Today, President Biden announced his intention to end the war in Afghanistan, to great media fanfare.
You may remember, way back in 2019 & 2020, President Trump said the same thing.
Let me know if you can spot the difference in coverage then vs. now⤵️
When Trump said we were leaving, @CNN quoted the NATO Sec Gen with a “stark warning” about how “dangerous” the move would be.
But Biden’s decision? Well, on that one, we just get to hear from his people.
One of the things I’ve discussed before is how outlets can frame the narrative they want by focusing on people who support or oppose a certain policy. It’s misleading, but also a calling card of @CNN.
Starting to see it?
Once upon a time, @nytimes told us that Trump’s decision was a capitulation to the Taliban where we would get nothing in return - as if blood not shed and treasure not spent means nothing.
But Biden’s call? Well, for some reason these concerns seem to have evaporated.
For Trump, we hear about the “fears” of Afghan officials from @nytimes.
Biden, on the other hand, gets a sympathetic write up despite being the second most powerful man in the country during the height of US forces. Just incredible memoryholing here.
This one from @TIME might be the most egregious of them all. I mean. Cmon.
These tweets are mere months apart from @MSNBC. Stunningly, they found people to say the exact opposite things about the decision to pull out.
So much of today’s coverage reads as if nothing had ever been said to the contrary by anyone on @MSNBC
Its interesting that @maddow/@MaddowBlog no longer seem to see the invisible hand of Russia calling the shots now that it is Biden pulling troops out of Afghanistan. Instead, it’s a great thing.
Some places, like @NPR, don’t even seem to be trying at this rate.
Were no military leaders worried when Biden made the decision to do the same thing?
For PBS @NewsHour, Trump’s decisions were instantly refracted through the lens of those who oppose him.
For Biden, we just hear from him directly on the benefits of his plans.
When it was Trump making the decisions, @ABC rushed to tell us about how the decision would “undermine his administration’s agreement with the Taliban.”
It didn’t. And now that Biden is calling the shots, we’ve got nothing but pomp, circumstance and PR pull quotes.
I’ve got a separate thread on this but let this be your reminder that there isn’t any evidence of the existence of the Russian bounties story. And yet it also found its way into @ABC’s coverage for Trump. @nytimes too.
I’ve got to hand it to him, though. He may be wrong, but @MaxBoot is consistent in his urging that America be invested in building democracy or what have you despite the overwhelming evidence opposing the wisdom of doing so.
This situation has given us one of the clearest examples of framing for materially similar actions by different presidents.
Would anyone look at these side by sides and think they were impartial and balanced?
It should go without saying, but this is really, really bad.
The narrative shift is striking even though the goal of each policy is the same.
It isn’t sustainable to have information twisted and crammed into narratives this way.
I don’t have anything to sell or subscribe to. But if you can, homeless shelters are still in dire need following the pandemic, and need your help.
Today the “Russian bounties” story - where Russia was supposedly paying to have US soldiers killed - quietly imploded.
For the last year, Dems, the media & others have pushed this conspiracy theory endlessly.
If you think that’s exaggerative, have a look⤵️
The worst offender was @nytimes, who broke the original story and went on to convince the families of soldiers who had been KIA that perhaps the Russians were to blame and President Trump didn’t care.
Will we get a follow up? Will the families?
But they were far from alone. @CNN pushed the conspiracy theory just as frequently as anyone did.
You’ll notice that, while some of the stories note the bounties are “alleged”, eventually CNN dropped that, despite the narrative being disputed (and having since fallen apart).
one idea Douthat hits on here is that US meritocrats are usually "deeply committed to a moral vision that regards emancipated, self-directed choice as essential to human freedom and the good life" and I wish we talked about that more.
as well as the reality that "[t]he tension between this worldview and the thou-shalt-not, death-of-self commandments of biblical religion can be bridged only with difficulty"'
If Republicans talked about any issue - particularly a constitutional right - with the blatant, mind-melting ignorance that Dems talk about gun laws, it would be a 24/7 newscycle forever.
There is no single issue in American politics where one side is as fundamentally misinformed/uninformed as the left is on gun laws. And I don’t think it’s even close. Space aliens could come up with more effective policy.
Dems talk about guns the way that humans talked about flight in the 1800s or how I would imagine an uncontacted tribe would explain electricity. It’s mind blowing.
The lesson that GOP pols should (but won’t) learn from Tucker’s recent beat-downs is that the pretty words and sentiments that’ll pacify corporate donors and beltway bigwigs just don’t cut it anymore.
Do I think people’s careers will end because of these? No, probably not. But media opportunities are meant as a good and safe option for someone in the hot seat. You try to find a comfy opp. Tucker has made clear that he’ll never be that thing, and we all owe him for that.
This is how you get a better GOP. You stress test the latest ideas and discard those that aren’t good. So many ideas have kicked around for a long time because they were a sacred cow for lobbyists/donors that the base wants to see die.