Character. When you find it, cherish it, because it is in short supply wherever money and power are involved. Thank you Steve for this proper rush of words shotgunning toward every MAGA apologist on air anywhere. Cheers!
Steve nailed it and I’m grateful. If you study the condition of narcissism, narcissists feel shame when exposed and react by vilifying those who exposed them.
"The phony outrage, crocodile tears, fulminations and high horse reactions to the exposition of journalistic integrity and patriotism from the NBC News room perfectly encapsulate the rottenness of this moment, the absurdities of modern media and the shallowness of its most grizzled characters. "
Very well said. Geraldo, Chris Cuomo, et. al wanted SO MUCH for NBC to get hoisted on their own petard. Shucks!!
The fact is Ronna McDaniel brought zip, zap, zero to the table in terms of insight or intellect. She was not even a good choice in the worst possible way. She's a poster child for vapidity. There are plenty of clever freakish monsters in the MAGA world that would have at least provided Jerry Springer style entertainment. Ronna McDaniel, on the other hand, is just a trained seal liar. Nothing more.
Perhaps NBC brass felt they needed to cover their behinds in the event of a Trump 2nd term. Still, Ronna doesn't seem like much of a buffer in the up-is-down MAGA world.
Well, that’s disgusting too. They shouldn’t be covering their behind, they should stand their ground and if gdforbid the Orange skidmark wins, they should stand their ground still and say this is wrong and we’re not going to include these people in our broadcasts. We’re not gonna support this. And all of them should take the damn microphone away from that bastard. We don’t want to hear anything he has to say when he walks out of the courtroom spewing slander at everybody – why aren’t they suing him for slander? Why not pile on the lawsuits? What the hell. He deserves it. He also looks terrible. I know he’s a malignant narcissist, but he still is some form a human being, and this is taking a toll whether he admits it or not. You can see it in his face, lots of puffiness under the eyes. The eyes are showing it like a flashing billboard. This is getting to him very deeply. And it’s about time -he’s been a career criminal. Nobody should feel sorry for him and all his maggot groupies should wake the hell up. Because he’ll walk all over them when he gets a chance.
She would be great for bringing clarity to the issue of gaslighting. She could give her report, followed by fact checking, and they could have exposed the political corruption with absolute authority. We'll have to stick with the hear-say methods like usual (even though it's kind of disgusting to hear imaginings).
We don’t think NBC aspires to be in the Jerry Springer niche. They don’t need any Maga liars among their newscasters. I don’t know if we’ll ever find out who thought it was a great idea to hire that woman, but it would mar their brand to have her spouting her lies on their platform.
I was being facetious with the Jerry Springer reference, but there are those in the MAGA-sphere that can spout talking point gibberish with much more aplomb than Ronna. A better reference might be the old Point/Counterpoint business on 60 Minutes years ago, which inspired a running SNL routine with Dan Ackroyd and Jane Curtin ("Jane, you ignorant slut").
Yes, that was really hysterical. Thanks for reminding me of it. It would be perfect if she would have given commentary and then been immediately fact checked, but I can’t see NBC fact checking and giving the lie to one of their own commentators right there in the moment.
In fact, I always WISH, when they alllow that horrid Trump to go on and on with his lies and slander, that he is immediately fact checked. That would be fair! To allow that filth he spews every time he opens his mouth, to remain hanging there in the air for everyone to absorb without an immediate counterpoint, Is a crime. Every time he’s allowed to do that, without rebuttal, they encourage his sense of confidence that he’s in charge. And he’s been in charge of poisoning the weaker minds. As he constantly said in the past, he loves the uneducated. One older woman said, when he first started out in this business, when interviewed in the street in the south somewhere, asked why she believed and trusted in him, she replied with a big, toothless grin, “because he’s on television!“ It’s a powerful tool they give him free for nothing, way too often. They have to stop that! Just sayin’….
You have been right on the money with this issue and the lead horse out of the gate. The others will never catch you but I am thrilled they are following your lead around the track. Thank You !
The heads of NBC News should roll after the hiring of Ronna McDaniel. Perhaps she will hawk Trump's new Bible with the new revelations. For instance, there is one passage of, after God made the world in 7 days he never rested, because on the 13th day He made Trump from the jawbone of an ass.
Ronna is a flaming piece of shit. She got in bed with trump and his little pud and then he kicked her out cause now he's dreaming of Lara - just like he keeps lusting after Ivanka. Dude is a sick old pervert and his hanging out with Epstein was part of his perversion. Now trump is a babbling moron - he can't even put a sentence together and says stupid crap like you can't have an election in the political season. At this rate he's going to need Depends and a bib before the election.
The big story is why was NBC stupid enough to talk to Ronna in the first place let alone sign her up for $300,000? Dumping her was the right action, but it never should have even gotten there. The President of NBC news needs to be fired for incompetence.
“Shame is what is triggering Kelly, Fleischer, Geraldo, and so many more denizens of the rancid right who live in the murk where the truth and the lie have become indistinguishable.”
Sorry Steve, shame isn’t what triggers these people because they are shameless. They are hired guns who sometimes have to “take one for the team!”
Fleischer took one for the team when he lied ad nauseam about Iraq being responsible for 9/11. When that fell flat, he lied when he said we were invading to bring freedom to Iraq. Remember Operation Iraqi Liberation or its acronym “OIL,” which told us everything we need to know about going to war for freeDum.
When that didn’t work, it was all about Nukes. Fleicher spent his time as America’s version of Baghdad Bob; just more closely resembling Side-show Bob, to Cheney’s Crusty the Clown.
As for Geraldo? Three words: Al Capone’s vault!
Enough said about that washed up clown!
As for Kelly, will she went from Fox (fired), to NBC (fired), and was finally put out to pasture at SiriusXM where she enjoys a close relationship with Jesus, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, which also happens to be white!
And as for Como? Who cares! Does he even have a job?…:)
I was confident, not in NBC deciding to follow the lead of MSNBC commentators, but that those same commentators plus a couple of guests would speak out with conviction to their own principles and to the bigger and more important pinciples of a free and uncaptured press. Honestly, I’m proud of them.
This was a superb column, full of sound analysis, passion, and moral clarity, exquisitely expressed. I shall be borrowing the term "rancid right" for my own use.
And this is an outstanding paragraph written in plain language with effective rhetorical devices:
"This extends beyond politics, by the way. This is the story of the opioid manufacturers and social media companies. It is the story of a generation of takers, and a society of grifters who have chosen nihilism as their religion, MAGA as a community and Trump as a deity. It is the story of much of the media and a billion-dollar industry filled with liars, bloviators and scammers."
To quote Alexander Pope, "True wit is nature to advantage dressed, What of was thought but ne'er so well expressed.
> "It is not surprising that a political movement that breathes victimization, resentment, grievance, contempt and anger as air would react vituperatively towards the announcement of the seditious lady’s defenestration."
LOL! Now, there's some serious wordsmithing!
BTW, how does one embed a YouTube video into a substack post? [Nevermind - I got an answer.]
Pity the Fox News talkers. They are working so hard to prop up their Leader while he’s tearing himself down. Donald is a self made victim. All of his troubles are his own making. His crimes weren’t hidden. We watched them all on TV! Fox: How do you say “He didn’t do it.” When we all saw him do it! Live on your TV network. And replayed over and over. Donald is Lonesome Rhodes. He’s Eddie Haskell. Face the facts! He’s just wired crooked.
The best I heard about this was "Hire a Liar". The media that gives a damn (whoever they are) has to call out this BS all the time everywhere and stop with the both side ism. BS anywhere is BS everywhere. Too many media types are more worried about viewers and money than the truth and it will destroy them because they refuse to stand up to the BS. They need to get off their Trump gravy train (he uses them and they use him to get viewers) and start calling out his BS. When they have BS on their programs and BS spreaders they have to call it out - right then and there - not later - not after the program - right then and there! They need to have the receipts and USE them right now when the BS spreaders show up and spread their BS.
This was a huge piece again, Steve, so much to think about. I have to thank you for reminding us who we are- those in our history who stood on principle and understood public service. Not that they were never wrong, but that they *cared* about right and wrong, and kept returning to that quest. The biggest danger of all the disinformation we face is the undertow that it doesn't matter, driving us to fatigue, telling us we look like fools, "don't you know everyone is corrupt".... But even if that were fully true, is that a reason not to care or strive for anything? Our kids and grandkids need to see and believe there's more, just like we had these fallible brave people to look to in the past and present. Thanks again.
Thank you, Steve, for reminding us what service to the nation means. And thank you for demonstrating that these are the values and the hopes and dreams - and accomplishments - that are the hallmark of the Biden/Harris Administration - to its very core. JFK certainly gave us all a format to follow as voters, as citizens, as human beings in a society ever-struggling to be - and remain- free.
Character. When you find it, cherish it, because it is in short supply wherever money and power are involved. Thank you Steve for this proper rush of words shotgunning toward every MAGA apologist on air anywhere. Cheers!
Steve nailed it and I’m grateful. If you study the condition of narcissism, narcissists feel shame when exposed and react by vilifying those who exposed them.
That perfectly describes exactly what he does every time he opens his mouth. How do you get rid of this blight on our lives?
"The phony outrage, crocodile tears, fulminations and high horse reactions to the exposition of journalistic integrity and patriotism from the NBC News room perfectly encapsulate the rottenness of this moment, the absurdities of modern media and the shallowness of its most grizzled characters. "
Very well said. Geraldo, Chris Cuomo, et. al wanted SO MUCH for NBC to get hoisted on their own petard. Shucks!!
The fact is Ronna McDaniel brought zip, zap, zero to the table in terms of insight or intellect. She was not even a good choice in the worst possible way. She's a poster child for vapidity. There are plenty of clever freakish monsters in the MAGA world that would have at least provided Jerry Springer style entertainment. Ronna McDaniel, on the other hand, is just a trained seal liar. Nothing more.
And she is a Romney...it is the only conceivable explanation for a unanimous vote by the board of NBC. They must have all been high.
Perhaps NBC brass felt they needed to cover their behinds in the event of a Trump 2nd term. Still, Ronna doesn't seem like much of a buffer in the up-is-down MAGA world.
Well, that’s disgusting too. They shouldn’t be covering their behind, they should stand their ground and if gdforbid the Orange skidmark wins, they should stand their ground still and say this is wrong and we’re not going to include these people in our broadcasts. We’re not gonna support this. And all of them should take the damn microphone away from that bastard. We don’t want to hear anything he has to say when he walks out of the courtroom spewing slander at everybody – why aren’t they suing him for slander? Why not pile on the lawsuits? What the hell. He deserves it. He also looks terrible. I know he’s a malignant narcissist, but he still is some form a human being, and this is taking a toll whether he admits it or not. You can see it in his face, lots of puffiness under the eyes. The eyes are showing it like a flashing billboard. This is getting to him very deeply. And it’s about time -he’s been a career criminal. Nobody should feel sorry for him and all his maggot groupies should wake the hell up. Because he’ll walk all over them when he gets a chance.
She would be great for bringing clarity to the issue of gaslighting. She could give her report, followed by fact checking, and they could have exposed the political corruption with absolute authority. We'll have to stick with the hear-say methods like usual (even though it's kind of disgusting to hear imaginings).
We don’t think NBC aspires to be in the Jerry Springer niche. They don’t need any Maga liars among their newscasters. I don’t know if we’ll ever find out who thought it was a great idea to hire that woman, but it would mar their brand to have her spouting her lies on their platform.
I was being facetious with the Jerry Springer reference, but there are those in the MAGA-sphere that can spout talking point gibberish with much more aplomb than Ronna. A better reference might be the old Point/Counterpoint business on 60 Minutes years ago, which inspired a running SNL routine with Dan Ackroyd and Jane Curtin ("Jane, you ignorant slut").
Yes, that was really hysterical. Thanks for reminding me of it. It would be perfect if she would have given commentary and then been immediately fact checked, but I can’t see NBC fact checking and giving the lie to one of their own commentators right there in the moment.
In fact, I always WISH, when they alllow that horrid Trump to go on and on with his lies and slander, that he is immediately fact checked. That would be fair! To allow that filth he spews every time he opens his mouth, to remain hanging there in the air for everyone to absorb without an immediate counterpoint, Is a crime. Every time he’s allowed to do that, without rebuttal, they encourage his sense of confidence that he’s in charge. And he’s been in charge of poisoning the weaker minds. As he constantly said in the past, he loves the uneducated. One older woman said, when he first started out in this business, when interviewed in the street in the south somewhere, asked why she believed and trusted in him, she replied with a big, toothless grin, “because he’s on television!“ It’s a powerful tool they give him free for nothing, way too often. They have to stop that! Just sayin’….
You have been right on the money with this issue and the lead horse out of the gate. The others will never catch you but I am thrilled they are following your lead around the track. Thank You !
Thank you, David!
Steve
I have said it many times—That question about the 5 guests at your fantasy dinner. My answer Always includes You at my table. You are a True Champion!
The heads of NBC News should roll after the hiring of Ronna McDaniel. Perhaps she will hawk Trump's new Bible with the new revelations. For instance, there is one passage of, after God made the world in 7 days he never rested, because on the 13th day He made Trump from the jawbone of an ass.
Ronna is a flaming piece of shit. She got in bed with trump and his little pud and then he kicked her out cause now he's dreaming of Lara - just like he keeps lusting after Ivanka. Dude is a sick old pervert and his hanging out with Epstein was part of his perversion. Now trump is a babbling moron - he can't even put a sentence together and says stupid crap like you can't have an election in the political season. At this rate he's going to need Depends and a bib before the election.
The big story is why was NBC stupid enough to talk to Ronna in the first place let alone sign her up for $300,000? Dumping her was the right action, but it never should have even gotten there. The President of NBC news needs to be fired for incompetence.
NBC’s president will be swimming with the fishes very soon; joining such luminaries as Chris Licht from CNN.
This is what happens when you let beancounters into the newsroom; nothing good…:)
Martin you made me laugh you are so right on
Money, clicks, money, more money, and stupidity.
“Shame is what is triggering Kelly, Fleischer, Geraldo, and so many more denizens of the rancid right who live in the murk where the truth and the lie have become indistinguishable.”
Sorry Steve, shame isn’t what triggers these people because they are shameless. They are hired guns who sometimes have to “take one for the team!”
Fleischer took one for the team when he lied ad nauseam about Iraq being responsible for 9/11. When that fell flat, he lied when he said we were invading to bring freedom to Iraq. Remember Operation Iraqi Liberation or its acronym “OIL,” which told us everything we need to know about going to war for freeDum.
When that didn’t work, it was all about Nukes. Fleicher spent his time as America’s version of Baghdad Bob; just more closely resembling Side-show Bob, to Cheney’s Crusty the Clown.
As for Geraldo? Three words: Al Capone’s vault!
Enough said about that washed up clown!
As for Kelly, will she went from Fox (fired), to NBC (fired), and was finally put out to pasture at SiriusXM where she enjoys a close relationship with Jesus, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, which also happens to be white!
And as for Como? Who cares! Does he even have a job?…:)
Robert, you’re right….it’s not shame. They know no shame, are incapable of embarrassment, and have no conscience.
The descriptive term for them is, sociopath.
Mr. Robert Jaffee, spot on, as usual!
I was confident, not in NBC deciding to follow the lead of MSNBC commentators, but that those same commentators plus a couple of guests would speak out with conviction to their own principles and to the bigger and more important pinciples of a free and uncaptured press. Honestly, I’m proud of them.
Remember that McDaniel was directly involved in the attempted coup of our country, a traitor!
This was a superb column, full of sound analysis, passion, and moral clarity, exquisitely expressed. I shall be borrowing the term "rancid right" for my own use.
And this is an outstanding paragraph written in plain language with effective rhetorical devices:
"This extends beyond politics, by the way. This is the story of the opioid manufacturers and social media companies. It is the story of a generation of takers, and a society of grifters who have chosen nihilism as their religion, MAGA as a community and Trump as a deity. It is the story of much of the media and a billion-dollar industry filled with liars, bloviators and scammers."
To quote Alexander Pope, "True wit is nature to advantage dressed, What of was thought but ne'er so well expressed.
Thank you.
> "It is not surprising that a political movement that breathes victimization, resentment, grievance, contempt and anger as air would react vituperatively towards the announcement of the seditious lady’s defenestration."
LOL! Now, there's some serious wordsmithing!
BTW, how does one embed a YouTube video into a substack post? [Nevermind - I got an answer.]
There's nothing like a good 'Schmidt Storm'!
Oh I love it Lisa!! "Schmidt Storm". That could be a great new Hashtag!! 😆😆😆 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Yes, it certainly would! We should use that. As in, this subject needs a good Schmidt storm.
Well said, now let's move on and leave them to debate amongst themselves.
We the people have more important things to do and no time to waste.
Brilliant column. A classic Steve Schmidt. Thank you, Steve, for the clarity you bring to the current sad moment in American history.
Pity the Fox News talkers. They are working so hard to prop up their Leader while he’s tearing himself down. Donald is a self made victim. All of his troubles are his own making. His crimes weren’t hidden. We watched them all on TV! Fox: How do you say “He didn’t do it.” When we all saw him do it! Live on your TV network. And replayed over and over. Donald is Lonesome Rhodes. He’s Eddie Haskell. Face the facts! He’s just wired crooked.
The best I heard about this was "Hire a Liar". The media that gives a damn (whoever they are) has to call out this BS all the time everywhere and stop with the both side ism. BS anywhere is BS everywhere. Too many media types are more worried about viewers and money than the truth and it will destroy them because they refuse to stand up to the BS. They need to get off their Trump gravy train (he uses them and they use him to get viewers) and start calling out his BS. When they have BS on their programs and BS spreaders they have to call it out - right then and there - not later - not after the program - right then and there! They need to have the receipts and USE them right now when the BS spreaders show up and spread their BS.
This was a huge piece again, Steve, so much to think about. I have to thank you for reminding us who we are- those in our history who stood on principle and understood public service. Not that they were never wrong, but that they *cared* about right and wrong, and kept returning to that quest. The biggest danger of all the disinformation we face is the undertow that it doesn't matter, driving us to fatigue, telling us we look like fools, "don't you know everyone is corrupt".... But even if that were fully true, is that a reason not to care or strive for anything? Our kids and grandkids need to see and believe there's more, just like we had these fallible brave people to look to in the past and present. Thanks again.
Thank you, Steve, for reminding us what service to the nation means. And thank you for demonstrating that these are the values and the hopes and dreams - and accomplishments - that are the hallmark of the Biden/Harris Administration - to its very core. JFK certainly gave us all a format to follow as voters, as citizens, as human beings in a society ever-struggling to be - and remain- free.