With the election just a week away, hosts Markos Moulitsas and Kerry Eleveld were joined by Angelo Carusone, President of Media Matters for America, and Joan McCarter, Senior Writer at Daily Kos, to talk about the right-wing news echo chamber and how its expansive influence on politics (and the Republican Party in particular) is driving a dangerous shift in media coverage.
Calling Fox News “an entirely parallel universe,” Angelo noted that the network spent three times as many minutes of airtime on covering Hunter Biden’s emails as they did talking about COVID-19. “It really does cloud their judgment.” On the growing role of Fox News in shaping Republican Party discourse, Angelo said:
To me, it was clear that Republicans as a whole sort of lost sight of the idea that Fox was only a small sliver of the rest of the landscape, and that it wasn’t entirely reflective of reality—that, instead of it being a political tool, it’s sort of like when bad consultants rely just too heavily on bad polling to sort of convince the people that they’re working for to keep paying them to do these strategies.
The trio also discussed the insidious reach of Sinclair Broadcasting, which has assisted in spreading and amplifying misinformation and conservative conspiracy theories. Angelo emphasized, “So far every single attack on voter fraud that has turned out to be bogus, that has penetrated the national conversation, was amplified by a local Sinclair station first and then worked its way up the chain.” He and Kerry explained that much of this danger also lies in the fact that most people aren’t even aware of what a Sinclair station is or that their local news station is likely to be one.
Joan joined Markos and Kerry for the second half of the program to chime in on what a lame-duck Senate would do after the election if Biden wins, and what lies in wait for Mitch McConnell—who has somehow managed to dodge much of the blame for the lack of additional COVID-19 economic relief. Joan noted, “I think people are frightened, they’re desperate, they’re struggling, they don’t have rent money, they’re going hungry. That’s a big deal—that’s a really big deal. And I don’t think they’re necessarily blaming McConnell as much as they should be … and that’s hard, that’s tough.”
If McConnell does try to ram through terrible legislation during a lame-duck session, Joan believes that it will fall to Democrats to not play, to not allow it. What’s more, Republicans will have to consider their legacy on the way out:
If there’s a wipeout of Republican senators, do they want to leave on that note? Do they want to just burn everything down and salt the earth behind them? Or do they think about what their futures are going to be, and do they play a little nicer? … McConnell miscalculates—not often, but he does sometimes.
You can view the full segment below:
With Election Day just one week away, there’s so much you can do so much to help get out the vote—even if you don’t live in a swing state. Visit the Daily Kos GOTV page to learn how you can get involved.
Source: Daily Kos
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