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The Press Continues to Struggle Over a Trump Victory as Denial Prevents Honest Analysis

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Nov 08, 2024
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

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Presentation Paradox -- MSNBC

  • When lecturing “the poors” it helps to grasp their condition, Joe.

It feels like a layup to criticize Joe Scarborough, but he too frequently delivers the unintentional humor to a degree that we cannot resist. So Scar-Joe was set to go on one of his "Let me tell you how it really is" type of lectures, setting it up by detailing a conversation he was having with a Kamala Harris supporter about inflation and how this individual suspected it would lead to a Trump victory. 

He began by scoffing that the person was complaining about the cost of butter, saying it was $3.00, in a dismissive manner, but then, as he tried to continue, his bride Mika butted in to inform him he was off by roughly 130% and that the price was actually closer to $7.00.

This threw him off of his game, and in midstream, he recalibrated his rant. Scar-Joe the Elitist went from originally calling the argument "reductive" to then declaring this to be a solid problem for voters, once he was made aware of the cost of items:

Recommended

No Circular Firing Squads This Time, Republicans Kurt Schlichter
A Dem Donor's Family Member Summed Up a Meeting With Biden in Two Words Matt Vespa

Butter is $7? What, is it framed in gold? If you look at the cost of groceries, if you look at the cost of gas, if you look at the cost of things compared to four years ago it was a very simple answer for working-class Americans. Anyway, the cost of groceries -- way too high and it did have an impact. This guy was right at the end of the day.


Artisanally-Crafted Narratives – VOX MEDIA

  • When you hate Trump, then only hate groups elect him, goes the flowchart.

At Vox, they are straining to do what they deliver in trademarked fashion, which is to try to explain how Trump won. Their brilliant analysis is that by going on “The Joe Rogan Experience” and similar phallo-centric media venues, Trump appealed to the toxic male crowd.

Could it be that growing up in a fundamentally different media environment than generations before them, one populated by individual influencers who often preach the values of entrepreneurship, self-improvement, and, ultimately, self-interest over everything else, galvanized the youngest voters to vote for a man who shared that same spirit? Or could it be that young men have helped make this content popular because they like what it says?

In another piece doing post-election analysis (because there cannot be too much explaining), they look critically on how Trump ran a “campaign for men,” in a caustic manner. 

The problem with all of this “explaining” is seen in the “deflecting.” They need to ignore a core reality seen in this election, and that is that Donald Trump saw increases from the 2020 results with women, doubling his percentage of black voters, and made large gains with Hispanics.

These returns defy the media efforts to paint him as hostile to women, a racist, and the large push to sway Hispanics away from him.

So, sure, he only won because of the dude-bro turnout.

Race to the Bottom – MSNBC

  • If you disagree with Joy Reid, you are a racist – even if you are black or Hispanic.

The coping and seething in the press continues unabated, and it continues to be fun to behold. Dare we say – it is a “joy” to watch! Slight credit here for at least acknowledging the ethnic breakdown of votes.

Yes, as MSNBC continues to grapple with the idea that their daily rants of fascist-Nazi-racism did not deliver a victory for Kamala Harris, there is a dawning coming over the braintrust: She lost due to fascist-Nazi-racism! There really is no other explanation for a POC female to not become the president, but then a harsh reality comes across the transom. The turnout for Trump made by blacks and Hispanics was notably higher than his last two elections. So…how do they reconcile this reality?

Well, thankfully, we have Joy Reid here to explain. See, those blacks and Latinos are being racist, because they want to attach to whiteness, or some such blather.

Pre-Written Field Reports – WASHINGTON POST

  • Jenny, turn on your TV, or scan some news pages, please.

We might be at the inflection point of dispatching Jennifer Rubin from any future coverage, as she has simply devolved to a point well beyond relevance. Still, as a potentially parting entry this one is sound. We have been pulling back from paying much attention to her, but every so often she manages to demand attention by surpassing her lowly stature even further.

Case in point: While we were absorbing the disturbing images coming out of Amsterdam of roving gangs of Palestinians chasing down Jewish soccer fans in the streets and even storming at least one hotel where they were staying, Jennifer had little to no comments on this activity.

But at the very same time, she was perfectly at ease going on about how Trump is the rebirthed ascendency of Adolf Hitler.

Thanks, Jenn — it’s been…well, interesting, at least…

Pathological Media Amnesia – CNN / WASHINGTON POST

  • Say, umm, Cathy? These days that’s the same thing.

It is probably safe to say that the person at CNN who has been truly happy this week has been the token conservative and joyful warrior of common sense, Scott Jennings. He has faced down the hyper leftists and emotional brigands after the election with aplomb and a knowing grin. In one instance, he was on the panel headed by Abby Phillip, and while mentioning the election results, he dropped the phrase “you lost.”

Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell attempted to portray herself as offended by this comment, declaring, “I am not a Democrat, I am a journalist!” This is on the surface an amusingly weak deflection, considering how we saw the journalists behaving this election season. But it reached the levels of hilarity when we point out that Ms. Rampell was the source of one of our most favorite pieces during the Harris campaign when she wrote how she perceives Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff to be “a sex symbol.”

Both Kinds of Standards – CBS NEWS

  • Does the “C” in your network’s name stand for “Contempt”?

Another sign of the journalists not handling this election result gracefully was on display with Major Garrett. Even while allowing that this was an editorial segment (it is entitled “Major’s Final Thought”), this is an embarrassing display, as Garrett lays into Trump and his voters while he delivers his caustic opinion about Trump not having conceded properly in 2020, and invoking, yet again, the January 6 riot. 

This is a noted journalist delivering a bitter monologue, one that could only come from somebody clearly invested in seeing Trump lose, and becoming visibly bothered by the fact that he won. These people are broken:

Power is seductive - gaining by flouting norms, doubly so. But sooner or later - as we all know - seduction comes with a price. Caution - is - advised…

Holy crap, Major, get over thyself, post haste.