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What’s Happening at Breitbart.com?
It may be presumptuous and even unfair of me to liken the behavior of a media outlet to a mental disorder, but unfortunately, monitoring Breitbart.com lately has been like watching a very disturbed person. Sometimes sober. Sometimes unhinged. Sometimes giddy. Sometimes juvenile and petty. Sometimes in full rage.
It won’t take but a few minutes of glancing at some of the sillier headlines and reading what passes for serious political commentary, or perusing some of the more extreme responses on Breitbart.com to anyone that dare challenge the wisdom of Donald Trump, to realize that we are no longer in Kansas. And no, Ray Kinsella, we aren’t even in Iowa, hearing voices in cornfields. It’s closer to say that we’ve passed through Alice’s looking glass to a place where the absurd characters are darker and more threatening than even Lewis Carroll could have imagined.
Am I saying that some (not all) of Trump’s supporters are so ridiculously angry that they’ll say anything inflammatory, defamatory, and outrageous behind the convenient veil of online pseudonyms? Yes, I am. Am I saying that certain political commentators have become besotted with Mr. Trump to the point of drooling, blithering idiocy, checking whatever critical thinking parts of their brains at the door? Well, yes. I’m saying that, too.
A few days ago, Megyn Kelly announced she was taking a ten-day vacation in, of all times, August. Aha! Who in the world takes a vacation in August? Breitbart.com noted that Salon.com had called the timing of Ms. Kelly’s vacation suspect. Unfortunately, the Breitbart headline, FOX NEWS’ MEGYN KELLY ANNOUNCES 10-DAY VACATION, didn’t suggest that Salon.com’s speculation was a bit over the top. Instead, it had the unintended consequence of reinforcing Trump fans with a penchant for conspiracy theory who felt Salon was on to something.
But this one, FOX SHOCK: NETWORK CALLS MEGYN KELLY ‘TALENT,’ NOT ‘JOURNALIST,’ Breitbart.com owns. Never mind that anyone who hosts a show and appears before a TV camera in the broadcast industry is referred to as “the talent.” No, it’s clear that even Fox knows that Kelly is anything but a journalist. I mean, like d’uh! I need to lie down. Or perhaps the folks at Breitbart need to lie down.
The previous two items were thought newsworthy enough for Breitbart’s editors to feature on their site. Once posted, they generated the expected response: rabid demonization of Kelly, Roger Ailes, and FoxNews in general from Breitbart’s more excitable readership – some Trump loyalists even making kind reference to Ms. Kelly’s hygiene, thus helping to complete Mr. Trump’s original thought. Whatever … wherever.
Referring to Mr. Trump’s supporters as “low information” will light up Breitbart.com’s phone lines, and they’ll report on that, too. Criticize Breitbart.com as skewing its coverage to promote Trump and you, too, may be featured prominently on the site, as Republican media consultant Rick Wilson found out when he incurred the wrath of Breitbart’s John Nolte:
To anyone not blinded by their own snobbery, Trump’s appeal to this group, even if it is on the single issue of locking America’s back border door at night, is painfully obvious.
But what is the response from the Republican Establishment to these voters? We saw a perfect example of it Friday night on CNN.
Like an embittered Gollum-In-Glasses protecting “My Precious” Jeb, Rick Wilson, a top Republican media consultant, appeared on CNN last night to hurl criticism mixed with a lot of faux-macho ad-hominem at Republican front-runner Donald Trump.
Which is fine. Wilson is even correct on a couple points.
Then he dropped his pants.
One thing to keep in mind when you read Wilson’s quote from last night below is that Republican candidates actually hire this guy to help them win elections — which I think explains a lot. [emphasis added]:
“You do not benefit by trying to draft behind Donald Trump and hope that he collapses and his low-information supporters run into your arms. This is a guy who is increasingly leading a fraction of the conservative base into a very dangerous cul-de-sac. He is promising things that he can never deliver. And it is time for Jeb Bush and other folks to start posting up and really comparing and contrasting Donald Trump’s rhetoric with the reality.”
Unfortunately, it doesn’t bolster a Breitbart journalist’s credibility to complain about his subject’s ad hominem attacks when he engages in similar, but even more juvenile, ad hominem attacks. “Then he dropped his pants.” Oh, well done, Mr. Nolte. Note that Wilson spent a good portion of his time in the CNN interview characterizing Donald Trump’s scattershot pronouncements, not “trashing” Trump supporters, as the Breitbart headline – WHY WE LOSE: TOP GOP CONSULTANT RICK WILSON TRASHES REPUBLICAN BASE – might lead its readership to believe.
Hint to Breitbart’s editorial staff: Try to be thick-skinned enough to take criticism about your reporting and the quality of your work, and remember:
- The stories this campaign season are about Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and the rest of the candidates in the field, not about the way a relatively obscure political consultant may have taken issue with Breitbart’s fawning coverage of Mr. Trump.
- Don’t let your site become the story.
- Don’t fixate on your critics.
- Watch some Monty Python from time to time, and quit taking yourselves so damn seriously.
- If your extreme behavior continues, consult a psychiatrist. Valium or other medications may be necessary (even if Tom Cruise disapproves).
Note to Ricochet’s editorial staff: Promoting this post to the Ricochet Main Feed may result in Ricochet.com being labeled a GOP Establishment hack website by one or more of the editorial staff of Breitbart.com. Don’t say you weren’t warned.
Yep, there’s no sugarcoating that one!
Brian Watt: No you have most certainly conflated the comments made by any old nut with a computer with the purveyors of the Breitbart site. Maybe Ricochet has a subscription only group of people and good for you. What’s the difference really when for example Rob Long has opined in a podcast that it really doesn’t matter that some leftist physically attacked Steven Crowder, because hey Rob doesn’t like Crowder? And J-pod just referred to all the Breitbart readers, as a group, as rape lovers. That’s Podhoretz, not just some nut commenting. Rape lover is me, I guess, since I read Breitbart and not JUST Ricochet, where everything is not a clown car. I read John Nolte regularly and think he writes good stuff. Ditto for Ben Shapiro, James Delingpole and several other Breitbart contributors. You want to attack them for everything said in an unedited comments section, I think you’ve lost your mind. And also—Since yesterday’s posts, the originator of all the Breitbart=rape stuff, Mr Wilson, has publicly asked Ann Coulter if “Trump pays her more for anal.”
Oh right, there’s no clown car stuff on the Rick Wilson/ Ricochet side of this dust-up. Just the “civil conversations” Rob so famously talks about while selling memberships.
I believe I’ve recommended turning the metaphorical firehose on Mr. Wilson and others involved in this obscene war of words if I’m not mistaken.
While we’re at it, where is the prominent Breitbart.com story on one of Ann Coulter’s latest pronouncements?:
And where is the Breitbart.com story on Donald Trump’s connections with known organized crime figures?
Don’t know. Where’s the latest Ricochet story on Jim Kearney and his defense of the Planned Parenthood officials who were “entrapped”?
I didn’t realize Ricochet had billed itself as a news site.
If Breitbart is to be held responsible for what its commenters say, should Ricochet not be held responsible for what its contributors say?
Absolutely. I have no argument with that. But for Breitbart.com that purports to be a news site to counter the charge that they are going soft on Trump they should be highlighting Coulter’s idiotic pronouncement and looking into Trump’s long, documented history of legal entanglements, associations with organized crime figures and other questionable financial dealings. I’m waiting for that exposé. If Andrew was still with us, I firmly believe he would have been all over that since he was no fan of Trump’s.
We are not interested in Trump as a candidate. We are interested in Trump as someone who will force our other candidates to address Trump’s issues.
I hadn’t realized you were speaking for everyone on Ricochet.
Max, if they had you they could. Of course, you would have to go without sleep and forget to shave and might start throwing sharp objects. ;-)
It is the Royal We. Fawlty sometimes forget as he imparts whatever it is that he imparts.
Seriously, he is bringing up a good point. Donald is moving the narrative and bringing issues out for discussion. People long for this.
Yes, it’s a net good that Trump is pushing the discussion. Over the years we’ve demanded that the MSM – and especially the NY Times, WaPo and the broadcast networks – conduct thorough investigations of Obama, his background, his administration and all the scandals associated with him. Only Andrew Breitbart brought the fraud of the Pigford payouts to light. All the other media organizations conveniently dropped it. Now, there’s an opportunity to more thoroughly vet Donald Trump (and the history of his behavior, associations, legal entanglements is voluminous) and yet Breitbart.com and other conservative commentators appear to be giving him a pass and instead are reporting on any claim, pronouncement or utterance he makes – one in particular going to the point of sheer buffoonery.
Only the intelligent ones.
Brian,
I think people know about the past stuff. They are just angry about getting chopped liver all the time. People are overreacting in my opinion and that is fueling his candidacy. If they would laugh it off, it would be better. Right now he is the hair apparent. (Sorry, I couldn’t let that one go unparted.)
You don’t speak for me.
Obviously.
I don’t see your point.
@Dime
Obliviously.
Yeah, I don’t think so. I don’t think a majority of Americans are up on Donald Trump and only know him previously as that guy on TV who says, “You’re fired!” So, there is a little more than a year to discover or unearth, if necessary, some information on him aside from his Twitter pronouncements. The media failed to properly vet Obama. Breitbart and others tried. Will they show the same zeal now? Or is his nomination already a fait accompli?
I disagree but I don’t know for sure. It is a long while between here and voting day. Usually the front runner self-destructs, right?
That’s silly. You want that story here then write it. This site isn’t a news site.
If it’s reasonable for Brian to expect Breitbart.com to write prominent news stories about hyperbolic tweets that he finds outrageous, isn’t it equally reasonable for me to expect Ricochet editors to at least comment on postings by their own contributors that I find outrageous?
Breitbart is a news site and already is publishing prominent news stories about hyperbolic tweets that are outrageous – because this is what passes for journalism these days. Rick Wilson should have been called out on his Tweet (I’ve said as much in a comment on this thread) – which occurred, by the way, after I posted this story.
However, Ms. Coulter’s outrageous tweet above is conspicuously missing from Breitbart.com. Why is that? Perhaps they’ve made a conscious editorial decision not to highlight the tweet noted above. If so, what would their reason be? That somehow it’s not as newsworthy as Megyn Kelly announcing that she’s taking a planned summer vacation with her family or that FoxNews referred to Ms. Kelly as “talent” rather than a “journalist”? Of course, Breitbart editors have the right to post whatever they like on their site. But they may be showing a smidgen of hypocrisy or showing that their own contributors are to be shielded from criticism especially from some of their readership that may be fervently anti-abortion.
Ricochet editors can speak for themselves as to whether they should or should not feel obligated to respond to hyperbolic Twitter tweets on Ricochet. You certainly have the right to call them out on it.
@Brian
So you believe Coulter was seriously advocating Trump performing abortions in the White House?
The first statement isn’t what happened. Breitbart gleefully reported on Wilson’s tweet about Coulter in headline story about how hypocritical and horrible Rick Wilson is. It was written by Nolte (who I always liked on twitter) in what was an obvious extension of their (Nolte and Wilson)’s ongoing battle on twitter.
Ricochet editors already do comment on people’s posts here and have addressed many times issues where things have gotten off the rails so I don’t get your point. You are equating posters here with commenters on breitbart….but I am talking about the news stories on breitbart not the commenters.
I believe that the comment was incredibly stupid, insensitive and outrageous given that 55 million abortions have been performed in this country and especially in light of the Planned Parenthood videos that have recently come to light. I understand this is Ms. Coulter’s schtick. That doesn’t mean it’s acceptable or doesn’t make her look like a complete jerk. I just question why the editors of Breitbart feel this is not newsworthy but somehow the two Megyn Kelly items mentioned were.
Is that a yes or a no?
As serious as what Wilson has tweeted.