CONCERNS: Their concerns may not be the public's concerns!

THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2024

Joe Scarborough's major concern: For roughly 90 minutes today, the whole (cable news) world was watching.

The Fox News Channel had stayed live from L.A. all through the past two nights. 

For two straight nights, its overnight reruns were kicked to the curb. In their stead, Jonathan Hunt stayed live on the ground at the scene of the action, right there on the UCLA campus. 

This morning, at 6 o'clock, Morning Joe opened with its standard discussion about what will happen if Donald J. Trump is elected again. At some point around 6:20, they too went live at UCLA. 

They remained live there until 8 o'clock. For that hour and forty minutes, the whole cable news world was watching as the LAPD began to address a wide range of concerns.

"Your concerns are my concerns," the Hemingway character said. She made her statement in 1979. You can watch the full scene from the feature film Manhattan simply by clicking here.

She was 17 years old. As it turned out by the end of the film, she almost surely had better judgment and more wisdom than the much older man.

Back to this morning's maelstrom:

As the LAPD began removing the barricades and arresting protesters, Morning Joe joined Fox & Friends in looking on. 

This afternoon, we may show you more of what was said on the respective programs. At one point, it seemed to us that Brian Kilmeade formally cemented his place as cable's number one red-ass.

Also, it seemed to us that Steve Doocy made the day's most pathetic remark. But Joe Scarborough's major concern was also a top concern of ours.

He first gave voice to the concern around 6:40 a.m. He went there again at 7:05. Speaking of his mother and father, this is what he said they said, back in the street-fighting days of 1968:

"We used to be Democrats. We're not Democrats any more."

He said his parents had always been Democrats—until they saw the vast disorder which swept the nation that year.

Later today, or perhaps tomorrow, we'll be able to post a fuller account of what Scarborough said. But at 6:24, as the panel watched what was occurring at UCLA, these comments were offered by two panel members:

PANELIST ONE: This is great for Donald Trump.

PANELIST TWO: He loves this.

Not too much later, Candidate Trump offered his first tweet about the events in L.A. On Morning Joe, Al Sharpton agreed with the NYPD's John Chell:

The conduct by the protesters at UCLA was pure Grade A bullroar. It should have been nipped in the bud.

Meanwhile, back at the New York Times:

In this morning's print editions, the New York Times finally got around to publishing a long-delayed type of report. 

Like many other major news orgs, the Times had largely averted its gaze ever since October 7. Finally, almost seven months later, Jeremy Peters offered a report about the views of student protesters.

It seems to us that major news orgs have been ducking the touchy subject matter involved in this line of inquiry. This morning, Peters offers a first, extremely sketchy attempt to explore the views of pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

Online, the report appears beneath this dual headline. 

It’s Not Just Gaza: Student Protesters See Links to a Global Struggle
In many students’ eyes, the war in Gaza is linked to other issues, such as policing, mistreatment of Indigenous people, racism and the impact of climate change.

"Jeremy Peter wrote a good piece," Jennifer Palmieri said on Morning Joe. 

That struck us as a typical bit of professional courtesy extended within the guild. It seemed to us that Peters' report was very sketchy, and in arriving this very morning, it was arriving remarkably late.

"Say you want a revolution," a well-known singing group said. The song was released in July 1968. The mop-tops were perhaps a bit skeptical concerning the push for change. 

Their final verse went like this:

You say you'll change the Constitution
Well, you know
We'd all love to change your head.
You tell me it's the institution
Well, you know
You better free your mind instead.

If you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao
You ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow

Don't you know it's gonna be all right?
Don't you know it's gonna be all right?
Don't you know it's gonna be all right?

But was it going to be all right? That was easy enough for them to say. For God's sake, they were the Beatles!

Starting in our senior year in high school, we did several very dumb things. We were only 17 at the start of this era, but it amazes us to think about how dumb those actions were. 

They were disrespectful to our mother, and also very dumb. We think about the way we constantly hear that the human brain isn't fully formed until you're 25.

Can Joe Biden win re-election? Well yes, of course he can.

Will he win re-election? Or is the footage from UCLA the latest boon for Candidate Donald J. Trump?

It seems to us that, wherever this leads, our team has earned its way out. We've found it very hard to understand how dumb our own cadres can be at times. As a group, we have little ability to understand the way we look to others.

"There's no such thing as woke," we've sometimes recently said. We've said that we've drawn that conclusion because no one can define the term! 

As humans, we're all inclined to reason poorly. That's true of us in Blue America, and it's true of them in Red.

In November 1968, we stayed up till the early morning hours, hoping that Humphrey could win California. By the end, only one roommate was sitting there with us in front of a small TV set.

Humphrey didn't make it that night. Decades later, the roommate ran, and he won the popular vote!

Joe's concern strikes us as a real concern. Having said that, we have no way of knowing how this year's race will turn out.