Former White House Communications Director for the Obama administration Dan Pfeiffer appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday and what he said was revealing, threatening, and great–all at the same time.
Pfeiffer claimed that the people who listen to “right-wing media” were “more likely to believe conspiracy theories about vaccines, conspiracy theories about elections.
“That is the problem in this country is that we have a very well funded, very aggressive operation that is spreading these lies for profits and political gain, and it is incredibly dangerous.”
He put out what was the constant theme of the segment — attacking Facebook for purveying “news,” which Mika laughingly said was “not where you get news.” Because how dare you not listen to mainstream outlets like hers?
That was quietly hilarious, when you think about all the conspiracy theories that Democrats and MSNBC have pushed over the last few years, with Russia collusion, paid for and spread by the DNC, with the Clinton campaign top of the list. People on the left believe all kinds of crazy things about pee tapes and Ginni Thomas (Justice Clarence Thomas’ wife) trying to “overthrow” the government (big scoop: she did no such thing) because of the crazy pushed by liberal mainstream media. Meanwhile, while there’s a lot from the mainstream against conspiracy theories on the right, there’s not so much targeted at deflating the conspiracy theories that flourish on the left.
Pfeiffer went on to say that the right-wing media advantage was much more powerful than that of the progressives, which is hilarious again, when you consider that virtually all of the mainstream media and the social media platforms are left-oriented. But what he’s expressing is the fear of the growing, right-wing alternative media that they don’t control. That’s why the left freaks out when you have even a guy in the middle like Elon Musk, who has been fairly liberal, gives them fits, just because he believes in free speech and has shown that he wouldn’t necessarily go along with the narrative.
They don’t even want to lose one media platform. It’s why they pushed the Disinformation Governance Board, and why they’re pushing social media so hard, even when those organs like Facebook are controlled by liberals like Mark Zuckerberg because they want to close down anything other than the narrative. They’re hoping they can push Facebook to ‘regulate’ more.
But then Pfeiffer said the quiet part out loud, what they also want — that it was time for Congress to “step in” and “regulate.”
.@danpfeiffer: "The right-wing media advantage is so much more powerful … than when I worked in the White House … Congress has to step in to think about how we regulate these algorithms that are pushing this disinformation for profit." pic.twitter.com/rs7uGBDfBj
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) June 6, 2022
“The problem around this is getting worse every single day,” Pfeiffer said. “The right-wing media advantage is so much more powerful.”
Pfeiffer then said it’s time for those on the left to “radically rethink how we communicate.”
“Everyone has a role to play here. Democrats have to be more aggressive. We have to invest in building up our own megaphone to compete with Republicans. That doesn’t mean we build our own Fox News, that doesn’t mean we run away from the mainstream media, but we have to invest in progressive outlets. A lot of people in the media have to rethink about how they deal with people who lie for a living, and then the social media companies have an obligation to do more, we can’t rely on them to do it on their own. So this is where Congress and the regulators have to step in to think about how we regulate these algorithms that are pushing this disinformation for profit.”
“Totally,” Mika said.
Talk about one more reason to vote them out of office, so Congress never complies with controlling information in the way that Democrats want.
But it also reveals something else. We are winning. They know it, and that’s why they’re pushing so hard for these midterms. The truth will out. When they can’t control everything, people can evaluate and see the truth. Americans wouldn’t be dictated to anymore with information. That’s why the top news and podcasts are Republican. And that’s what is scaring them so much, as Pfeiffer revealed.
Pfeiffer: "If you go to Facebook on a daily basis, the posts with the most engagement are from @benshapiro, @dbongino, @RealCandaceO … it should scare us the most that Ben Shapiro’s @realDailyWire has more followers than the NYT or CNN. That is a problem for democracy." pic.twitter.com/wuYLluaWLm
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) June 6, 2022
More information is a “problem for democracy?” How? What he means is it’s a problem for the Democrats and their narrative. Truth tends to do that. Americans have a hunger for the truth, so maybe Democrats may want to try some of it?
Pfeiffer followed up that interview with a tweet in response to Nate Silver (who is no conservative), but someone willing to tell the truth — that the mainstream media has a decidedly liberal bias. But Pfeiffer claimed the liberal mainstream media “has no interest in electing Dems (nor should they).” That’s laughable.
This sort of makes the point.
The GOP has partisan media whose interest is in achieving Right-Wing political outcomes. Democrats primarily depend on mainstream media that has no interest in electing Dems (nor should they)
Read my new book to learn more: https://t.co/smFLn4inDR https://t.co/tZj7ctbHFU
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) June 7, 2022
He was just on MSDNC, with them giving him a whole platform to do just that. He’s kidding with us, right?
But the big takeaway I think here is — they want to push Congress and social media to control us more because they know we are winning.
Here’s the whole interview, which is worth a listen–and funny, not just for Pfeiffer but also the reactions of Scarborough and Brzezinski.
Story cited here.
