OPINION:
For decades, liberals have dismissed any claim that they collude on their message. But for those same decades, it has been clear that members of the liberal intelligentsia often parrot the same talking points on a given topic — across every medium.
So-called journalists with mainstream media outlets have guffawed when critics point out that the lefty talking heads are all on the same page. Some go so far as to mock those who make the claims, saying, “What, you think we have weekly meetings?”
It turns out that despite all the denials, they actually do have weekly meetings.
Picture this: Every Friday, a Zoom window pops up, and it’s showtime for the Anti-Trump Avengers, helmed by Norman Eisen, a man who has seen more of the inside of a courtroom (even if just on TV) than most people have seen of their own kitchens.
Mr. Eisen, who cut his teeth in the Obama administration and now moonlights as a legal pundit for CNN, plays host to the merry band of Trump critics. Politico spilled the tea during the weekly gossip sessions, where, rumor has it, participants fine-tuned their disdain for all things Trump with the precision of a Swiss watchmaker.
Who’s on the guest list? Imagine a Zoom “Brady Bunch” grid filled with the likes of political gadflies Bill Kristol and George Conway (whose opposition to Donald Trump could probably power a small city), and sprinkled with academic heft from Harvard’s very own Laurence Tribe.
They’re also joined by John Dean, a right-hand man for President Richard Nixon who knows a thing or two about presidential scandals, and cable news legal eagles Andrew Weissmann and Jeffrey Toobin, who are no strangers to stirring the pot (Mr. Toobin is, of course, very hands-on).
Their mission involves dissecting the former president’s latest legal dramas with the zeal of teenagers debating the merits of their favorite pop stars. But instead of BTS vs. One Direction, it’s constitutional law and courtroom maneuvers. The gatherings apparently fuel their fiery appearances across the media landscape, giving “talking points” a whole new meaning.
Mr. Conway might write a think piece for The Atlantic one moment and then pop up on MSNBC to discuss the same ideas, while Mr. Weissmann dives even deeper on his podcast, ambitiously titled “Prosecuting Donald Trump.”
Mr. Toobin, fresh from a Zoom mishap that’s too NSFW to recount here, is back on CNN, casting doubt on the success of any case against Mr. Trump led by the DA in Fulton County, Georgia — because if you’re going to go big, why not aim for presidential controversy?
And as if this superhero team-up weren’t star-studded enough, cameo appearances by The Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin and CNN’s Karen Agnifilo add even more sparkle to the galaxy of legal minds getting their story straight.
The Politico bombshell came a week after a journalist with National Public Radio — about as liberal a “news” outlet as you can find, which also happens to be funded by you, the taxpayer — ripped NPR for its endless liberal bent.
In a piece on Bari Weiss’ online news site, The Free Press, headlined “I’ve Been at NPR For 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust,” Mr. Berliner said that among NPR’s Washington editorial staff, there are no Republicans.
“When I suggested we had a diversity problem with a score of 87 Democrats and zero Republicans, the response wasn’t hostile,” Mr. Berliner wrote. “It was worse. It was met with profound indifference.”
“I got a few messages from surprised, curious colleagues,” he wrote. “But the messages were of the ‘oh wow, that’s weird’ variety, as if the lopsided tally was a random anomaly rather than a critical failure of our diversity North Star.”
In his piece, Mr. Berliner said that NPR has been plagued by “a group think that’s really clustered around very selective, progressive views that don’t allow enough air, enough spaciousness to consider all kinds of perspectives.”
After his piece emerged, the liberal media lost their minds. Mr. Berliner, an award-winning business editor and reporter, was promptly suspended and then resigned amid the furor.
And there you have it: A week later, Politico reported that liberals across the media spectrum really do get together to coordinate their talking points, which they then spout on a host of outlets.
Who knew?
Actually, we did. We all knew. It’s pretty obvious.
• Joseph Curl covered the White House and politics for a decade for The Washington Times. He can be reached at josephcurl@gmail.com and on X @josephcurl.
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