Things get dangerous when authoritarians lose control

**David Pakman** (0:00)
Dozens of you wrote to me about a disgusting video clip of a legacy media journalist laughing it up with Stephen Miller.
And maybe this captures why establishment journalism keeps failing. We're going to talk about it. Also, Donald Trump's attempt to seize control of state elections grinds to a halt as a judge says, no, you're not going to do this.
And Trump caught defending Vladimir Putin and claiming that he somehow just got into office and if everything doesn't look quite right or if anything doesn't look quite right, it's Joe Biden's fault. We're also going to look at reports of the Iran war completely depleting critical American munitions that we might actually need in other scenarios. And a completely unhinged speech by Donald Trump interrupted by a heckler calling him a pedophile protector. He didn't like it. And we will talk about what happens when you have both an unstable leader and access to nuclear weapons. Terrifying stuff, but it is the United States we live in after all.
If you ever find yourself sort of wondering, why does independent media matter? Why is it so important that we have independent media? I want you to take a look at this clip because it's difficult to hold powerful extremists accountable when the people assigned to cover them are laughing it up and socializing with them at Washington parties. I'm going to show you video here of NBC's Kristen Welker, moderator of Meet the Press, regularly interviewing top administration officials, including up to Donald Trump, hanging out in this video with Stephen Miller at the White House Correspondents Dinner this weekend. A number of people wrote in and said, David, you've got to comment on this. Is this as bad as I think it is? Let's take a look at the video and then we will discuss it.
So there they are. You know, they're smiling. They're laughing. They're they're having a wonderful time. Now a single short clip that was 17 seconds, that doesn't tell us everything. We don't know what Stephen Miller said. We don't know the broader context laughing at one comment, which is what Kristen Welker does. It doesn't prove or suggest that Kristen Welker endorses the views of Stephen Miller or considers him a friend. And I've talked before about how I've met plenty of people with absolutely repulsive political views who were perfectly pleasant to me personally. And it would be easy to go with them and get a beer or whatever. And in fact, I've also said two of the nastiest people I've ever met were both ostensibly on the left. One is the late Ed Schultz. Maybe many in our audience don't even remember him. What met him twice. And these were not like going up to him on the street and going, excuse me. It was like introductions from people we both knew. Just nasty to me.
The other person I haven't publicly named because they're still alive. But the two people who have been the nastiest to me that I met were people nominally on the left. It's not rare that you meet one of these right wing bomb throwers. And on a personal level, they are nice. And ideology and individual interpersonal pleasantness don't always line up. Stephen Miller might be a charming cocktail party companion.
He might ask about your family. He might compliment you. He might tell you a funny story that does not change who he is or what he has done as the architect of some of the most disgusting policies of this administration. Now, there's an important distinction between me and Kristen Welker. I am not a journalist, nor do I present myself as one. I'm a political commentator. I'm an opinion host. I am open about my values.
We have candidates on the show, and I don't attempt to hide whether it's a candidate whose policy and ideology I mostly agree with or mostly disagree with. I'm sort of transparent about that. This is a different sort of show. I support candidates. I oppose candidates. I tell you what I believe. I explain why.
Kristen Welker represents an institution that presents itself as objective journalism. She interviews administration officials. She's supposedly responsible for scrutinizing them on behalf of the public. And that responsibility is tougher when the people you cover become people you socialize with and laugh with. And we're sort of extrapolating from that one little video.
But this is the central problem with establishment political media. Stephen Miller becomes a guy from work. You interview him on Sunday. You see him at a reception the following Saturday. You share appetizers, pigs in a blanket or whatever they're handing out. And you are sort of both absorbed into the same social class of Washington people. And then the next weekend comes around and on Meet the Press, you're expected to confront him aggressively and seriously about family separation or mass deportation or attacks on birthright citizenship and a political project built around being cruel to immigrants. That is more complicated when the guy across the table from you is the guy from last week's party. Now there is a line here. Journalists don't need to scream at government officials whenever they encounter them, including at a place like the White House Correspondents Dinner. I don't think that's reasonable. They don't need to throw their drink at them or start fist fights. Politeness is fine. Basic professionalism is to be expected. But there's a difference between civility and appearing socially delighted to fraternize with one of the most dangerous ideologues in American politics. Social familiarity does affect journalism and it influences what questions get asked, how aggressively lies are challenged, whether extremists are described honestly or painted as just partisan operatives. And this is one reason of many that independent media is so essential. I'm not worried about losing my invitation to the White House Correspondents Dinner. I'm not trying to preserve access to Stephen Miller. My ability to do this show doesn't depend on being welcomed into the social circles of the people I cover. My ability to do this depends on you. And that is a very different situation from what we see in corporate media. Independent media can clearly say Stephen Miller is an extremist because we don't need Stephen Miller to like us. And we can identify authoritarianism without wondering, is it going to make the next cocktail party a little bit awkward? And we can challenge people without worrying that they will, you know, stop returning my calls or whatever. Of course, independent media has its own problems. And in my forthcoming book, Pay Attention, I talk about the notion of being independent and what that does mean and what it doesn't mean. We also have people who are dishonest. We have people who are reckless. We have people who will tell their audiences whatever generates the most clicks.