As the media face a crisis of confidence, should they throw that accusation at someone else? After the Supreme Court ruled on presidential immunity, they found a "crisis," but it feels more like it's a "crisis" because the liberals are not in charge. CNN's Jake Tapper promoted the "crisis of confidence" spin against the high court, while CNN faces a defamation lawsuit due to a sloppy article on his show The Lead.
CNN and MSNBC engaged in wild talk about Trump assassinating rivals. Both eagerly read from Justice Sonia Sotomayor's blazing dissent as she mused about Trump like he was a fascist strongman: "Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune!
Tapper asked his network's legal analysts “Did the court say, ‘Yeah, you can assassinate a political rival?’” Analyst Elie Honig said no. But on MSNBC, host Katy Tur asked legal analyst Andrew Weissman (who ran the Mueller probe against Trump) if Sotomayor meant to say assassinations were authorized now, and Weissman replied yes, and "I'm sure that's the way Trump will take it."
Pundits whined about how the court’s delayed decision was political, putting a little Republican elephant hat on the majority of six, when it's obvious that their own expectations are supremely partisan and political. If Trump isn't in jail yet, our democracy isn't perfect yet.
We also discuss how the networks promoted Jill Biden's gooey cover story in Vogue magazine, with Mrs. Biden proclaiming they're not going anywhere and the words on the cover are "We Will Decide Our Future." No one in the pro-Biden press will suggest it's a bad look for "Doctor Jill" to dress in fancy designer clothes and tell concerned voters to pound sand on the cognitive-decline thing.
Instead, stories on how the Democrats are arguing with each other about Biden's incapacity and how it's a political vulnerability are carefully roped off. Don't get in the habit of expecting them to let Republicans speak about how Biden and the Democrats have been lying, perhaps because the media have been right in there lying alongside them, leading to a..."crisis of confidence."
Enjoy the podcast below, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
