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Behold the Press As They Go Through Eight Stages of Grief Regarding the Election Result

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Nov 06, 2024
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The election has concluded, Kamala Harris is finished, and the news media is only starting to grapple with the after-effects. This week will be mostly about journos trying to reconcile the harsh result, but beyond that, we will likely be hit with perpetual press bile and contempt. The harsh truth is they need to fix the blatantly broken system, but we are dubious.

Meanwhile, savor some of the grappling, lurching, struggling reactions from our media betters. Watch the press as they dealt with the grief last night.

OVERCONFIDENCE

The night before, Rachel Maddow was feeling full of hubris for a Kamala Harris victory. Rachel began plotting what would lie ahead, and one of her first proposals would be to go after a target she saw as interrupting their narratives, namely, Elon Musk. She saw the path to ending his influence, but in her plan, she failed to grasp that she was basically proposing a fascist move to have the government force the man out of his business arrangements.

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SHOCK

Jonathan Capehart looks the hard data square in the eye and is slammed with reality that destroyed his woven fantasy.

DENIAL

Enjoy this one: The network that pushed out a daily dose of hysterical nightmares about Nazi Trump ending democracy, arresting journalists, eliminating elections, killing opponents, etc. claims that he won due to a message of fear and bitterness.

ANGER

Joy Reid spews the expected bile about the state of Florida being a fascist hellscape. The comedy is that this was her reaction to the vote not wanting to kill children in the womb with abandon.

DEPRESSION

The day of the election, Cenk Uyghur was lecturing Trump voters on how they would react; "If you think Trump is going to win easy tomorrow because everyone you know on X is on his side, you've got a rude awakening coming to you tomorrow. The real world ain't X."

Then following the results:

WORKING THROUGH

Looking at the Trump win, the geniuses at CBS News wanted to perpetuate the running narrative of misinformation being a serious issue. That they believe anyone regards them as a source of valid information – following weeks of deceptive and biased reports including the still-unresolved “60 Minutes” editing scandal – is the real comedy here.

BARGAINING

Alex Wagner was among those seeking a reason for this election result. In looking at the exit polling metrics, she noticed that blue-collar areas were especially fertile for Trump, a class that normally was a stronghold for the Democrats. She does not seem to grasp that maybe looking down your nose at non-college-educated people was a motivating factor for them to look to the right.

REGENERATION

David Corn was facing the internal numbers showing a strong dose of support for Trump from Latino voters, and he came to a rather stunted realization. Corn was clearly bothered and surmised that if those Hispanics find themselves being deported, they might change their view of Trump.

We feel odd needing to say this to Mr. Corn, but deportations apply to illegal immigrants who cannot vote, and those Latinos voting incorrectly are American citizens who will not be targeted for expulsion from the country.