The Press Circles the Wagons Around Progressives

Confession, and I mean this genuinely and sincerely — I really do.

As someone who has long defended the press corps, even as I’ve criticized reporters, I am starting to wish ill on the American press. I feel guilty for saying it. I know it is the sinner in me. I actually want a good and decent press. The country needs it. The powerful should be held accountable.

But it’s like watching an addict who you care about who refuses to help himself and you’ve finally decided until he hits rock bottom, he won’t get help and, if he dies, at least his family will stop their suffering too.

I don’t think the press wants to help itself. I think the political press, in particular, needs to go on and overdose. We can have a nice little funeral for what was, then we can salt the ground from whence the press came so it never grows back.

It has gotten to the point where it deserves bankruptcy and its end.

And I hope they learn to code.

I come to this conclusion with the coverage of the California wildfires in Los Angeles.

I do not deny that some on the right have said things that are not true or are blown out of proportion.

However, as I thoroughly documented yesterday, intentionally using mainstream media sources or primary documentation, California has not built a new reservoir since 1979, despite voters demanding new ones in 2014.

Here, from 2023, is a video of California releasing a massive amount of water into rivers because it had no more reservoirs to hold the water. Now, here is Joe Biden from yesterday, admitting that because of the risks of sparks from power lines, the power was turned off, which is the direct cause of water not flowing to fire hydrants. The pumps stopped working.

Where are the serious questions from the press about the pumps and generators?

It turns out that Los Angeles Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Brian Williams is on leave due to an FBI investigation while Mayor Bass was out of the country. Where are the questions about who was in charge?

It’s not just local reporters who should be asking the questions. Los Angeles is a major American city. When it snows in New York City, the national press corps goes into overdrive. Eric Adams gets copious national coverage. Most major news outlets have LA bureaus.

Instead, what has happened?

The national political press has chosen to react to the right to protect progressive power. The press is more concerned about someone from the right saying something that might not be true than it is concerned about politicians doing things that not be bad or failing to implement sound public policy.

Think about how so much of the press ridiculed conservatives and denied there was a problem with Biden even after the picture of the note card at the press conference with the reporter’s info and proposed question. Think about how often the press claimed Republicans were using “cheap fakes” of Biden that actually showed Biden’s decline. Think about how Republicans highlighted the video of Biden being led off stage by Obama at the Hollywood fundraiser and the press rushed in to defend Biden from what Americans saw with their own eyes. Think about Afghanistan and the lack of press insistence for accountability from government officials. Think about how the press dismissed the concerns of the families of the dead over how Biden handled them and treated them.

Now, the Washington Post and the New York Times have decided that, instead of asking tough questions of progressives, they must instead push back against the right for doubting climate change caused the fires. Philip Bump of the Washington Post compared right-wing dismissiveness towards climate change causing the fires to 2020 election denialism. Lisa Friedman at the New York Times reported that Elon Musk is wrong about the role climate change played in the fires.

That was the reaction.

The American press corps has served as concubines for Gavin Newsom. They’ve deflected and dodged holding progressives accountable for much of anything.

Los Angeles is burning. There is a firefighter shortage because, in part, the county fired firefighters who would not get the COVID-19 vaccine and have been slow to hire because of DEI issues. There is a fire hydrant shortage because of reservoir capacities and generator backups. The fires are spreading because the city, state, and federal governments failed to manage vegetation to avoid upsetting environmentalists.

And the press would instead double down on a climate change narrative than ask tough questions about the progressive governance and power structures they want to preserve.

Our republic needs a free press to hold power accountable. The press we have is not free. It is a ball-gagged gimp kept in the basement of the DNC trotted out to abuse anyone on the right who dares question progressive claims to power.

In 2005, as the water rose and people died after Katrina blew through New Orleans, CNN’s Anderson Cooper famously expressed his outrage on live television and demanded accountability from elected officials. Twenty years later, the press is more interested in shouting down anyone who questions climate change’s role in the fires. However, climate change did not cause water to stop flowing through fire hydrants. Decisions made by elected officials did.

It’s time to let the press hit rock bottom, and if it dies in the overdose, so be it.

By the way, if you haven’t seen this clip, here’s a great one of an arrogant news anchor in Los Angeles who decided to fact-check Rick Caruso, who ran for Mayor against Karen Bass. And it went badly for him. His arrogance is reflected in the national press corps and amplified there.