The media bets their entire stack of chips…again.

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

The legacy media – what we used to call the “mainstream media” and before that the “press” – has gone all-in for Joe Biden. With the exception of certain (but by no means all) of the on-air faces at the Fox News Channel, essentially everyone in media in New York and Washington is betting on Joe.

These same people made the same bet four years ago on Hillary Clinton. That bet came to tears. (In the case of ABC’s Martha Raddatz, it literally was tears.) The media got it spectacularly wrong in 2016.

In the wake of that failure there were some token efforts at introspection. New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet offered self-criticism saying, “we didn’t quite have our finger on the country.”

I, myself, had a conversation with a top executive at one of the Big Three networks who was candid enough to say, “Our coverage [of election night] made it look like someone had died.”

In 2020, as in 2016, many of the polls about which the legacy networks report are sponsored and/or underwritten by those very networks. Examples include the ABC/Washington Post poll, the NBC/Wall St. Journal poll, etc. These polls – and a long list of others –have Biden beating Trump in a walk.

Which is to say that less than two weeks before the 2020 election things look much as they did in 2016. Biden in 2020, like Hillary in 2016, is comfortably ahead and most of the media is saying, without actually using the words, that the race is over.

So those in the media say. Again.

But I have a message for you, my elite and oh, so rarefied media colleagues. You’d better be right this time. Because you’re more hung out this time than last. In the last presidential cycle, you guys were initially amused by Trump. As he began to rack up primary wins that amusement morphed into bemusement – you just couldn’t understand how what was happening could happen. By October, that bemusement had morphed into irritation. You were counting the days until his inevitable defeat.

The stricken looks on your faces on Election Night 2016 were replaced by outright anger in the days that followed. You have been trying to destroy – or, at the very least, delegitimize – Donald Trump’s presidency every day since.

The problem is that in so doing you simultaneously delegitimize the hopes, aspirations and clearly stated preference of 63 million voters spread across the majority of precincts in the majority of counties in the majority of the states in the Union. Though you are spectacularly unaware of it, your business model depends on having a sizable percentage of those eyeballs.

Your smug self-assurance notwithstanding, Trump can win this and you’ve all bet the farm that he won’t. If you lose that bet, the heartland of this country – those 63 million people – will be fully, finally and forever done with you.

For my part, I’m hoping that Trump wins. For your sake, you’d better pray that he doesn’t.

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Paul Gleiser

Paul L. Gleiser is president of ATW Media, LLC, licensee of radio stations KTBB 97.5 FM/AM600, 92.1 The TEAM FM in Tyler-Longview, Texas.

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17 Responses

  1. Buddy Saunders says:

    Given the rapid developments in Laptopgate, were I a betting man, I’d bet at this point 5 to 1 that President Donald Trump will win the election.

    • Buddy, I agree with you sir.

      • Ron Eagleman says:

        I also agree that President Trump SHOULD be re-elected; his performance, in spite of the treasonous interference, deserves 4 more years. My only concern is the lack of morality of the Left, and the willingness of the Democrats to do anything to gain power. This lust for power, and the dedication to ” fundamentally transform” our country will expose the dirty underbelly of this once great party. They no longer campaign on having better ideas, they specialize in intimidation, censorship, and downright fraud….especially voter fraud! We need a landslide to put a cork in this bottle of poison!

  2. Michael Reagan says:

    I am putting my faith and hope in the “everyday” citizen (deplorables) who know the so called elite media puppeteers think we are just plain ole stupid. The NASCAR crowd, as I like to call them. We voted in mass in 2016 and by all measures so far, even more of “us” are early voting this year. The remainder will show up on November 3 and finish the job. Color me crazy, but I do believe I am 100% correct. Why, because the conversations I have had with my left leaning In-Laws and friends are all voting for Trump. They are spread across several swing states and have indicated their friends are afraid of the Democrats stance on police, religion, and shutting down the country over Covid. Again, they are hard working people who are educated and can make their own decisions. They know the mainstream media is full of crap and get sick of hearing the same garage day in and day out. Blue wave? Nah.

    • Buddy Saunders says:

      Agree. Everyone I speak with is voting Trump (except my MIT-educated left-leaning son who, like many such, is infatuated with the wonders of socialism). In my business, I talk to other business people and I’m not shy about saying I’m for Trump. When I do, the reaction is invariable an enthusiastic “Me too!” For example, I spoke with Tony, a young man who came here 17 years ago from a South American country with nothing in his pockets. His first jobs were minimum wage warehouse, then truck driver. He didn’t just work his tail off, he watched the product delivery industry and in time saw a opportunity that he has turned into a nation-wide pack and ship business that I’m using to get pallets of comic books (when not enough for a semi-load) from the seller (collector or comic shop) to one of my warehouses. When I recently told Tony I supported Trump, he replied enthusiastically, “Trump, Trump, Trump, it’s gotta be Trump. He has been great for my business.”

      At least at this point, I believe this nation still has more makers than takers and if that is true, Donald Trump will have a second term and the nation will be far the better for it.

      Saw the last debate last night. Trump listens and learns. He won the debate, not because of his debate skills, but because his ideas for the country’s future make more sense–a lot more sense–than Biden’s. And on top of that, Trump is honest with us and Biden isn’t, as Laptopgate continues to reveal. I have to admit both Trump as well as Biden take money from China. But there’s a difference. Trump’s China money comes from tariffs and the money goes all to the American people, whereas Biden’s China money goes into his own pocket.

  3. Ron Eagleman says:

    I agree completely with Paul’s commentary regarding the crap shoot on which the legacy media are risking their dwindling stack of chips. I cannot seem to find anything with which to disagree or add, as he precisely describes how the media have pushed all their credibility chips into the middle of the table. It is amazing to watch! One would think that they have no interest in how the stock market performs, energy independence, a thriving economy, and especially the 1st amendment! Their behavior is much like the gambling addict; the compulsion to get Trump overwhelms any logical or self-preservation instincts. Is it possible that President Trump has so impaired the media psyche that they are contemplating suicide?

  4. C M Solomon says:

    I remember watching the 1962 “Manchurian Candidate” movie for the first time (57 years ago) and how terrified I was as the treasonous plot unfolded! The recent revelations of the corrupt Biden Family to have been a long-term, bought and paid-for partner of the Communist Chinese Party with the purpose to promote Communist goals at the expense of our country, is frightening beyond belief. Just think; Harris (VP Candidate) is a full blown Communist. How close can we come to the Manchurian Candidate?

    The First Amendment of the Constitution was paramount because it protected and promoted Free Speech, the free exercise of Religion, and a Free Press by which we citizens could be highly informed in order to protect these and other Unalienable Rights. The terrifying fact is that we don’t have but a sliver of a Free Press remaining in this country because of 50 years of radical Leftist indoctrination that has turned the corrupt (fake) Press into an anti-American propaganda machine controlled by subversive forces in direct opposition to fundamental Constitutional values. I believe that the blatant disinformation and anti-American propaganda that has been promoted in Academia for 50 years is the primary source of this evolving hatred for America by the non-free (fake) Press.

    This Press is now the megaphone for a dangerous coalition of wealthy high tech social media monopolies, deep state bureaucrats, RINOs, Academia, junk Science, State and Federal politicians, and Supreme Court activist hypocrites, all of which form a Cult-like movement for which the Press will always find willing eye balls to absorb their evil and irrational message based on lies. Given the large cultural split in the country, this Press can depend on their captive audience (nearly 50% of the population) to maintain a successful business model. This business model is largely immune to market forces because they can always “depend on having a sizable percentage of those eyeballs” that are hungry for the anti-American diet by which they have become addicted.

    In summary, the Leftist Press is a Captive Marxist Press, not a Free Press, which is acting as agents of malevolent international forces. They are supported with billions of funds being supplied by their ultra-rich, globalist benefactors that promote a Marxist take-over of American society with Trojan horse accuracy and devastation. Until we as a free country identify their SUBVERSIVE activity as an existential threat to our continuation as a Constitutional Republic, we can hardly keep our Rights as a FREE people.

    It is time to investigate this coalition of the Left and de-fund and prosecute their benefactors, “foreign and domestic,” as virulent enemies of the State. Lastly, ANYONE in government promoting Marxism in violation of their loyalty oath to the Constitution should be fired, immediately. Ignorance is no excuse. My tax dollars should not be paying for the salaries of ANY anti-Constitution, pro-Marxist employee or contractor!

    • Ron Eagleman says:

      I totally agree with C.M. Solomon! Ever wonder why approximately 50% of the population would finance the Anti-American bias of the legacy media? When you have people from all over the world risking everything to get here, you would think almost 100% of the population would never pay to read, hear, or watch such propaganda. I think that the answer lies in the final sentence of the 2nd paragraph: academia. “Rules for Radicals” by Saul Alinsky details exactly how to overthrow a government from within. One of the most important of the rules is to control education (academia), so that the legitimacy and morality of the government is questioned by the students. These students eventually become the leaders of our government, and propagate the propaganda that they have learned in these “re-education” centers. Presto, you have the audiences that support these left-leaning media outlets. As long as the faucets of academia continue to pour out this “hate America” poison, things will only get worse. Sadly, this monster continues to reproduce, which we witness every day in the media, and even on this platform.

  5. SEE the Borat sequel.
    All your questions will be answered,

    • Ron Eagleman says:

      Inquiring minds are always curious about how an electorate could vote for such goobers as those who represent the great state of Rhode Island, but the mystery has been solved.

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