Media Research Center writer Dawn Slusher continued her year of complaining that TV shows aren’t as right-wing as she is in an April 4 post complaining about “leftist propaganda” popping up in the reboot of “Matlock”:
When CBS unveiled plans to reboot the iconic detective drama Matlock with Oscar-winner Kathy Bates stepping into the titular role, many worried it would be another woke hatchet job, gender-swapping Andy Griffith’s beloved character with a woman. Thankfully, however, the show actually pays homage to Griffith with a clever twist: Bates’ character, Madeline Kingston, adopts the alias Madeline “Matty” Matlock to go undercover at a swanky law firm.
Her mission? To expose their cover-up for a pharma giant linked to her daughter’s opioid overdose death. It’s a nod to the original that actually works.
Thus, it’s been pleasant to watch each episode since they’ve been free of typical leftist propaganda. That is until this week’s episode, “The Johnson Case,” which was a slap in the face to Griffith and every other white male that has ever existed.
Slusher huffs that the episode focuses on “an immigrant woman, Isabel Sanchez … who wants to undo the conviction of a man she helped find guilty of murder 21 years ago” and “claims the jury foreman, a white man, bullied her into voting against her conscience as she was the only juror who believed the defendant was innocent.” She continues:
As most people would, Matty initially has a strongly negative opinion of Sanchez, believing she should have spoken up sooner rather than allowing an innocent man to be imprisoned for 21 years. But when Sanchez explains it in woke terms and blames it on white patriarchy, Matty suddenly sympathizes:
[…]There are plenty of high-powered, female CEOs that young, male interns would be afraid to go up against. But that fact is irrelevant in Hollywood’s woke narrative. Everything must be blamed on the patriarchy. Bonus points if they’re white.
Matty’s sudden pivot from “Why’d you wait so long?” to “Oh, poor you! Evil white men!” is peak Hollywood hypocrisy. Matlock had a good start, but now it’s just another casualty of the patriarchy blame game. Griffith’s legacy deserves better than this pandering mess.
Slusher groused that “Chicago Fire” didn’t follow the right-wing narrative of blaming Joe Biden for the economy on a April 24 post:
Leave it to Hollywood to completely rewrite history and try to cover up the failures of former President Joe Biden via blame-shifting. That’s exactly what happened on Wednesday’s episode of NBC’s procedural drama Chicago Fire, “Permanent Damage,” as one character tries to blame the high cost of living on “late-stage capitalism” rather than Biden’s absolute destruction of the economy and record inflation.
I guess we can give them credit for not trying to blame it on Trump? I’m sure they wanted to but probably realized that wouldn’t fly. In the episode, firefighter Lizzy is looking for a place to live that’s affordable after her landlord “doubled the rent overnight,” which she called “extortion.”
Slusher then spouted that questionable narrative:
Families are scraping by, not because capitalism is “late-stage,” but because Biden could barely form sentences, much less run the economy. Biden’s reckless spending ($1.9 trillion “rescue plans” and green energy schemes, for example) unleashed inflation that hit 9.1 percent in 2022, a 40-year high that’s still strangling wallets.
Under his regime, small businesses shut down while millions of illegal immigrants flooded the border for free hotel stays and complimentary meals on the taxpayers’ dime. Gas prices are still high, but are finally starting to come down a bit under Trump. Groceries are a luxury. Wages are still shrinking. And rent? Good luck.
Still, capitalism will survive and continue thriving. It’s why we have self-driving cars, smartphones, and streaming entertainment rather than endless bread lines. “Late-stage” whiners love their iPhones but hate the system that birthed them. They’ll hashtag their rage, ignoring how capitalism’s supply chains fuel their TikTok rants.
Since 1800, global poverty has plummeted from 90 percent to under 10 percent, thanks to markets rewarding innovation. Elon Musk didn’t need a government handout to build Tesla. He outworked the competition.
Slusher offered no evidence that Biden’s policies are solely responsible for economic turmoil during his term — she seems to have forgotten there was a COVID pandemic. And Musk did need government handouts to build his businesses; Tesla and SpaceX have received $38 billion in federal funding, which includes a $7,500 tax credit to consumers for each Tesla sold.
But Slusher is compelled to stick to the ideological script:
Inequality will always exist when success is based on effort and innovation. Everyone isn’t equally driven or talented. However, capitalism is the only system that offers a ladder out of poverty to anyone, while bureaucracy is like quicksand. Capitalism is the only system that harnesses human nature’s self-interest, creativity, and competition to build wealth and freedom. And capitalism is the only system that gives us a chance to overcome the heavy financial burden most Americans are facing now as Trump works to rebuild our economy and help it recover from Biden’s mismanagement.
Spoken like someone who has been thoroughly indoctrinated in right-wing, pro-Trump ideology.