American news has a culture of rhetoric. People in that culture rehearse the “I’m really serious about this” tone, mannerisms, and gestures. They genuinely believe that “serious” delivery and well-distributed reports are the primary cause of public opinion. They think Trump was elected by mere propaganda and so they fight back with mere propaganda as if mere propaganda was the problem and its own solution. Now, it’s more apparent than ever.
Since Trump announced, about 18 months ago, members of the “opinion class” have lived in a dream world that could not foretell the approaching train and cannot acknowledge the cause of the wreckage left when they wouldn’t get off the tracks. And now, it seems that they think maintaining that dream will cast some magical, mind-control spell on the public.
Disassemble Wolff’s comment, just as an example: “The economy is booming possibly because you’ll have someone who’s not capable of actually implementing any policies or regulation…” Since when did anyone in mainstream media believe that reducing government would help the economy? Then again, for people who think that rhetoric “trumps” results and that propaganda pulls rank over proof, such statements don’t seem like a contradiction.
Take Jake Tapper’s comment as he interrupted his guest, Stephen Miller: “I get it. There’s one viewer that you care about right now and you’re being obsequious… in order to please him.” That video has been reposted and shared across the Internet, being viewed thousands of times just in the last day. No way was Miller speaking to only one audience member. Some may remember the incident for using big words many in the audience don’t know, salacious and obsequious. But, few will notice that Tapper set a much more powerful precedent. By saying, “him,” Jake Tapper is on well-viewed and -documented record as believing that it is not insulting to use the masculine pronoun when referring to an individual who could be of any gender. That also is a reversal from the mainstream mass media.
Then, low ratings in the NFL are being blamed on having too many games for fans to watch, even though the NBA has more games than people can watch and it’s ratings are up through the roof. Since, as Wolff reports, the 25th Amendment is in discussion in so many places, perhaps it’s time to speculate the hypothetical that the NFL protests could have been part of some conspiracy to raise NBA ratings. Merely discussing hypotheticals is all that matters for something to be worthy of reporting, right?
While the Left takes their turn objecting in their own way to the opposing agenda pushing through the White House, the Right are more interested in the mass media meltdown. At least that’s how some people view it, but not everyone.