If you want to understand just how tightly knit and impermeable the left-wing New York/Washington media bubble really is, you needed to tune in on MSNBC Thursday morning (June7). It all started with Morning Joe, of course.
The issue de jure was comments made in Israel by former New York mayor and current Trump legal advisor Rudy Giuliani about the Stormy Daniels brouhaha. Giuliani expressed his view that Daniels cannot be taken seriously about defending her reputation because, he contended, she does not have a good one in the first place. He did not use the words “slut” or “whore,” but the implication was clear.
Well … you can just imagine the outrage over at MSMBC. No, it was beyond imagination – even for a station renowned for its obsessive anti-Trump bias. One of the network’s number one irrational Trump haters was, as you can guess, Mika Brzezinski. I say “one of the network’s number one irrational Trump haters” because it is impossible to single out one personality among so many similar anchors and panelists. But in this case, Brzezinski outperformed her melodramatic offerings of the past.
Brzezinski was joined at the table by Elise Jordan, the number one female false-flag Republican MSNBC sycophant, who again served as the pet parrot, repeating whatever Brzezinski said. I nominate Jordan in the female false-flag Republican category because the male lead is currently held by that other GOP false-flagger Steve Schmidt.
The program made me laugh a few times. These were not the sort of laughs one gives up to real humor, but the kind of chuckle that involuntarily emanates when someone says or does something entirely preposterous. The program was filled with several such laugh lines – as with the following program led by Stephanie Ruhle, but more about that below.
Most of the morning on MSNBC was in defending the reputation and honor of … get ready to give up that are-you-kidding chuckle … a porn performer, Stormy Daniels. This is a woman whose value is to allow men to use her body for pleasure or profit in a bucks for (you know what) business.
In the last half-hour segment, the Morning Joe folks rose to unparalleled heights of scripted indignation while coming to the defense of Stormy Daniels as a wronged woman. Though Giuliani’s remarks were very specific to Daniels – and he expressed his admiration of women of positive accomplishment – the MSNBC narrative was predicated on the false straw man argument that he was insulting all women.
They tried to make Giuliani out to be a Neanderthal-level misogynist while Daniels was a victimized “working girl.” Only those blinded by their hatred of Donald Trump, Republicans and conservatives, however, would have not imagined quite a different reaction by the general population – we deplorables who mostly reside in fly-over America.
Their basic argument was that every woman deserves respect. Really? Does that apply to women in jail for killing their children? Or women who lie about being raped? Women who cheat on their husbands? I have some breaking news for those folks at MSNBC. There are many women who do not deserve respect … period. Does this sudden universal respect code apply to Rosanne Barr, Kellyanne Conway or Sarah Sanders – and all the other conservative women regularly maligned on MSNBC? Brzezinski & Co. prove once again that hardcore feminism is not about women, but about left-wing ideology.
My initial reaction to the MSNBC commentary was that if I were a hard-working woman behind a counter at Walmart or a chief executive of a Fortune 500 company, I would definitely not wish to be plunked into the same category as Daniels.
Just because pornography is legal does not mean we must hold those performing salacious acts for public consumption are some paragons of virtue. It is a sleazy business being carried out by sleazy people – men and women. Perhaps the cigarette industry is a good comparison. The left harbors a particularly strong hatred and animosity towards those selling a perfectly legal product. They are called “merchants of death.” Don’t they deserve respect since the product is legal?
As I watched the narrative unfolding, I recalled all the times the oracles of the left raised the question: Would you want your child to grow up to be like Donald Trump? It made me wonder: Would any of these exalters of Daniels want their daughter to grow up to be porn performers? If it is such an honorable career, why doesn’t Brzezinski take it up as a sideline much like her media partner and paramour, Joe Scarborough, has taken up music performance? Hell, they might even go into porn together.
The only person to come close to offering up daughters to the porn industry was Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti. In an audio hook-up, he said that Daniels deserves respect and that he would respect his two daughters no matter what profession they took up. Really? He would be okay if they followed in the naked footsteps of Daniels? If so … not only is he a sleazy attorney, but that would make him a very bad father, in my judgment.
Obviously, Avenatti does not understand the difference between love and respect. As a father, I love my children unconditionally, and will do so forever. But I must admit that there were a few times that I did not respect their decisions or behavior. Hard for me to imagine a decent father being okay with his daughter becoming a porn performer.
Following Morning Joe, the MSNBC megaphone is turned over to Stephanie Ruhle. Honestly, after seeing her seizure-like, teeny-bopper, pee-in-the-panties excitement at the very sight of the newly married Duchess of Sussex, I cannot take her seriously – which was difficult even before that embarrassing display of uncontrolled giddiness. But, that is just me.
As if the audience had not gotten enough of Brzezinski’s rabid opinions, the Morning Joe co-host was held over to be on the Ruhle show. Added to the panel was the stereotypical New York loudmouth Christine Quinn, the former New York City Council leader – a legislative body where loudmouthism apparently dominates civic discourse.
Playing into what can only be described as Brzezinski’s hysterical rabble rousing, Ruhle offered such deep comments as “porn stars are people, too,” “what a pig” (referring to Giuliani) and a turnabout reference to “old cigar-smoking men.” When Brzezinski declared June 6th as a bad day for women, Ruhl trumped her over-the-top assertion by declaring it a “bad day for humanity.”
Quinn went on to attack Ivanka Trump for being a “hypocrite and a coward” for not opposing her father and standing up for women, while Ruhl displayed her compassionless limousine liberalism for the downtrodden by derogatorily comparing the words of Giuliani with “someone living under a bridge.”
The group attack on Giuliani mostly pushed back on the suggestion that Daniels is not credible because of her looks. That was not Giuliani’s point. Actually, Daniels is a rather attractive woman. Her lack of credibility stems from her established lies about Trump and their alleged relationship – which everyone at MSNBC accepts Daniels claims as true without yet the benefit of proof. And yes, a lot has to do with her “profession.” Porn performers are just not as credible as nuns. Of course, if Brzezinski, Ruhle or Quinn were to claim that Daniels has as much credibility as they do, I might concede the point.
To the folks at MSNBC … I find it impossible to understand how you can elevate the reputation and credibility of a sleazy porn performer – and that goes for the men, too – and fail to understand how so many of the folks in fly-over America would not want our sons or daughters to take up the profession and would not want such performers even amongst our friends.
Since millions of Americans watch and even take pleasure from pornography – and it is legal — you can say they are all hypocrites. And you would be correct. What you do not understand is that sometimes hypocrisy is a way to keep our baser and less noble instincts at bay. Because porn is legal does not make it less sleazy. That is why it has historically been for private consumption only.
Larry Horist is a conservative activist with an extensive background in economics, public policy and political issues. Clients of his consulting firm have included such conservative icons as Steve Forbes and Milton Friedman, and he has served as a consultant to the White House under Presidents Nixon and Reagan. He has testified as an expert witness before numerous legislative bodies, including the U. S. Congress and lectured at Harvard University, Northwestern University, Florida Atlantic University, Knox College and Hope College. An award winning debater, his insightful and sometimes controversial commentaries appear frequently on the editorial pages of newspapers across the nation. He can be reached at lph@thomasandjoyce.com.