The press as currently configured aims for game & gotcha

I finished the book Our Dining Table by Mita Ori. This is a manga, or Japanese graphic novel. Yutaka is a young salaryman that doesn’t like to eat with other people (the reason is explained eventually). He lives alone and most of what he eats is prepackaged meals, though he does make pretty good rice balls. Minoru is about the same age. He has a brother, Tane, almost twenty years younger. They live with their father. Their mother has died. Minoru is pretty good at taking care of Tane, but neither he nor his father is much of a cook. They meet because Tane encounters Yutaka and takes a liking to him. Eating one of Yutaka’s rice balls seals the friendship. Tane wants Yutaka to teach his brother how to make them. Soon Yutaka realizes he’s enjoying eating with people. And the relationship with Minoru grows from there. In an afterward the author explains they saw two young men and a young boy enjoying a meal at a restaurant. Making up how that particular combination of people got together inspired the story. I enjoyed it. Alas, since graphic novels are so much faster to read, it barely lasted a day. I wish the author could have explored much of it in more detail and extended the story. The story has been turned into a TV series of eleven half-hour episodes. I think I see it is available on YouTube. Walter Einenkel of Daily Kos discussed the nasty guy’s obsession with crowd size. He claims his are bigger and that crowds for Harris were generated by AI. He even claimed the crowd he riled up on Jan. 6, 2021 was bigger than MLK had at the National Mall in 1963. The obsession is getting so bad other Republicans are begging for him to talk about anything else. It’s bad enough pundits and cartoonists have noticed. In a pundit roundup for Kos Chitown Kev quoted Renée Graham of the Boston Globe:

In common parlance, a size queen is someone fixated with a partner’s physical endowment. And Trump has always been obsessed with the size of his crowds. Arenas filled with people chanting his name and tittering at his stale insults reinforce the fragile sense of virility and strength of a man who has never won the popular vote in a presidential election. ... Oversized, compliant crowds are the window dressing of authoritarianism. That’s why Trump’s rallies seem reminiscent of the hours-long speeches that Fidel Castro regularly inflicted on Cubans during his dictatorial reign. Looking down both literally and figuratively at the masses, it’s not love Trump sees but a reflection of his own ruthlessness. For Trump, dwelling on crowd size pulls the spotlight from less desirable topics like Project 2025, the 900-page autocratic wish list he claims to know nothing about. It’s also a distraction, one that keeps the media playing the “What loopy thing will he say next” game. Like a toddler who recognizes how much attention comes with yelling a cuss word, Trump understands how to wrestle the media spotlight back in his direction.

In the comments is a cartoon by Drew Sheneman showing the nasty guy visiting a psychiatrist, who asks, “These very large crowds, are they in the room with us now?” A second cartoon by Sheneman shows a female elephant pushing a baby carriage with a grumpy Vance. The caption says, “GOP forced to carry J.D. Vance to term.” Mark Sumner of Kos reminded us that the nasty guy’s various legal cases are still out there and some may restart soon and might put him in a courtroom and not campaigning. However, my interest is more in the photo at the top of the post that shows the nasty guy appearing in public without his bronzer. He looks so pale. Kos of Kos discussed what happens to the Republican Party if the nasty guy loses. The discussion was prompted by David French, who has impeccable conservative credentials, endorsing Harris. He says he’s doing it not because he agrees with her on issues, but because he hopes “Donald Trump’s Republican Party Republican Party crashes and burns” allowing for something new. Kos wrote, first we recognize that MAGA is a world of grifters. They praise the grift. They’ve seen the nasty guy wield grift to amass cash and power and want in on the action. They’re horrible and don’t play nice with each other. Take out the nasty guy – and no one can fill his void – and they’ll all turn on each other. So will the Republican Party turn to responsible conservatives like Liz Cheney? Or will someone worse emerge? Joan McCarter of Kos reports that Congressional Democrats are beginning to coordinate an attack on Project 2025. They’re doing that coordination even while on August break. That is good in that members are in their districts and can hold informational meetings about what Project 2025 would do. Any attack, coordinated or not, is good. Kos wrote that the Beltway press is angry with Harris because she hasn’t had press sessions to talk about policy. Kos explained Harris is getting her message out just fine without them – which is one reason for their anger. As an example, Kos discussed a column by Margaret Sullivan of The Guardian that complained that Harris isn’t giving them due respect. Part of the reason why Harris hasn’t had detailed sessions with the Beltway press is when they do ask questions they are usually inane. The press claims Harris hasn’t talked about policy. But Kos wrote that policy is discussed in the rallies Harris and Walz are holding. And they don’t just toss out topics, they also explain the context. Some of the topics the press wants Harris to talk about – are you going to keep the head of the Federal Trade Commission? – aren’t of consequence to voters. Also...

Jeff Jarvis, a journalist and professor at the City University of New York's Graduate School of Journalism, reacted to [Sullivan’s] column with scorn, tweeting, “What ‘press’? The broken and vindictive [New York] Times? The newly Murdochian [New York] Post? Hedge-fund newspaper husks? Rudderless CNN or NPR? Murdoch's fascist media? No. [Harris] can choose many ways to communicate her stands with others outside the old press and with the public directly. The old press can and should be bypassed.” ... “When given a chance to ask questions, [the press sounds] like they're in a locker room, seeking quotes, not policy,” [Jarvis] added in another tweet. “This does nothing to inform the electorate. I know the argument about testing a candidate: but the press as currently configured aims for game & gotcha.”

The Beltway press has been covering for the nasty guy’s lies and muddled speaking while pushing Biden’s age as a problem for years. They spent two years covering Hillary Clinton’s email “scandal.” Yet, there is word that the nasty guy’s emails have been hacked and major news outlets won’t cover it.

A presidential candidate’s job is to win. That’s it! So pray tell, how does talking to The New York Times or any other national media outlet help that cause? Either journalists will ask ridiculous, shallow questions and waste everyone’s time, or they’ll fish for a gotcha quote they can use to generate “controversy” and clicks. Or they might actually ask a policy question, which … no one cares. Literally, no one. For decades, Democrats issued reams of policy white papers, and no one cared. At best, those policy proclamations are ignored; at worst, they become attack fodder for the other party.

Harris should talk to local news outlets in battleground states. Local coverage can stimulate voter turnout. But the Beltway press? She doesn’t owe them anything. Sumner wrote that Harris does talk about policy. This afternoon at a campaign event she talked about economic plans (the article I’m working from was posted before the rally). Sumner reported on four parts of Harris’ plan: Help first-time home buyers by offering incentives for builders to build starter homes instead of McMansions that give them a lot more profit. There is also down payment assistance, an average of $25K. Aid renters by offering credits to explore turning underused office buildings into apartments and to prevent investment firms from buying up houses, preventing people from buying them. Aid consumers by lowering grocery costs by stopping greedflation. And:

Republicans may talk big about the importance of having children, but their party is notoriously against programs that help feed, clothe, educate, and protect children after they are born.

Harris plans expanding the child tax credit and the earned income tax credit, and cut taxes for middle class people instead of rich people. All of these ideas make sense. They aren’t vague. They aren’t unworkable dreams. They won’t give the wealthy more money under the guise of helping everyone else. Brother will be visiting for a few days. I probably won’t post again until the middle of next week.