THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 2026
...our Blue stars refuse to respond: This morning, we posted a key part of Michelle Goldberg's column from Sunday's New York Times.
We're big fans of Goldberg's work. In this passage, she's portraying what we would regard as a dangerous state of affairs:
Why Do We Keep Imagining a New Civil War?
[...]
For at least the last decade, a florid, aggressive contempt has been a constant in our politics. Donald Trump, after all, doesn’t just shower liberal cities and states with insults (and, in a demented A.I. video he posted, with excrement). His presidency has been devoted to punishing the places that didn’t vote for him, including by withholding health care and disaster funding. One of the things his voters have long loved about him is the humiliation and despair he causes their fellow citizens.
Many of those Trump partisans are still smarting over Hillary Clinton calling some of them “deplorables.” For decades they’ve been seething at the disrespect they feel emanating from America’s cultural capitals. It seems obvious to me that blue America is more abused than abuser, but that doesn’t really matter; the impossibility of coming to any agreement about the commensurability of our grievances just underlines the toxicity of the relationship.
According to that presentation, "an aggressive contempt has been [and remains] a constant in our politics." We agree with her assessment that, at the present time, Red America is more the abuser.
The toxicity is peddled for sport on such Fox News Channel programs as Jesse Watters Primetime and Gutfeld!. They're the second and third most watched programs in American "cable news."
Last night, on the inane yet noxious Gutfeld! show, the toxicity and the ugly expressions of contempt got started with the opening "joke" by host Greg Gutfeld.
(The program opens with a handful of jokes, then proceeds to four or five pseudo-discussions.)
Onscreen, the "joke" was sourced to Earth.com. It was delivered at 10 o'clock sharp:
GUTFELD (8/26/26): Good evening, everyone. Scientists recorded 420 human screams and discovered they can have many different meanings.
The main ones are pain, fear and waking up next to this:
PHOTO: Kathy Griffin
AUDIENCE: Laughter
It's an extremely unflattering photo of Griffin. Gutfeld uses it on a regular basis to subject Griffin to ugly braindead ridicule.
New York Times "feminist" Kat Timpf gazes on at moments like this; the blowhard "Tyrus" sits by her side. Last night, their benefactor's third joke went like this:
GUTFELD: Yesterday, Dick's Sporting Goods stock dropped 28 percent.
The last time dicks went down that fast was when these five hit the nude beach.
PHOTO: The women of The View
AUDIENCE: Laughter, cheers, applause
The star of the show was rolling along—and yes, he would have another:
GUTFELD (continuing directly): As the trade war escalates, Canada is responding with stiff new tariffs on lipstick, mascara and pedicure kits—
in a move vigorously opposed by ugly chicks.
And no, it didn't stop there.
This garbage is spilled on the stage each night as the feminist Timpf laughs along. The silence is deafening from Goldberg and from everyone else in the Blue American guild—from everyone at the New York Times; from everyone at The Atlantic; from all the deeply principled millionaires working for MS NOW.
Aggressive toxicity pours from this source. Blue America's guardians refuse to speak, notice or care.
It's time for Goldberg to explain why this situation exists. It's silly to think that a modern nation can survive such relentless dumps of toxicity, whether from a sitting president or from a person like Gutfeld, met by such measures of cowardice.
We're big fans of Goldberg's work; it's time for her to speak. It's clear that no one else ever will. As it says in a very old book, this is the gruesome societal breakdown our self-admiration has chosen.
Note that Somerby’s usual “blue America“ has today suddenly become “blue America’s guardians.”
ReplyDeleteAside from the fact that I would hesitate to call Goldberg any kind of “guardian”, it’s an important distinction, because in other posts Somerby simply attacks “liberals” without any qualifications.
Goldberg is alright with Somerby because she is less bombastic and more demure about her centrist, neoliberal stances.
DeleteYet "with Natalie" sends Somerby straight to the fainting couch.
DeleteAaaaaaa that darn Gutfeld, he's bad for Republican branding.
ReplyDeleteWe need to go back to the days when corporate media met with Republicans behind closed doors to get their marching orders and hid Republican boorishness from the public.
I have never imagined a civil war (what a weird thing to imagine) but I do recall briefly learning about the US Civil War in history class in high school.
ReplyDeleteWasn’t that war about how the states were defending their sacred rights against a tyrannical federal government?
DeleteIt was about protecting the right to have slaves.
DeleteThankfully the tyrannical federal government stomped those disgusting slaveholders to the curb. To bad it lifted the heel of its boot off their neck and allowed the fuckers to segregate. Fucking treasonous pig fuckung bastards.
DeleteThings would have been different if Lincoln hadn't been killed.
DeleteThese moronic attacks on Gutfeld are like trying to get Andrew Dice Clay to clean up his act. This is what Gutfeld does. He isn't going to stop or get better. This is what he is paid to do, so that men who have hostility toward women (especially famous ones) can feel justified in their own dislike of women. This is why men tune in to Gutfeld and it is also probably why Somerby watches him. (This is like the court justice who watched endless amounts of kiddie porn in order to be able to rule on its illegality in an informed way.)
ReplyDeleteKat Timpf is not a feminist (whether Somerby uses scare quotes or omits them -- he does both). She is critical of feminism and mocks feminists in her shows on college campuses and progressive venues. She says she is not a feminist. She considers herself a libertarian and doesn't want to be affiliated with any group, not even women. So, why does Somerby keep calling her feminist and expecting her to defend the ladies on The View? Timpf is not any kind of liberal but is a conservative. She is not going to stick up for other women simply because she is female. And she is anti-woke, so she doesn't represent anyone on the left who is interested in sexism or misogyny.
So why does Somerby do this? I think it is his covert, snide way of attacking feminists himself. He is trying to suggest that women are hypocrites when they don't address Gutfeld's crude substitute for humor. And then he generalizes that to all women, when the ones on Fox are there because they are OK with what Fox does.
"Aggressive toxicity pours from this source. Blue America's guardians refuse to speak, notice or care."
On what basis does Somerby say that Blue America doesn't care about the things Gutfeld says? Of course we care, but we can't do anything about it. Complaining is not the best use of our time -- we have elections to win.
"As it says in a very old book, this is the gruesome societal breakdown our self-admiration has chosen."
I suppose Somerby is referring to The Iliad with this sentence, but first, Troy did not have a societal breakdown -- they got sacked by the Greeks on the beach. Second, how did anyone's self-admiration lead to that result? Somerby is not making any sense at all.
I assume he gets his influencer stipend whether he makes sense or not. He got to kick feminists, which is a right wing talking point. He got to repeat all of those Gutfeld jokes about women being ugly, thereby advancing Gutfeld's show via his recommendation to other cranky men without women in their lives. He has said very little else here except to call blues bad for refusing to respond to Gutfeld's stupid non-jokes. Everything in this essay reflects a right wing talking point. He's not even trying to appear vaguely liberal.
No, this time he’s not referring to the Iliad. It’s the film The Godfather Part II.
DeleteThis is Somerby’s reaction to Kathy Griffin’s photo of herself with Trump’s head:
ReplyDelete“Needless to say, the liberal world can't exactly be blamed for the behavior of self-dealing multimillionaire celebrity hounds like Griffin. That said, the liberal world has constantly been harmed, down through the years, by the ridiculous conduct of the vapid, know-nothing, tone-deaf stars we can't seem to quit.”
“DOWNWARD SPIRAL: Dissembling and victimization is Us!
TUESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2017”
https://dailyhowler.blogspot.com/2017/08/downward-spiral-dissembling-and.html?m=1
note also that he says not “victimization is Kathy Griffin”, but “victimization is us”, even when other liberals had criticized her.
And suddenly he’s defending her, upset that liberal pundits won’t defend her from ridicule.
what is a celebrity hound? Would that be Natalie Harp?
DeleteSeems to me Kathy Griffin was outraged by Trump (as many of us were) but expressed herself in a shocking way. She didn't get our opinions before doing her stunt, so we do not share responsibility. My recollection is that it ruined her career for a long time.
Where does dissembling come into it? Over here in Blue America, we consider that celebrities speak for themselves unless elected as some sort of spokesperson. So we are not responsible for what Kathy Griffin did (or does). How was Trump victimized? No one actually cut off his head.
Somerby does seem to be developing a tendency to blame all women for whatever one woman does, based on his criticism of Kat Timpf for being a weak-assed feminist (when she says she is not feminist at all). It wasn't my turn to be telling her what to say.
Nobody is wired to be a woman. About half of the adult population choose to be women, God knows why.
DeleteThey choose to be women because they like to whine.
DeleteHormones in utero turn a default female fetus male.
DeleteIt is not OK to refer to ugly chicks just because Gutfeld did, even if you use quote marks. That Somerby does this sort of thing is one of the indicators that he likes the way Gutfeld reviles the women on his show. Comedy does not provide a socially-appropriate context for demeaning women. It shows bad behavior to disordered men who make money for Fox (or a comedy club). It is the humor equivalent to Epstein, selling attacks on women to men for vicarious enjoyment, without the audience having to take any responsibility. Except Somerby repeats this crap, so he definitely share responsibility with Gutfeld for advancing this crap.
ReplyDeleteAT heart, Somerby is a sneaky little shit.
Just today an ugly chick served me a cup of coffee. She did her work, and I respect her for it.
Delete"That Somerby does this sort of thing is one of the indicators that he likes the way Gutfeld reviles the women on his show."
DeleteGod, you're stupid.
This is why no one likes red voters.
Delete"WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In what was called “an experiment gone horribly awry,” on Thursday White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller tested a pair of ICE “shock gloves” on himself and inadvertently sent 380 volts of electricity coursing through his body.
ReplyDeleteMoments after Miller made the questionable decision to grasp his own neck with the electrified gloves, White House staffers found him writhing on the floor spasmodically and foaming at the mouth.
After he was rushed to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, a hospital spokesman said that Miller was “rambling and incoherent, so we expect a full recovery.”
At the White House, Donald Trump had no comment about the incident until Natalie Harp reminded him who Stephen Miller was."
I have a dream, that one day men and women will hold hands and walk in the sun without the fear of runty little ICE agents laying hands on them and spoiling the day.
DeleteDon't be silly, everybody knows you can't kill a vampire with electricity.
DeleteFox understands that its base is male, so it skews its content toward the Joe Rogan, Manosphere, ball-tanning crowd. Those guys think it makes them seem manly to say ugly things about women. Their audience of men who resent women laps it up.
ReplyDeleteSomerby should understand this. His lame protests followed by chiding women and blues for what Gutfeld is doing (as a business model and political strategy) make no sense. Somerby could be using his blog to inform people about actual blue topics, to encourage his readers with good news, to explore policy issues. That is what an actual political blog does. Steve M. demonstrates daily what an actual media analysis blog (from a blue perspective) looks like.This blog could be so much better than it is.
It's not a political blog. It's a media blog.
DeleteThen why isn’t it about media?
DeleteThis blog spends a lot of time bashing liberals.
DeleteOne of Dolly Parton's songs was "It Takes a Lot of Money to Look This Cheap!"
ReplyDeleteKathy Griffin is 65 years old. Rosie O'Donnell is 64. The women of The View range from 37 to 84. Joy Behar is 84, Whoopi is 70. Most men do not consider old women to be beautiful and there is no amount of money that will make Joy Behar resemble Natalie Harp. So what does Gutfeld expect? Trump does a far worse job of appearing well-preserved with his unblended tan, odd hairpiece and sweaty face. So who are these Red oafs to make fun of these women who are not trying to be anything but who they are?
This is where the ugliness comes in. They don't do anything to deserve what Gutfeld dishes out, in the ugly highly personal way he does it. It is like kicking Apple Annie or Aunt Bea.
What is wrong with them, and what is wrong with Somerby that he blames Blue America for the actions of Red media?
Hear! Hear!
DeleteAunt Bea was an asshole.
DeleteShe only said nice things about you.
DeleteThe hierarchical mindset on display. What's important is not what you DO -- all these women are highly accomplished -- but what you ARE, in this case, appearance. Just give a certain segment of the population something to sneer and snicker at and they are content. It doesn't matter what else you do. Corruption? Who cares! Incompetence? Who cares! Just make sure somebody else is worse off than me and I can laugh at them, and that's a good enough deal to get my enthusiastic vote.
ReplyDeleteGutfeld is a beautiful man, equal to Cary Grant.
ReplyDeleteWho got his ass handed to him by a handsomer El Sayed.
DeleteGary Cooper was more beautiful.
DeleteWhenever I have diarrhea and someone asks me what's wrong, I tell them, "I have the Gutfelds."
DeleteYeah, Gutfeld is no matinee idol. He looks like last week's meat loaf.
DeleteI think I am going to post this every day, because David stupidly thinks there are no transgender Jews and I’m sick and tired of the stupidity. He said “Jewish me [sic] don't participate in women's sports.” on August 27, 2026 at 3:48 PM in the comments section to the post “REFUSALS: The president's parents saved the world!” (Link: https://dailyhowler.blogspot.com/2026/08/refusals-presidents-parents-saved-world.html?m=1)
ReplyDeleteHere is the information:
“Organizations like Keshet, a national organization for LGBTQ+ Jews, frequently highlight stories and athletic advocacy from transgender Jewish individuals navigating competitive sports, high school lacrosse, and collegiate athletics”
Link to Keshet: www.keshetonline.org
Gutfeld is a “monster?”
ReplyDeleteWay to illustrate Dolly’s love and acceptance, bro.
Canadian Doug Ford suggests that Canada ought to change the name of Lake Michigan to Lake Epstein.
ReplyDelete