DEMS/MEDIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “In the future—the future being next week—your news source of choice will contain only stories about Donald Trump and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Flexing all the verve and moxie of mind-control masters, the duo has annexed the attention of the nation’s editors and producers. If he tweets about the wall or the shutdown or Michael Cohen or Venezuela, the press pounces and amplifies. If she Instagrams the preparation of an Instant Pot ramen in her kitchen while giving an audio essay on policy, or if she uses Twitter to dunk on Joe Lieberman or Aaron Sorkin, news organizations happily fan her democratic socialist breeze into every home and phone in the country. Their media magic works on their newsroom friends and their foes. Just as CNN can’t leave the villain Trump alone for more than five minutes without chyronizing his latest outrageous tweet and convening all-star panels to dissect his latest White House lawn comments, Fox News and other right-leaning media have fallen prey to what the SiriusXM radio host Dean Obeidallah calls ‘Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez derangement syndrome,’ an assessment supported by data. As the Washington Post’s Philip Bump has reported, Fox News and Fox Business Network talk much more about her than either CNN or MSNBC do.”
–Jack Shafer, “Trump and Ocasio-Cortez Are the Future of News,” Politico, January 24, 2019