These are just a few of the vile attacks on President Biden on Fox News Thursday night after his speech to the nation announcing new vaccination mandates. Biden’s decision sparked a declaration of all-out war in the right-wing media. While it receives a lot of praise from mainstream sources, with some analysts even claiming it still hasn’t gone far enough, the reality is entirely different in the media consumed by Biden individuals. Actually needs (and tried) to persuade.
It’s hard to overstate how right-wing commentators are hurling venom at Biden, the White House and public health officials after the speech. I pay close attention to these corners of the media ecosystem and it’s as bad as I’ve ever seen it.
“BIDEN IS AN AUTHORITY,” said a banner on Fox. “BIDEN DECLARES WAR ON MILLIONS OF AMERICANS,” said yet another Fox banner. “FULL TOTALITY,” shouted the splash from the Breitbart homepage. The far right, but consumed en masse, Gateway Pundit tore up the “Biden regime” for its “tyrannical mandates”. The Federalist described it as a “fascist movement”. It’s gone again and again …
It cannot be ignored
I know there is a temptation to ignore these speakers. To disconnect them. Pretend they don’t exist. But their language – which essentially characterizes Biden and public health officials as evil tyrants – is key to understanding why so many Americans don’t protect themselves with a vaccine.
Huge communities of Americans are being lied to and misinformed by bad faith media figures and politicians who seek profit and power. And when you understand the nastiness of the rhetoric being spat out in these communities, you also understand that nothing from Biden or Dr Anthony Fauci or any public health official can convince them. Nothing.
What I imagine is the conclusion that Biden and his administration drew. As Biden said in his speech, “We have been patient, but our patience is running out and your refusal [to get vaccinated] cost us all. Steve Schmidt put it this way on MSNBC: “We live in an age of disinformation and a time of madness – and enough is enough is enough. Reality is reality and it is time to end BS “
Bad faith
Bad faith nonsense has saturated the right-wing media and the GOP. A key argument that I have seen made is that Biden should not impose the vaccines, but simply explain why they are necessary so that people can make a decision for themselves. Republican Representative Dan Crenshaw, a right-wing media star and supporter of this strategy,
summarized as well, “The right way is to explain, educate and * build * trust, including explaining the risks / benefits / benefits / drawbacks in an honest way so that a person can make their own decision. “
But that has proven not to be a viable option when Republican politicians and media sources Conservatives trust poison the waters. It’s as if politicians and pundits like Crenshaw live in an alternate world in which top-rated cable hosts aren’t peddling anti-vaccine rhetoric.
>> Speaking of bad faith: I was struck by how shameless Sean Hannity was on his show Thursday night, saying of Biden’s administrator: “They created the reluctance of Covid. Do it!” Uh, really Sean?
Feelings, not facts
Brian Stelter writes: “Reading Darcy’s recap on Thursday’s cover, two things come to mind. First: The crazy reactions to Biden are about feelings, not facts. Pieces. Second, I remember what Nicco Mele had wrote earlier this week. His “Rule 1” is, “It’s going to get crazier.” If the Biden era seems calm to you, “don’t worry,” he says, “it’s going to get crazier.” The one of the reasons why: “There are two media ecosystems in this country, side by side. So rule 1 remains in effect …”
“Even Fox News”
During his speech, Biden called out Fox News for his vaccine hypocrisy – but I thought what he said was slightly misleading. Biden said many companies require their employees to get vaccinated or have weekly tests. He cited Fox as an example of this, leading some people to mistakenly say that Fox has a vaccine mandate.
This is not true. Fox does not have a vaccine mandate. Fox has asked its employees to report their immunization status to the company. Fox has its own version of a vaccine passport that grants special privileges to those who have reported being vaccinated. And Fox is demanding that certain essential employees be tested every week, whether or not they are vaccinated. But Fox News doesn’t have a real mandate on vaccines, which is important to point out.
