The Media's Drift In Trump's Direction - PBS Edition

Watching "librul" PBS' "Washington Week in Review" last night, we were struck by the whole atmosphere of the show - five "insider" journalists summarizing the events of the past week ... without giving any sign that things are not normal. In fact, as you can read for yourself, there was a largely anodyne, horserace approach to the circus that's in town.

Here are just a few excerpts from the transcript (our emphasis throughout):

Nancy Cordes (CBS News) on the wealthfare tax bill:

... the fact that they said they would get it done on Friday and they did is actually a big sign of how unified this party is.  And it’s the culmination of a decades-long dream.  So it seems like, you know, the party’s really hanging together now, and looking to avoid any last-minute derailment.

Yes, super unified!  Just ask Steve "Loose Cannon" Bannon! They're only unified long enough to screw America and future generations. MAGA!

Shawna Thomas (VICE News) on the rush to pass the wealthfare bill:

... Everyone has been saying we have to pass this bill by the end of the year.  We have to pass this bill by the end of the year.  They didn’t really have to pass this bill by the end of the year.  (Laughter.)

Harhar! And, no, it wasn't because of Doug Jones' victory -- they targeted passage before Christmas long before the Alabama election -- it was because the bill is a reeking pile of regressive social and economic engineering that they don't want people to understand (too late!).

Kristen Welker (NBC News) on the involvement of nitwit know-nothing Donald "Rump" Trump:

... [H]e was really serving as an energizing force, I think, as opposed to sort of derailing the negotiations.  Today we had a chance to ask him some questions early in the morning, and I asked him if he would support increasing the child tax credit.  He indicated the answer to that was yes.  [Ed. See how piddling a deal this was below.] So it was very clear, as the day was progressing, that this was moving in a good direction for this president.  I don’t think you can overstate it.  President Trump needs a victory after the failure to repeal and replace Obamacare.  He hasn’t had a major legislative victory.  And so this was a full-court press for this president, the vice president, and his entire top staff.

Stand up and cheer for Big Boy Donnie! F*ck you average Americans who'll be losing health insurance! It's the horserace and the appearance of competence that matter most!

Cordes on the bill's repeal of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate:

Republicans don’t want to talk about it because they’d love to be able to slide that through.  There’s another big GOP priority in this bill they don’t talk a lot about either, and that is opening up part of the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling... 

Hmmm. Republicans don't want to talk about it, and neither does Nancy Cordes!

Cordes again on the child tax credit:

 ... I will say that there are some changes in this final version that may help to win people over, at least in the short term.  The fact that that child tax credit is refundable up to $1,400.  That’s a pretty big chunk of change. 

No, no it's not you simpleton.  Again, as Andy Slavitt points out, it amounts to $25 a month for a family with two kids (whose daycare costs would average $2,000 a month). Do your f*cking homework!

We could go on (that's just from the first few minutes of the program), but the point is, these "elite" media types are very content to go along with the talking points Republicans have tossed over the transom, while ignoring the yuuuuge elephant in the room:  that we have an abnormal "president" and a party that is increasing its culpability in the rotting out of American values and social fabric. Isn't that newsworthy? (Rhetorical question.)

It's always helpful to keep in mind Masha Gessen's warning to all of us:

The national press is likely to be among the first institutional victims of Trumpism. There is no law that requires the presidential administration to hold daily briefings, none that guarantees media access to the White House. Many journalists may soon face a dilemma long familiar to those of us who have worked under autocracies: fall in line or forfeit access. There is no good solution (even if there is a right answer), for journalism is difficult and sometimes impossible without access to information. 

The power of the investigative press—whose adherence to fact has already been severely challenged by the conspiracy-minded, lie-spinning Trump campaign—will grow weaker. The world will grow murkier. Even in the unlikely event that some mainstream media outlets decide to declare themselves in opposition to the current government, or even simply to report its abuses and failings, the president will get to frame many issues. Coverage, and thinking, will drift in a Trumpian direction, just as it did during the campaign—when, for example, the candidates argued, in essence, whether Muslim Americans bear collective responsibility for acts of terrorism or can redeem themselves by becoming the “eyes and ears” of law enforcement. Thus was xenophobia further normalized, paving the way for Trump to make good on his promises to track American Muslims and ban Muslims from entering the United States.

These people need to be held to account for their lazy complicity in normalizing this monster, his legion of thugs and their efforts to destroy the good that America stood for just a short 13 months ago.