MSNBC continues to deal with the fallout from the collective emotional meltdown over the hiring of Ronna McDaniel. Just days after her announced addition to NBC News as a commentator, she was unceremoniously let go, the direct result of the cable news channel showing nearly all of its pundits coming forward with emotional commentary opposing McDaniel joining their ranks. It was ridiculously childish and embarrassingly hysterical.
It was an all-day festival of wailing and pearl-clutching. The “Morning Joe” co-stars declared disapproval. Joy Reid arrived with her patented racial cant. Lawrence O’Donnell was confused, as he said he would not trust answers from Ronna, then announced a series of questions–after declaring she was not welcomed on the network. He then invited her on his show. (Larry, take a breath and get your thoughts straight, partner.)
Rachel Maddow spent half of her show railing over the decision, and Jen Psaki was oblivious to her recent resume while complaining that a political operative was hired. The best was Nicolle Wallace, who joined in with the therapy couch whining, and went so far as to describe the “sacred airwaves” of MSNBC. Seriously, she said this with a solemn expression. All of which was made even more hilariously asinine by one reality: MSNBC had already announced McDaniel was never going to appear on the network.
Read: Pathetic Delusion – the Democrat Operatives at NBC News Wail When a Republican Joins the Roster
There must be Prozac available in the vending machines in that building.
None of this hiring-crying-firing fiasco of a reaction is surprising in any capacity. For all of the talk of Fox News being slanted to one party and delivering false information to its viewers, MSNBC is the polar opposite in equal measure, with only the media criticism over its bias lacking. This mindset is uniform throughout this outlet, as now another piece of evidence emerges that the channel is completely dedicated to the Democrat side of things.
In an op-ed column from MSNBC digital, we get served more of the gnashing opposition to anything that deviates from complete Biden-Democrat dedication. While this is the opinion of columnist Jacques Berlinerblau, it is entirely reflective of the widespread, one-side-only mentality exhibited across the channel’s schedule, with heavy doses of the Donald Trump conspiracy theories trotted out daily.
What Berlinblau is addressing is the return of Jon Stewart to “The Daily Show,” and how over the course of a few appearances, he has, in Berlinblau’s mind, corrected himself properly to comport with the proper leftist positions. The initial problem was that Stewart had been willing to deliver caustic jabs at President Biden, and this is wildly dangerous behavior.
On “The Daily Show” Monday night, Jon Stewart didn’t quite issue an apology to his many critics. Those critics were upset at Stewart for dangerously and inappropriately perpetuating “both-sidesism” when it came to dragging President Joe Biden and Donald Trump in equal measure. But the absence of any gags about Biden in the most recent episode suggests that Stewart has certainly heard the complaints. It’s never a bad thing when influential comedians acknowledge a mistake, even if they do so indirectly.
Is this guy serious, becoming this overwrought concerning the monologue of a late-night comic?! Answer: Yes, yes he is. He declares it a “mistake” on Stewart’s part, when he dared to note Joe Biden is old, and acting in a fashion that betrays his age. Did he really suggest that telling Biden jokes was “dangerous”?! He did, and Berlinblau repeated this charge here.
Comedy, I submit, must be aware of its own brute power to shape and influence perceptions. to mock Biden and Trump as if they merited exactly the same amount of abuse is dangerous.
This is a man incapable of accepting even the slightest jabs sent towards the president. Note how he says forcefully that comedy “must” follow his strictures. The best is what Berlinblau here declares to be the danger. First, understand that at MSNBC, it is a regular feature for the elitist pundits to declare to their unthinking audience all of the promised calamities Trump will deliver. He will assassinate his opponents. He will eliminate elections. He will end the Constitution and rule for life. He will arrest America’s children and kill them.
In this miasma of fever-dream dystopian, hair-ignition lunacy Berlinbrau adds in his unique spin on promised nightmare scenarios.
Such impartiality redounds to the benefit of a candidate whose dictatorial ambitions are not merely performative. And where there will be dictators, there won’t be comedy — at least not the type of punch-up satire practiced by Stewart and his many epigones.
There you have it; Trump the dictator will command that there be an end to comedy. Now, I will say that Jacques Berlinblau somewhat backs his way into an area of correctness, in a completely unintentional fashion. As he hints that a Trump administration could handicap late-night comedians, we only need reference the years prior when he was in office, and the notably unfunny quotidian monologues from them. That they have all fallen in line with party-line deliveries is a known quantity, and there has been little in the way of biting satire or revealing parody.
Berlinblau reviewed Stewart’s most recent episode, and he sounds like a school principal, nodding with approval, after seeing one of his truants turning himself around and behaving in the approved fashion.
In his most recent episode, the sharp trend away from both-sidesism continued. Stewart performed 14 minutes straight of material about Trump. Not one word was said about Biden. It was quite the contrast to the even-handed approach of the first few episodes. We’ll see if this trend continues, but maybe this was Stewart’s way of walking back his previous impartiality.
There is a bit of a paradox at play in this lecturing take on “proper” comedy. Berlinblau is delivering a scolding approach to what is improper humor, and in the course of wanting to be a comedy cop, he becomes amusing in the process.
He seriously wants to throw penalty flags on telling jokes, and is himself hilarious as a result. Then you see he is following the MSNBC mission statement of protecting Biden’s character — and delivering the network’s trademarked conspiracy mindset in the process. Then he simply devolves into being merely sad and pathetic.
