How is the press covering what’s at stake in the midterms? This piece from the AP is not encouraging.
Here’s some samples:
...A knot of investigations. Partisan gridlock. A warning shot for his re-election bid...
Scary!
Partisan gridlock — as opposed to GOP steam-rollering everything that gets in their way, the current situation.
A White House that has struggled to stay on course under favorable circumstances would be tested in dramatic ways. A president who often battles his own party, would face a far less forgiving opposition.
The biggest battle Trump has had with his party is how often and how well they have to kiss his butt.
(See Lindsay Graham, the type specimen for this syndrome. The credulous opening for this mash note — “Senator Lindsey Graham’s bipartisan overtures — on immigration, foreign policy, even investigations of President Trump — once made him a darling of Democrats, a Republican dealmaker to be wooed to the center.” — is nauseating, and a perfect example of media desperation to play the bipartisan card.)
Meanwhile, back to the AP:
On the flip side, if Republicans maintain control of the House and Senate, that's not only a victory for the GOP, but a validation of Trump's brand of politics and his unconventional presidency.
Calling Trump’s presidency “unconventional” is like calling the Pacific Ocean “damp”. How about words like: corrupt, criminal, incompetent, divisive, racist? Too judgmental? Too partisan? Can’t have that.
And it’s always good news for Republicans...
Ari Fleischer, George W. Bush's press secretary, said Democratic control of the House "has both peril and promise for the president."
"The peril is subpoenas, investigations, legal bills and headaches," he said. "The promise is Trump will have an easy foil to run against: Pelosi and Democratic leadership."
emphasis added
Because it’s always the fault of the Democrats when things go wrong in America, right?
Should they take the House, Democrats are already plotting to reopen the House Intelligence Committee's investigation into Trump campaign's ties to Russia. Other committees are plotting aggressive oversight of Trump's administration and his web of business interests. Some Democrats are looking at using the House Ways and Means Committee to obtain copies of the president's tax returns after he broke with decades of tradition and withheld them from public scrutiny during his campaign for the White House.
emphasis added
Because Democrats attempting to exercise oversight is so… uncivil. That’s why they have to ‘plot’ to carry it out, as though no one else in America is interested in seeing it done, or that it’s their constitutional duty.
But wait — is there bad news for the GOP?
A slim Republican majority in the House would also present challenges, likely inflaming simmering intraparty disputes. First among them would be a potentially bitter leadership fight in the House to replace retiring Speaker Paul Ryan. But a narrowed majority would also exacerbate divisions over policy - and continued unified control could leave the GOP facing the blame for gridlock.
"Clearly there's an awful lot on the line in terms of the legislative agenda," said Republican consultant Josh Holmes. "The prospect of a Democratic controlled House or Senate puts a serious wrinkle in getting anything through Congress."
emphasis added
Serious wrinkle? See the note about steam-rollering above. When Democrats held the Congress and the White House, remember how the big concern was how bipartisan they would choose to be?
And while we’re talking about the legislative agenda, how about mentioning what that means if the GOP keeps control of both Houses:
- Cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid
- More tax cuts for the rich, along with exploding deficits
- More extremism on immigration
- More trade wars
- More trashing of the environment and denial of climate change
- More militarism and saber-rattling
- More deregulation of the financial sector
- More racism out of the White House, the GOP, and right wing media
- More attacks on Democrats and the press
- More voter suppression
- More radical right-wing activist judge appointments
- More unanswered information warfare attacks from hostile nations
- Rising tensions around the world as the US becomes the problem, not the solution
That’s just a partial list of course — and the article doesn’t touch on what’s going to happen at the state and local level. They might not be able to pull all of it off — but that’s where they are headed. Would it be too difficult to acknowledge any of that?
We’ve had a demonstration of how badly the press carries out its responsibilities these days. Have they learned anything since 2016? You’d never know it from this one-hand/other-hand ‘analysis’.
Context, background, substance…
It would be nice to have a little more of that, along with the press taking a little more responsibility for how it carries out its role in maintaining a democratic society. It would be nice if the press would stop trying to please everyone with their reporting, and stop being so easily manipulated by the Right, who have spent decades learning to ‘work the refs’, frame issues, and move the Overton Window to the far right. It would be nice if they could not all get locked into following whatever narrative they get handed.
It would be nice if they could go back to basics.