The Right Scoop has already informed you, today, about the ongoing story of the newly-hired lead writer on technology for the New York Times, Sarah Jeong, who has a history of exceptionally angry tweets about people who are born with white skin.
You can see the tweets in the above linked post from Scoop, as well as the NYT’s “explanation” that they are going to keep her around despite the tweets, because whatever, white people suck or however they put it.
Sooner or later, this story will die out, drowned in a flood of stories about Donald Trump, who is the entire atmosphere for news these days. The paper will face no consequences, and neither will Jeong, and it will become a footnote to be used to in future “butwhatabout” laments on Twitter and not much else.
Unless…
Unless it’s made into a bigger story. And what’s the biggest story today? It’s Jim Acosta, and Ivanka Trump, and President Trump, and Sarah Sanders, and the whole question about “enemy of the people” and “fake news.” To which, plainly, this story easily applies or at least pertains as addendum. And that’s where this idea, from Townhall’s Kurt Schlichter, comes in.
If @realDonaldTrump does not read the tweets of the pride of the NYT, Sarah Jeong, to the crowd at his rally Saturday, he is missing a perfect opportunity to show the media to America for who exactly who they are.
Make the liberals defend their own sick, twisted racism.
— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) August 2, 2018
This is brilliant, and before you hate, usual suspects in the comments, allow me to explain.
Whether you think that Trump’s rhetoric is right or wrong, whether you treasure the press or want to throw them out with the bathwater, whether you think what he says about them is dangerous and the mob is ugly, or what he said about them is fair, and the mob is righteous .. .no matter your take, this is a brilliant idea, and it only takes three bullet points to tell you why.
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1. As Barack Obama’s attorney general Eric Holder once said, and as the left once believed, the time is now for a more frank discussion of race in this country. I can’t think of a more “now” time. Racial tensions are high, relations are set back 20 years. Why not trick white people into facing these issues by starting with someone hating whites? Right, left-Americans?
2. Media bias and fake news are among the most pressing issues facing America. But even if you don’t think that’s true, it’s undeniable that the right, and that means pretty much every person right of center, whether Trumpist or not, absolutely believes that the media is biased and fake news is a problem. This a perfect chance, as Kurt says, to show the American people a decision the New York Times has made. They can’t be ashamed of that decision, they are standing by it. So there should be nothing inherently shameful or dangerous about Trump bringing attention to it. Right, left-Americans?
3. The third and best reason is that this would be an absolute media feeding frenzy. If Trump brings this up and shows these tweets, it will become the biggest debate about the press and the media that this country has ever seen. And it will offer people like Jim Acosta a perfect chance to defend their premise that the media, not as a concept but as the currently existing incarnation made of actual people and companies accountable for their actions and decisions, are invaluable bastions of freedom.
Because that’s really the question, isn’t it? President Trump tweeted this afternoon that he only means the “fake news” when he calls the news the enemy of the people. The Acosta/CNN response is to defend the concept of a free press. I think we all agree with that concept, and many Republicans, myself included, even think that defending an UNFAIR press is essential to our freedom.
But that does not preclude the necessity of pointing out that unfairness. Or the necessity of defending against that accusation, if you can.
So really, everyone would win. It’s the ideal situation. And Trump should do it. Let’s get down to brass tacks and actually talk about the existing media and how they operate, rather than trading barbs about high-minded, abstract concepts.
As we say in Texas, take the bull by the horns.