August 25, 2024

The Democratic Convention was a rapturous success in presenting a political party that really knows how to throw a party. With unity, enthusiasm and, of course, “joy” in abundance, it proved that a presidential candidate doesn’t have to survive an assassination attempt to inspire a pep-rally atmosphere with plenty of its own “fight!”

Who knew that when it came to sheer raucousness, the Democrats could actually outdo Teamsters and Shriners?

Kamala Harris accepted her party’s nomination without having to actually win a single delegate’s vote. And she was careful not to say anything of substance in her speech. Policy, and planks of a platform, have the potential to ruin a party.

So, too, can protests. The anticipated pro-Hamas demonstrations on the streets of Chicago were both diminished and controlled. Terrorist sympathizers never got near the United Center because . . . well, that would spell disunity. Democratic operatives were not going to allow any party-pooping on behalf of Palestinians.

Gaza was barely mentioned in any of the speeches. The roar from American flags burning outside the arena was deafening. The press didn’t believe such provocations were newsworthy, however.

We did learn that Beyoncé was a no-show. Meanwhile, James Taylor was benched due to poor clock management. In yet another indignity to the current president, Joe Biden was called upon to speak to the yawning unfaithful way past his, or anyone else’s, bedtime. The Democratic Convention was being advertised as a “joy”-fest. Biden’s speech was a foreseeable downer. Better to have the Obamas revive “Hope and Change” and “Yes We Can,” in prime time (although this year, it was more like “Yes She Can”).

Of course, Donald Trump’s 90-minute repetitive ramble at the Republican Convention was no mean feat of oratory, either. How many times must we hear go-to terms like “disgrace,” and “a beautiful thing”?

Welcome to American mediocrity. This, apparently, is the best we can do. And there appears to be little hope for any change. The best and our brightest are opting for jobs in private equity and dermatology. Politics is left with scraps. And the media isn’t helping.

Welcome to American mediocrity. This, apparently, is the best we can do. And there appears to be little hope for any change. The best and our brightest are opting for jobs in private equity and dermatology. Politics is left with scraps.

Actually, the Fourth Estate, especially in its mainstream—whether the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, or MSNBC—operate like parcels of real estate wholly owned by the Democratic Party. (Republicans have laid claim to Fox and Newsmax.)

It’s not that we can’t handle the truth; it’s that the press has absolutely no handle on the truth, no intellectual honesty about what’s actually happening around us, and no sense of obligation to share what they know with the general public—which is precisely its mandate!

Rachel Maddow boasted about how rocking the MSNBC corporate box was during Harris’ acceptance speech. Why would she want Americans to know that MSNBC staffers know how to perform the wave?

You would think political independence would be both a personal virtue and a job requirement. Instead, cable “news” has become a misnomer. It’s actually spoon-fed propaganda to an audience conditioned to ignore, or rage against, anything that conflicts with closely held beliefs. The press is taking advantage of a polarized, balkanized, ignorant public—largely of the media’s own making. Self-executing censorship has expunged national debate. Lies and partial truths fill the airwaves.

Donald Trump has many deficiencies, but to blame the open border, inflation, and rising crime on him is utter lunacy. And calling Kamala Harris a “crime fighter” is fraud. Yet that’s what we’re now being told by Democratic talking heads, with the press serving solely as stenographers.

Calling Kamala Harris a “crime fighter” is fraud. Yet that’s what we’re now being told by Democratic talking heads, with the press serving solely as stenographers.

No wonder in a recent survey, only 44% of journalists believe they “should always strive to give every side equal coverage.” Whatever happened to journalistic standards of independent verification? Perhaps locked away in some warehouse, along with buried notes on Russian collusion, Hunter Biden’s laptop, and Joe Biden’s mental acuity.

We have seen this in Gaza. The Health Ministry reports death tolls as if written on a tablet, in Allah’s handwriting! The media casually passes on those numbers to its readers and listeners. Yet everyone, including the American State Department, knows that Hamas is notorious for lying when it comes to the Palestinian death toll—of both terrorists, and civilians.

Remember the news that proved unfit to print at the Al-Shifa hospital? Israel purportedly dropped a massive bomb that killed 500. Global media raced to report such irresistible Jew-hating copy. Weeks later a retraction was necessary: The bomb was of much lesser tonnage and misfired from Islamic Jihad, hitting a parking lot, and killing fewer than 50.

Oops.

Trump may have invented “fake news” as a term of art, but he didn’t exaggerate in accusing the press of shading their stories. Ironically, the very same people he detested helped get him first elected.

Reality TV-star Donald Trump proved to be a ratings bonanza for the mainstream media. They covered his 2020 outdoor rallies like evangelical tent revivals. It enabled him to spend not a cent on TV advertising. Beholden to bottom lines, media chieftains realized that the old ways of reporting the news without any spin generated far too little revenue. Thus, anchorpersons were transformed into skewed political pundits and ratings whores.

A new business model hijacked a once hallowed profession. It had a simple formula: Tell the public what side you’re on. Then reassure them that you will not report anything that does damage to the cause. Besides, objective truth is meaningless in an age where everyone is told to unhesitatingly respect another’s subjective beliefs.

Will Kamala Harris be permitted to run her campaign without holding a press conference? Journalists have resigned as watchdogs, emerging anew as political operatives. They would prefer Harris simply remain silent. No one wishes to prejudice her campaign should she let loose a gaffe. The standing orders are: shower her with “joy,” and help resurrect happy slogans from the Obama administration.

In the end, the electorate, with a media assist, might punish Donald Trump for not being able to keep his mouth shut. The man who hasn’t read many books is also an open one—holding nothing back, saying whatever is on his mind, unscripted and off-the-cuff, a slave to the gravitational pull of insults over substance. He is undoubtedly the least managed, and mannered, political figure in American history.

Of course, that’s what his base loves most about him: authenticity. They cheer on his boorishness, laugh off his impulsivity, barely bristle at statements better left unsaid. That authenticity, however, plays straight into the ill-motives of a biased press corps.

The more he talks, the less they have to say about his Democratic opponent—which, apparently, is just fine by them.

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Thane Rosenbaum is a novelist, essayist, law professor and Distinguished University Professor at Touro University, where he directs the Forum on Life, Culture & Society. He is the legal analyst for CBS News Radio. His most recent book is titled “Saving Free Speech … From Itself,” and his forthcoming book is titled, “Beyond Proportionality: Is Israel Fighting a Just War in Gaza?”