Snapshots of the Hamptons-based mind!

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2019

The culture which got us here: Long ago and far away, star journalist Diane Sawyer was hoping to get the answer to an important question.

Sawyer interviewed Marla Maples on ABC's Prime Time Live. With apologies for several aspects of his framing, Howard Kurtz reported the interview for the Washington Post:

KURTZ (4/20/90): After two months of silence amid the deafening roar of Trump-o-mania, Marla Maples took to the airwaves tonight to declare that she still loves Donald Trump but that "I'm not the reason for that marriage having problems."

In a blonde-on-blonde interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC's "PrimeTime Live," Maples, 26, speaking in a soft, breathy voice punctuated by nervous laughter, skirted most questions about her internationally rumored affair with The Donald, citing "pending litigation" from his wife, Ivana.

But the actress from Dalton, Ga., left little doubt about the once-intimate nature of their relationship, which Trump is said to have ended a few weeks ago, although Maples said she was in Guatemala at the time. When Sawyer popped the $5 billion question—You still love him?—Maples said, "You know, I, I can't lie about it. Oh, I do." She answered the same way when Sawyer asked if it had been a romance, saying, "I do love him."

There were no torrid, BEST-SEX-I-EVER-HAD revelations—in fact, Maples refused to answer Sawyer's BEST-SEX question, but called the quote attributed to her by a friend "an absolute, total lie."

Maples refused to answer Sawyer's BEST-SEX-YOU-EVER-HAD question! In these ways, stars like Sawyer helped create the braindead culture within which Donald J. Trump ended up in the White House.

This Sunday, the Sawyer types were at it again. The New York Times ran a lengthy profile of the way Maples spends her Sundays. Including plenty of photos!

This is what these Hamptons-based idiots actually wonder about—or it may just be what they think their readers wonder about. Yesterday morning, on page A3 (print editions only), the daily "Conversation" feature said this:

The Conversation
FOUR OF THE MOST READ, SHARED AND DISCUSSED POSTS FROM ACROSS NYTIMES.COM

[...]

3. How Marla Maples Spends Her Sundays
Readers were fascinated by the Sunday routine of Ms. Maples, President Trump's ex-wife, who recently has had a recurring role as a Christian fast-food proprietor in "The Righteous Gemstones" on HBO. Ms. Maples' Sundays are filled with fitness and spiritual pursuits.

"Readers were fascinated by" the profile. Or so some unnamed New York Times editor said.

(Item #4 involved Will Ferrell's appearance on Saturday Night Live. These were two of the four "widely-read posts" the New York Times chose to feature.)

The spectacular dumbness of New York Times culture has been with us for a long time. This helps explain the gruesome devolution which has ended with Trump where he is.

Diane Sawyer got there first. In such ways, our nation's most brilliant journalists become major huge giant stars.

The rewards are simply too damn high. This problem continues on cable.