It’s far too early to know who will come out on top in the unfolding Republican presidential primary, but if recent events are any indication, the corporate media will be its biggest loser.
Technological stutters notwithstanding, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential announcement in a live Twitter spaces event with Elon Musk and David Sacks on Wednesday night offered one glimpse of how candidates can reach audiences in a post-cable world. Without the gatekeeping of media activists, DeSantis had the chance to tell Americans his unfiltered opinions about issues such as the border crisis, woke corporatism, the threat of cancellation (financial or otherwise) to conservatives, digital currencies, and bureaucratic overreach.
He didn’t have to go through a partisan hack at The New York Times or Politico, who would inevitably ask an unsubstantive, bad-faith question like, “How much does your wife resemble Lady Macbeth?” Anyone who wanted to hear what he had to say didn’t have to rely on unserious headlines like “Ron DeSantis continues his quest to make Floridians ignorant” to convey substantive news values like DeSantis’ signing of a bill that blocks taxpayer-funded “diversity, equity, and inclusion” programs at state universities.
While parts of DeSantis’ livestream interview Wednesday could be justly critiqued as boring — his script certainly lacked the chaotic charisma of 2016 Trump’s best moments, though the same might be said for 2023 Trump — it was more substantive than anything the propaganda press has produced about the GOP primary or its growing cast of candidates. The
