Disingenuous calls for unity returned to the airwaves following President Biden’s first State of the Union address on Tuesday evening. But it’s difficult to take these journalists seriously when just two weeks ago they were maligning peaceful protests by truckers as an “insurrection.”
Recall how the media, for all their renewed interest in unity, actually talk about the working-class people with whom they disagree:
“A cult,” MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough spat on January 31. “A right-wing trucker tantrum,” snarked CNN’s John Avlon on February 11.
These are the terms the media used to describe the truckers’ protests in Canada draconian lockdowns and other seemingly indefinite COVID measures.
What do our starry-eyed media imagine it looks like to unify with people they’ve referred to as “white nationalists and anti-vax moms,” as Joy Reid did on MSNBC’s The ReidOut on February 11?
When the media call for unity, they’re not extending an olive branch — they’re declaring that it’s time for everyone who disagrees with them to get with the program. Their handling of the Freedom Convoy exemplifies that attitude.
