White House chief of staff Ron Klain appeared on Nicole Wallace’s MSNBC program on Wednesday. She asked him exactly zero questions about Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s would-be assassin. A man had shown up at the justice’s home late Tuesday night with a gun, knife and other equipment, intent on killing Kavanaugh and himself.
On Thursday, most major media outlets ignored the story. The New York Times buried it at the back of the paper with only a tiny reference at the bottom of the front page. It was the 26th story down on CNN’s homepage. USA Today buried it, too.
But you must care desperately about Jan. 6.
For months, the Democrats and the media have told us former President Donald Trump rallied a mob to storm the Capitol. Words matter. But the same people go mute when a man travels cross-country to assassinate a Supreme Court justice after the Senate minority leader says Kavanaugh will pay the price.
The media coverage in the 24 hours after Kavanaugh’s would-be assassin was arrested discredits all the coverage of the Jan. 6 select committee. You can’t care about our democracy and constitutional order when you don’t care about would-be assassins targeting Supreme Court justices you don’t like. You can’t care about the urgency to do something to stop a Jan. 6 repeat when you won’t even pass a bill to fund security for the Supreme Court justices and their families.
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All the networks except Fox covered the hearing. All criticized Fox for not carrying it.
Fox is the dominant news network with the highest ratings. Like MSNBC and The New York Times, it caters to its audience, which is larger than the other networks’. Fox’s audience is not interested in the story.
Americans have far more pressing concerns right now than an unsuccessful attempt to stop congressional proceedings last year. Historically, it is a big deal. But the public has moved on and no revelations from last night’s hearing will have staying power so long as Americans feel pain at the pump and get only tone-deafness from Democrats on the need for battery-powered cars.
If Democrats wanted the public to care, they could at least act like they care when a Supreme Court justice is targeted for assassination. If Democrats wanted the public to care, they could stop saying they’ve done everything they can to lower gas prices and instead expand domestic oil drilling tomorrow morning. If the media wanted the public to care, it could go all-out in explaining how much available oil we have domestically instead of fretting about climate change.
Do you care about the Jan. 6 hearings?
But because the Democrats and, by extension, so much of the media do not seem to care about the plight of their fellow Americans in the here and now, Americans will not care about tonight’s spectacle.
The public should care. But they don’t. I don’t blame them. The media screams about attacks on democracy. The public is far more worried about attacks on their pocketbooks. That’s reality. You won’t get Americans to care about the select committee on an empty stomach and an empty wallet.
To all of you who care about Jan. 6, this is very simple. The American people will care about this when they feel like Washington cares about them. Right now, Americans think the media, president and Congress only care about Americans who live in progressive urban enclaves, donate to Planned Parenthood, eat vegan, take their kids to drag shows and drive electric vehicles while wearing masks.
Lament that if you must, but the public has to buy gas and groceries this weekend.
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