“Mainstream” political news coverage, and by that I mean mega-corporate-owned news operations [think WashPo, LA Times, and the venerable CBS News ecosystem (and many others, like the Post-Gazette in Pittsburgh)], have flipped from the perception of reporting the news from progressive-left-to-middle leanings to right-wing-to-far-right (nothing traditionally ‘conservative’ about it), justifying status.
The middle ground – if it ever really existed – has been erased. (Rush Limbaugh would be so proud!)
Even the old gray lady, the New York Times, has come under regular criticism for its attempt at … who knows what? Clicks? More attention? Fading relevance?
And it has happened quickly. (Or has it?)
To me, it seems like the blink of an eye, quick. But really, major media’s changes were sown in the Reagan years (if not the Nixon White House years).
I type this lamentation on behalf of Dan Rather, especially. Dan is a journalist’s Journalist! His on-air career was ultimately derailed by not being able to credibly cite a source for a story he told about an AWOL reserve airman, George W. Bush.
… Cut to Saturday, October 18th, the day of the largest mass protests in the history of the country… Universally credible sources reported that over 7 million people were out marching at more than 2,500 gatherings in the US and abroad! (The No Kings protest in Pittsburgh was, by my guesstimate, at least 33% larger than the Hands-Off protest I attended in April.)
That same day, Trump took to social media to share a deepfake video of himself piloting a fighter jet (ridiculous imagery, I know) and dumping a load of shit on protesters instead of bombs, which he probably would have preferred, gathered in a Times Square-like environment. This. Is. Not. Normal!!! (And it shouldn’t be tolerated in this day and age!)
As Charlie Sykes writes in To the Contrary, the Substack he writes:
Judd Legum surveyed the way that Trump’s feces drop was handled by headline writers:
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- NYT: Trump Posts Fake Video of Himself Flying a ‘King Trump’ Jet Over Protesters
- Axios: Trump posts fake video in “KING TRUMP” jet as GOP dismisses No Kings marches
- USA Today: Trump jabs ‘No Kings’ protesters with AI videos of himself wearing crown
- People: President Donald Trump Fires Back at ‘No Kings Day’ by Posting AI Video of Himself Bombing Protesters with Brown Liquid
- The Hill: Trump posts AI video in which he dumps brown liquid on ‘No Kings’ protesters
Ironically, the Murdoch-owned NY Post was the most descriptive: “Trump posts wild AI video showing him flying fighter jet, dropping sewage on No Kings protesters.”
A load of shit by any other name, however, sends a starkly clear message: “Trump’s post is not only juvenile but also betrays striking contempt for tens of millions of Americans he ostensibly leads and for the concept of democratic free speech,” observed one CNN commentator.
Cut to Monday, October 20. I cried real tears watching video of a construction crane ripping off the back wall of the East Wing of the White House to make way for our mad king’s 90,000 square foot grand ballroom.
I took this move, in this moment – during a government shutdown and alongside the continuing obstinacy of House Speaker Johnson – as a giant middle finger to the tens of millions of Americans who detest what we are witnessing with this morass of leadership in this country.
My brother-in-law assured me that it (the ballroom) will be tastefully decorated. To which I reminded him of the ‘tasteful’ redecoration of the current Oval Office – and how the same guy is now making the design decisions for the regal expansion.
I guess I don’t know what I want to say here?
I am proud to be American. I am ashamed of what is happening to her today.