Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote a column we wish all the members of the media had to read word-for-word, out loud, before they could log on to their computer systems.
Since that seems unlikely, we're giving you a multi-post thread that reproduces the column in its entirety.
Why? Because #Democracy is worth protecting.
#Expats: This column has been brought to you by http://VoteFromAbroad.org. Please #boost it widely.
DO NEWSPAPER COLUMNISTS KNOW THAT #DEMOCRACY'S CLOSER TO DEATH THAN #BIDEN?
Will Bunch
One of the first things they teach doctors in medical school is the imperfect but necessary art of triage, the technique used on a battlefield or during some other mass-casualty event to determine who is most gravely wounded and who needs immediate attention during a crisis when the system is overwhelmed, and clear-headed thinking will save lives.
1/19
Clearly, this is not something that is taught in journalism school.
Over the course of a remarkable weekend, I saw the best minds of my boomer generation destroyed by madness — newspaper columnists and other big shots convinced they were cosplayers in a real-world episode of The #WestWing...
2/19
...saving #America by giving chief of staff Leo McGarry the best words to convince an ailing #President Bartlet that it’s time to step down.
The soft clacking of these keyboard commandos turned into a stampede as the nation’s pundits, its editorial-page poobahs, mega-rich but anonymous donors, & Democratic horse whisperers competed to outdo each other on The Daily Rip or in “the paper of record,” or wherever they thought the actual frail president, Joe #Biden, might be paying attention.
3/19
Dropping names — #Whitmer! #Shapiro! #Warnock! — like a groupie backstage at a heavy-metal concert, floating wildly implausible scenarios, stretching so hard for historical analogies that several probably blew out a hamstring, America’s pundit class managed to achieve a level of groupthink that surpassed the brainwashers of The Manchurian Candidate.
4/19
All argued that for the good of the country he loves, #Biden — hoarse, barely audible, and visibly confused a few times during Thursday’s Atlanta presidential debate — must immediately end his candidacy.
Meanwhile, in the actual America that less resembles The #WestWing than the disaster flick #DontLookUp, two comets simultaneously bore down on America in the hours leading up to its 248th — and possibly last — birthday as a democratic republic.
5/19
First, there is #TFG — desperate to avoid his sentencing for his 34 felony convictions, firing off #racist insults about “#Black jobs” and “bad #Palestinians,” and carrying around a 900-page blueprint for #American #dictatorship called #Project2025 — streaking into the cosmic void of our troubled republic.
Meanwhile, #dontlookup but a thoroughly corrupt and compromised #SupremeCourt is blazing a second trail toward #American #autocracy.
6/19
@forteller synonym for He Whose Name We Choose Not to Amplify on Social Media (aka The Former Guy)