I think part of the failure of the media right now is that if anyone is going to suffer in the Trump regime it’s not going to be national columnists who are 65 year old straight white people making six figures. Like if they don’t seem particularly alarmed it’s because they aren’t, they’re just bored
Who in America leads a more alien detached life than Maureen fuckin Dowd you know what I mean? She’s out there writing op eds about young comedic firebrand Bill Maher. No editor is stopping her. She cannot understand human empathy.
As with many things about conservatism they latched on to an actual national problem, that the media is unrepresentative of the nation and elitist, and instead of seeing how they could fix it have instead realized precisely how to manipulate it to their own ends
My “favorite” was the time when discussing the economy, David Brooks said something along the lines of because his income went up during The Great Recession, it was a sign that the wealthy were working harder than ever. Like he had a real job and was convinced that he has worked harder than ever.
The only work Brooks has done in his life is convincing some idiots with money to pay him for his worthless opinions. I’d respect the hustle if he wasn’t a heinous hunk of shit.
Because "success" in society is viewed as rising above the polity and ultimately leaving/alienating yourself from it, I feel like gives you both Maureen dowd and the seemingly never ending string of rich, famous Jeffrey Epstein clones
Maureen Dowd regularly sits in a room with Bret Stephens and they mutually mentally masturbate together about the events of the week and then people read it. It all feels like some sort of intellectual sadomasochism.
I was chatting with some new acquaintances in the last week and two of them unprompted essentially admitted they were terrified and “haha but should I flee the country?” NYT don’t get that there are real lives at risk. Middle-aged mom, and a 30-something. Pple are scared, and they’re right to be.