Good one, Eric. PizzaGate was a turning point, for sure. Incrementally, though, this nonsense had been gaining steam for a while (Palin rallies? Birtherism? Alex Jones stuff). Then Trump came along and let the crazies out of the asylum, and of course the media has helped normalize the madness/racism - "Dems are not speaking to the (white) working class!" and "Trump has really tapped into something here!" Hopefully, the apex of this madness will be over the next 60-90 days, then it will start to simmer down once Trump fades away? Probably not. Media is addicted to Trump and will follow every future tweet.
Why are these people who are openly threatening elected officials not arrested? Why is the GOP not out in the media calling these people out as a threat to our country, which they are? There doesn't seem to be much of a consequence to any of their actions.
The problem goes so deep into the GOP how do we conquer all the issues at one time. The GOP, in and of itself is a problem. Yet, we still have the "Q" freaks, "The Rand Paul ideology", "the hater portion" the, "I have mine, screw you" portion, "the religious right portion". With all that being said, they all show up to vote, and spew their ignorance. How to reclaim sanity in the US, when these are the people who put Trump in to office, and back him all the way to our destruction?
A couple of things. One is a minor correction: Brian Kemp.
The other is that Greg Sargent is consistently one of the few in the beltway media who tells it as it is, or at least tries. I'd also argue that the only pundit who regularly does reporting is E.J. Dionne, though there may be another.
Finally, in case this is the last pre-Christmas post, I want to thank Mr. Boehlert and the commenters for consistently great, thought-provoking analysis. I can tell it's great because Dean Baquet doesn't like it.
Forgot to add that the WaPo’s Paul Waldman, Jennifer Rubin and Margaret Sullivan have also been speaking truth to liars — literally calling them liars and telling the rest of the media to do the same.
I've forwarded a couple of commentaries. Once, he responded. Now, to be fair, The Times does not believe it makes mistakes in its daily news coverage--yes on something "unjournalistic" like a podcast, but not otherwise.
If there is anyone to blame for this mess, it's the Republican Party more than it is Trump who is just a symptom. The Republican party's inability to govern, to even have a coherent policy on anything, has led them to this place. They could not stand up for decency simply because the mad king put an "R" after his name. That fact draws all the blame to Republican Party. They've put themselves in a position where they must now embrace the lunatic fringe or loose their power for good. Well I say good riddance. The Republicans could have removed Trump from office after the impeachment trial (if you want to call it that). Heading into an election with a President Pence and perhaps taking Covid-19 seriously would have given them a much better chance of winning the election. Of course I'm glad Biden won but had the Republicans ousted Trump when they had the chance, they would have shown a spine and some guts. Perhaps after some gnashing of teeth from the wacko cult, things would have subsided by the election. But that's a fantasy of bygone Republicans, not this band of conspiratorial morons that hold office. They are now the party of Trump. Mathew said "Live by the sword, die by the sword". To the Republicans, Trump is their sword. Hope you have a great holiday Eric!
I've maintained that Trump is a symptom of what is wrong with Republican Party. Its pandering to racial hatred, fear and extremism has been part of it since at least the early 50's when it nurtured Joe McCarthy and flirted with John Birchers and Barry Goldwater. After Civil Rights/Voting Rights legislation was passed in the mid 60's and the Dixiecrats finally exited the Democratic Party the Republicans decided they could ease their way into Extremist Near (Southern Strategy - code words) and the rest is history. I recommend the book Dallas 1963, which cites incidents and attitudes characteristic of the times, some of which I did not know. For example, I did not know that in 1963 a group of well heeled country club Republican ladies used signs to attack Lyndon and Lady Byrd Johnson in a Dallas hotel lobby. I was aware of Adlai Stevenson being attacked in Dallas and the JFK "Wanted For Treason" images that were published. My point being they've been at this for at least about 60+ years. The rising influence of African Americans and women in the Democratic Party and the election of Obama threw them into Donald Trump's arms and no code words! territory.
Happy Holidays to you and your family Eric and to the Press Run Community! I always enjoys posts and comments here. Thank you all for thinking like me (I know it's shallow but I'm old, self absorbed, and proud of it/shakes finger).
You are definitely on the right track Kathleen. I am old enough to remember back to Truman, McCarthy and all in between. The GOP has actually been working against the average US citizen since FDR’s first term in office. It certainly started a long time before 1980.
The fact that we voted Trump out gives me hope despite the insanity of the right. But I am disgusted and terrified by evidence that the media returning to its old ways, downplaying Republican outrages so they can treat both parties as equally culpable.
Yesterday the WaPo had an article questioning whether it is right for elected officials to get the vaccine before vulnerable populations which was justified. However they chose to use a picture of Nancy Pelosi getting vaccinated, not someone like Marco Rubio. I was pleased to see that the comment section blew up with outrage over that choice. Many pointed out the fact that Pelosi is third in line for the presidency and at 80 years old is high risk.
I honestly believe that it is the media that will make or break our democracy which is why I appreciate your work so much. Thanks and Happy Holidays!
Me, three. As a psychotherapist, I could have told you 4yrs ago that Trump would be an epic (and dangerous) failure. However, I could never have imagined the GOP's complete capitulation! I blame a lot of GOP's descent on the political cynicism and ineptitude of McConnell.
On the other hand we did just refuse to reelect Trump. What I don’t get is how the UK is still sticking with Boris when he is so terrible. It is much easier to get rid of a prime minister than it is a president. He is also an erratic, malignant narcissist, very immoral and a pathological liar. Before he got seriously ill with Covid Boris was bragging about shaking hands with Covid patients. The UK has been hurt badly by the Brexit vote that Boris helped lie them into yet he has still refused to sign a deal.
Dumping Boris probably depends on the Tories, or his constituency, voting him out. I honestly don't think Labour is going to be in the majority for a good long time.
You might be right but from what I am reading the Tories are really frustrated with Boris so they could boot him out the way they did Thatcher. It does look like the new labor leader Keir Hardie is a lot more popular than the last guy and if the economy tanks even more under Brexit which is pretty much a given I wouldn’t rule out a comeback for the Labour Party.
That's entirely possible. I have friends in the UK, but we talk tech instead of politics, so I don't have even second-hand information beyond what's been published.
So much goes back to the Laffer Curve. Deliberate, knowing embrace of quackery as the basis of economic policy. Such a tiny little bite of the apple, and so expedient. What could possibly go wrong?
Paul Krugman also believes Reagan peddling the Laffer Curve fairytale is where the Republicans departed the reality-based world, an opinion which I agree with. However I think the point where Republicans really went full on bonkers was when they accused Bill Clinton of murdering Vince Foster and wasted millions of our tax dollars on 4 separate investigations of that vicious, insane slander. Brett Kavanaugh aggressively conducted the final one for Ken Starr to the tune of $2 million. I thought that should have been brought up when he was being vetted for our highest court given what an abuse of our legal system that was.
The Bush administration’s absolute refusal to listen to all those dire warnings from their top national security experts that Bin Laden was going to attack us is the next example of a complete refusal to accept reality, in my opinion. The handwriting was on the wall in big, bold letters long before Trump.
The media chose to ignore all of those egregious breaks with reality — and still ignores those facts in their desperation to pretend that Trump is an aberration.
I think the 2004 Republican convention when the delegates brandished the purple band aids to mock John Kerry's purple heart showed a serious break with reality.
I completely forgot that. But I do remember how shocked I was to read that at the Republican convention in 96 they were selling pins with Hillary on a broomstick. I was also shocked that the media shrugged it off. You can bet if Democrats had done something like that to Barbara Bush there would have been a huge outcry in the media.
One of my brothers-in-law was a Marine and bought a box of those because he's a Republican voter. I explained the significance to him and he didn't believe me. So I showed him the video on CNN. He hasn't voted since, that I know of. "I ain't voting for a party that disrespects the military and I sure as hell ain't voting for no Democrat."
I am a huge fan of Johnny Mathis’s Christmas album. My favorite Christmas song is his version of The Christmas Song, not the one by Nat King Cole which I know makes me an outlier.
In the early 2000s I believed the problem with the Bush administration in general, and Karl Rove and Dick Chenet in particular, was Amorality rather than IMmorality. McConnell is cut from the same cloth. He has no moral base - everything is power. The GOP's embrace of a mentally ill TV clown shows Amorality has seeped into the entire party.
}[T]he idea that one of two major political parties in this country is committed to overturning elections and to mob rule is not a challenge the Beltway press wants to address."
LOL, as the kids say. If Democrats did the exact same thing, the coverage would be far different, heavy on the condemnation that the DC press corps can't bring to anything the GOP does. (Likewise, if a Democratic POTUS responded to a pandemic by exacerbating the harm, they wouldn't be treated with the kid gloves with which Trump has been and even continues to be treated. Full disclosure: Anything short of calling him a killer is dishonest reporting. He's a killer full stop.)
"It also opens up the news media to more hysterical claims of "liberal media bias," which reporters and producers don't want to deal with."
Like all buzzwords and shibboleths from conservatives, "liberal media bias" is a perversion of language. The establishment media by definition are conservative and being relatively liberal when it comes to soft news and lifestyle pieces in no way justifies conservatives' use of the term in regard to political and hard news. (Of course, a secondary issue is whether generating establishment propaganda given the national failure of both public and private leadership makes the media complicit, accessories, to the harm said leadership has done and is doing to the nation and the world.)
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities" --Voltaire.
Good one, Eric. PizzaGate was a turning point, for sure. Incrementally, though, this nonsense had been gaining steam for a while (Palin rallies? Birtherism? Alex Jones stuff). Then Trump came along and let the crazies out of the asylum, and of course the media has helped normalize the madness/racism - "Dems are not speaking to the (white) working class!" and "Trump has really tapped into something here!" Hopefully, the apex of this madness will be over the next 60-90 days, then it will start to simmer down once Trump fades away? Probably not. Media is addicted to Trump and will follow every future tweet.
Why are these people who are openly threatening elected officials not arrested? Why is the GOP not out in the media calling these people out as a threat to our country, which they are? There doesn't seem to be much of a consequence to any of their actions.
Good Q. there seems to be total impunity
Unfortunately, it seems a good many cops are on board with Q. Why would they arrest their own?
POWER - It's good to be king.
Donna, I bet if you and I did what they are doing, we would not see daylight for quite awhile.
Because this is what the republicans stand for violence and hatred.
It's all they've got.
Biden and Harris are profoundly well qualified to take charge at this moment in American history.
I think you’re right. They face enormous challenge
Our democracy is in such major jeopardy—and it doesn’t have to be this way.
It does not. This is a choice GOP has made
The problem goes so deep into the GOP how do we conquer all the issues at one time. The GOP, in and of itself is a problem. Yet, we still have the "Q" freaks, "The Rand Paul ideology", "the hater portion" the, "I have mine, screw you" portion, "the religious right portion". With all that being said, they all show up to vote, and spew their ignorance. How to reclaim sanity in the US, when these are the people who put Trump in to office, and back him all the way to our destruction?
A couple of things. One is a minor correction: Brian Kemp.
The other is that Greg Sargent is consistently one of the few in the beltway media who tells it as it is, or at least tries. I'd also argue that the only pundit who regularly does reporting is E.J. Dionne, though there may be another.
Finally, in case this is the last pre-Christmas post, I want to thank Mr. Boehlert and the commenters for consistently great, thought-provoking analysis. I can tell it's great because Dean Baquet doesn't like it.
Forgot to add that the WaPo’s Paul Waldman, Jennifer Rubin and Margaret Sullivan have also been speaking truth to liars — literally calling them liars and telling the rest of the media to do the same.
I am with Kathleen. How do you know Baquet doesn’t like it? I really hope that is true!
I've forwarded a couple of commentaries. Once, he responded. Now, to be fair, The Times does not believe it makes mistakes in its daily news coverage--yes on something "unjournalistic" like a podcast, but not otherwise.
I agree with you about Greg Sargent. Ooooh! How do you know Baquet doesn't like it?
I would like to know that too.
If there is anyone to blame for this mess, it's the Republican Party more than it is Trump who is just a symptom. The Republican party's inability to govern, to even have a coherent policy on anything, has led them to this place. They could not stand up for decency simply because the mad king put an "R" after his name. That fact draws all the blame to Republican Party. They've put themselves in a position where they must now embrace the lunatic fringe or loose their power for good. Well I say good riddance. The Republicans could have removed Trump from office after the impeachment trial (if you want to call it that). Heading into an election with a President Pence and perhaps taking Covid-19 seriously would have given them a much better chance of winning the election. Of course I'm glad Biden won but had the Republicans ousted Trump when they had the chance, they would have shown a spine and some guts. Perhaps after some gnashing of teeth from the wacko cult, things would have subsided by the election. But that's a fantasy of bygone Republicans, not this band of conspiratorial morons that hold office. They are now the party of Trump. Mathew said "Live by the sword, die by the sword". To the Republicans, Trump is their sword. Hope you have a great holiday Eric!
I've maintained that Trump is a symptom of what is wrong with Republican Party. Its pandering to racial hatred, fear and extremism has been part of it since at least the early 50's when it nurtured Joe McCarthy and flirted with John Birchers and Barry Goldwater. After Civil Rights/Voting Rights legislation was passed in the mid 60's and the Dixiecrats finally exited the Democratic Party the Republicans decided they could ease their way into Extremist Near (Southern Strategy - code words) and the rest is history. I recommend the book Dallas 1963, which cites incidents and attitudes characteristic of the times, some of which I did not know. For example, I did not know that in 1963 a group of well heeled country club Republican ladies used signs to attack Lyndon and Lady Byrd Johnson in a Dallas hotel lobby. I was aware of Adlai Stevenson being attacked in Dallas and the JFK "Wanted For Treason" images that were published. My point being they've been at this for at least about 60+ years. The rising influence of African Americans and women in the Democratic Party and the election of Obama threw them into Donald Trump's arms and no code words! territory.
Happy Holidays to you and your family Eric and to the Press Run Community! I always enjoys posts and comments here. Thank you all for thinking like me (I know it's shallow but I'm old, self absorbed, and proud of it/shakes finger).
You are definitely on the right track Kathleen. I am old enough to remember back to Truman, McCarthy and all in between. The GOP has actually been working against the average US citizen since FDR’s first term in office. It certainly started a long time before 1980.
Yes! See Butler, Smedley!
I feel overwhelming sadness that this is what we've become.
Me too, it’s astonishing where we are today
The fact that we voted Trump out gives me hope despite the insanity of the right. But I am disgusted and terrified by evidence that the media returning to its old ways, downplaying Republican outrages so they can treat both parties as equally culpable.
Yesterday the WaPo had an article questioning whether it is right for elected officials to get the vaccine before vulnerable populations which was justified. However they chose to use a picture of Nancy Pelosi getting vaccinated, not someone like Marco Rubio. I was pleased to see that the comment section blew up with outrage over that choice. Many pointed out the fact that Pelosi is third in line for the presidency and at 80 years old is high risk.
I honestly believe that it is the media that will make or break our democracy which is why I appreciate your work so much. Thanks and Happy Holidays!
Me, three. As a psychotherapist, I could have told you 4yrs ago that Trump would be an epic (and dangerous) failure. However, I could never have imagined the GOP's complete capitulation! I blame a lot of GOP's descent on the political cynicism and ineptitude of McConnell.
McConnell is a creature without a soul.
Early on I read the book, "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump" written by individuals in your profession and it has all proven true.
Unfortunately, you are correct. And, as Eric has also pointed out, mainstream media has shut out the profession from even commenting on it.
On the other hand we did just refuse to reelect Trump. What I don’t get is how the UK is still sticking with Boris when he is so terrible. It is much easier to get rid of a prime minister than it is a president. He is also an erratic, malignant narcissist, very immoral and a pathological liar. Before he got seriously ill with Covid Boris was bragging about shaking hands with Covid patients. The UK has been hurt badly by the Brexit vote that Boris helped lie them into yet he has still refused to sign a deal.
Dumping Boris probably depends on the Tories, or his constituency, voting him out. I honestly don't think Labour is going to be in the majority for a good long time.
You might be right but from what I am reading the Tories are really frustrated with Boris so they could boot him out the way they did Thatcher. It does look like the new labor leader Keir Hardie is a lot more popular than the last guy and if the economy tanks even more under Brexit which is pretty much a given I wouldn’t rule out a comeback for the Labour Party.
That's entirely possible. I have friends in the UK, but we talk tech instead of politics, so I don't have even second-hand information beyond what's been published.
So much goes back to the Laffer Curve. Deliberate, knowing embrace of quackery as the basis of economic policy. Such a tiny little bite of the apple, and so expedient. What could possibly go wrong?
Paul Krugman also believes Reagan peddling the Laffer Curve fairytale is where the Republicans departed the reality-based world, an opinion which I agree with. However I think the point where Republicans really went full on bonkers was when they accused Bill Clinton of murdering Vince Foster and wasted millions of our tax dollars on 4 separate investigations of that vicious, insane slander. Brett Kavanaugh aggressively conducted the final one for Ken Starr to the tune of $2 million. I thought that should have been brought up when he was being vetted for our highest court given what an abuse of our legal system that was.
The Bush administration’s absolute refusal to listen to all those dire warnings from their top national security experts that Bin Laden was going to attack us is the next example of a complete refusal to accept reality, in my opinion. The handwriting was on the wall in big, bold letters long before Trump.
The media chose to ignore all of those egregious breaks with reality — and still ignores those facts in their desperation to pretend that Trump is an aberration.
I think the 2004 Republican convention when the delegates brandished the purple band aids to mock John Kerry's purple heart showed a serious break with reality.
I completely forgot that. But I do remember how shocked I was to read that at the Republican convention in 96 they were selling pins with Hillary on a broomstick. I was also shocked that the media shrugged it off. You can bet if Democrats had done something like that to Barbara Bush there would have been a huge outcry in the media.
Yes.
One of my brothers-in-law was a Marine and bought a box of those because he's a Republican voter. I explained the significance to him and he didn't believe me. So I showed him the video on CNN. He hasn't voted since, that I know of. "I ain't voting for a party that disrespects the military and I sure as hell ain't voting for no Democrat."
Oh no. You used the phrase “going forward “. I was hoping you were immune to inane corporate speak.
Ha, I’ll refrain in the future
Otis Redding singing “Merry Christmas Baby” ....hard to top. But definitely NOT traditional.
Sorry, have to disagree... Bing's version of Jingle Bells w the Andrew sisters is the best! 😉
I am a huge fan of Johnny Mathis’s Christmas album. My favorite Christmas song is his version of The Christmas Song, not the one by Nat King Cole which I know makes me an outlier.
In my book, Santa Claus is Coming to Town by the Crystals is one of the best but the greatest of them all is Mahalia Jackson's O Holy Night.
For me it is Squirrel Nut Zippers, Christmas Caravan -- the whole album.
I send tidings of comfort and joy to Eric and all of the Press Run community.
And now I know what I'm going to do with my Amazon gift card Christmas bonus. 👍
Speaking of squirrel I loved the Chipmunks’ Christmas song because it irritated my parents so much.
In the early 2000s I believed the problem with the Bush administration in general, and Karl Rove and Dick Chenet in particular, was Amorality rather than IMmorality. McConnell is cut from the same cloth. He has no moral base - everything is power. The GOP's embrace of a mentally ill TV clown shows Amorality has seeped into the entire party.
}[T]he idea that one of two major political parties in this country is committed to overturning elections and to mob rule is not a challenge the Beltway press wants to address."
LOL, as the kids say. If Democrats did the exact same thing, the coverage would be far different, heavy on the condemnation that the DC press corps can't bring to anything the GOP does. (Likewise, if a Democratic POTUS responded to a pandemic by exacerbating the harm, they wouldn't be treated with the kid gloves with which Trump has been and even continues to be treated. Full disclosure: Anything short of calling him a killer is dishonest reporting. He's a killer full stop.)
"It also opens up the news media to more hysterical claims of "liberal media bias," which reporters and producers don't want to deal with."
Like all buzzwords and shibboleths from conservatives, "liberal media bias" is a perversion of language. The establishment media by definition are conservative and being relatively liberal when it comes to soft news and lifestyle pieces in no way justifies conservatives' use of the term in regard to political and hard news. (Of course, a secondary issue is whether generating establishment propaganda given the national failure of both public and private leadership makes the media complicit, accessories, to the harm said leadership has done and is doing to the nation and the world.)