Off Message: Why Everyone In Politics Panders To Republicans

[Dennis Donovan]

Off Message - Why Everyone In Politics Panders To Republicans

There's a difference between appeasement and a temporary alliance of necessity.

Brian Beutler
Nov 04, 2024

Before returns are in tomorrow, I’ll publish my final thoughts on the 2024 election, including the role of traditional media has played.

The short version is that, unlike in 2016, most voters this year will have been able to apprise themselves of the stakes of this election pretty easily. Eight years ago, casual news consumers could easily have been misled into believing that Donald Trump was the less-corrupt of the two candidates; that he was uncouth and unpolished but nevertheless issue-driven, and in any case very unlikely to win so—whatever, vote your conscience. A great deal of public understanding of that election stemmed from news networks running his remarks unfiltered and uncorrected.

Today, Trump lies as much as ever and right-wing media is the dominant form in our country. Responsible journalism is shrinking into a small niche within political media, and more and more of what people learn about politics, true or false, is determined by algorithm or the raw viral potential of content. Nevertheless, this year, I think most voters (even Trump supporters) are on notice both that he can win, and that his victory would plunge us into a dark unknown.

Some people just thrill to recklessness, and this election is a test of whether they’re numerous enough to elect a president. Their temptation will either prevail or it will be defeated.

/snip

[TwilightZone]

1. The assertion that he wasn't known as a threat in 2016 is just silly.

Was he a wildcard? Sure. But, everything that he is today was demonstrated in the 2016 campaign from the very beginning. He literally started his campaign by calling Mexicans rapists and murderers. He said he would install justices that would kill off Roe. Everything that he is today had seeds in that campaign, and most of his abhorrent ideas were already fully formed.

It's revisionist history to claim that people just couldn't have known what to expect.

Everyone knew. Many of them just didn't care. Many of them were intentionally ignorant. But her e-mails.

The assertion that "everyone" in politics panders to Republicans is complete nonsense. I get that the author is being hyperbolic, but even hyperbole can't make that one true.

[Dennis Donovan]

2. I'm only going by my own feelings about him in 2016

...but I just didn't take him very seriously. All the way to election day, it just didn't compute that enough people would take him seriously enough to elect him president.