Because ... Trump! And DeSantis!
We were told the media bent the rules because Trump was a once-in-a-lifetime threat. Now they're doing the exact same thing to DeSantis.
Dear Friends –
1.) The media gives up pretending to be fair
The media gave up any pretense of objectivity when President Trump first ran for office. We were told at the time that this was because he was so uniquely and terribly dangerous that journalists had to abandon balance and do whatever it takes to keep Trump out of office.
So why are they reporting on DeSantis the same way?
Fox News media reporter Howard Kurtz has an excellent column looking at the media’s hypocrisy surrounding DeSantis and Trump. Here are a few of the craziest zingers the no-longer-unbiased-media is lobbing at DeSantis:
NBC historian Michael Beschloss: DeSantis"really has tried to turn himself into a local Mussolini" with "brutal tactics."
Molly Jong-Fast, Vanity Fair: "There’s a fair bit of evidence to suggest DeSantis is as dangerous as Trump — if not more." Also, "he’s already governed the Sunshine State like a banana republic.”
Margaret Sullivan, former Washington Post columnist: "It’s appalling to see the media lavish him with so much fawning coverage." (Really? Not from what I’ve seen)
Ali Velshi, MSNBC host: Velshi and a transgender activist guest said that Florida under DeSantis was “road testing authoritarianism in the US - just like the early 30s in Germany.”
2.) Senator Mark Kelly wants to censor social media to prevent bank runs
Republican House members told reporter Michael Shellenberger that they, along with Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and others were on a conference call about the bailout of the Silicon Valley Bank. Kelly asked reps from the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Dept, and the FDIC, if they had a way to censor social media to prevent a run on the banks.
Censorship is still bad, even if you’re trying to use it to prevent a run on the banks.
3.) The CDC funded groups that targeted vaccine “misinformation”
Over the last two years, the CDC has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in grants focused on promoting flu and COVID-19 vaccines and tackling what it calls vaccine “misinformation” in minority communities all across the country.
4.) NewsGuard keeps saying they’re not government-funded. Guess what?
Journalist Matt Taibbi shared pictures of a nearly $750,000 award from the Department of Defense to NewsGuard, an organization that ranks news sites based on the company’s ideas of credibility. Spoiler alert: those ideas aren’t great.
Media is NOT fair & tire of these damn games
& they wonder why they get NO respect vs journos who did Twitter files
Ive heard that DeSantis is tied to the Bushes? etc to divide the GOP
True or false
BS like this hurts & apply same to Dems X100
All of those quotes about DeSantis are attributed to commentators or opinion hosts, not straight news reporters, so I wouldn't consider them evidence of media bias. After all, you could find pro-DeSantis quotes from right-leaning opinionators, and that wouldn't mean the media at large is biased in FAVOR of DeSantis.
Every potential presidential candidate deserves close media scrutiny -- especially those like Trump and DeSantis who demonstrate authoritarian leanings that are antithetical to America's established political norms.