Which one it was, I don’t remember, but when you’re talking about America’s uninteresting and predictable (in a pedantic left-wing kinda way) Sunday morning news shows, does it really matter?
What I do remember is the fear in the eyes of all concerned. Donald Trump had just won the presidency, our media were still in shock, and this panel of Sunday geniuses were fumbling about trying to prove a nationwide election did not just expose them as the mindless herd of provincial know-nothings they really are.
Oh, and I also remember that about half of the guys on this particular panel were later fired over decades of sexual misconduct (which actually doesn’t help at all to narrow down which Sunday show it was).
Anyway, one of these panelists (I think the one who masturbated in front of an intern) said to another panelist (I think the one who sent dick pics to an intern while forcing her to watch him take a shower) came up with a word that made this entire panel of emotionally shattered Thought Leaders feel a little better about themselves and their place in the world — and that word was NORMS.
“During the upcoming Trump-era, we in the media have a responsibility to protect the cherished norms Trump is sure to threaten,” one of them managed to squeak out about five months before he was fired for flashing an intern with dick pics of him masturbating in front of an intern watching him take a shower.
“We must protect the norms,” one of the brittle feminist panelists added about six months before we learned she knew all about how the other panelists sexually terrorized interns but said nothing so she could be on a Sunday show.
“Oh, yes, yes… the norms,” One-Of-The-Left-Wing-White-Guys-Who-Knows-Nothing-About-Real-Life-But-Still-Gets-To-Host-A-Sunday-Show, replied, as the confused fear in his eyes sharpened into something closer to zealotry and purpose.
Then, all around the studio table, the full panel of Sunday Morons began to murmur about “norms” until it sounded like Mia Farrow’s neighbors praying to Satan in Rosemary’s Baby. “Norms. Norms. Yes, norms. NORMS! We must protect the norms. PROTECT! We are the keeper of the norms. KEEP! Keep the norms. KEEEEP THEMMMM!”
My reaction watching this was exactly what it has been towards the establishment media since Trump’s victory, since the day I was liberated from 25-years of worrying about the media’s impact on public opinion: “Assholes.”
Imagine the narcissistic arrogance these pompous simpletons must be infected with in order to bestow upon their self-righteous selves the title of America’s Norm Sheriff. I mean, here you are, a member of the establishment media — one of the most distrusted and loathed institutions in the world; no one elected you to do anything, much less to abuse your power to protect our social and democratic norms; no one even elected you through public acclaim (the highest rated Sunday show in the country cannot attract two percent of the population); and yet, here was this group of smug, unelected, know-nothings with approval ratings just above that of “child molester” organizing against a man who had just won the presidency with some 65 million votes.
“Good luck with that, children,” I said to the Sunday Coven, before flipping channels until I found one of those Avengers episodes broadcast in color where Emma Peel’s wearing leather to remind you that life is worth living as long as there is TV.
Flash-forward 18 months and look at the media’s precious norms now…
In summation: “cunt,” “cockholster,” Joy Reid, booing rape victims, Stormy Daniels, and that “divine spark” in MS-13, whose motto is “Rape, Kill, and Control.” (But in their defense, I’m told MS-13 only went with that after learning Ford had already copyrighted, “Quality is job one.”)
The very same media that just 18 months before was in a barely-controlled panic over what Trump might do to norms, now demand we be horrified over the idea of describing MS-13 as “animals,” but does not believe there should be any professional consequences for using the words “cunt” and “cockholster” on national television.
And these were not jokes. I’ll defend a joke to the end of the earth. This was just name-calling; this was two angry leftists, Samantha Bee and Stephen Colbert, screaming sexist and homophobic obscenities at Ivanka “The Feckless Cunt” Trump and Donald “The Cockholster” Trump.
Oh, sure, our media went through the motions of throwing a tut-tut at their ideological colleagues Colbert and Bee, but drew the line at the only true norm-enforcer known as a “professional consequence,” even as this very same media destroyed Roseanne Barr, Justine Sacco, Curt Schilling, and Elizabeth Lauten.
Welcome to the media’s new norm, y’all — you can now call the president’s daughter a “feckless cunt” and the president a “cockholster” and suffer no professional consequences. Well, done media!
Speaking of “professional consequences,” how about that Joy Reid? America’s Norm Sheriffs would like to announce another new norm: You can now lie to the whole world to cover up your bigoted, anti-Semitic, conspiracy theory-spreading backside; you can even lie to the FBI; and you still get to remain a star at NBC News, an anchor at MSNBC.
Speaking of backsides, how about that Stormy Daniels? America’s Norm Sheriffs would like to announce another new norm: Since our Russian collusion and obstruction hoax has collapsed, we’re gonna go with the porn star and her hack lawyer.
Speaking of hacks, how about that Jake Tapper, whose ego and self-regard cannot be sated with a trivial title like Norm Sheriff, and so he has anointed himself America’s Decency Czar. And now America’s Decency Czar would like to announce a new standard of decency: In the noble crusade of gun-grabbing, it is totally cool to allow your audience to boo a rape victim. Harrumph. Harrumph.
While the media freak out over Trump’s norm-busting tweets and tariffs, they are gleefully annihilating every norm with respect to journalistic standards of truth, of moral decency, of professional standards and ethics, of not making a political hero out of those who do anal for money, of not filing false reports with the FBI, of not — my God — booing rape victims.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.
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