Last summer, the Media Research Center did a lot of concern-trolling over non-right-wing reluctance toward a third-party presidential candidate (while hiding the right-wing money behind such efforts). As primary season drew closer, the concern-trolling heated up again. Jorge Bonilla wrote in a Nov. 9 post:
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin’s announcement today that he is not running for re-election sent shockwaves throughout the Acela Media, worried about the imperilment of both the Democrats’ Senate majority and the Biden presidency. But that panic was most palpable on ABC, which ran wild quotes against a Manchin run.
WATCH as ABC’s Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce dials the fear to 11:
[…]In all honesty, the other networks covered the Manchin news with the same furrowed brow and the same concern over what may befall the Democrat Senate majority and the Biden White House. But only ABC-Disney went to the effort of producing graphics indicating that Manchin’s potential White House aspiration is “perilous to democracy”.
And that, in and of itself, this suggestion that additional candidacies in a democratic election (whether Manchin, RFK, or Cornel West) “threaten democracy” is downright Orwellian.
Manchin doesn’t threaten democracy but he may, in theory, pose a threat to Joe Biden. And that’s why the partisan Acela Media, most emblematically ABC, are in a collective panic.
Bonilla failed to mention how Fox News covered this news, which tells us that he knows the third-party effort is designed to help Trump and that the right-wing channel likely fawned over it as much as he did.
Nicholas Fondacaro again incorporated this concern-trolling into his daily hate-watch of “The View” in a Nov. 10 post:
West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin announced on Thursday that he would not be seeking reelection and instead hinted that he might make a third-party run for president. The liberal ladies of ABC’s The View took the possibility very seriously on Friday and openly worried about how Manchin could hurt President Biden’s reelection chances, and how he was always the “problem child” in the Democratic Party.
“So, politically now, we have to talk because Senator Joe Manchin – remember him from West Virginia,” Friday moderator Joy Behar asked as if he was a nobody. “He has a lot of people wondering if power in D.C. will shift for the right because yesterday he announced he’s going to end his tenure as the Senate’s worst Democrat. He’s right there with that other – Kristen [sic] [Kyrsten] Sinema,” she announced.
Fondacaro then noted that co-host Sarah Haines “touted the idea of the No Labels Party” — but failed to disclose that the the No Labels movement is largely funded by right-wingers.
Bonilla returned for a Nov. 12 post complaining again about more criticism of third-party movements:
The Acela Media have gone into howling conniptions over the idea that U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) might run for president in 2024. The latest instance of such howling comes via Politico’s Jonathan Martin who, on ABC’s This Week, fretted over a potential GOP takeover of the Senate as a result of Manchin’s retirement, before saying that it is “imperative” that President Biden talk him out of entering the 2024 race.
WATCH as Martin urges Biden to summon Manchin and Mitt Romney to the White House and do a little “democracy”:
[…]As I mentioned earlier this week, it is outright Orwellian to suggest that individuals exercising their right to run for office as “imperiling democracy”. The idea that Biden should pull everyone into the Oval Office and talk them out of running has that same Orwellian tinge, and further clarifies that the Acela Media care less about actual democracy than they do about power. Power for Democrats, and the preservation of their access to it.
Tim Graham spent his Nov. 13 podcast ranting about all this:
Whether it’s elected Democrats (Jim Clyburn) or media Democrats (Jonathan Martin), it’s considered “imperative” to ward off dangerous third-party campaigns for president. Anyone not voting for Biden is electing Trump. If you could imagine yourself voting for Sen. Joe Manchin on a “No Labels” ticket, you’re electing Trump. If you vote for the Green Party, you’re electing Trump.
The supposed guardians of democracy don’t really like much democracy. You have to vote for Biden even if he “simply does not have the capacity” to campaign!
A Nov 14 post by Bonilla groused that Manchin was asked about the third-party stuff:
The media effort to stop a potential presidential run from Democratic Senator Joe Manchin (WV) was an all-hands-on-deck “imperative” Tuesday evening. The latest member of the Acela Media to try to deflate the Manchin balloon was CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell.
WATCH as O’Donnell cuts right to the heart of the matter and asks Manchin: “Wouldn’t you be helping to elect Donald Trump?”
[…]In this Orwellian media environment, up is down, good is bad, and democracy is anti-democratic if it poses a threat to the current regime. After all, can democracy really be democratic if it helps elect Donald Trump? The answer, increasingly, seems to be a resounding NO.
The fact that a third party would likely help Trump is the only reason Bonilla and his MRC co-workers continue to hype it.