“There’s been a lot written about last night’s disastrous, disgraceful, dangerous CNN “town hall” with Donald Trump. See below for some of the commentary that really hits the nail on the head, starting with this brilliant thread by Brynn Tannehll, which points out:
“A ton of ink (virtual or otherwise) has already been spilled on Trump and CNN. Obviously it was Trump at his most awful. And obviously CNN did our country a disservice by hosting what was effectively a Trump rally. But, there’s an angle that’s missing from the discussion.
Namely, the audience. These were all Trump supporters. Republicans and independents who were supporters of the former President. Clinton called them a ‘basket of deplorables’ in 2016, and they got offended. Last night was a reminder she was right.”
Bingo – Hillary. Was. Right! And anyone who criticized her for those “deplorable” comments played a role in the Trump disaster, in that they helped conceal from voters what was really at stake and what we were up against – namely, FASCISM:
“Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement, characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation and race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.”
And yes, that’s a perfectly accurate definition of what “Trumpism” is all about: far-right, authoritarian, ultranationalist, autocratic, militaristic, forcible suppression of opposition, etc. Anyone denying that at this point is either clueless or malevolent.
Also, check out this thread by Oliver Willis, in which he points out that “contra cnn, chris licht (and the rest of the mainstream media), covering donald trump is not “hard.” it is not hard at all. i and my colleagues, current and former, at @AmerIndependent have done it for years. the trick is doing it without appeasing bullshit.” Willis adds that if a small progressive outlet can do it, the “mainstream media” certainly can, given that is has “way more resources than we do.” And yes, the same thing applies to both national politics and Virginia politics, where the “mainstream media” (particularly the WaPo) relentlessly failed in 2021 to honestly and relentlessly cover Glenn Youngkin, Winsome Sears, Jason Miyares, etc., and to let their readers know exactly who and what those people are…and not whitewash them, publish stenographic puff pieces, etc. Instead, they massively failed in 2021, just like the national political media massively failed in 2015-2016, with disastrous consequences.
I’ll add more commentary as I see something that catches my eye; for now, check out what UVA Professor Larry Sabato, Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA08), former Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-VA10), David Rothkopf, Aaron Fritschner, the Lincoln Project, Anne Applebaum, “Morning Joe,” Jay Rosen, Matthew Dowd, etc.
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