News Boss’s Greed Could Lead To ONE News Outlet. Fox “News”

“It may not be good for America, but it’s damned good for CBS” (Les Moonves)

I’m sure you’re familiar with that statement by former CBS head Les Moonves. Former as in forced out but not over that statement or the sentiment. No, the Board at CBS and every other major news outlet thought the same way, they just didn’t go on the record so bluntly. Donald Trump famously got an estimated billion dollars in free advertising in his first run for the Presidency and by airing as much as they could of his antics and having their people talk/write about it but without anywhere near the kind of pushback that should have taken place the ad revenue poured in beyond their wildest dreams. Our country and the world has been dealing with fallout, the wreckage caused by their greed ever since. FUTURE generations will have to deal with it. Our hard-won, longtime status as undisputed leader of the free world was compromised, and given what happened in 2020 and what’s happening now it’s unlikely to ever be the same.

Not when every four, or even two years given what’s going on in the House right now, when crazies more interesting in political posturing and downright jackassery than letting govt. properly function can seize power. Not when 62 million people voted for Trump in 2016, and after four years of him ten million more did so! I’ve said (as have countless others) George W. Bush was our “Mulligan.” Now the world knows we aren’t the same country that led the world through the Cold War.

But bosses in the news business who knew things would be really bad if Trump got elected didn’t care in 2016. Perhaps they assumed he wouldn’t quite “win.” However, he never should have gotten a major Party nomination, much less be covered in a way that allowed the media to have their precious “horse race” that boosts ratings in any election. They want DRAMA. Riveting drama and if the choice is clear after the conventions who should and will win and do so handily then by God they will have their reporters and talking heads muddy the waters so that the race becomes close.

You know all this of course. I’ve written articles and comments about this before and so have others. But damned if the news boss’s aren’t up to it again. What’s set me off tonight is a story by CNN I saw earlier that reports some important House Republicans, even one who I wrote about recently who was “Hell NO” on Jordan now say they will back him for Speaker tomorrow:

House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers and House Appropriations Defense subcommittee Chairman Ken Calvert – two key defense hawks, the GOP bloc perhaps most weary of Jordan – announced Monday morning they would back Jordan on the House floor. And Rep. Ann Wagner of Missouri, who called Jordan a “non-starter” for speaker last week, said Monday that she would support the Ohio Republican, too – as did Rep. Vern Buchanan of Florida, another previous holdout.

Now, the article does go on to say Jordan still faces opposition, and that he can only afford to lose four votes. However, there was a House GOP conference scheduled for this evening and as of this writing the plan is to hold a floor vote at noon tomorrow:

Jordan told CNN he will go to the floor for a speaker vote at noon ET Tuesday, whether or not he has the votes locked down. Asked Monday evening whether he had the votes he needed, Jordan said, “I hope so. I think so.”

Jordan becoming Speaker is now way too close a possibility for comfort.

And if people in the news business had done their f**king jobs it NEVER would have gotten this far!

It was last Friday that the big plan to move to a floor vote got derailed. I wrote here on PZ that it was an open question as to whether that time would help or hurt Jordan’s chances. A lot, and I mean a LOT of pressure has been being applied behind the scenes to force Republicans into line and to vote for Jordan. Clearly it’s been working. Maybe not enough but again I say things are way too close for comfort.

What if during these past few days the media, both print and electronic had done it’s job? To EVERY TIME they had coverage of “Jordan for Speaker” they’d emphasized these points?

• His failure to protect the college wrestlers he coached from a chronic molester?
• His interactions with Trump and other Insurrection planners both before and during the January 6 Insurrection?
• His defying a valid Congressional subpoena to testify as to his actions/lack of actions and interactions with key people including Trump? And the hypocrisy of him as a Committee Chair DEMANDING compliance subpoenas issued by HIM?

If EVERY  FREAKING  STORY  about “Gym” Jordan had featured those three things along with whatever news about developments in his bid to be Speaker every Republican from a district Biden won in 2020 would say “no way”, and at least half of those from the fifty to sixty districts Cook Report says will be competitive next year would do the same.  Mainstream journalism could have given them “cover” and didn’t. I don’t think that was by accident.

However, had those in the news biz done their jobs it would have almost certainly left Jordan at least several dozen votes short, with NO hope of getting to the magic number of 217. The news bosses COULD have allowed their journalists to do their jobs and shine a harsh spotlight on a man who is as unfit for the office he holds, and even more so for the one he seeks as Trump was for President. But “mess” sells. It gets ratings and therefore revenue. Those in the executive suites and boardrooms, and even some of the “talent”, the talking heads see their bank accounts get fatter.

Here’s the thing though. They really aren’t thinking this through. Jordan as Speaker? I for one think that fantasies of “grown ups” in his Party reigning in his excesses are as nonsensical as those back when Trump slimed his way into the WH. A govt. shutdown is what Jordan and his pals WANT. Right in time for the holidays and the longer the better. The talk about there probably not being a recession coming after all is driving them nuts. They want, they NEED the economy to tank. All to trash President Biden’s chances at re-election and don’t for a second think it might not work.

And here’s why I wrote the headline I did. If Joran (and Trump) and his buds get their way the GOP will take control of our government next year and we will never be a free country again. Nor will we have freedom of the press. There will be ONE (fascist) State Run news outlet and it will be Fox. Even all the smaller RWNJ entities around the country will become part of Fox and answer to it. As for the bosses and talking heads & feature writers at other outlets? They’d better have shifted their money into various hidden accounts in other countries, and have transport to non-extradition countries lined up as well as private security forces at the ready. If they stay here they’ll find themselves rounded up and shipped off somewhere. Gitmo perhaps.  (To join others on Trump’s enemies list)

The top people in the news business are literally blinded by money/greed. They are setting themselves up for their own downfall. And by this time tomorrow night we could well have House Speaker “Gym” Jordan working to ensure the re-election of Trump.

Because just as they failed to do their job in 2016 with Trump, those in the news business failed to do their job with Jim Jordan these past three days.

I hope I’m overreacting, and that reason will prevail tomorrow. I really hope I’ve gone round the bend this evening and that all will be well. But even if that winds up being the case and this time tomorrow night Jordan’s chances at being Speaker are toast I’m angry that he EVER had an actual chance.