SALENA ZITO: The crisis in American journalism benefits no one.

Power corrupts:

Beginning in the 1980s, Washington and New York City newsrooms began to be dominated by people who had the same backgrounds; for the most part they went to the same Ivy League journalism schools, where they made the right contacts and connections to get their jobs.

Yes, elite networks are a thing not just in law schools, as “Hillbilly Elegy” author J.D. Vance so aptly described of his experiences in law school. They also exist in Ivy League or elite journalism schools.

And the journalists who came from working-class roots found it in their best interest to adopt the conventional, left-of-center views that were filling the halls of newsrooms.

In short, after a while you adopt the culture you exist in either out of survival or acceptance or a little of both. Or you really just wanted to shed your working-class roots for a variety of reasons: shame, aspiration, ascension, etc.

That does not make them bad people – aspiration is the heart of the American Dream — but it did begin the decline of connection between elite journalism institutions such as the New York Times and the Washington Post and the rest of the country.

So when fewer and fewer reporters shared the same values and habits of many of their consumers, inferences in their stories about people of faith and their struggles squaring gay marriage or abortion with their belief systems were picked up by the readers.

“Celebrate diversity” morphed into “Conform, proles” so slowly I hardly even noticed.

WHEN THEY GO LOW… Nancy Pelosi laughs as California Democrats chant ‘F*ck Donald Trump!’ raising 2 middle fingers.

The Calif. Rep. stood by, laughing, as the state’s Democrat Chairman John Burton raised two middle fingers as he encouraged the crowd at the state convention in Sacramento to chant “F**k Donald Trump.”

Democrat leaders at the convention used their time to deride President Donald Trump and beat the familiar drum of tying him to Russia, the Associated Press reported.

Sen. Kamala Harris told the crowd that the president is putting “Russia first, America second.”

“The world, literally the world, is counting on all of you, counting on California to reject Trump’s deception and destructiveness,” Gavin Newsom, the California Lieutenant Governor, said.

But it was Burton who took it to the classless extreme.

“All together now,” he told the crowd, encouraging them to chant as he raised his two middle fingers. “F**k Donald Trump.”

Daddy issues.

DEMOCRATS’ FAKE NEWS HAS CREATED A CLIMATE OF HATE: Republicans fearing for their safety as anger, threats mount.

A growing number of House Republicans are facing physical threats from angry constituents in their districts, leading many to fear for their safety.

In the last few weeks alone, the FBI arrested a man threatening Rep. Martha McSally’s (R-Ariz.) life, a woman pursued Rep. David Kustoff (R-Tenn.) in her car, and Rep. Tom Garrett (R-Va.) heightened security at a town hall event in response to death threats.

Other Republicans still holding town halls say they haven’t felt physically threatened by protesters, but they worry about the depth of anger from some constituents in the polarized environment and what it means for political civility.

Scores of GOP lawmakers have experienced going viral this year with videos of constituents shouting their disagreement on support for President Trump and policies such as the GOP’s healthcare bill.

Lately, though, Republicans have observed some furious constituents who appear to be going even further.

Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.) described attendees at a town hall in his district last week who booed him down after he said people’s rights are God-given.

“They booed God. They booed the pastor. They booed the prayer. They booed the name of the church. They booed when I said rights come from God,” Brat recounted to The Hill just off the House floor. “That’s a fundamental tenet of western civilization. I mean, I didn’t think that was partisan.”

Further north in New Jersey, Rep. Tom MacArthur (R) faced pushback from a crowd when he began telling the story of his special-needs daughter who died at the age of 11.

What the press pretended the Tea Party was in 2009, the alt-left Democrats actually are in 2017.

BRUCE RIEDEL: Saudis Tie Themselves to an Unpredictable U.S. President.

Perhaps, but that would still be an improvement over the prior situation where a U.S. President tied himself to the utterly predictable Iranians.

FLASHBACK: Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation Amid Russian Uranium Deal.

GOOD MORNING: Start the new week with Liz Sheld’s morning brief.

NICE PUSHBACK FROM JAMES TARANTO:

A FANTASY VEHICLE FOR OVERCOMING TEENAGE RESENTMENTS: Why do intellectuals fall in love with dictators and totalitarians?