press will only get worse if Trump wins again. Another victory for Trump means that it will not be long before journalists are arrested for their views. If you think that can't happen, could you have imagined four years ago where we are today with over 200k people dead because of a pandemic that this administration failed miserably in combating? Could you have foreseen that the AG of the US acts as consigliere to the president, defending him against charges of sexual harassment on tax payer money. How about being okay with Putin's bounty of the lives of our sons and daughters in the military or the fact that Trump loathes the lives of our fallen soldiers? As what happened after the fascists in the Senate cleared Trump of wrong doing, he will get another blank check if reelected for a second term, and what we couldn't imagine four years ago will appear trivial by 2024. Make no mistake, the press has been, perhaps unwilling, but never the less an accomplice in where we sit today.
The GOP wants one-party rule, which puts our democracy in danger.
Furthermore, has there been any investigation into the possibly that the GOP itself may be implicated in the money laundering and other organized crime that Trump’s been caught up in? That may partly explain the party’s fealty to him.
We have been hearing it for a long time now, the refrain that Republicans in private think like normal people.... Then, when it gets real, we get a few public mutterings from the 2 or 3 Republicans who may or may not stick to their words, followed by complete Republican allegiance to Trump's wishes. The refrain somehow makes the Republicans seem normal while the actual evidence shows they are not. I am sick of hearing this awful song. The Republicans, who evidently think just like Trump, get protected by the lie that they are decent in private.
When I heard yesterday that Romney had caved the song “I see your true colors” popped into my head. I was laughing about that with my daughter and she said she thinks that the theme song for Trump supporters is “Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies”.
The media has been holding Republicans to a ridiculously low standard for decades. I remember when Reagan gave his non-apology apology for Iran Contra by saying that his heart and his best intentions told him he hadn’t traded arms for hostages but the facts and evidence told him he had”. I expected the media to react with astonishment and disdain. Instead they gave Ronnie a pass. They gave a pass to Bush for his involvment despite the fact that he lied repeatedly for years, claiming to have been “out of the loop”. The Independent Counsel eventually got Bush to admit he had kept a diary of his involvement and cough it up. When that diary was about to be made public in Weinberger’s trial, Bush pardoned all of his co-consprirators. Barr strongly supported those pardons. The Independent Counsel openly accused Bush of “completing the coverup” yet the media shrugged that outrageous obstruction of justice off. They kept using Bush as an example of a principled Republican and Barr as an institutionalist, not a man who clearly supports an authoritarian president.
All it takes for a Republican to get this kind of treatment is for them to put on a good act. It also helps if they schmooze the media and give them idiotic, demeaning nicknames the way Dubya did. Democrats on the other hand can get tarred as a liar even when they haven’t lied. Just ask Al Gore.
Spot-on post this morning, Eric. Upsetting, but very much appreciate your thinking on all this. To say what's going on is frustrating is an understatement.
And, to your point: in case you haven't seen the NYT "The Morning" e-newsletter by David Leonhardt this morning — yet another "oh! maybe Trump could be re-elected after all!" piece. I let him have it on Twitter. smh
https://nyti.ms/2G3Bqgg
The Corporate Controlled Conservative Press is complicit in enabling the absolute corruption of the Republican Party and there is no limit as to how far those liars will go to normalize the decadence of the entire Party.
The CCCP has become the American version of the Nazi Völkischer Beobachter.
I’ve struggled for a while to articulate what you so clearly state...
<blockquote>The press thinks the GOP should be unnerved by Trump's obvious racism and authoritarian ways, therefore the press presents that assumption as fact, often with coverage that doesn't include a single important Republican player who's actually upset by Trump's racist or authoritarian behavior. The media's Moby Dick-like pursuit of outraged Republicans always comes up empty. </blockquote>
...that I practically leapt out of my chair.
I don’t think all the press are suckers and rubes (some of them, sure; others are apparatchiks undeniably) but this really nailed it: it’s a kind of naivety.
Maybe it’s that so much of the press is them talking only to themselves, it’s confirmation bias?
Anyway, thank you. That insight gobsmacked me.
Eric — a possibility for your "Good Stuff" section: CNN What Matters e-newsletter by Zachary B. Wolf today ... WOW! I haven't seen CNN, in any of their printed pieces, do such "truth-to-power"-speak to Trump before AND to try and quell people's fears about voting and tell them how to properly do so. Very well done.
https://view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/1600992025539526f7364f381/raw
I think there has been more out there about what the treason party is doing. At the same time, I saw a story the other day referring to a powerful figure in DC who reports like because they are nice to them. The Hungarian word for the beltway political media is kurvas, and only my Hungarian grandmother could say it with the proper contempt.