Parallel Universe Media

Monday night my wife excitedly asked me if Kristi Noem had been demoted. She hasn’t, but I googled it, and the source of the story was Raw Story and my wife had heard it because her mother had it pushed to her on Facebook. The headline was a clickbait reinterpretation of the pretty obvious fact that Stephen Miller is in charge of the Trump Administration immigration policy, and Noem is mainly for show. I think we all knew that, right? I'm not going to link because clickbait.

Last night in my MSNBC watching ritual with my old man, it seemed like the whole network was making a big deal of “Obama speaking out.” One of the quotes they played was a slightly spicy take from him (paraphrasing) saying that rich donors were used to holding progressive positions and not having to fight for them from their houses in the Hamptons. He said with Trump attacking law firms and so forth, that maybe some people who were planning on a kitchen remodel might have to put it off and instead get in the fight.

The whole story is here, though it doesn’t mention the quote I remember.

One of my brother-in-laws calls food that is just slightly spicy “Dakota spicy” because people who are used to very bland food might consider it spicy, but nobody else would. Obama’s remarks were definitely the “Dakota spicy” version of political statements.

After hearing the MSNBC report, I went to The Guardian and searched the front page for a story, and found nothing. His remarks did get some coverage in the Times and a couple of other outlets yesterday. Ari Melber excused Obama’s prior silence on Trump by saying that of course Obama stays silent because every time he opens his mouth to criticize the Trump administration, the story becomes Trump and Obama are fighting. I fail to see why that’s terrible, but that was the explanation given.

I think what’s happening with the Obama story is that MSNBC is so desperate to have a top Democrat speaking out that they pumped up the story. I don’t have a major opinion on Obama’s speaking out, or lack thereof. I mean, the guy has paid his dues. I’d love to see one of the best natural politicians of my lifetime take a far more active role in fighting Trumpism. This was not that.