COMFORT FOOD IS US: The comfort food was general...

FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 2023

...all over blue cable last night: Over in the realm of the reds, Donald J. Trump is already selling product through the allure of his mug shot.

In fairness, the tribunes of our own blue tribe are already selling product that way too. 

As with the earlier "snow all over Ireland," the comfort food was general over blue tribe cable last night. At 10 p.m., Lawrence O'Donnell started his program as shown:

O'DONNELL (8/24/23): We now have the first mug shot ever taken of a former president of the United States. Here is Donald Trump's mug shot, which will instantly become the most famous mug shot in the history of photography.

[Mug shot appears on screen.]

The mug shot of the 45th president of the United States will go from tomorrow's newspapers into our history books, where the only presidential mug shot will live forever.

American high school history students will be looking at that photograph for hundreds of years. That mug shot will define the low point in the history of the American presidency. That mug shot will soon be everywhere in our lives.

[...]

We are still publishing biographies of Abraham Lincoln 158 years after he was assassinated. We will still be publishing biographies of Donald Trump 158 years from now, and 300 years from now, and each of those books will contain that mug shot. 

That mug shot will eventually be seen by more people than any other picture of an American president...Hundreds of years from now, history students around the world will be staring at that mug shot—staring into the eyes of Donald Trump—and wondering what they see.

Lawrence's monologue continued from there. To watch his fuller set of remarks, you can just click here.

(Spoiler alert: Lawrence said that those future students will be looking at "stupidity" and "hatred" when they stare into Donald Trump's eyes. He didn't mention the possibility that they will be looking at some form of severe mental illness.)

Lawrence's work can be highly informative. He also has a tendency to go way over the top.

We would call that opening statement a form of comfort food. Like almost everything else you'll see on MSNBC, that monologue seems to assume that Trump will end up being convicted in some upcoming criminal trial, and that he won't be able to make his way back to the White House.

As a general matter, the monologue seems to assume that this current episode will conclude in a way which is favorable to the prevailing world view of our own blue tribe. Presumably, that's one of the obvious possibilities. But the joy of watching MSNBC lies in the following fact:

On MSNBC, "[never] is heard a discouraging word" about the current situation. We blue tribe viewers are reliably told that the situation will resolve in our favor.

(Never is heard a discouraging word about another grim possibility. In the ultimate foolishness of last evening's presentation, we're even told what high school kids around the world will be reading and thinking about three hundred years from now, long "after the [climate] deluge.")

Lawrence was way out over his skis as he opened his program last night. That said, this is the joy of "cable news" as it is currently practiced.

Eight hours later, Mika began this morning's Morning Joe with another instant reference to that era-defining mug shot. Below her, on the screen, this pleasing chyron appeared:

INMATE #P01135809 RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT

Trump is already using that mug shot to sell various types of product. On MSNBC, our tribunes are using the mug shot to sell us "news product" too.

Will Donald J. Trump be convicted of a state or federal crime in one of his upcoming trials? That's an obvious possibility! It's even possible that he'll end up being frog-marched off to jail.

For better or worse, it's also possible that Donald J. Trump will be forced to stand trial next year and that he won't be convicted. Having said that, also this:

In large part because President Biden is a uniquely vulnerable candidate for re-election, it's possible that Donald J. Trump will win next year's election and return to the White House. (At present, the Biden-Trump polling is tied—and under current electoral college norms, ties go to the Republican.)

Since the winners write the history books, we can only imagine what high school kids in Lapland will be reading three hundred years from now if Trump somehow does get elected.

In one apparent action this week, Russia's version of Vladimir Putin may have rewritten the contents of Russian history books over the next clump of years. If our own version of Putin returns to the Oval, what will our history books be saying by the time he gets done?

On blue tribe cable, there is no need for fear or concern about such possibilities! Our tribunes will gather on historic evenings like last night with their many "dear friends."  They'll spend hours chuckling and chortling about that excellent mug shot.

[Never] will be heard a discouraging word about the way this dangerous mess could turn out! We viewers will get to hear plenty of happy talk as we're served our comfort food.

Is it really possible? Is it really possible that Donald J. Trump could get elected next year? 

Is that really possible? We'd have to say that it actually is, though we can't say what will happen.

On blue tribe cable, no such limits on clairvoyance seem to obtain. Lawrence is even able to tell us what high school students in Tasmania will be doing in the 24th century! 

Full disclosure! Comfort food may not be nutritious, but it does feel good going down.

Tomorrow: How might the Georgia indictments and trial seem to a pro-Trump juror?