LIVING THE SMUG LIFE: The unbearable smugness of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Much of the British media may be insufferable, but by and large we manage to avoid pushing the idea that democracy itself is at stake if anyone dislikes us.
American journalists, by contrast, as they dress up in black tie and ballgowns and descend on the capital, seem to think that it is they who are on the front line of the battle for democracy. US soldiers may be based around the world, its firefighters and police may be on the streets, but it is American newsrooms which really stand between democracy and disaster. To quote just one of the straplines with which the American media has promoted itself over recent years: “Democracy dies in darkness.” In fact democracy can die perfectly happily in the bright light of day. Indeed, it seems eminently capable of karking right in front of the blaring lights of news lenses while most journalists pretend not to notice.
So it was with considerable amusement to me that the American media handed out awards to other American media for noticing things the public had noticed years before. One of the biggest awards and cash prizes of the evening was given to Axios news for its report – offered up last year – that Joe Biden may not be at his mental best. The award for this scoop is named the Aldo Beckman Award for Overall Excellence. Wherever Aldo’s relatives are, I hope they sue.
At least the recipient – Alex Thompson – had the grace to admit that the cover-up which many journalists had engaged in over President Biden’s mental and physical decline was one reason why the public don’t much trust them any more. Don’t forget that until Biden’s disastrous debate performance last summer, most commentators were saying that he was in tiptop shape and that, as one reporter put it, 2024’s Biden was actually the best version of Biden.
Thompson’s mild criticisms landed into a strange silence. Some – notably the New York Post – had covered Biden’s decline for years, but were accused by the White House and other media organizations of publishing “cheap-fakes.” If you ran a story about Biden not knowing quite where he was, you could be sure of a slurry of attacks from the White House and the rest of the media. Those same journalists are now releasing books admitting that during his last years in office, Biden didn’t always seem to be aware that he was president.
More here: The White House Correspondents Dinner Taught Me That Media Bias Isn’t About Politics, Just Insanity.
Thompson himself tweeted, in June, 2023, “Biden’s weird phrases are sometimes weaponized by the GOP to insinuate the 80-year-old president is in mental decline.”
“Some.” For sure.
To close the evening, White House Correspondents Association President Eugene Daniels delivered this, like, fire-and-brimstone lecture, declaring the organization “an example of American exceptionalism” and admonishing anyone who doesn’t submit to that claim.
This was the moment my realizations came into focus.
“Those of us who have chosen the public service of journalism … The work we do helps strengthen the fabric of our democracy … essential for democracy.”
He paused to allow a short video to play of Presidents Reagan, Clinton, Bush, and Obama attending past dinners— in an elaborate and highly produced dig at the administration that ditched.
Having an audience with the President for this stupid dinner of medium-well filet mignon is “to remind them that a strong fourth estate is essential for democracy,” Daniels insists to the hive.
“We miss our families and significant life moments in service to this job. We care deeply about accuracy and take seriously the heavy responsibility of being stewards of the public’s trust. What we are not is the ‘opposition.’ What we are not is the ‘enemy of the people,’ and what we are not is the ‘enemy of the state.’”
Standing applause. I’m sitting there, listening, not sure if there is someone in the room who went to actual war, like, combat, to defend the Constitution. Or, like, operated underground under threat of violence. No, he’s just talking about himself and his friends with laptop jobs. Alright.
Then it occurred to me.
“The sun in the heavens,” “truth tellers,” “fascism,” “fabric of our democracy”— what? This is actually crazy.
The media isn’t biased because it’s liberal, it’s biased because it has no concept of reality. The people who make media content are incapable of separating their own self-worship from objective truth. Their egos dictate that they are so important, they decide “the truth.”
Exit quote: “That they can sit less than two miles away from [Trump], declare their importance, and no one cares. The next day he’ll ban a few of them from his plane, or call them a name, and millions of people will cheer, and otherwise life will go on as normal. That’s the big threat; it’s a threat against their vanity. That is what they can’t tolerate. The warped coverage is not political, its personal.”
No wonder the media fell so deeply in love with Obama – at long last, they found a politician whose ego and pretensions were as big as theirs.
