That didn’t take long. Betcha they’ve been polishing up their own version of the same memo during the feverishly speculative interval between his announcing a YUGE announcement and last night itself. You know – so they didn’t sound like they’d cribbed off each other.
Nope. Doesn’t sound like coordinated messaging at all.
NPR’s version was especially laced with histrionics for effect, but understated theatrical is their modus operandi.
BREAKING: Donald Trump, who tried to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election and inspired a deadly riot at the Capitol in a desperate attempt to keep himself in power, has filed to run for president again in 2024. https://t.co/iqIcaN3SZA
— NPR (@NPR) November 16, 2022
Their…story? “Report” seems like the wrong word. Anyways, the link takes you to this florid literary exercise filled with ominous overtones and baleful language. Where Trump’s vision is “dark“…
…”America’s comeback starts right now,” Trump said, claiming, “Your country is being destroyed before your eyes.”
The dark vision hearkened back to Trump’s inauguration speech of a country suffering “American carnage” and in need of him to fix it.
…and, alongside the obligatory January 6 slings and arrows, there appears a sorry rehashing of WHITE SUPREMACY/NATIVISM and the de rigeur VERY FINE PEOPLE slur.
…During his time as president, Trump weaponized white cultural grievance, right-wing nationalism and, ironically, considering his status as an Ivy League-educated billionaire, an anti-elitist economic populism.
The foundation of Trump’s 2016 candidacy and ensuing presidency was nativism — he campaigned on building a wall to keep Spanish-speaking immigrants out of the United States; in his early days in office, he banned people from some mostly Muslim countries from coming to the country; he inflamed racial tensions like when he said there were “very fine people” on both sides of a white nationalist protest in Charlottesville, Va., where a counter-protester was killed; and he regularly exaggerated dangers to trigger anger and fear in many Americans.
GAWD. Give it a rest, why doncha. Repeatedly having to debunk this BS or play footsie with their phrasing is like Whack-a-Mole, but, unfailingly, that’s the strategy at work, not misinformation.
Do you sometimes ponder how much American taxpayers still give these propagandists? I mean, you can never get a straight answer. When asked, they always pooh-pooh the questioner, as if such a minuscule amount was hardly worth noticing, and HOW DARE YOU WE’RE HERE FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD, CRETIN!!. [cue: squealing Donald Sutherland Revenge of the Body Snatchers point]
…Despite the minimal contributions to the NPR budget made by state funding, NPR has claimed that “federal funding is essential to public radio’s service to the American public.” NPR’s website especially stresses that local journalism is dependent upon federal funding.
Most of this federal funding comes from the CPB [Corporation for Public Broadcasting] which indirectly finances NPR by providing grants to local radio stations which then license content from NPR for broadcasting. Most of the federal, state, and local government funding reaches NPR through the same process.
Ah so. I see now. On one hand, they can sniff “Less than 1% of our budget comes from federal/grants,” while they are actually funding their operating budget through a federal money laundering licensing scheme via local affiliates. If CPB – “A private corporation FUNDED BY THE AMERICAN PEOPLE” – didn’t give your local NPR station the taxpayer dollars to buy NPR programming, guess what? POOF!
There’s another interesting nugget here, and no wonder they happily re-whipped the shivs out for the insurrectiony Orange Man:
…In 2017, 2018, and 2019, the Trump administration submitted budget proposals to Congress which would eliminate all funding for CPB and NPR. Congress declined to cease funding for CPB.
(The Rolling Stone story used as the footnote for the above entry is hilarious, by the way.)
The background on all of this makes them look even less the crusading, self-righteous, over-educated journalists they identify as and more like an entitled, bitchy little clique of post-grads who have consistently received trophies for merely existing. Whoever wins needs to take another run at cutting the funding for good. Let them finance their own one-sided, mean-girl vitriol.
On another media platform, the WaPo’s fever dream headline for the Trump announcement had to do with postulating that he’s only running to…eventually pardon himself? That’s what I’m getting from this.
The former president officially declared on Tuesday night that he is running to retake the White House in 2024, hoping to get ahead of likely rivals and potential criminal charges. https://t.co/c3xKuZxd89
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) November 16, 2022
These people need something better to do with their lives. But, woe unto us, this is what we have to look forward to for the next two years.
The sad upside to the current state of our once moderately independent media is, should you only have a few minutes to catch up, you only need to read a headline or two, whatever candidate they’re directing fire at.
Because every last outlet will be saying – literally – the exact same thing.
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