I am not usually one to offer diagnoses of people I’ve never met, but it does seem like the pundit class of the American media is suffering from severe memory loss. Because they’re doing exactly what they did in the 2016 presidential race – providing wildly asymmetrical and inflammatory coverage of the one candidate running against Donald J Trump.
They have become a stampeding herd producing an avalanche of stories suggesting Biden is unfit, will lose and should go away, at a point in the campaign in which replacing him would likely be somewhere between extremely difficult and utterly catastrophic. They do this while ignoring something every scholar and critic of journalism knows well and every journalist should. As Nikole Hannah-Jones put it: “As media we consistently proclaim that we are just reporting the news when in fact we are driving it. What we cover, how we cover it, determines often what Americans think is important and how they perceive these issues yet we keep pretending it’s not so.” They are not reporting that he is a loser; they are making him one.
I’m late to discussing that post, but this part towards the end stuck out to me:
You can’t even admit you were wrong about a President literally dying in front of your eyes.
As well as this part earlier:
He’s 80, if you believe he’s capable now, but not at 85, you’re a fucking idiot.
…
in regards to being the President of the United States, there’s no difference between 80 and 75, and if you think there is, then you’re a fucking idiot.
First of all, there is zero indication that Biden is on the verge of death. Zero. None. Nada. And that second part…by that logic, there’s no difference between 80 and 65, and if you think there is, then you’re a fucking idiot. That entire post is nothing but blatant, overt ageism. I would very much like for the older generations to start stepping aside and making room for younger generations to step in and start having major roles in government and politics, but their age alone is not disqualifying. And if it were, both candidates are too old, so that issue is a wash. So, assuming that assholes complaints about Biden are true, we are left with a choice between a doddering senile old man on death’s door, and a doddering senile old fascist. I’ll take the dead guy, thank you very much.
I agree, but I also hope we don’t use that framing much (not that I think you’re especially highlighting it).
Tromp never admits he’s old; he just keeps proclaiming/lying instead that he’s as fit physically and mentally as he ever was, and he comes across better as a result. However, despite being three years older, Biden is more so than Tromp.
I think he and those who support him should stop acknowledging in some sort of “fair” or honest way that he’s not the man he used to be. It’s true, but it’s also a bad political move in this contest.
I agree. I think he should summon Dark Brandon and tell everyone to fuck off, he’s not going anywhere. Maybe even in those exact words. This is one situation where the Dems should take a page from the GOP playbook and just deny that there’s an issue, and go full steam ahead.
I agree, but the media has already convinced a ton of people that there’s an issue. There’s no putting that back in the barn. But Trump has always just ignored and denied on stuff like this, and eventually, the media gave up. Biden needs to learn from that.
Yeah, we seem to have forgotten that we have a whole system in place in case the president can’t do his/her job or they die in office… It’s so weird that people are acting like Biden runs all the things in the executive all by himself and that if he does die, the whole thing collapses… it’s super weird to me. But far too many people forget that part of the reason for having things like large institutions (states, etc) is to solve problems… It’s maddening! Like, we put people on the moon, but now, we can’t tackle problems like climate change! Far too many Americnas are just… lazy weirdos who thinks that we can’t DO anything in this country now… I was ranting about this IRL earlier today…
And so it is easiest to keep things personal — give Trump time, on the self-deluding logic that he will discredit himself, and focus on Biden’s age rather than his achievements. For reporters it can feel like the work is being done when only Biden is at the receiving end of criticism — whereas, in fact, the ground has been shifted by fascism, or by the inability to confront it.
Hey, wait a minute, maybe we should throw US Boingers under a bus then…
Nah, not even going to joke about it. There’s so much speculation in that article, and even if it turned out to be true, it’s not a pleasant world to live in that’s posited there, even in Europe.
I think they are fucking morons who will be the death of us all. And I regret anything I ever said publicly that may have given them the impression that they were doing anything good for anyone anywhere including themselves.
It’s maddening! Like, we put people on the moon, but now, we can’t tackle problems like climate change! Far too many Americnas are just… lazy weirdos who thinks that we can’t DO anything in this country now… I was ranting about this IRL earlier today…
