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I'm increasingly under the impression that many of our most prominent establishment reporters simply aren't all that fucking bright

If "I guess I'll go to bluesky to proclaim that a christofascist propagandist was nice to me in private and then be surprised at the blowback" isn't trolling, it's just politically and culturally dim and tone deaf

though a good chunk is also likely the result of the decades of ownership editorial conditioning you get at these major establishment outlets as a continued condition of employment in an industry devouring itself alive owned by people who demand you have no discernable personality on socials

I think he genuinely needs to believe that the administration and its lackeys are just "playing the game" and proof is in the supposed kindness behind the scenes, when the Game is on pause.

also he needs to believe that the game has legitimacy and is not inherently corrupt

(the game is inherently corrupt)

Chalk it up to a form of reporter stockholm syndrome.

I think there is also a personality type that is fostered in certain elite circles that involves a carefully calibrated sucking up. Some of us have been adjacent to those spaces but we were taught to call bullshit so we check out.

ownership of these outlets has a very particular type they like to hire resulting in a vary narrow spectrum of personality types retaining employment in a devastated industry

So too does every notionally elite space (law, business, etc.). It's not that you can't hack it by calling it like it is, but it is a lot harder.