LaffyAug 27, 2023

"America is on the brink, so of course the #media doesn't get it. Last week, the disconnect between rising GOP #fascism - on a debate stage, in #Trump's arrest posturing - and journalists covering 'a normal election' was really jarring

Now what?

The media is really not getting it about 2024, GOP authoritarianism and the election"

If @willbunch wrote it, you should read it.©.. & I thread it. 1/...🧵

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/media-2020-election-trump-authoritarianism-20230827.html#loaded

Journalism fails miserably at explaining what is really happening to America

Momentous week of GOP debate, Trump's arrest gets "horse race" coverage when the story's not about an election, but authoritarianism.

https://www.inquirer.com
Show threadLaffyAug 27, 2023
2/ "If you watched the hours of TV news coverage during an especially momentous week in August, there was little sense of that reality, and for long stretches of pundit blather, none at all — as talking heads gave earnest high school debating marks to candidates who are all but ignored by the GOP voter base. The disconnect deepened the next night as Trump turned what would surely be his comeuppance —his surrender...― into an outlaw display of authoritarian force."
Show threadLaffyAug 27, 2023
3/ "..There was little discussion of why this accused felon was getting a phalanx of dozens of motorcycle cops, comprising police who are drawn to Trump’s authoritarian bluster like moths to light. Trump’s glowering mugshot instantly became the most-talked-about picture in American history—yet not one pundit was able to explain why tens of millions of everyday voters are so eager to return to the White House this man who attempted a coup on Jan6, or why his poll numbers rise w each indictment"
Show threadLaffyAug 27, 2023

4/ "America is entering its most important, pivotal year since 1860 & media doing terrible job explaining what is actually happening. Too many still covering elections like it was 20th cent., as if old touchstones like debates or 30-sec spot still matter.

What we are building toward on 11/5/2024, might have outward trappings of election but it is really show of force. What we call GOP is barely a political party...but a dangerous antisocial movement that has embraced many tenets of fascism"

Show threadLaffyAug 27, 2023
5/ "There is no “Trump scandal” because — for them — each new crime or sexual assault is merely another indictment of the messenger, the arrogrant elites from whom their contempt is the No. 1 issue. These foot soldiers stopped believing in “democracy” a long time ago — no matter how big an Orwellian sign Fox erects."
Show threadLaffyAug 27, 2023
6/ "DC pundits like Parker, Baker are trained to talk to folks on stage & their high-priced consultants, not mob that moves modern Repub'ism away from believing in elections. I’ve been inside/outside of Trump rallies in Hershey, West Chester, Wildwood & what I learned is only issue that matters isn’t an issue at all, but contempt for media outlets like CNN they believe look down on them & their savior. Of cs, salary of Baker or Parker or CNN punditocracy depends on not understanding that"
Show threadLaffyAug 27, 2023
7/ "News media better get comfortable talking about what is really happening in places like Anthony’s Farmville, Va.,ought to be explaining both the legit anger over “working overtime hours for {BS] pay,” manip of that anger by demagogues like Trump, + uncomfortable ques about how much of the rage is over threats to outdated, detestable hierarchies of white supremacy & the patriarchy."
Show threadLaffyAug 27, 2023
8/" Ramaswamy went on CNN w a dark, rt-wing appeal that is the change that far too many people are seeking, in stunning riff that blamed racist mass shooting in Jacksonville by a white gunman who targeted Black people not on racism but on antiracism & media. Ramaswamy insisted that media, universities, certain politicians have rekindled racism & “I can think of no better way to fuel racism in this country than by taking something away from people based on their skin color.” Meaning white people"
Show threadLaffyAug 27, 2023
9/ "These are the stakes: dueling visions for America — not Democratic or Republican, with parades and red, white, and blue balloons, but brutal fascism or flawed democracy. The news media needs to stop with the horse-race coverage of this modern-day March on Rome, stop digging incessantly for proof that both sides are guilty of the same sins, and stop thinking that a war for the imperiled survival of the American Experiment is some kind of inexplicable “tribalism.”
Show threadLaffyAug 27, 2023
10/ "We need to hear from more experts on authoritarian movements, and fewer pollsters and political strategists. We need journalists who’ll talk a lot less about who’s up or down and a lot more about the stakes — including Trump’s plans to dismantle the democratic norms that he calls “the administrative state,” to weaponize the criminal justice system, and to surrender the war against climate change — if the 45th president becomes the 47th."
Show threadLaffyAug 27, 2023

11/11 🎯 "We need the media to see 2024 not as a traditional election but as an effort to mobilize a mass movement that would undo democracy and splatter America with more blood like what was shed Saturday in Jacksonville. We need to understand that if the next 15 months remain the worst covered election in U.S. history, that it might also be the last."👈

PLEASE read the entire column. I left out a lot.

Show threadGreetings From Out Of the BlueAug 28, 2023
@GottaLaff this is a great thread and sadly how we’re failing.
But I’ve been wondering…who were all of the people that comprised that motorcade? And where did they come from? Any details?
Show threadLaffyAug 28, 2023
@GreetingsOut Which motorcade?
Show threadGreetings From Out Of the Blue
@GottaLaff trump’s
Aug 28, 2023 at 9:27pmWeb
Show threadLaffyAug 28, 2023
@GreetingsOut Secret service and entourage.
Show threadGreetings From Out Of the BlueAug 30, 2023
@GottaLaff I’m still curious who was in his entourage. Any off duty law enforcement or public officials? It’s good to know who the seditionists are.
Show threadLaffyAug 30, 2023
@GreetingsOut Anyone employed by Trump is a seditionist (other than his lawyers, if they’re the legit ones)
Show threadGreetings From Out Of the BlueAug 30, 2023
@GottaLaff too true. And as I realize you know, we can add fascist to that description too
Show threadGreetings From Out Of the BlueAug 30, 2023
@GottaLaff I think my curiosity is if there were any law-enforcement personnel that were doing that off of duty. Because I’d like to know that. I don’t know if someone has a list of who is in it somewhere