While doing some baking today, I had the TV on in the background. I was hoping to catch up on the news about Covid-19, an economic recovery bill, or an update on progress towards the transition from the lame duck to President-elect Biden.
Although I would have liked to have some some good investigative journalism into the ties between McConnell, the Russians, and the aluminum mill in Kentucky. Perhaps even a tough interview by a reporter of the Senate Leader on why he has refused to congratulate the President-elect, continues the falsehoods about the election, and why an aid package hasn’t been passed yet to help us Americans.
An even better investigative report would have been about why the lame duck is clearing house and how that affects national security. Or even how some top notch reports similar to Bernstein and Woodard followed the money to connect the lame duck and foreign governments, particularly Russia. The best news report could even have been what the Kremlin has on, or how it is financially supporting, the trumpists (formerly known as Republicans) to where they are willing to give up democracy and tout Russian talking points.
Another good investigative report would be to go in depth and expose the current grift of the lame duck in regards to his legal defense fund. To somehow make the story compelling enough that those most affected see where their funds are going based on the fine print of the ask.
Alas, no good investigative reporting was done today. Instead we were subject to speculation after speculation on two tweets by the lame duck.
The first tweet obsession was whether the lame duck had finally come around to the fact Biden had won the election or not. Guest after guest after guest speculated on what the tweet really meant. Did it mean the lame duck had actually conceded or not?
The second tweet obsession was a tweet shortly after the one above where the lame duck stated he had not conceded and wouldn’t concede because the election was rigged.
For the entire time I was watching, it felt like I was back in middle school where someone said somebody had said something about another person who heard it from their best friend who heard from someone in the first person’s home room. All drama. All rumor. All speculation. All opinion. All wrong.
It was quite sad to realize we are where we are because everyone would rather hype irrational hyperbole, hear and see themselves on television, without ever working to get to the heart of an issue.
When, I wonder, will we demand more of our press? When, I also wonder, will we move on from concession or non-concession? Concession is not constitutionally required. Concession is not necessary for President-elect Biden to move into the role in January. A concession is just something mature respectful adults do when they have lost a race fair and square, which is the case for 2020 Presidential Race.
Since we all know the lame duck is neither mature nor respectful, let’s move onto the bigger items mentioned at the beginning of this post. Those are issue we want to know more about, not whether the lame duck liar is saying means what we want it to mean.
Come on mainstream press. Do better!
Personal Reflections of a Middle-Aged Man 