MSNBC: The Smear-machine of US Media

There’s Mika Brzezinski (“Mrs.” Morning Joe) whose main role appears to be to mutter under her breath throughout everyone else’s reports—things like “sad” and “that’s a lie” and “this is a president?” to the point that viewers probably think she’s auditioning for the lead as the Billy Bob Thornton character “Carl” in a remake of Sling Blade. She grumbles about everything the way Carl kept mumbling he wanted “another can of that there potted meat.” But the real comedy kicks-in when Mika stares into the camera to “address” President Trump: one morning last week she blustered: “I’ll speak slowly so you can understand.” Her act is a carbon copy of those tattooed female wrestlers waving fists into the camera on WWE matches. Except fake wrestlers have more credibility.

The rest of MSNBC’s daytime rogues gallery includes angry liberals like Stephanie Ruhle, and the once-respected Andrea Mitchell (who reminds me of the proud Romanian actor Bela Lugosi whose 1931 Universal film Dracula made him an international star…but later in life his need for a paycheck reduced him to appearing in low-budget bombs like Plan 9 From Outer Space) and someone named Nicolle Wallace. This person—who incredibly served for awhile as Communications Director in the White House of George W. Bush—is apparently cast as the understudy to prime time ghoul Lawrence O’Donnell (more on him later.) Only those who are gluttons for punishment should subject themselves to her program which is a toxic waste dump of every negative thing—real or mostly-imagined—about Donald J. Trump.

After breaking for dinner, MSNBC viewers can tune in to the “A-Team of Smearing” led by Joy Reid—her premiere last week featured a balanced lineup of Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton. Then comes “ALL IN with Chris Hayes,” an earnest young chap who formerly was seen in MSNBC promos navigating the streets of Manhattan in bike pants but now fancies himself as kind of a progressive version of Howard “I’m mad as Hell” Beale. He’s the lead-in for Rachel Maddow (who attended Oxford—the one not in Mississippi) and who has mastered the fine art of annoyed “pauses” as she grimaces with eyebrows raised following any video of Donald Trump. And they wrap up the prime time farrago with Lawrence (the Prince of Darkness) O’Donnell. The vitriol dripping from him as he curls his lip and sanctimoniously ridicules President Trump night after night led me to observe in a previous TOWNHALL column that if O’Donnell isn’t actually Satan, he’ll do until the real guy gets a show on MSNBC. Which at this pace ought to be, oh, say, Thursday.

And like the recurring “Special Guest Villains” on the old Adam West Batman television series, you can pretty well count on incisive commentary on each of these programs from notorious race-baiter the Rev. Al Sharpton…whom MSNBC has reinvented as a political sage. I guess David Duke wasn’t available.

Since cable TV isn’t regulated by the FCC the way broadcast radio and television are, it’s apparently okay for NBC Universal (MSNBC’s parent company) to make a daily, multi-million dollar in-kind donation to the Joe Biden campaign by smearing Biden’s opponent 24/7. Without a hint of balance. The only “Republican” you’ll likely ever see on MSNBC is former GOP national chairman Michael Steele, who long ago opted for the Bela Lugosi route and traded conservative principles for an MSNBC paycheck.

Even CNN and FOX give at least the illusion of balance by featuring guests from both sides debating an issue. But not MSNBC, the non-stop p.r. arm of any unbalanced nut setting fire to America’s cities or smearing Donald Trump as a “madman.”

MSNBC’s Ali Velshi—who if he’s told us once has told us 1,000 times that he was “hit with tear gas” covering the recent riots—offered this observation over the weekend: After stating that “protest is the music of democracy,” he tossed in this aside: “Many see this election as a referendum on Donald Trump who spent the last three-and-a-half-years tearing down American institutions, sewing division, and stoking hate.”

In MSNBC’s world, our president is the enemy…Federal law enforcement officers are “storm troopers”…and “protest is the music of democracy.” If that’s true, the “music” is striking a sour note with millions of Americans who are unlikely to rally behind the former Vice President currently hiding in his basement.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting that malcontents don’t have every right to voice their views and to freely smear President Trump ‘round the clock on MSNBC.

I just don’t understand why any rational adults would actually subject themselves to watching it.