It’s not often members of the liberal media openly whine, on-air about how they’re losing their ability to gatekeep the criticism their friends and allies received publically; let alone be so open about how they wanted those going around them punished for doing so. But that’s exactly what happened during the Tuesday night rage therapy session MSNBC’s The 11th Hour host Stephanie Ruhle and Puck News co-founder Bill Cohan took part in when they targeted investor Bill Ackman and entrepreneur Elon Musk for daring to be outspoken about things going on in the world.
Ruhle, a well-connected and well-off finance reporter and TV host with Ackman’s phone number, kicked off the segment with a pathetic attempt to rally populist outrage at the two. “America’s super-rich have been very loud lately on social media; complaining about pretty much everything,” she complained to Cohen. “But the ultra-wealthy have been trying to control the public discourse and policy since the dawn of time. How is that different now, that we’re just seeing now on social media?”
According to Cohan, part of the problem was that X no longer had a character limit on posts, thus allowing Ackman to write whatever he wanted (as if threads weren’t a thing). Without evidence, he claimed that Ackman was saying things so abhorrent that he would be fired from an employer if he wasn’t so rich:
Now, it’s an unlimited number of characters. And so, people like Bill Ackman just go hog-wild on it. And it’s not inarticulate or anything. It’s probably well thought out and he’s well-meaning. But he writes the kinds of things that anybody else who wasn't independently wealthy, who wasn’t a billionaire, who didn’t work for himself would get fired long ago.
The only thing they would acknowledge Ackman said was that he called out Harvard and its disgraced former president, Claudine Gay for plagiarism and anti-Semitism.
Ruhle was irate that neither Ackman nor Musk could be punished for using their First Amendment right to speak their minds. “And why don't they?! Whether it’s Bill Ackman or Elon Musk, why is it that they can stand up and weigh in on anything with no consequences?!” she shouted.
The MSNBC host also seemed to dabble in anti-Semitic tropes and dog whistles. She suggested: "Traditionally, people" like Ackman (who's openly Jewish) "wanted to be like the Wizard of Oz. They wanted to be puppet masters pulling strings without having to face the public."
Further, Ruhle raged that Ackman and Musk were allowed to say things she deemed “idiotic” about things that were “beyond their expertise.” Again, decrying that they “face no consequences” for it. She went on to suggest that the only reason anyone agreed with Ackman’s campaign against Harvard and Gay was because “he’s so wealthy” and nothing else. “But they’re forgetting that he backed Vivek Ramaswamy, he backed RFK,” she bemoaned.
Cohan’s frustration built until he said the quiet part out loud: he wanted them silenced. “They think they are experts at everything and surround themselves with people who, generally speaking, don't tell them they’re wrong about these things or they should just be quiet,” he kvetched.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
MSNBC’s The 11th Hour
February 20, 2024
11:47:34 p.m. EasternSTEPHANIE RUHLE: America’s super-rich have been very loud lately on social media; complaining about pretty much everything. And our next guest says he knows the reason why. In a new piece for The New York Times, my dear friend Bill Cohen writes that America is experiencing “a paradigm shift where rich people are increasingly able to convert financial capital into social capital.” Most notably, Bill Ackman whose attacks against Claudine Gay ended with her resignation from Harvard.
For more on what means, I want to welcome Bill, former Wall Street banker turned journalist and founding partner at Puck News. This is a fascinating piece.
BILL COHAN: Thank you.
RUHLE: But the ultra-wealthy have been trying to control the public discourse and policy since the dawn of time. How is that different now, that we’re just seeing now on social media?
COHAN: Well, it’s much more, you know, ubiquitous now. When Mr. Pulitzer going to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch you had to live in St. Louis to get that. Or Mr. Hurst was out in his castle in California, you had to live out there to hear what he had to say. I think now it’s just, you know, everywhere. Everybody’s got a phone in their hand. Everybody’s got a computer. Social media is just ubiquitous.
And again, you know, you had 140 character on Twitter and then it went to 280. Now, thanks to Elon Musk – and I call it Twix, by the way, I’m trying to make Twix happen –
RUHLE: There you go. Trying.
COHAN: I don’t know if it will. Trying not succeeding
Now, it’s an unlimited number of characters. And so, people like Bill Ackman just go hog-wild on it. And it’s not inarticulate or anything. It’s probably well thought out and he’s well-meaning. But he writes the kinds of things that anybody else who wasn't independently wealthy, who wasn’t a billionaire, who didn’t work for himself would get fired long ago.
RUHLE: And why don't they? Whether it’s Bill Ackman or Elon Musk, why is it that they can stand up and weigh in on anything with no consequences? They don't run public companies.
COHAN: They don't run public companies.
RUHLE: Excuse me. Tesla. Elon Musk does. I guess he’s in a special category.
COHAN: He’s in a special category. Bill Ackman is independently wealthy. With, you know – He’s got a board at one of his public companies. But basically he runs a hedge fund where he’s not accountable to anybody but his investors. And he returns, you know, nice, high rates of return for those investors and, you know, they don't seem to mind that he goes off on Claudine Gay or Sally Kornbluth at MIT.
RUHLE: But talk about this paradigm shift, because traditionally people that were that wealthy and powerful wanted to be like the Wizard of Oz. They wanted to be puppet masters pulling strings without having to face the public.
Bill Ackman – as just as an example – loves this. Right? When he was first in the mouth of the lion, when it was Business Insider going after his wife, I picked up the phone and I called Bill, and I said, “Bill, let me just tell you, you do not want to do this. You’ve put yourself in the middle, it’s a mess.” He couldn't wait to get in it. He loved it. He was laughing on the phone. He wanted to just roll in the mud, as does Elon Musk. Why do they want to do this?
COHAN: Well Stephanie, you and I have been covering people like Bill Ackman for a long time and Elon Musk. They love to be in the limelight. They love to be at the center of attention. And it’s not only because, you know, Twix allows them to do that. They’ve been like this for a long time.
I mean, you remember Bill Ackman in his Herbalife fight—
RUHLE: I sure do.
COHAN: He put himself right at the center of that. Got himself on CNBC in a big fight with Carl Icahn. This is just a guy who likes the limelight and likes to be out there with is positions. And now, this platform, X gives him, you know, unlimited amount of characters to do that unfiltered by you and I.
RUHLE: But these people are going far beyond their expertise. Right? Right? And what’s amazing to me. And they face no consequences for the idiotic things that they say that have nothing to do with electric cars or investing.
COHAN: Well, they face no consequences because they’re hugely rich. Right? Even if they lost their job, even if they got fired, even if they got canceled, even if they got exiled, it wouldn't change their life one wit [sic].
RUHLE: So now that they have become social media famous, is this good or bad?
COHAN: It depends if you kind of agree with them; their litmus tests, their lighting rods for their point of view. There are a lot of people who actually agree with Bill Ackman and his campaign against Claudine Gay at Harvard and Sally Kornbluth at MIT. There are people who agree with Elon Musk. I mean, we live in a world --
RUHEL: But, but hold on.
COHAN: We live in a polarized society.
RUHLE: Because he’s so wealthy, people agreed with what he did with Claudine Gay, so he’s great. But they’re forgetting that he back Vivek Ramaswamy, he backed RFK.
COHAN: He wanted Jamie Diamond to run for president. You know, you know he supported this other congressman in New Hampshire that went nowhere.
RUHLE: But what about this idea that wealth equals expertise in all fields? Is this a new phenomenon?
COHAN: No. It’s complete fiction, Stephanie. But, you know, Bill Ackman doesn't think that. Elon Musk doesn't think that. Donald Trump doesn't think that. They think they are experts at everything and surround themselves with people who, generally speaking, don't tell them they’re wrong about these things or they should just be quiet.
(…)
