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rachel maddow
Requiem for a President
It’s time for someone to write the final scene and tell us how this story ends.
Jul 21, 2024
Joe Biden may no longer be running for president by the time you read these words. Or he may be clinging to his diminishing hopes of victory. Either way, we’ve seen this movie before. It’s the one where an aging, punch-drunk fighter stays in the ring for too long, suffering humiliation after humiliation on his journey from the top to the bottom. Rod Serling’s teleplay Requiem for a Heavyweight is a classic example of this vintage storyline of battered boxers and their cynical managers.
I should add that I don’t dislike Joe Biden. I’ve always had a soft spot for old-school Irish politicos, having covered a couple in my day (see here). I was always somewhat fond of Joe, despite our ideological differences—at least until the genocide in Gaza. But today, I feel something politicians should fear even more than hostility: I feel sorry for him.
I do dislike being gaslit. Most people do. Biden’s allies have been gaslighting voters for too long, creating distrust that could doom Democratic candidates up and down the ballot. And they’re not the only ones being gaslit. So is Biden himself. Like an aging pugilist in an old movie, he’s being manipulated by people who have put their own interests above his. They’ve let Biden think he can still win. That’s cruel. It’s even crueler to keep pushing him into appearances where he says things like, “By the way, I’m proud to be, as I said, the first vice president, first black woman, to serve with a black president.”
Listen, I don’t care if he says he was the star of Medea’s Family Reunion—if he does it in private. Sentences like that are common for people with neurological problems, as anyone who’s cared for a declining loved one knows. They should be met with compassion and patience. But it’s heartless to let them be said on a global stage.
Biden’s supporters are starting to embarrass themselves, too. Operatives who promoted Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama in 2008 by summoning the specter of a “3 am phone call” now back a president who reportedly told a group of governors that, as the New York Times puts it, “he needs to get more sleep and work fewer hours, including curtailing events after 8 pm.” (The White House did not directly deny these second-hand reports but said that such limits are typical of recent presidents.)
MSNBC’s assertions have further degraded its credibility with all but the most avowedly partisan Democrats, as when Rachel Maddow praised Biden’s NATO press conference. The president demonstrated “a startlingly impressive command of the issues” and was “a master of the field of foreign policy,” Maddow said, despite Biden’s lack of coherent plans for Ukraine, Gaza, or the accelerating Cold War with China.
What about the press conference’s syntax, you ask? The New Yorker’s Isaac Chotiner writes, “I encourage you to read the White House’s transcript of the event and try to follow the train of thought in almost any of Biden’s answers.”
Lawrence O’Donnell blended his trademark pomposity and condescension with a profound—and profoundly partisan—misreading of history. “Pundits suggest replacing President Biden as the Democratic nominee,” said O’Donnell, “because they don’t understand the job of the presidency or how conventions work.”
That’s flim-flam. Party rules allow Biden to step aside. And while O’Donnell gamely attempted to equate Biden’s condition with Franklin D. Roosevelt’s physical impairment, FDR’s health did not affect his cognition or his ability to communicate with the public—both of which are presidential job requirements.
“It's not the time for someone to decide that the pilot who has flown this plane before successfully should be pulled out of the cockpit because he's too old,” says O’Donnell. But what if the pilot becomes ill and can’t do his job? We’ve seen that movie, too.
I have now heard confidential comments from multiple doctors—including a neurologist, neuropsychiatrist, and geriatrician—who say they believe the president has a progressive brain disease. Each said that his outward appearance suggested Parkinsonism, which is described in the National Library of Medicine as “a broad term referring to various neurodegenerative diseases that manifest with motor symptoms such as rigidity, tremors, and bradykinesia” (a movement disorder).
There are several diseases associated with Parkinsonism, of which Parkinson’s Disease is the most common. I am told that signs of these diseases can be seen in a person’s gait, facial expressions, speech, and other outward indicators.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has been vague, evasive, and self-contradictory about Biden’s health. (Read this briefing transcript and see for yourself.) Then there are those eight visits from a Parkinson’s specialist, followed by a doctor’s letter with an oddly worded sentence that, upon careful reading, excluded several conditions but not Parkinsonism.
Jean-Pierre made another heavily parsed statement: “Has the president been treated for Parkinson’s? No. Is he being treated for Parkinson’s? No, he’s not. Is he taking medication for Parkinson’s? No.” “Parkinson’s” refers to Parkinson’s disease. It does not exclude other forms of Parkinsonism or other neurological disorders.
The doctors could be wrong, of course. We can’t be certain because Biden won’t undergo an independent medical examination. Maybe the White House’s word pretzels created a false impression of secrecy. But the fact remains that Biden could allay these fears overnight with a medical exam and refuses.
Still, it doesn’t take an MD to know that Biden is unfit to run for president for one simple reason: he can’t convince voters he’s healthy enough to be president. Ergo, he probably can’t win. (And, no, voters don’t doubt Biden’s health because of biased media coverage. Polls show that they’ve been concerned for years.)
To be clear, the president doesn’t suffer from the syndrome that afflicts boxers. The phrase “punch-drunk” describes a condition now called Dementia pugilistica, caused by repeated blows to the head. It’s another form of Parkinsonism, with symptoms that include slowed movement, speech and memory problems, unsteady gait, and paranoia.
Which brings us back to Requiem for a Heavyweight, a drama with two different endings. In the 1956 TV play, the boxer quits fighting. He’s last seen coaching a child, hinting at a kinder future for the battered veteran. But in the 1962 movie his self-serving manager frustrates his attempt to leave the ring. This description of the film’s final scene says it all: “As his saddened [trainer] watches, [the boxer] dons his humiliating outfit, then faces the crude, bloodthirsty crowd.”
The public has waited long enough. It’s time for someone to write the final scene and tell us how this story ends.
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MSNBC Declines to Voluntarily Recognize Newsroom Union Effort
Organizers said that "we want to support one another and make this an even better place to build a career."
Jun 17, 2021
As current and former employees, media colleagues, and labor rights advocates on Thursday celebrated an announcement that MSNBC's workers have decided to form a union, the cable news channel's president made clear that leadership won't voluntarily recognize the effort.
"At a time when journalists and journalism itself are under siege, we want to join our peers who have paved the road before us in standing up for our rights."
--MSNBC bargaining unit
MSNBC is owned by a division of NBCUniversal, which is a subsidiary of Comcast. In a series of tweets, the editorial staff of MSNBC and The Choice--a news channel on the streaming service Peacock--said that over 200 workers have signed a union petition to join the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE).
"We are organizing to advocate for equal pay for equal work; diversity at every level of production; clear job descriptions and access to career development; a say in the post-Covid-19 workplace; and fair compensation for the hours we all spend to deliver the news," organizers said.
"We are standing up for each other and our work--because this is who we are," organizers added. "After 10 months of organizing, we are asking for voluntary recognition of our union and look forward to constructive negotiations with MSNBC and Comcast for a fair contract. #ThisIsWhoWeAre."
The tweets echoed a lengthy statement from the MSNBC bargaining unit shared by WGAE, which said in part that "at a time when journalists and journalism itself are under siege, we want to join our peers who have paved the road before us in standing up for our rights."
\u201cWe want to support one another and make this an even better place to build a career. That\u2019s why we are organizing to be a part of the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE). We are organizing because it\u2019s the best way to ensure a fair, equitable, and safe workplace. (2/4)\u201d— MSNBC Union (@MSNBC Union) 1623947558
"We are proud that the hard-working newsroom employees at MSNBC decided to unionize with the WGAE," said Lowell Peterson, the union's executive director. "They join thousands of their colleagues in the news and entertainment industries who recognize that collective bargaining is the most effective way to win a voice at work and to build sustainable careers."
WGAE represents about 7,000 workers, including newsrooms at ABC News, Bustle, CBS News, Fast Company, HuffPost, The Intercept, Salon, Slate, VICE, and Vox as well as Gizmodo Media Group and Hearst Magazines.
"We hope and expect MSNBC to remain true to its commitment to progressive values by respecting its employees' decision and recognizing our union promptly."
Rashida Jones, president of MSNBC, said Thursday in a statement to the New York Times that "we're looking forward to continuing the type of direct, open, and honest communication that has already resulted in meaningful change at the network."
In a message to employees that circulated on social media, Jones said that the network will not recognize the union without a secret ballot election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB.)
"I respect our employees' right to decide whether they want to be represented by a union, and I believe our employees should be able to make such an important decision through a standard election process," she said.
"An election supervised by the government allows all affected employees the chance to express their view on unionizing through a secret ballot," Jones added. "It is important to give everyone who would be included the chance to understand what this would mean before making their choice."
The Hill noted that "unions have long criticized requests for NLRB secret ballot elections as being designed to give management opportunities to dissuade employees from joining the union."
MSNBC show hosts Chris Hayes and Joy-Ann Reid expressed support for the union effort on Twitter:
\u201cAll right then! Proud of my peeps \u270a\ud83c\udfff\ud83d\udc4d\ud83c\udfff\u201d— Joy-Ann (Pro-Democracy) Reid \ud83d\ude37 (@Joy-Ann (Pro-Democracy) Reid \ud83d\ude37) 1623947646
Others in the media industry, including former MSNBC employees, highlighted pay concerns among off-camera workers and called the union effort "overdue."
The American Federation of Teachers--the nation's second-largest education union--and the Labor Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives also expressed support for the organizing at MSNBC:
\u201cWe stand with the newsroom staff at @MSNBCunion who have organized with the @WGAEast to collectively bargain for a better future.\u201d— AFT (@AFT) 1623961059
\u201cThank you to the House @Labor_Caucus for standing with the @MSNBCunion as they call for voluntary recognition from @MSNBC.\u201d— Writers Guild of America, East (@Writers Guild of America, East) 1623959821
Andrew Joyce, a segment producer at "The Rachel Maddow Show" who helped lead the MSNBC union effort, told the Times that "we as journalists believe that democracy works, as a nation, state, country, city or in a workplace; things work better when policies are made with input from the people."
The developments came as The New Yorker, Pitchfork, and Ars Technica unions announced that after more than two years of negotiations between the NewsGuild of New York and Conde Nast, they averted a strike and reached an agreement in principle on first contracts.
Congratulating the unions on "accomplishing a groundbreaking agreement that sets new standards for fair compensation, equity, and job security in our industry," president Susan DeCarava said that the NewsGuild of New York "is immensely proud of all that our members have achieved due to their unflinching solidarity and resolve in addressing long-standing inequities at Conde Nast."
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Mary Trump Says 'Crushing Defeat' of Her Uncle Needed
"He is somebody who needs to be right all the time and needs to be winning all the time, and will need desperately to spin away from a crushing defeat."
Jul 17, 2020
In an interview on MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show" on Thursday evening, Mary L. Trump warned viewers that anything less than a "resounding" victory for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in November will make it all the more likely that her uncle, President Donald Trump, refuses to leave the White House.
Mary Trump, the daughter of Trump's late brother, released her book about the president earlier this week. The tell-all, "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man," describes Trump as openly racist and incapable of admitting errors or shortcomings. As Mary Trump told Maddow, "I don't think that should surprise anybody, given how virulently racist he is today."
Far more pressing for the American public and for Biden's campaign to consider, the president's niece said, is the danger of allowing Trump to win re-election or to lose by a slim enough margin that he can claim that Biden does not have a mandate to take over as president.
As Maddow noted, a number of political observers have expressed fears that Trump will refuse to leave the White House even if Biden wins the election on November 3.
"I think it's perfectly reasonable to worry about that, but how he responds depends a lot on if he loses, how badly he loses," Trump said. "I think the more resounding a Joe Biden victory, the less likely it is for Donald to stick around. He is somebody who needs to be right all the time and needs to be winning all the time, and will need desperately to spin away from a crushing defeat."
"As far as I'm concerned," Trump continued, a decisive victory for Biden "is the only way to--not guarantee--but at least give us a better possibility that there will be a peaceful transition after the election."
Trump's warning echoed an article written by Ed Kilgore at New York magazine earlier this week titled "Joe Biden Needs to Win Big to Avoid a Contested Election."
The Democratic Party must prepare for Trump to contest election results, Kilgore wrote, particularly since he has called into question the use of mail-in ballots, which many states have already used during the primaries due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"Anything other than a landslide may lead Donald Trump to contest the results on the phony-baloney grounds that the mail ballots almost certain to be cast in large numbers are fraudulent and represent a 'rigged' election he actually won," Kilgore wrote.
Because polls are also indicating a partisan divide regarding willingness to vote by mail as the president calls the process into question--and mail-in votes cast largely by Democratic voters will likely be counted after in-person votes, Kilgore wrote, "misleading early returns may show Trump and other Republicans doing much better than they will eventually do, enabling Trump to claim fraud when those evil mail ballots turn it all around for Biden and his Democrats."
"Anyone doubting this is a plausible scenario needs to look back to 2018, when Republican congressional leaders Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy made specious claims of voter fraud when late-arriving mail ballots predictably shifted the results in key House races in California," he added. "It could have been a dress rehearsal for what might happen this November."
Trump lost the popular vote in 2016 to Hillary Clinton by nearly three million votes, but he won key battleground states including Wisconsin and Michigan, securing an electoral college victory.
A similar result could have the same effect as a clear victory for the president, Mary Trump told Maddow, saying that Trump's retention of power would "be the end of the American experiment."
"I do not believe there's any coming back from this" if Trump wins re-election, the president's niece said. "There are too many enablers who are for whatever reason continuing to enable him. Bill Barr has gutted the Justice Department, Mike Pompeo has gutted the State Department. We are in serious danger here."
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