Triumph of the Swill

 

Hearst and Pulitzer depicted as “The Yellow Kids” of journalism pushing America towards war.

When it came to foreign policy, voters in the late presidential elections had two choices — either choose Donald Trump, a man with no previous government experience, or the first female to occupy the Oval Office. The drawbacks to the former were obvious, the drawbacks to the second were too politically incorrect to speak out loud; namely, might Hillary Clinton initiate dangerous military action just to prove she had “the balls” to be Commander-in-Chief.

After the surprise election results, the latter became moot. But the Democrats and their media enablers chose to take a dangerous path. Rather than accepting the results, they decided to push conspiracy theories about how a foreign government with nuclear capabilities manipulated the election and “installed” Trump in the White House. Put the phrase “Putin’s Puppet” into Google and you’ll get over 66,000 hits.

Vladimir Putin yearns to return Russia to the glory days of the Soviet Union and fulfill the role as the United States’ top geopolitical foil. Like his Soviet heroes, he has been constantly finding ways to probe and test POTUS. Which sets up a conundrum for the media, both domestically and internationally, namely how do you maintain the narratives set against Donald Trump without pushing him into “proving” himself otherwise?

The situation in Syria has the media in a panic. CNN and CBS both sport headlines that accuse the President of “taunting” Putin. ABC News headlines say “Trump warns Russia” but the URL for the story, “trump-taunts-russia-tweets-syrian-missiles,” suggests a headline change from the original.

The whiplash induced by the pivot from “Trump is in Putin’s pocket” to “OMG, Trump is going after Putin!” is enough to make the on-camera talent pull out their Teddy Kennedy Memorial Cervical Collars.

If their excuse is, “Well, we never thought our taunting him would lead to war” then you have to ask, “Aren’t you the people who said he was unstable? Aren’t you the people who said he reacts to your headlines too easily?”

This is not a situation where a pair of media moguls have decided to start a war to sell papers, à la Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. This is the result of the media willingly heading down a path that had no certain destination. First, it was fueled by fantasies that they were going to change the outcome of the Electoral College vote, then it was the pursuit to somehow “nullify” the election, and then just the desperation to fuel a blue wave and commence impeachment.

Embracing propaganda over news was bound to have consequences. It’s pure arrogance that prevents them from considering the unintended ones. It truly is the Triumph of the Swill.

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There are 6 comments.

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  1. drlorentz Member
    drlorentz
    @drlorentz

    EJHill: Teddy Kennedy Memorial Cervical Collars.

    Funny and timely, as are the double-entendre possibilities of Dike Bridge. It just keeps getting better. Might we be living in a simulation?

    • #1
  2. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    The left is full of pursing things that will have unintended consequenses. If they manage to call forth the fascist shadow they see in conservatives, they will not be able to slay it easily, and the world’s greatest nation will slide into fire. 

    • #2
  3. Gary McVey Contributor
    Gary McVey
    @GaryMcVey

    I’m old enough to remember when Russia-hating obsessives kept trying to push the country into a war posture. They were extremely vigilant about seeing evidence of Russian conspiracy everywhere. Decades later, those people, dominant in their day, were regarded as morons. 

    To quote those great philosophers, Abba, in their lyrics to “Waterloo”, 

    that history book on the shelf…is constantly repeating itself“…

    • #3
  4. CJ Inactive
    CJ
    @cjherod

    EJHill: If their excuse is, “Well, we never thought our taunting him would lead to war” then you have to ask, “Aren’t you the people who said he was unstable? Aren’t you the people who said he reacts to your headlines too easily?”

    It’s amazing to behold the cognitive dissonance of chickenhawks telling us that Trump’s incompetence will bumble us into World War 3, while also begging him to DO SOMETHING™ in Syria.

    Ah, the inexhaustible hubris of the Central Planners and Nation Builders!

    • #4
  5. Zafar Member
    Zafar
    @Zafar

    Gary McVey (View Comment):

    I’m old enough to remember when Russia-hating obsessives kept trying to push the country into a war posture. They were extremely vigilant about seeing evidence of Russian conspiracy everywhere. Decades later, those people, dominant in their day, were regarded as morons.

    To quote those great philosophers, Abba, in their lyrics to “Waterloo”,

    that history book on the shelf…is constantly repeating itself“…

    Aren’t these the same people who were pro invading Iraq and now want a regime changing war with Iran (before it gets the bomb)?

    • #5
  6. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    Zafar (View Comment):

    Gary McVey (View Comment):

    I’m old enough to remember when Russia-hating obsessives kept trying to push the country into a war posture. They were extremely vigilant about seeing evidence of Russian conspiracy everywhere. Decades later, those people, dominant in their day, were regarded as morons.

    To quote those great philosophers, Abba, in their lyrics to “Waterloo”,

    that history book on the shelf…is constantly repeating itself“…

    Aren’t these the same people who were pro invading Iraq and now want a regime changing war with Iran (before it gets the bomb)?

    Abba’s foreign policy positions traditionally prioritize musical ambassadorship over regime change. 

    • #6
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