NBC News policy editor Benjy Sarlin has been known to practice good journalism on occasion.
Unfortunately, this is not one of those occasions.
Florida Governor — and likely 2024 presidential contender — Ron DeSantis is out stumping for Trump-endorsed Republican gubernatorial candidates like Doug Mastriano (one of a number of out-there GOP candidates that Democrats were also pushing because he’d supposedly be easy to beat).
inbox: Gov. DeSantis teaming with Turning Point Action for rallies this summer and fall in NM, AZ, OH and PA
— Rick Klein (@rickklein) August 8, 2022
DeSantis rallying supporters for Mastriano in Pennsylvania (while RGA remaining on the sidelines): https://t.co/7TiQVjh2gE
— Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) August 8, 2022
Sarlin can’t help but notice the difference between someone like Ron DeSantis and Resistance GOP Rep. Liz Cheney:
This is what separates Cheney from the party, and also why so many R’s don’t understand D’s treating DeSantis and Trump as similarly concerning. It’s not that all R’s support 1/6, but they almost all treat it as good faith disagreement between friends, rather than disqualifying. https://t.co/mWXrnDJlNd
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) August 8, 2022
Liz Cheney would never campaign for a Republican candidate! Because she’s different. She’s principled. Unlike Ron DeSantis and … Peter Meijer?
You can see this in Pete Meijer supporting his primary opponent as well. So long as backing an ongoing coup attempt is just another issue to debate among many, like taxes or energy, rather than a dividing line between legitimate and illegitimate actors, there’s no moving past it.
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) August 8, 2022
Pardon our French, but what the eff is Benjy talking about?
"supporting" https://t.co/CODh5661j2
— jimtreacher.substack.com (@jtLOL) August 8, 2022
He doesn't support him, unless acknowledging his existence constitutes supporting him https://t.co/pSVJhtzH3q
— Jen Monroe (@thatjenmonroe) August 8, 2022
Meijer never formally endorsed Gibbs.
— Will J. (@willtharealdeal) August 8, 2022
I didn't use "endorse," but I don't think there's a meaningful distinction for these purposes between that and introducing someone at a party unity event and congratulating them and wishing them best of luck https://t.co/XN3J5GcKo3
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) August 8, 2022
Peter Meijer isn’t crazy about John Gibbs, the guy who beat him in the GOP primary (with hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of help from the DCCC), but Meijer is also a grownup and someone who isn’t going to start endorsing Democrats just because Orange Man Bad.
peter meijer, who voted for impeachment, supporting the republican who was pushed forward with half a million from the dccc is an “ongoing coup,” he said unironically. https://t.co/9wZebEHVQC
— kaitlin, by definition, a woman (@thefactualprep) August 8, 2022
Wait what’s the on going coup? https://t.co/OB1GtEezb4
— Simmias (@Simmiasofthebes) August 8, 2022
“Ongoing coup attempt?” Wut? https://t.co/peCYEY1uJq
— Varad Mehta (@varadmehta) August 8, 2022
We’re wondering about that as well.
Winning election = ongoing coup? So now you’re against the democratic process? https://t.co/URDdJYIhRR
— P. Dawg Knight (@PDawgKnight) August 8, 2022
Our heads hurt.
This is just…an incredibly stupid take and I’m horribly embarrassed for you. https://t.co/8cbB6GcYSS
— MagnoliaPeach 🐶❤️🖤 (@magnoliapeach) August 8, 2022
Same.
The only good republican is a republican who doesn't support any other republican except for Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney. https://t.co/wdA4YFMV4o
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) August 8, 2022
This “journalist” at a mainstream media outlet is saying, without irony, that the only republicans he thinks are legitimate are the ones that oppose other republicans. https://t.co/qgS9ifCtqL
— Atbash Gardak (@AtbashGardak) August 8, 2022
Is there a corollary for Democrats, too, or … ?
It is important to understand this person is an editor helping shape NBC News. If he thinks Meijer is supporting "an ongoing coup attempt" after having voted for impeachment and lost his primary to a Trump-backed candidate, you should treat NBC News skeptically. https://t.co/O56ZpMYwag
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) August 8, 2022
This is what happens when you're so Very Online that you can't understand how Americans can focus on crippling inflation and high gas prices instead of being maniacally-focused on 1/6.
"Why won't you just take the suffering in the service of my talking points" https://t.co/pnNnsTgADa
— Sunny McSunnyface (@sunnyright) August 8, 2022
The corporate owned network news media is going to continue to give Americans reasons to not take them seriously it would appear. https://t.co/KlJD6mfmXc
— Ty Webb (@ITVPod) August 8, 2022
I know it's cliché at this point but if you remember 5 years ago it's still kind of wild how journalists on the "news side" don't even make the vaguest pretense anymore at being "objective" or anything other than activists. https://t.co/SdDnfCPqBK
— PEG (@pegobry) August 8, 2022
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