Also on today’s menu:
NPR Suspends Senior Editor Over Essay In ‘Free Press’
Johnson Plans To Bring Aid Packages To House Floor
Two years ago, Governor Chris Sununu’s dislike of former president Donald Trump was apparent. During the Gridiron Club’s spring dinner, an annual Washington gathering featuring skits and speeches from Republicans, Democrats, and journalists, Sununu joked, “He’s [expletive] crazy! The press often will ask me if I think Donald Trump is crazy. And I’ll say it this way: I don’t think he’s so crazy that you could put him in a mental institution. But I think if he were in one, he ain’t getting out!”
Sununu claimed he was just joking at an event that roasts politicians, but this election cycle, he backed Nikki Haley, who was outspoken about Trump being unfit for a second term. When Trump responded to Sununu’s appearance with Haley, calling Sununu a “loser” who made “really bad TV,” Sununu countered with, “I suppose it’s tough keeping up with the conversation given your advanced age. Maybe try subtitles next time. Thanks for watching.”
Three months later, Sununu told George Stephanopoulos on This Week that he will support candidate Trump even if the former president is convicted on felony charges. Trump is facing 34 felony counts this month for falsifying business records in order to hide payments to former adult actress Stormy Daniels, which prosecutors argue was part of his efforts to keep damaging information hidden during his 2016 presidential campaign.
“So, just to sum up,” Stephanopoulos said, “you would support [Trump] for president even if he is convicted in the classified documents case. You support him for president even though you believe he contributed to an insurrection. You support him for president even though you believe he’s lying about the last election. You’d support him for president even if he’s convicted in the Manhattan case. I just want to say, the answer to that is yes, correct?”
“Yes,” Sununu responded, “me and 51 percent of America. … I think all of that was absolutely terrible, but what people are going to be voting for, the reason I’m supporting — not just the president, but a Republican administration — that’s what this is. They want a culture of change in Washington.”
Discussion: This is what is wrong with the Republican Party today. It is all about power, rather than what is best for the country. Yet, once in power, the internal bickering and unwillingness to compromise for the common good makes them ineffective. Sununu has a mixed record in New Hampshire, having been willing to compromise on many important issues for the state — which incurred the wrath of his Republican colleagues — but then kowtowed to them on other issues. Add to that his unwillingness to go along with legislators on issues such as biomass plants, which seems to be due to Eversource’s influence over him, or his insistence in taking control of the sale of the Laconia State School property, which has resulted in the debacle there, and he has become a big disappointment to those of us who once supported him.
NPR Suspends Senior Editor Over Essay In ‘Free Press’
National Public Radio has suspended Senior Editor Uri Berliner for five days without pay after he publicly aired his view that the network had “lost America's trust” by approaching news stories with a rigidly progressive mindset that placed ideology over factual presentation of the news.
Berliner's essay for the online news site The Free Press recounted how “Race and identity became paramount in nearly every aspect of the [NPR] workplace. Journalists were required to ask everyone we interviewed their race, gender, and ethnicity (among other questions), and had to enter it in a centralized tracking system. We were given unconscious bias training sessions. A growing DEI staff offered regular meetings imploring us to ‘start talking about race.’ … There’s an unspoken consensus about the stories we should pursue and how they should be framed. It’s frictionless — one story after another about instances of supposed racism, transphobia, signs of the climate apocalypse, Israel doing something bad, and the dire threat of Republican policies. It’s almost like an assembly line. … When I suggested we had a diversity problem with a score of 87 Democrats and zero Republicans [in editorial positions], the response wasn’t hostile. It was worse. It was met with profound indifference. I got a few messages from surprised, curious colleagues. But the messages were of the ‘oh wow, that’s weird’ variety, as if the lopsided tally was a random anomaly rather than a critical failure of our diversity North Star.”
Berliner says he sees the same problems at other news organizations, but argues that NPR has a greater obligation to fairness. “We have great journalists here. If they shed their opinions and did the great journalism they’re capable of, this would be a much more interesting and fulfilling organization for our listeners,” he said.
NPR told the Berliner that he had failed to secure the organization’s approval for outside work for other news outlets, as is required of NPR journalists, and called the suspension letter a “final warning” — Berliner would be fired if he violated NPR’s policy again. Berliner, a dues-paying member of NPR’s newsroom union, says he is not appealing the punishment.
Discussion: Berliner’s essay noted NPR’s prior reputation for outstanding journalism, but said, “Back in 2011, although NPR’s audience tilted a bit to the left, it still bore a resemblance to America at large. … By 2023, the picture was completely different: only 11 percent described themselves as very or somewhat conservative, 21 percent as middle of the road, and 67 percent of listeners said they were very or somewhat liberal. We weren’t just losing conservatives; we were also losing moderates and traditional liberals.” Some of that is a reflection of the American public’s polarization, growing skepticism of traditional news outlets, and the proliferation of social media “influencers” and podcasts that have undermined confidence in the media. However, many legacy news outlets also tilted away from unbiased reporting with Donald Trump’s ascension to the presidency, promoting “advocacy journalism” that shunned “both-sidedness” — presenting both sides of an issue — as giving too much legitimacy to Trump’s fascist bent. Many also became “access journalists” who curried favor with those in power while ignoring the views of average Americans. They no longer were interested in fairly presenting both sides of the stories they did for fear of amplifying the views with which they disagreed.
Johnson Plans To Bring Aid Packages To House Floor
Hardliners in the House Freedom Caucus said they oppose linking monetary support for Israel to Ukraine aid, but Speaker Mike Johnson plans to bring four bills to the floor this week, including aid to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan, as well as a package that includes a lend-lease deal for military aid, a ban on TikTok in the US, and provisions to sell off assets seized from Russian oligarchs.
A draft of Johnson’s plan closely matches the $95 billion Senate-passed bill that provides aid to Israel, Ukraine, and other U.S. allies, but it may not include humanitarian assistance for Gaza.
Johnson intends to try passing the bills under a rule that requires a simple majority for approval, but may not be able to achieve passage with the GOP’s slim, two-vote majority, therefore requiring Democrats to vote for them as well — something that is likely to succeed if their demands for help in places like Gaza are part of the package.
Discussion: Johnson is publicly dismissing concerns about his future as speaker, under threat from Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) who has threatened to seek his ouster if Ukrainian aid passes. She now says she has not decided whether to seek Johnson’s removal as speaker.