Reap what you sow

At a Washington press briefing the other day, CNN’s Jim Acosta, a particular and regular object of Donald Trump’s enmity, asked White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders how the US president could possibly describe the press as “the enemy of the people” — a misquotation, apparently. Her answer was typically blunt, noting among other points that she now requires Secret Service protection. She also inspired American blogger Andrew Klavan to expand on her theme. He might just as easily have been speaking about Australia’s media:

The fact is, having a group of people scream at you and denigrate you is exactly what it feels like to be in America — if you don’t happen to be a coastal elite. It has felt this way for the last twenty years at least. Every television show you watch, every movie, every woman’s magazine, every comedian, and, yes, every news program tells you you suck. Your country sucks. Your culture sucks. Your religion and your morals suck. And you personally are one of those dumb-ass racists who clings to his Bible and talks funny.

If you believe your country should vet its immigrants, you’re racist. If you voted for Donald Trump, you’re racist. If you make a joke about Barack Obama on Facebook, you’re racist twice. If you think motherhood is a woman’s highest calling, you’re sexist. If you take it ill when Islamists blow you up in the name of their nasty little god, you’re Islamophobic. If you know that a man is a man even if he says he’s a woman, you’re transphobic. If you think it’s fair to debate whether homosexual actions are moral or not, you’re homophobic.

Every day. From every outlet. All the time. And now people are angry. Wonder why.

The Acosta-Sanders exchange can be viewed in full via this link or the one below. 

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