Groupies

The family of the late Sen. John McCain intentionally excluded onetime campaign staffer Nicolle Wallace from his funeral.

Last week, Wallace, who hosts a show on MSNBC, nearly topped this personal best in public embarrassment when she described herself as a “groupie” for Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

"I'm a Fauci groupie,” the cable news anchor said. “I'm a thrice-vaccinated mask adherent. I buy KN-95 masks by the, you know, caseload.”

Wallace added, “They're in every pocket. I wear them everywhere except when I sit down. And I am certain that [Omicron] is not a variant I can outrun."

NBC describes Wallace as a "political analyst" whose supposedly hard-hitting and uncompromising insights make her an invaluable and well-informed resource. And nothing says informed "political analyst" quite like fawning over one of the most powerful unelected officials in the country.

Apologists

Joe Biden promised in 2020 that, if elected president, he would “shut down” the coronavirus.

Last week, Biden conceded the federal government couldn’t end the pandemic, adding it will be on the states to sort out this mess.

"Look, there is no federal solution," the president said during a briefing with the National Governors Association. "This gets solved at the state level."

He added, “And then ultimately gets down to where the rubber meets the road, and that's where the patient is in need of help or preventing the need for help.”

Again, Biden explicitly vowed in 2020: “I'm going to shut down the virus.”

It was a stupid promise at the time, as any reasonable person would have told you. Presidents lack both the power and the ability to “shut down” a pandemic. Yet during the election, the broader press allowed Biden's promise to go unchallenged. Now, with Biden conceding COVID-19 is best fought at the state level, some in the media are still running defense for the Democratic president, arguing there’s no fundamental contradiction between his remarks last week and what he promised during the election.

"I think that was a throwaway line from Biden,” CNN White House correspondent John Harwood said last week. “I don't think he was actually signaling it's not my job anymore, it's your job. … So I think somewhat more has been made of that little, sort of polite beginning of the conversation than is warranted."

He added elsewhere on social media, “Biden's ‘this gets solved at a state level’ is only a thing if you feign ignorance that: he was simply affirming NGA chair's plea not to stifle ‘state solutions’, it's routine presidential ‘laboratories of democracy’ talk, [and] he discussed federal action and ‘need to do better.’”

It’s cliche, I know, but can you imagine Harwood’s reaction had former President Donald Trump promised to “shut down” the virus, only to put the onus on state governors? Can you imagine Harwood extending to Trump even a fraction of the charitable reading he gave Biden? If you can, you have a better imagination.

For no reason at all, now is an excellent time to remind everyone the Republican National Committee once allowed Harwood to moderate a GOP presidential primary debate.

Guard dogs

Political dissent is good and noble for many in the media so long as it’s not directed at Democrats. When it’s aimed at Democrats, it’s treacherous and even dangerous.

You’ve likely heard of the “Let’s go Brandon” meme. It began earlier this year when crowds at sporting events spontaneously erupted in cheers of, “F*** Joe Biden!”

On Oct. 2, NASCAR racer Brandon Brown won his first race in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. During a post-race interview between Brown and NBC sports reporter Kelli Stavast, the crowd broke into the tongue-in-cheek Biden chant. Stavast apparently misinterpreted the crowd’s words and claimed the fans were chanting, “Let’s go, Brandon!”

The crowd obviously said nothing of the sort.

This is how we got to the tame, G-rated version of “F*** Joe Biden!” Since October, sports fans, activists, and even lawmakers have used the sanitized shorthand — a sort of family-friendly, inside joke mocking both the president and the press for downplaying public discontent.

So, when you hear “Let’s go Brandon!” it’s actually an evolution of the original “F*** Joe Biden!”

On Christmas Eve, Biden took live calls during an appearance at the NORAD “Santa tracking center.” One caller, an Oregon father of four, signed off his brief conversation with the president by remarking, “Let’s go Brandon!”

The caller, Jared Schmeck, was doxxed later by angry activists. Schmeck then attempted to defend and explain himself during an appearance on former Trump aide Steve Bannon’s podcast.

At MSNBC, there are dark “insurrectionist” undertones to the entire Schmeck incident.

“I don't want where to start,” said everybody’s favorite cable news “political analyst” Nicolle Wallace. “Let me tell you why this matters. The asymmetry has always been what advantages the Trump right more than anything else. And the asymmetry of saying ‘F you’ to a sitting president on a call in front of your four kids — don't look past this.”

She added, “Don't look at this as a story about giving air time to a MAGA guy who goes on Steve Bannon's podcast and said, 'I wasn’t joking. Not only did I say ‘F you,’ Mr. President. I said more than that.' This is the slow-motion insurrection … in full color.”

Her MSNBC colleague, weekend host Jason Johnson, concurred, saying, “All of these people are basically just insurrectionists in training now.”

He added, “‘Let's go Brandon!’ isn’t about what you feel about supply chain issues and gas. It is the cry of insurrectionists. It is the cry of people who want to violently take over this country and oppress anyone who is not like them. … I hope we have a Justice Department and an FBI and a CIA that investigates where the anger that leads to these kinds of statements comes through.”

People who use G-rated chants to mock both the president and the press: the side of evil.

Cable news hosts who want the DOJ, the FBI, and even the CIA, which is prohibited explicitly from operating against U.S. citizens, to investigate mean political speech: the side of righteousness.