Hey, that's my theory! 😅
(Except I usually say "villains" and am keen to point out that this includes Republicans themselves, they 100% act like they know they're the villains and are proud of it)
A few years ago, Jon Lovett floated a theory that media treats Democrats like protagonists - to be challenged, accounted, and forced to be behave in growth-oriented ways - while the GOP are treated like antagonists - immutable, expected to disrupt, thematic obstacles.
Thinking about that a lot.
Yeah, I was just thinking about this with regard to the NYT calling for Biden to withdraw. They see themselves as serving, and only able to influence, the good guys, so it’s not even worth trying to appeal to the bad guys, and they’re wrong about both.