To the News Media:
You don’t have to put up with the stupidity.
Those who will populate the new presidential administration in Washington have a history of lying to and misleading the news media and the American people. This is not an opinion, it is fact.
The news media – writ large – has had trouble dealing with this point over the last eight years, because fairness is a watchword in journalism. As a result, reporters and editors often feel compelled to publish the absurd statements of the incoming president and his various spokespeople in an effort to maintain the appearance of objectivity.
It doesn’t have to be this way. A spokesperson is allowed to say anything they want, but the press is under no obligation to publish it.
The inspiration for this memo comes from this excerpt from a recent story in The New Yorker about the incoming president’s selection for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth:
“Tim Parlatore, a lawyer for Hegseth, replied with the following statement, which he said came from “an advisor” to Hegseth: “We’re not going to comment on outlandish claims laundered through The New Yorker by a petty and jealous disgruntled former associate of Mr. Hegseth’s. Get back to us when you try your first attempt at actual journalism.”
To accuse The New Yorker, of all publications, of not engaging in actual journalism is beyond stupid and there is no obligation for the magazine to print the statement. It would be better to say “a spokesman for Hegseth refused meaningful comment.”
Point Two:
There is no federal Department of Government Efficiency and therefore Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy can not run it.
It would take an act of Congress to create a new department. It would also take an act of Congress to appropriate the money to establish the agency. The creation of the new office would in itself be inefficient, because it would be creating a new layer of bureaucracy. It might take a year or more – given the make-up of Congress to pass such legislation.
The only true thing that can be said about this issue is that the incoming president plans to create a new government agency to reduce the size of government and he has proposed that it be led by Musk and Ramaswamy. It would also be fair to note that all other federal government agencies have one leader, not two, because it is seen as being more efficient.
That would be smart, not stupid.
