Yesterday’s press conference was remarkable for a number of reasons, not least because it revealed the naked contempt this nation’s media has for the men and women who’ve served in the Armed Forces. A sneering condescension that they can’t mask, even as they bang the drums for more interventions in the quagmire of the Mid-East, i.e. more chaos, more refugees deluging Europe and North America, and more power for jihadists of every stripe and sect. You can just imagine the sulfuric rage these reporters had to suppress as they were forced to listen to a group of reactionary knuckle-draggers who had done nothing for their country, quite unlike the roster of exemplary Americans Hillary has assembled.
As if watching these troglodytes, who obviously don’t live in the current year, prattle on about their support of Donald Trump weren’t bad enough, our esteemed press corps had to endure the humiliation of seeing their beloved narrative vanish into thin air. The utter gall of a candidate willing to reveal how a cudgel used to impute racism to the Republican Party actually originated within the Hillary Clinton campaign! The next thing you know he’ll be implying that Sidney Blumenthal, Hillary’s very own Rasputin, was going around telling journalists that Barack Obama, the future President, was born in Kenya. Or that the Clinton machine tried to smear him in order to win the 2008 Democratic primary. Or perhaps that the Clintons view the President with disdain? Can you believe the gall of this scoundrel?!
The biggest insight to be gleaned from yesterday’s media event, however, is the discovery of how self-deluded the media remain about their own ignorance. These are individuals and entities which believe themselves to be the height of enlightened, progressive, cosmopolitan thought. In fact, many pursued their vocation expressly because it gave them the opportunity to hector those benighted cretins living in flyover states who believe in antiquated concepts like borders. Yet here they were being humbled by a vulgarian who was gauche enough to become an entrepreneur rather than pursue a respectable career like news editor of Buzzfeed or professional Hispanic activist masquerading as journalist. Even as they publicly conceded being duped by Donald Trump, acting like petulant little children who had their favorite toy taken away, they cloaked this admission in an aura of insufferable condescension, the one area in which they excel.
The reaction to the MSM’s Austerlitz on social media is equally revealing. I’m thinking specifically of this comment, which encapsulates the ethos of Twitter political commentary, i.e. an inapt pop culture reference about a TV show which was cutting-edge 2 decades ago. No, Donald Trump is not Homer Simpson, and journalists are not Frank Grimes. He is the Roadrunner, while his hapless inquisitors are variants of Wile E. Coyote, i.e. characters who vastly overestimate their own intelligence. Yes, they hate him because his values, primarily his emphasis on American exceptionalism and distinctness-with its corresponding acceptance of national borders-are anathema to them. But that is not the reason why he drives them into rage spirals and the depths of despair-and compels them to publicly dissect their own psychological trauma in print and on television.
Trump derangement syndrome results from the fact that he not only knows how to play the game, but how to win it. On some subconscious level, the media recognize something that their acolytes refuse to even consider. Namely, that Trump-unlike any other Republican politician or conservative public figure in recent memory-understands what motivates the drive-by media and is using that knowledge to meticulously demolish them. Trump is the anti-Romney, and it drives the left, neo-Buckleyites and the targets of his precision-guided missiles absolutely batty.
As for the rest of us, we’re delighted.
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