The mainstream media is already trying to start its smear campaign against Harris and Walz.
Here are a few stories that I saw floating around today:
www.nj.com/…
www.yahoo.com/…
www.nytimes.com/…
www.theguardian.com/…
www.newsweek.com/…
www.nytimes.com/…
www.thedailybeast.com/…
It is no secret that the mainstream media (and especially the New York Times) have had it out for pretty much all Democrats, for years. They constantly cater to Donald Trump and the RNC while simultaneously ripping Democrats to shreds over any tiny issue that arises, most of which are fabricated by Trump and the media themselves.
Trump can say that his crowd on January 6th was larger than the crowd that stood at the Capitol to listen to Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream,” and the media will not so much as bat an eye.
However, if Biden happens to say “crosshairs” in a moment of the world’s worst timing, the media just will not let it go.
Hell, Biden himself was desperate in trying to talk sense into the media, which we saw him attempt in vain during his interview with Lester Holt a few weeks ago (www.dailykos.com/...). This is the only clip I could find that actually showed Biden calling the media out on its omissions and double standard with Trump:
And look at how the bastards titled the video. “Biden snaps repeatedly.” Go to hell, NYP.
But do not just take my word for it. If you think I and Biden were mistaken, let me remind you again of Lawrence O’Donnell’s own condemnation of the mainstream media, with this 3 minute clip:
What is more, there is research data showing mainstream media bias in favor of Donald Trump too.
When Donald Trump stated that he would allow Putin to “do whatever the hell he wants” with Europe, threatening again to disband NATO, the New York Times published all of ten articles on the subject. At the same time, the NYT published 26 articles talking about Biden’s age and how much of an issue that was for his candidacy as President, while they mentioned Trump’s age in just one article. One versus 26. css.seas.upenn.edu/...
I wrote then in February, and I wrote again and again, pleading, “please do not buy into this garbage from the mainstream media — they are trying to dupe you and help Trump!” But it did not matter. The narrative that the Trump team spun, which the media repeated, was absorbed and accepted by the public. I watched Democrats lose sight of the big picture as they gave into to doubt, fear, and started to question reality. Too many believed that Biden was somehow on the one hand able to be the most accomplished progressive president in modern history, while simultaneously being cognitively dysfunctional and demented. Too many were worried about chasing shadows instead of fixating on the real threat, Donald Trump.
We are so fortunate that President Biden himself saw that he was losing the narrative with regular people and chose to quit his reelection bid, giving Harris (and now Walz) a clean slate to run with. This has turned the ageist narrative that Trump and the media fomented on its head, and now Trump is the “old guy.”
The transition to Harris being the DNC candidate went off without a hitch, and the Harris/Walz campaign has been running beautifully so far — thank goodness. In that respect, I am glad that the transition did not go poorly, as I and others had feared. Thank goodness.
There is one thing I want to say, however:
I had better not see any one of you flipping on Harris or Walz the same way so many of you did with Biden.
On paper, there was nothing really wrong with Hillary Clinton’s campaign. By all metrics, she really should have won the election of 2016. Indeed, many polls had said that she was well on her way to victory. But then Clinton was smacked with the Comey emails, and — poof — that was that. Even Biden, with the same metrics, could have won the 2024 election. This was something that I and many others believed very strongly, including Allan Lichtman (www.houstonchronicle.com/...). Then, like Comey and Clinton, the first debate happened and the self fulfilling prophecy of “Biden’s too old” came to fruition. Biden’s impressive list of accomplishments? Bah, who cares? George Clooney and the media says he is old.
My point is this, in terms of metrics, Harris has at least an equal chance of winning as Biden did. The economy did not change overnight when Biden swapped with Harris. Ukraine did not magically start doing any better than it was doing with Biden. NATO did not get stronger the second Harris received her delegates. The immigration issue did not change when Biden “passed the torch.” Trump was not going to be holding any more rallies if Biden stayed in the race (www.dailykos.com/...). Trump probably still would have had his phone-interview with Musk, where he was slurring and lisping words (www.rawstory.com/...), and so on. All that changed was that the DNC resolved their issue of their candidate being “too old.”
“Too old” is not a policy issue. The issues of Trump and Project 2025 are no more or less dangerous with or without the presence of the age issue. “Too old” is a superficial problem.
The media’s and voters’ fixation on superficial issues is what nearly cost us 2024, and it is what cost us the 2016 election.
If you believe that Trump and the media are just going to blithely stand back and stand by without casting a different superficial problem onto Harris or Walz, you are dreaming.
That is why these stories about Walz’s prior DUI and Harris not doing a press conference are circulating right now. It does not matter whether or not Biden is too old, whether Walz had a DUI (he was never convicted of a DUI, by the way: time.com/...), or whatever. What matters is that Trump and the media are trying to find something — anything — that will stick, like the Comey emails.
I believe that now, in August 2024, it might be too late for the media to find something to spin against Harris that would cost her the election — they, like Trump, do not know the best angle of attack. That still leaves the door open for 2028, however… and three months do seem like plenty of time for something crazy to happen, when you consider how crazy the last three weeks have been.
If and when the media comes up with something to attack Harris or Walz with that sticks, if any one of you give in to the garbage, I will be the first one to point out your hypocrisy. “We solved the issue of Biden being too old, what is your problem now?” I will say to you. I say this because I am sick and tired of the double standard that is just being accepted when it comes to Donald Trump. We are good shape right now, thank God, but things are not always going to be rosy and perfect.
I know I will be called a “Cassandra” for saying this — sniped at by some, and I welcome that. I am sure I will be told, “Sinai, shut up and stop peddling doom.”
I, with memory problems from Long Covid, can remember the community here being nearly homogenous in excitement to see Biden smack up Trump at the debate. I can remember near unanimity agreement that Biden would absolutely win, so long as we all stuck together. I remember the enthusiasm to get out there and win, with Biden. And then the debate happened and everyone ran around screaming while setting things on fire.
The real danger is, as it always has been for the last 9 years, Trump and Far-Right Extremism.
Things are going really really well with Harris and Walz right now, and the enthusiasm better than I could have dreamed of. I guarantee, however, that our enemies are going to try to spin something that will throw us off track. Things are not always going to be so perfect. I do not want to hear, “Oh but she doesn’t do press conferences! Her stance on Israel! His DUI! His stolen valor,” or whatever crap the media drops at our feet.
The real danger is, as it always has been for the last 9 years, Trump and Far-Right Extremism.
We had all better stick to the cause, even through the rocky moments that are guaranteed to come.
