It’s hard to tell which is more self-unaware, members of the activist media or Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY). Both have shown a remarkable lack of the ability to read the room, and in both cases, it has contributed to their gradual downfall.
Alleged journalists have taken to whining about Republicans more often, as of late. Much of their complaints are related to the reality that GOP politicians are just not paying as much attention to them as they have in prior years. Indeed, many are not even granting them access for interviews, coverage, and other ways the press can attack them.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis became the most recent reason for their tears when he barred most of them from covering the Sunshine Summit in Ft. Lauderdale this past weekend. I was in attendance at that event, and I can tell you the press pool was quite small. Christina Pushaw, DeSantis’ pugnacious press secretary, addressed their concerns in a tweet:
It has come to my attention that some liberal media activists are mad because they aren’t allowed into #SunshineSummit this weekend. My message to them is to try crying about it. Then go to kickboxing and have a margarita. And write the same hit piece you were gonna write anyway.
It has come to my attention that some liberal media activists are mad because they aren't allowed into #SunshineSummit this weekend. My message to them is to try crying about it. Then go to kickboxing and have a margarita. And write the same hit piece you were gonna write anyway.
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) July 22, 2022
As my colleagues Joe Cunningham and the lovely Sister Toldjah reported, several media activists wrote whiny-assed op-eds, taking issue with those recalcitrant Republicans who refuse to waste their time speaking with the propaganda arm of the Democratic Party. Jack Shafer wrote a piece for Politico, complaining about the issue. Interestingly enough, he acknowledges why GOP officials are not bothering with the once-vaunted Fourth Estate as they used to. He wrote:
Pegging their pieces to the brush-off Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is currently giving to the mainstream press — who even refused to cooperate with the New Yorker for a recent profile — the pieces conclude that Republicans figure nothing good comes from talking to the press, so why bother?
Shafer goes on to claim that Republicans’ refusal to give alleged journalists access will not “stop the flow of information” and insists that “going mute also makes the candidate look weak.” He even argued that “it gives the foes of taciturn Republicans an opportunity to land a punch.”
Shafer then quotes one of his colleagues, Michael Kruse, who said, “[Republicans] don’t need us to get elected. And we don’t need them to write about them.”
The author then predicts that Republicans’ refusal to engage the press will backfire. “Making the media the enemy has a way of boomeranging on politicians,” he wrote. “See the careers of George Wallace, Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew for historical examples.”
But if this were truly the case, why are so many media activists crying themselves to sleep at night over it? If they don’t need GOP candidates to open up to them, then it should be perfectly fine that they are not doing so, right? However, it is Shafer’s line about Republicans “making the media the enemy” that shows his lack of insight into this issue.
The activist media made themselves the enemy a long time ago. When former President Donald Trump came onto the scene in 2016, they went from being slightly biased in favor of the left to becoming all-out progressive activists determined to aid the “resistance” in any way they could. Since then, they have functioned as a sort of Pravda for the Democrats, although in the case of CNN, there are indications it might have seen the error of its ways, now that it is under new leadership. We will have to wait and see how that turns out.
But the fact remains: There really is no advantage for GOP candidates to entertain the activist media. As Pushaw said, members of the press are already there to write hit pieces and broadcast blatantly hostile reports on anyone who is to the right of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, so why give them more ammo? It is not as if these people are good faith actors willing to give conservatives a fair shake, is it?
Moreover, the idea that Republicans ignoring the press will backfire further demonstrates how little these people know about the current state of American politics. Those who are at least open to considering GOP candidates are not concerned with their relationship with the activist media, which is not as influential as they would have us believe. Indeed, a recent Gallup poll shows that confidence in the press is almost as low as it can get. To put it simply, these people just aren’t as relevant anymore, and they have only themselves to blame.
If folks like Shafer want GOP candidates to engage with them, they must show they are only out to report the facts, not push an agenda. They will have to change their ways and move back to authentic journalism rather than progressive activism. Unfortunately for them, it does not appear they have learned their lesson yet.
