The rise of the stupid from the children at Fox!

SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 2024

Also, the rise in border encounters: Without any question, it was a major news story. 

Under the following headline, the news report appears on the front page of this morning's New York Times:

Jury Orders Trump to Pay Carroll $83.3 Million After Years of Insults

It was a major news event—but why was the former president required to pay so much? 

Last evening, on Jesse Watters Primetime, the silliest and dullest boy ever given a primetime "news" show discussed the matter with Alexis McAdams, a "Fox News correspondent."

She isn't even a "legal analyst." But let's set that aside.

Why was the former president required to pay so much? As you can see by clicking this link, the dullest child ever seen on a "cable news" summed it up in the manner shown:

MCADAMS (1/26/24): I think $83 million was surprising to people you know, at home, we're watching, because we heard about 10 million, 12 million, and then you hear 83 was kind of a shock.

WATTERS: Well Alexis, so he said, "She's not my type," and that's $83 million?

MCADAMS: They want him to just not talk about this case...

Briefly, McAdams continued from there, failing to note how thoroughly stupid that highlighted comment was.

This is the degree of the stupid which is now ascendant on the rapidly evolving Fox. It stands apart from the earlier regime of partisan bombast associated with earlier primetime hosts, one or two of whom remain as primetime hosts.

The new regime is devoted to low-grade "comedy" and to the type of sheer stupidity put on display in that highlighted comment. Last evening, so it went as millions of viewers saw the large jury verdict explained.

The meltdown in American discourse has been underway for decades. In our view, the meltdown started within the mainstream press corps more than within the realm of Fox.

Rush Limbaugh was a major player at the time in question. That said, and once again in our view, the meltdown was fully underway before Fox even went on the air.

In our view, the meltdown is adopting a new form as Fox becomes more and more a low-grade comedy channel, with the preferred propaganda packaged under the guise of low-grade humor by an array of dull-witted boys.

More on that devolution to come. For today, we'll offer a pair of challenges:

Yesterday, the Border Patrol released its December figures. Headline included, Kevin Drum reports the findings here:

Illegal immigration skyrockets in December

It is January 26 and the Border Patrol finally released its official apprehension figures for December. This is the latest it's ever been. Is it a traditional Friday night news dump for bad news?

Maybe! Because it was definitely bad news. As expected, CBP reported a whopping total of 302,000 encounters on the southern border:

[GRAPHIC]

As usual, about 50,000 of these were asylum seekers who made appointments via the mobile phone app, while the rest were apprehended trying to cross the border illegally.

Possible clarification! In its own report on this topic, ABC News uses the term "arrests" in place of the Border Patrol's preferred term, "encounters." 

For the record, those 50,000 asylum seekers are operating legally. The other 252,000 were arrested while trying to enter the country illegally—that is to say, without authorization.

We invite you to look at the graphic Kevin includes in his report. As you will see, the numbers of encounters / arrests has, in fact, skyrocketed since early 2020. As far as we know, the numbers reflect the numbers of people who were apprehended, not the number who may have gotten away.

This topic is bombarded around the clock on the Fox News Channel. In our view, there's no obvious reason why it shouldn't be.

That said, the topic has largely been ignored on our own infallible blue tribe channel. Yesterday, that channel discussed the Trump verdict on and on into the night, with little attention paid to events involving the southern border.

Today, we issue that pair of challenges:

Yesterday afternoon, the five-member panel on The Five discussed the border first. To see how dumb and how stupid such discussions can get, we advise you to start by clicking here.

(You'll be accessing the Internet Archive's video of the pseudo-discussion.) 

Yesterday, Harold Ford sat in the "liberal" seat on the panel, the one Democrat out of five. As he finally attempts to discuss the possible pending border deal, the angry interruptions start, along with the endlessly fractured logic.

No one has actually seen the terms of the possible border deal. Such niceties rarely stop the conduct of Fox pseudo-star "Judge Jeanine" Pirro, who interrupted Ford persistently.

As you can see, Ford was taking a line which was very friendly to the standard red tribe assessment of this matter. (We're not saying he was wrong to do so.)

That said, nothing is good enough on Fox except the level of sheer stupidity which was brought to the discussion you'll watch—brought there by Watters once again, and of course by his angrier sidekick, Serra High's Greg Gutfeld.

(Watters and Gutfeld are regulars on The Five. They tend to dominate the program's discussions through the silly interjections which emerge from their naughty-boy, dull-witted bromance.)

This is what millions of people are now offered as the state of reliable broadcast journalism. In our view, the steady meltdown which has led to this situation started at least three decades ago. But if you choose to click that link, you'll be looking at the new generation of the stupid as it's currently being performed on Fox.

Yesterday afternoon and evening, our own tribe's stars went on and on about how much money Trump was assessed. It was a major news event. That said:

Until very recently, our blue team has rarely made any attempt to tackle the rather potent border issue—an issue which could send Donald J. Trump back to the White House next year.

Now for your final challenge:

If you want to click around a bit, you'll be able to see a short clip of President Biden speaking at a Wisconsin brewery on Thursday of this week.

In that very short clip, the president lapsed into a bit of speech described as "his best gibberish yet." We know of no reason to think that the video clip has been doctored.

The clip went viral in Red America. In Blue America, this apparently peculiar moment simply didn't occur.

Viewers of Fox see such clips all the time. On blue tribe channels, we don't. You can read the Fox News report, and see the ten-second clip in question, simply by clicking this link. We don't know what the odd moment might mean, or if it means anything at all.

We don't know if President Biden is having problems which could affect his ability to campaign on behalf of his accomplishments. We very much hope that isn't the case, but we have real concerns.

We don't have the slightest idea who will win November's election. For all we know, former president Trump could sign a federal plea deal tomorrow in which, as part of the deal, he agrees not to run for office ever again.

We don't know what's going to happen. We don't know where the outcome will lead, whatever that outcome might be.

We do know this:

The sheer stupidity being peddled on Fox is a cancer on the nation. In our view, the New York Times has played a significant role in this overall rolling devolution, dating back at least three decades. 

As a possible matter of professional courtesy, the New York Times doesn't discuss the big stupid being dispensed every evening on Fox.  Can a large modern nation expect to function in the face of such cultural arrangements? We don't think the answer is obvious.

It's much too late to stop the flow. At this site, we expect to have a great deal more throughout the year about the rise of red tribe dumb and about our current blue avoidance.

In fairness, the silly children at Fox are just extremely dumb. They're silly and childish and very low-grade, and they're being well paid.

So it goes with the silly children at Fox. What's our tribe's excuse for our failure to serve, for our ongoing refusal to engage?