Thread by @marty_lederman

1/ Here's what I'm struggling to get at in a nutshell, Jay, Norm & Ezra:

All of us--press critics, think-tankers, podcasters, law profs, etc.--were raised to believe that if and when the truth emerges, that'll have a significant impact ...

@jayrosen_nyu @NormOrnstein @ezraklein

2/ ... on voters and on public officials. That's the basic premise of the modern media, of the First Amendment, etc. And it's why we're ever-frustrated when we think that MTP, the Times, etc., fail to do what they can to expose the truth: We assume it "normalizes" the lies ...

3/ ... and fails to turn on the lightbulbs for those who matter (elected officials, swing voters). If only we had our Welch "Have you no sense of decency?" moment; our exposure of the "smoking gun" tape; our Cronkite exposes of Vietnam; our Abu Ghraib photos--then, surely, ...

4/ ... things would be different.

But what if that's now just wrong? What if the 44% won't change their minds no matter what see or hear, either b/c they won't believe what they learn or they don't care b/c they're more fixated on other grievances, real and imagined?

5/ The polls have remained extremely consistent, despite everyone's exposure to daily outrages ("If I shot someone on Fifth Avenue . . . "). Do you really think they'd materially change if only Chuck Todd and Dean Baquet started being more adversarial? ...

6/ And--this is more important--what if elected officials from one party simply don't care--and aren't remotely shamed by being called out--just because their narrative is accepted by *only* 44%, for, *unlike* in 1954 or 1974, the GOP won't be relegated to the sidelines ...

7/ ... if it "only" holds 44%, but instead could retain control of the WH, Senate and (for decades) the Supreme Court with that level of support?

If that's the case--and it appears to be so--what should be urging our non-FoxNews media to do *then*?

8/ One obvious possibility: Spend a *lot* more time and attention on the fact that our constitutional system now thwarts the will of a significant majority. *That's* the extraordinary thing we all now take for granted--perhaps b/c there's not much anyone can do to change it, ...

9/ ... at least not unless and until there's a Depression-like crisis.

10/ Or look at it this way: In many respects our media now are far more forthright about Trump's mendacity than they ever would have been before--and it doesn't matter. Imagine, e.g., if Johnny Carson had treated Nixon, ...

@jayrosen_nyu @NormOrnstein @ezraklein

11/ ... or any other POTUS, the way Colbert treats Trump *nightly.* It's actually *unimaginable*; it would've been a complete non-starter for Carson & NBC to do so. And if Carson had done so, it would've meant the end of the presidency virtually overnight. Today, by contrast, ...

12/ ... Colbert, et al., have *zero* impact on who's elected. Which doesn't mean he shouldn't be doing what he's doing--he should be. Only wondering whether our obsession with the failings of the MSM such as MtP/NYT might be somewhat misplaced.