Vanity Fair pulled back the curtain a bit on how the media will cover Republicans in the 2024 presidential election cycle, attacking Ron DeSantis’ choice of announcing his campaign through Twitter chief Elon Musk, whom they compare to former KKK grand wizard David Duke.
Let the unhinged stupidity games begin!
Bess Levin, a politics correspondent for Vanity Fair whose bio self-describes her as “an essential voice of our current tragicomedy,” became the tragicomedy with a five-paragraph diatribe criticizing the DeSantis-Musk announcement.
The headline alone signals a level of petty ignorance one would expect from an ill-informed child:
Report: Ron DeSantis Will Formally Announce His 2024 Bid With Elon Musk, Because Apparently David Duke Wasn’t Available
“He is said to be planning to formally jump into the 2024 race during a conversation on Twitter with Elon Musk, because apparently other neo-Nazi sympathizers weren’t available,” ol’ Bess writes, because apparently actual journalists weren’t available.
This is in the “news” section of Vanity Fair—a paper I had once dreamt of writing for. And I’m appalled.
Note phrases like: “David Duke Wasn’t Available” & “Other Neo-Nazi sympathizers weren’t available.” These are words being thrown around wildly and irresponsibly—like little… pic.twitter.com/FhIj9Dt6v3
— ? Katherine Brodsky (@mysteriouskat) May 24, 2023
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Vanity Fair Smears Elon Musk and Ron DeSantis with David Duke Blast
The Vanity Fair smear of Musk as David Duke is a thinly veiled swipe at the Republican candidate himself and his associations. They’ve done this repeatedly over the years with Trump.
They forced the former President to repeatedly denounce Duke yet still continued to pretend he hadn’t. They’ll no doubt do the same to DeSantis and Trump this election cycle.
It is a sneak peek into the reality that those thinking DeSantis will be treated any more kindly by the media than Donald Trump – because he is supposedly the more level-headed candidate – are simply fooling themselves.
“Anyway, just as a reminder, a DeSantis presidency is as terrible a prospect as a Trump one,” Levin adds to her column. Astonishing – there are now two Hitlers running for President?!
She was summarily ripped to shreds on social media.
Venture capital founder David Sacks wrote, “The media has lost its mind.”
The media has lost its mind. pic.twitter.com/j9awsApaY2
— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) May 24, 2023
True, but that happened a long, long time ago. Actually, nevermind. You can’t lose what you never had.
Musk himself chimed in suggesting the Vanity Fair article comparing him to David Duke was so ridiculous that it had to be satire.
Looks like Babylon Bee has some competition for satire
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 24, 2023
Christina Pushaw of DeSantis’ rapid response team also fired back.
“They’re losing their position as gatekeepers … and they can’t handle it,” she tweeted.
They’re losing their position as gatekeepers … and they can’t handle it. https://t.co/abDoPpgIIm
— Christina Pushaw ? ?? (@ChristinaPushaw) May 24, 2023
RELATED: Media Frets That Republicans May Shut Out, Ignore Them Going Forward
Whined Over DeSantis Not Giving Them Access
Pushaw’s analysis may actually be spot on. Vanity Fair’s David Duke smear may be little more than bitterness.
Left-wing media outlets like this have been openly fretting that Republicans are going to shut them out during the 2024 election cycle.
“GOP politicians are increasingly shirking sit-down interviews, barring journalists from 2022 events, and skipping debates — an aversion to media scrutiny that could upend how the next presidential election cycle is covered,” Vanity Fair wrote.
Republicans “are increasingly shirking sit-down interviews, barring journalists from 2022 events, and skipping debates—an aversion to media scrutiny that could upend how the next presidential election cycle is covered,” writes @charlottetklein https://t.co/sCndzbyQQQ
— Michael Calderone (@mlcalderone) July 26, 2022
Odd. There wasn’t much outrage over an ‘aversion to media scrutiny’ when the current face of the Democrat Party, President Biden, consistently avoided sit-down interviews, perpetually denigrated networks that might offer scrutiny, and spent much of his 2020 campaign locked in a basement.
For years, GOP lawmakers and politicians have made themselves available to far-left media outlets such as MSNBC, CNN, the Washington Post, and the New York Times to name a few.
Why would any one of them in their right mind give credence to an outlet like Vanity Fair which is willing to compare Musk and/or DeSantis to David Duke?
President Biden announced his 2024 re-election campaign in a three-minute YouTube video. There was no snarky commentary from Bess Levin comparing him to his “friend” and “mentor,” the late Senator Robert Byrd, a one-time top officer in the Ku Klux Klan.
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