Earlier this week Axios reported on the Democrats’ real fake news gambit: “Writers for a D.C.-based media operation run by prominent Democratic operatives are behind a sprawling network of ostensible local media outlets churning out Democrat-aligned news content in midterm battleground states[.]” It’s an interesting and well-researched story written up in the dumbed down Axios form by Lachlan Markay and Thomas Wheatley. They found that David Brock was a key operative and fundraiser for the American Independent, “a Washington-based progressive news outfit” that appears on each of the sites’ mastheads.

Reading it at the time, I wondered. Aren’t those “local media outlets” redundant? Minnesota escapes the net, but how would a Minnesota-based outlet differ from the Star Tribune? The Star Tribune works the beat 24/7 with approximately infinite resources at its disposal. Is this something more than another vehicle for Brock’s self-promotional and fundraising prowess?