I once watched a seven-year-old crippled kid pull himself out of his tiny wheelchair and walk for the very first time. That touched me almost as much as watching the Washington Post meltdown Friday afternoon.
After a decade of telling us Donald Trump is Hitler, the Post announced that Kamala Harris is so awful that the paper would not endorse her over Hitler. In the choice between Hitler and Kamala, the Post decided to not endorse anyone—which I think makes her Eva Braun.
What followed was the usual-usual from our moral betters — what we’ve come to expect when our oh-so dignified elites don’t get their way: a full-blown-lie-down-on-the-floor-in-the-middle-of-the-grocery-store-kicking-and-screaming tantrum. This included a high-profile harrumph-harrumph-harrumph resignation, frequently unemployed celebrities rushing to cancel their Post subscriptions, politicians who showed no emotion about Americans dying in Benghazi discovering their outrage, and my personal favorite, a wild-eyed corporate media freak-out combined with an internal insurrection at the Post itself.
Normal people must embrace and cherish these moments. Here are three reasons this is glorious…
First off, while it is humiliating for Kamala not to win an endorsement against Hitler, in the real world, an endorsement from the stupid and soon-to-be-bankrupt Washington Post was not going to move the electoral needle. But this does damage Harris in one important way.
Our self-involved, narcissistic, all-about-me media will dry-hump this story for the next three or four days. You see, there is nothing the elite media love to talk about more than themselves. The Post’s refusal to endorse Kamala is tailor-made for these morally grotesque, left-wing serial liars who love to portray themselves as the hero of the story. Entitled babies (which is who these people are) have no self-control, which means that this opportunity to posture as Great Defenders Of Democracy and Brave Truth-Tellers Standing Up Against Orange Hitler is too tempting, even though it will drown out Kamala’s closing argument.
Friday was Kamala with Beyoncé. Saturday is Kamala with Michelle Obama. Sunday she’s in Philadelphia. On Tuesday she’ll give a speech on the National Mall. Her closing argument might be dumb — Orange Hitler Won’t Let You Kill Your Baby, but this is the last chance for a candidate who believes she is losing the race.
Nevertheless, the all-about-me media combined with Donald Trump’s Joe Rogan interview and Sunday’s Trump rally at Madison Square Garden will step all over that closing argument.
Because he believes he’s winning, Trump wants to freeze the race, and this Washington Post snit-fit is and will help him do that.
Secondly, there’s only one reason Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos refused to endorse Harris: he believes Trump will be our next president. His heart might be with CacklyMcNeverBorderCzar, but like many among the elite, he’s looking for a way to make nice to the next president after a decade of trashing, smearing, undermining, and defaming him.
When Trump won in 2016, it was such a shock to the system, that people like Bezos and his newspaper could only react. They also convinced themselves his victory was a fluke caused by Russia and disgraced former FBI Director James Comey’s decision to reopen the email investigation against Hillary Clinton.
Everyone in the media, Hollywood, and Big Tech told themselves Trump’s victory was an illusion, that it couldn’t be real, that he would never survive his first term, and that something like this could never happen again. This rationalization, as they saw it, gave them the green light to treat Trump like a virus—which they did. But NOW that’s no longer the case. If he wins in ten days, and he might even win the popular vote, he will be a president of consequence who is not worried about reelection. This time, people like Bezos have to take him seriously. One way to offer an olive branch is no endorsement.
Third, and this one is my favorite, is the Post’s doom spiral. In their partisan hatred to rid the country of Donald Trump, outlets like the Post (along with CNN, the New York Times, the Late Night shows, etc.) alienated and lost forever every subscriber except the hardcore left-wingers who demand 100 percent fealty to The Cause. These people do not want news or truth. They demand comfort and affirmation. And if you do not give it to them, they will punish you by canceling their subscriptions.
The Post has the same problem internally. When you hire WokeQueda, there is no room for compromise. Only the ends matter, even if the means involve lies, spreading violence, and creating division.
In other words, after a decade of extreme partisanship and dishonesty, the already financially unstable Post has painted itself into a corner where it must loyally serve Copium and Hopium to its rabid left-wing audience or lose what’s left of its customer base. And this is exactly where we want them — trapped in a situation where if they don’t make fools of themselves and regularly whore out their credibility to please the only customers they have left, they will lose those customers and go under.
Every time something awful happens to the corporate media, an angel gets his wings.
John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.