Legacy media has taken a solid political position, and it isn’t neutrality.
Nor is it vaguely right-wing.
Not wholly unrelated, CNN’s Anderson Cooper recently applied a label to Trump supporters that left little to the imagination
According to the newsman, those who endorse The Donald are, starkly, members of “a nihilistic death cult.”
Nihilism, per Merriam-Webster:
- a viewpoint that traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and that existence is senseless and useless
- a doctrine that denies any objective ground of truth and especially of moral truths
As you well know, there was tumult in Washington Wednesday.
A group stormed the Capitol as Congress was scheduled to certify votes from the Electoral College.
Amid the chaos, lawmakers were evacuated, to later re-convene.
What does Anderson surmise from it all? That no sane person would endorse the Republican president.
Cooper’s afternoon takeaway, as told to Republican Sen. Rick Santorum (see the video here):
“Let me ask you: The Republicans just lost the Senate and, you know, you had Donald Trump Jr. earlier this morning saying, you know, this is Donald Trump’s Republican Party, which we have said over and over and over again — which clearly it is now. Why would any Republican continue to follow this man?”
Of course, CNN’s been offering a form of that question for half a decade.
Along the way, the GOP’s been compared to the Nazis and other emblems of evil.
Wednesday, Anderson marked ’em mad, immoral, and macabre:
“As [Trump] goes off to Mar-a-Lago with his quarter of a billion dollars, I know they want some of that money, I know they’re afraid of a bad tweet, but I mean, just — the GOP is becoming like a nihilistic death cult if they follow him.”
As reported by The Daily Caller, Rick appeared of similar mind.
To continue on the current path, he posed, would constitute the signing of a gruesome agreement:
“[I] think, today, yesterday and today were two moments within the Republican Party that hopefully will give people in the party the opportunity to step back and say, ‘Do we want to sign this death pact?’ Because I believe it is a death pact.”
The senator continued:
“Look — I’m hearing from a lot of people. And what I”m hearing is that, you know, ‘We didn’t sign up for this.'”
It begs the question: What is “this”?
What was the president’s place amid Wednesday’s anarchical upset?
Whatever anyone’s assessment, it was certainly a day which won’t be soon forgotten.
As noted by RedState’s Nick Arama, Fox host Tucker Carlson called to leaders to ask from whence it came — why does a portion of the country no longer trust its government?
It’s a powerful question, and — though it likely won’t be looked into — I hope it’s repeatedly probed.
In the meantime, government, the citizenry, Republicans and Democrats will forge ahead.
And what of the party of Reagan and Roosevelt?
The way CNN’s Van Jones sees it, there needs to be “a glide path for people who want to break away” from its current iteration.
Pundit Gloria Borger also chimed in:
“What do Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley do now?”
She accused the pair of “doing Donald Trump’s bidding.”
Van insisted, “Let’s declare that this is the end of something. This can never happen again. We need to snuff this out tonight. We need to hear from every leader…that this is unacceptable in America, period.”
This needs to be the end of something, says Van Jones. Snuff it out tonight. Anderson Cooper says the GOP is becoming like a "nihilistic death cult." Santorum says Republicans must decide if they want to sign this "death pact" with Trump. pic.twitter.com/bAa4E2Rt8f
— Zach Wolf (@zbyronwolf) January 6, 2021
The network may not have always been so demanding of such condemnation.
But today’s a new day, though not too new: It’s not Anderson’s first stab at monikers for members of the GOP.
As relayed by my colleague Mike Miller, in November, he called the Commander-in-Chief an “obese turtle”:
Anderson Cooper, folks. pic.twitter.com/s0xDTuVNL2
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) November 6, 2020
“Death cult leader” is certainly raising the bar.
And CNN’s got plenty of time to send it further skyward.
Between now and the inauguration, I’d guess more is on the way.
“The GOP is becoming like a nihilist death cult as they follow (Trump)” – my colleague, Anderson Cooper. Good point. Trump lost the election. He has incited anti-democratic riots. What he has proven is that his movement, even at its supercharged best, is not enough to win. pic.twitter.com/H7UDEXlHeg
— Tom Foreman (@tomforemancnn) January 6, 2021
-ALEX
See more pieces from me:
Public School District Offers Free ‘Antiracist Therapy’ for White Teachers
The Brilliant Rowan Atkinson Cans Cancel Culture: It’s a ‘Medieval Mob’
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