Pure arrogance, but based on what?

In September of 1990 when I got a job in the upstart Fox Broadcasting Company (pre-Fox Sports and Fox News), one of the first things I noticed was how some people believed they had to “dumb” things down for their audience. Think about the inflated sense of self it takes to assume you’re smarter than millions of people simply because of where you work.

I experienced that attitude throughout my dozen years in Hollywood and that sense of disdain for those who consume their products resulted in simplistic and insulting programming like “Honey Boo Boo” and almost everything on TLC. Do you really think these people would create demeaning productions of those in their industry or neighborhood? No, but they seek out the easily exploitable so they can laugh at us behind our backs and boost their fragile egos.

In the world of politics, we have an elected class that has no problem lying to our faces. Because of abused Constitutional protection, they believe they’re smarter than the public and they’ll have a portion of the media class that will cover for them. We can easily point to many in city councils, state legislatures, and even on Capitol Hill who clearly aren’t the brightest or emotionally stable our nation has to offer but they managed to get elected with something that’s coveted by all grifters: trust.

Watch any news or opinion show, local and national, and observe the formula they all use. You’ll never watch those shows the same way again.

After their opening monologues, they introduce a guest, start out with an elongated summary of the topic (to assure us all about how much THEY know) and end it in a way the guest has to respond with “I agree with you…”. The host is thereby validated by the invited expert on the topic. This also validates the host’s value to his or her employer.

However their “values” are only as good as the company cutting their check.

We’ve seen many who were once reporting for a conservative network jump to a liberal one and their rock-solid values suddenly dissolve. “Christian conservative” Alisyn Camerota anchored for Fox News before jumping to CNN. Kaitlan Collins blogged for the conservative Daily Caller out of college, became a White House correspondent and now host at liberal CNN. Shepard Smith anchored at Fox News before coming out with “fagitude” and moving to CNBC. That didn’t last long.

Kinda’ makes you wonder what their values really were prior to their change of venue.

Unlike politicians with elections and term limits, media personnel are imposed on the public and their bios are normally concealed by their employers. How they got to their current positions could be embarrassing once revealed. Experience, lack of, nepotism, sexual fast-track; all are at play when it comes to the media ladder.

News and opinion broadcasts are splattered with hosts showing us pictures of their wives, children, moms, dogs, family celebrations, vacations, etc. They’re just like us so we must appreciate them in return.

Oh, and don’t forget to buy their latest new book!

Equally as insidious are the politicians and officials who find those convenient parachutes once they’re forced out of their government jobs and suddenly realize their sweet paychecks have ended.

We have a conservative nonprofit who absorbs newly out-of-work Republicans despite the damage they may have done to the base. Vice President Mike Pence got a “fellowship” with the Heritage Foundation shortly after leaving office. Former Trump border czar Ken Cuccinelli also wound up there until he could get another lucrative gig doing what he did after he was Virginia Attorney General: securing state delegates around the nation AGAINST Donald Trump in 2016. Yes, he’s doing it again now and people like him continue on because they assume we’re all too stupid to notice and donor dollars pay well.

Former politicians and officials get paid “contributor” gigs at CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and broadcast news, no matter why some are no longer employed and compensated by taxpayers (government pensions notwithstanding). Andrew McCabe, John Bolton, Jennifer Palmieri, Marie Harf, Stephen Moore, John Brennan, Kellyanne Conway, William Barr, Alyssa Farah Griffin, Claire McCaskill and Kayleigh McEnany get to blab away uncontested, simply because they’re considered experienced “experts” who can attempt to redirect an ignorant consumer base towards a preferred and approved narrative.

Why do we have such a political and social chasm between men and women voters?

Well, if you have smug media professionals targeting women with intellectually stimulating programming like “The Today Show”, “Good Morning America”, and “The View”, it’s easy to understand why so many see things differently that the rest of the voting blocks. They trust the information is true despite how ridiculous and error-ridden. They specifically look down on their female audience and play to hyper-emotion over substance.

While talk radio is crowded enough with whiners like Dan Bongino, Mark Levin, Charlie Kirk, Steve Bannon and other small market wrist-slitters, everyone and his brother now has a podcast. You know, a product some people pay for to use only once. Talk about a racket.

Podcasts are another vehicle for former politicians, celebrity wannabes and pundit types to fortify your trust in them and others who hope to get a more lucrative media job by out-shocking the competition. They serve as the potential bench of future “talent” to be inflicted on the nation simply because of a dubious social media reach.

Why do we have so many “fact checkers”? Again, because almost all media jobs are dependent on consumers trusting THEM. Anything that may cast doubt on what we’re being told or have been told by the overpaid has to be squelched by all means necessary. Media people seldom admit they’re wrong about anything. The Washington Post and New York Times have not given their Pulitzer Prizes back despite their Trump “Russia collusion” coverage being proven bogus. Whenever the media is proven wrong, their contrition seldom matches the initial air horns. Retractions are buried and on-air corrections take up a couple of sentences before the end of the broadcast.

It’s enough to question just how much all of these people, who get paid to share with us their abundant wisdom, really know and really care about us.

There is an on-air persona and an off-air.

Many of these people are truly horrible and genuinely believe we must believe what they say because their lofty salaries depend on it. While they claim to feel the pain their preferred politicians inflict on us, they’re quite comfortable while telling us all is not that bad. They’re the first to agree on the need to start and/or perpetuate a war their prep-schooled children won’t have to participate in. They’re the first to tell us it’s hot in the summer and drinking water is a good idea because they assume we’re that stupid and they’ll save lives. They can afford an electric car as a status symbol to save the planet while their gas range is off limits. They can and will start race violence in the streets (always great video) and go home to a secured, gated community with appropriate protective measures.

They consider themselves of extraordinary value and we should be damn grateful they exist.

And whenever we’re told about something that “the public doesn’t know” (as if we’re expectedly stupid), it’s because those who are lavishly paid declined to inform the American people for whatever partisan objective.

For them to call us “everyday”, “average” or “ordinary”, that translates as we are exploitable, expendable and don’t you forget it.

Don’t get me started on “workers”….

We’re not sure if this is the case here, but if the person stating someone said something “racist” and is in the White House, one would think that person would give the name to a senior White House official, if not the public.

One would think….

Like you’re that important.

Of course when called on it, the response was like that of petulant child busted in a lie, obfuscating instead of coming clean.

White House senior advisor Kellyanne Conway repeatedly responded to PBS NewsHour correspondent Yamiche Alcindor, who appeared to have been trying to provide cover for racism-accuser CBS News’ Weijia Jiang, and could not get a simple answer as to who in the White House said “kung flu”. During a #Coronavirus update yesterday, Alcindor actually took valuable time to ask President Trump about the White House staffer who supposedly said it.

With all of the sickness and death COVID-19 is spreading around the United States and the world, having journalists, pundits, and shut-in liberals getting all bent because of what the virus is being called is sophomoric at best. Calling anyone who uses the label “Wuhan virus” or “Chinese flu” as racist is part of that social justice tactic of renaming things that trigger the emotionally fragile. But seeing how the #Coronavirus was developed and initially unleashed in the Wuhan Province in China, it’s only reasonable to call it where it came from, just like many viruses before this.

As said many times before, it’s a great disservice that seasoned journalists with decades of experience are not occupying the privileged positions as White House correspondents; those who’ve proven themselves to be the documented crème de la crème instead of the young and cheap (Jiang is 36) we’re being subjected to.

Mr. President, thank you. I want to first follow-up on Jeff’s question because the person you were standing next to, whether you know who he is or not, tested positive for coronavirus. Dr. Fauci said this morning, if you stand next to somebody who tested positive, you should self-isolate and get a test. Doctors have said you might have it, even if you don’t have symptoms? Are you being selfish by not getting tested and potentially…?
— Weijia Jiang question to President Trump, 3/13/20

Whatever.

During a June 22, 2017 House Minority Leader Weekly Briefing, we got an explanation on what was to come as explained by an industry pro.

If Jiang can’t give the name, she should be removed immediately from the White House press pool. If, after all this time, that staffer is named and denies making the “slur”, he or she should be required to submit to a polygraph test. If the result comes back that the “slur” was never made, CBS News and Jiang should be sued.

BTW — Hate hoaxes are at pandemic levels within her age group.

Maybe this foolishness will stop, at least for a little while.

But once Donald Trump was elected president, they’re the first to tell us why WE must support him.

Kellyanne Conway is one who made it into the White House.

For those looking for an in with Trump, White House senior counselor Kellyanne Conway is a good bet. The first woman to run a winning presidential campaign, she has proved herself a convincing voice in the President’s ear. Although Conway has become a less frequent presence on cable news, she remains a tireless defender of the administration, never shying away from a fight.
— Fortune, 9/24/19

It wasn’t always that way….

During the primaries, Conway had helped run Keep the Promise, a Ted Cruz super pac, and that Trump had criticized Cruz’s wife’s appearance. “And yet Conway still goes to work for that man?”
— The New Yorker, 10/17/16

Kellyanne Conway was often quite critical of candidate Trump, especially when she could continue to raise personal facetime exposure on #FakeNews television.

…
One other important note: Kellyanne Conway is NOT the first woman to “run” a presidential campaign. She was essentially the late closer.

Without Corey Lewandowski’s leadership out of the box, who knows? Conway wasn’t the starter or middle relief. She inherited a gift: a brilliant candidate who took all the incoming flak from the Democrats and their media, literally did all the legwork and getting the enthusiasm needed was nothing that required the coordination of a campaign manager.

Conway is another of those whose convictions can be bought as long as there’s a professional and monetary benefit. It could be argued that the sentiments of her husband George today were pretty close to hers, that is until she could jump ship to the frontrunner and eventual winner.

Had Donald Trump lost the 2016 election, do you really think Kellyanne Conway would accept blame for the loss or would she pin it on the candidate and those who ran the campaign before her?

Then again, we are talking about those whose principles can be bought so having it both ways comes with the territory.

Once again Democrats have again publicly demonstrated how they make up alternative facts, still rewrite history, display humorless partisanship, their reflex to label all Republicans racists, and say what they really think about the proper position of women in the workplace.