by Roger Kimball
If you haven’t slept in the last few days, you know all about how aspiring First Gentleman, Doug Emhoff, publicly slapped ex-girlfriend so hard that she turned around. I believe, though I’m not sure of the chronology, that this happened after Emhoff impregnated the nanny he became engaged to with his ex-wife, well, probably to assist him with his questredefining masculinity“
Let’s draw a curtain. It’s impossible to distribute airsickness bags over the Internet, and I don’t want my readers to be left with a spectacle as nauseating as Kamala Harris’s disgusting husband.
However, I realize that if you were unlucky and found out about it from “Propaganda Press” – from New York Times Or Washington Post.say, or from CNN, MSNBC or other conventional media, it is doubtful whether you have come across the real Emhoff story.
The reason is that telling this story would violate the Narrative that the Propaganda Press exists to support – whatever that narrative is today.
As an aside, I have often wondered where the scribes and pundits working within the ranks of Propaganda Press go to get their daily marching orders regarding the Narrative. Does it somehow arrive with your morning oat milk and free-range boiled egg? Or maybe it is a more subtle process, similar to how bees perform dances inform your companions where the nectar is? I suspect this process may be closer to what happens when a body dies. Within minutes or even secondscorpses attract various insects. They lay eggs, just like e.g New York Times the reporter records his story and the rot continues.
Whatever it looks like, the propaganda press is always there aware. If Doug Emhoff were a Republican, you can be sure that a detailed chronicle of his misdeeds would fill the news cycle like a bloated corpse. Think back to what the media did to Mitt Romney – Mitt Romney! — when he had the nerve to run against the Chosen One in 2008. He he chose the kid in high school. He went on summer vacation with his son dog on the roof his car. Really, you can’t make this up.
Of course, it was miniature beer compared to the disgusting rage unleashed against Brett Kavanaugh during the 2019 confirmation hearings.
Those looking for a history of the rise of this partisan smear machine often cite the campaign against Judge Robert Bork during his confirmation hearings before the Supreme Court under Ronald Reagan. This inappropriate episode, in which media trolls searched through Bork’s trash and movie rentals for incriminating tidbits, ended with Ted’s appearanceChappaquiddick” “waitress-sandwichKennedy’s harsh condemnation of Bork on the Senate floor. This original case of character assassination even contributed to the creation of a novel verb in the language: bork.
This is all one side of what the Regime Party is about. There has been a different side to seeing over the last few days destruction and human misery left behind after Hurricane Helene is belatedly becoming public. As I write this, the official death toll from this disaster is around 300. Reports from people on site indicate that it is much higher, probably around 2000.
Regardless of the human toll caused by the storm, two things should be noted about the response of our government and the propaganda press fighting to control what reports of this response are leaked.
First, despite Propaganda Press’s efforts to conceal the facts, it is now common knowledge that FEMA, the primary federal agency responsible for responding to such disasters, has failed miserably. What initially sparked public outrage was a statement from Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas saying that “I’m sorry, but the agency ran out of money.” He really wanted to assist, but there were no “funds”.
Shortly thereafter, news broke that the Biden-Harris administration had released over the past 18 months or so approximately $1.4 billion for housing, care and food for undocumented migrants (and how many billions were transferred to Ukraine?). Hundreds of thousands of these migrants were stranded across the country, especially in vulnerable counties in red states, where they were provided with cash stipends and housing at taxpayer expense. I note that Mayorkas, as head of the HSS, is also responsible (under “Border Czar” Kamala Harris) for this leaky invention, the southern border.
The news that FEMA had plenty of money for migrants but none for citizens of North Carolina and Tennessee was met with outrage, especially since scary stories the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene was mounting.
However, this anger was moderate compared to the reaction to the news that FEMA was not only passive, but that actively hindering private relief efforts those in complex situations. Perhaps the most notable such story comes from Elon Musk, who in several posts on X described how FEMA is actively obstructing his efforts to make Starlink terminals available to people without internet.
“SpaceX Engineers” – he wrote in one post“they are currently trying to deliver Starlink terminals and supplies to devastated areas in North Carolina and @FEMA is both not helping AND not allowing others to help. This is unreasonable!!” Many other observers share Musk’s opinion. “We saw report after report.” said one“, “everyone says the same thing. At first they decided not to assist. Now they are preventing people from helping. Criminal.”
The destructive Biden-Harris administration seems to have finally woken up to the PR dumpster fire in their midst and has been sending joyful messages about what a great job FEMA is doing. The most nauseating clip I’ve ever seen is the one featuring “Marty” who claims to be part of FEMA, but who knows? Maybe he’s just an actor. But he has the reassuring attire and appearance of someone’s warm uncle who calmly explains that everything will be fine and everything will be fine if you just get in line and take your portion of porridge from the teat of benevolent government bureaucracy.
I believe the indispensable thing to understand about what FEMA is doing (and not doing) in places like North Carolina and Tennessee is that the Biden-Harris administration is making a comprehensive effort to arm the government against any rivals. Residents of North Carolina and Tennessee were denied aid because they are likely to vote for Donald Trump in just 30 days. In other words, this FEMA deployment, or pseudo-deployment, is the latest in Democrats’ ongoing voter suppression efforts.
If this sounds hyperbolic, you haven’t been paying attention. One of Lord D’AbernonThe most frequently quoted motto goes like this: “The English mind works best when it is almost too late.” Does this also apply to the American mind? We’ll find out in 30 days. Anyone who has a future for the republic (including you miserable wretch, John Kerry, The First Amendment) Better hope so.
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Roger Kimball is editor and publisher New criterion and president and publisher of Encounter Books. He is the author and editor of many books, including: The Fate of Permanence: Culture and Anarchy in the Age of Amnesia (St. Augustine’s Press), Rape of champions (Meeting), The Life of the Mind: The Use and Abuse of Intelligence from Hegel to Wodehouse (Ivan R. Dee) i Art’s Perspective: Challenging Tradition in the Age of Celebrity (Ivan R. Dee). Most recently he edited and co-wrote Where next? Western civilization at a crossroads (Meeting) and contributed to Against the Great Reset: Eighteen Theses Against the New World Order (Bombardier).
Painting “Doug Emhoff” by Doug Emhoff and “Damage caused by Hurricane Helene.” Rep. Diana Harshbarger.
