By David Harsanyi
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
MyPillow CEO Michael Lindell, a self-made former crack
addict, is going to transform 75 percent of his manufacturing capacity to make
10,000 cotton face masks per day by the end of the week, ramping up production
to 50,000 a day in a month. That sounds like a patriotic act to me, especially
given that Lindell is undertaking the effort without being forced to do so by a
federal agency. I hope the guy becomes a billionaire after this is all over.
NBC? Not so much. The headline on its “analysis” of
Lindell’s remarks was “Trump fluffs MyPillow in Rose Garden.” This matched the
basic tone taken by a large faction within the political press. Why? Presumably
because, at the end of his remarks, Lindell claimed that the Lord Almighty had
helped elect Donald Trump president to save our once-beleaguered nation from
its alleged depravations. Listen, if there is a God, I hope He refrains from
tipping the scales of presidential contests. But it’s not surprising to hear an
evangelical Christian talking about the world this way — unless, that is,
you’ve never met one.
Of course, anyone who shows anything less than hostility
toward the president is immediately cast as a reactionary, and their actions
dismissed as questionable and self-serving. Many of the CEOs who have stood
with Trump at his press conferences — this week, or in weeks prior — hold
varying religious and partisan beliefs. The press didn’t have similar qualms
about the CEOs of CVS or Walgreens, because they kept their views to themselves.
Lindell is a villain for speaking his truth, as the kids
say. Yet the real heroes of our age — White House political
correspondents — are applauded for speaking theirs. Yesterday, PBS’s Yamiche
Alcindor, one of the many pundits masquerading as a dispassionate journalist,
was chided by Trump during his presser. Immediately, journalists, who are now
perhaps the most tribalistic group in American political life, rallied around
her with fawning tributes to her bravery and victimhood (because Trump only lashes
out at black women, apparently). #WeLoveYamiche is the hashtag, if you’re
interested.
Philip Rucker of the Washington Post noted that
Alcindor “routinely gets under his skin with probing questions,” as if rattling
our irascible president was a noteworthy accomplishment, or an act of heroism,
or, in and of itself, a reliable indication that a reporter is doing a good
job.
The Post’s media critic, Erik Wemple, meanwhile,
was forced to reimagine what Alcindor’s question might have sounded like had it
been more coherent. And, simply because Trump had been rude to her, he claimed
that Alcindor has now become “the symbol of American journalism.”
Yes, that’s the problem.
It’s Alcindor’s prerogative to try and bait the
president, as she has done on numerous occasions over the past weeks, and it’s
PBS’s prerogative to send her to ask questions that do absolutely nothing to
help the public gain a better understanding of the government’s efforts to
fight the coronavirus. But we should not forget that most of her narcissistic
defenders are really talking about themselves. Some journalists are
indeed on the front lines of “war zones, refugee crises, genocides,” as CNN’s
S. E. Cupp put it recently. But Alcindor, whose Twitter feed is littered with
all kinds of absurdity,
is not. She risks absolutely nothing by asking the president questions. Like
Jim Acosta, who titled his book, Enemy of the People: A Dangerous Time to
Tell the Truth in America, she is stealing valor.
The overall breadth and intensity of the anti-Trump press
demonstrates there are few inhibitions and zero limitations on free press
(though many in the media do advocate
to limit your free speech). No one has been stopped from engaging,
investigating, writing, or sharing their antagonism toward Trump. Nor should
they.
Some lucky Americans, such as Alcindor, are afforded the
benefit of challenging the president personally. That’s fine. I wish the press
had exhibited the same level of reflexive antagonism toward every president.
They don’t. But Lindell’s political and religious views do not diminish his
patriotic act, just as Alcindor’s ability to make the president mad does not
transform her into a hero. It doesn’t even make her good at her job.
Now, perhaps our media culture has spent so much time
politicizing the world that they’ve confused patriotism with victimhood. Or
maybe they’re so obsessed with fighting the president that they can’t recognize
that his fans might be capable of a good deed. But if where you stand on Trump
is your guiding definition of patriotism and heroism, your moral compass might
be broken.
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