Ex-conservative blasts media for not covering the threat to democracy — again

Columnist Jennifer Rubin, who describes herself as an ex-conservative, blasted the media on Sunday, saying that they're ignoring the threat to democracy that is coming again in the election.

At issue is the recent polling showing that President Joe Biden's poll numbers were down as he kicks off his 2024 campaign. Trump announced his campaign on Nov. 16, 2022. It brought the media together to endless conversations about Biden stepping out of the race. There's no evidence of it, and it isn't a reality, but the media still reported it.

"Consider the obsessive coverage of a single New York Times-Siena College poll a full year before the election (touting four-times indicted former president Donald Trump as leading in five of six swing states, although only one was outside the poll’s margin of error). The Times built its political coverage around it for days. Virtually every cable news show featured it," Rubin complained, noting she's an MSNBC contributor. "Other outlets focused on it. Roundtables gathered to discuss it. The coverage assumed the poll to be gospel — accurate, productive, important — and then used it as evidence that Biden is toast. (A majority of national polls, by the way, show Biden tied with or slightly ahead of Trump.)"

Meanwhile, she explained, the poll is "utterly meaningless" a year out from an election. She compared it to former President Barack Obama and where he stood in 2011. Meanwhile, she cited a "highly reputable Pennsylvania poll" showing Biden doing well among swing states. Where a GOP poll puts Biden tied in Nevada with Trump, not losing by 10 points. In Wisconsin, Trump leads by two points.

Predictably, the news focused on Democrats who were nervous about Biden. At the same time, Trump was speaking at events where he seemed to forget where he was, who world leaders were and who they represented, and who he beat in 2016.

Rubin pointed to the year of polls showing a "red wave" was coming in 2022. Short-lived Speaker Kevin McCarthy was predicting as many as 60 GOP wins. Republicans barely hold a majority, and it caused so many problems that the party can't function, much less pass any legislation.

Then, the off-season elections happened. Ohio voted overwhelmingly to ensure abortion access was guaranteed in the state's constitution. A Democrat won reelection in deep-red Kentucky. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia got humiliated at the polls, losing not just the state senate he'd sought to flip but losing power in the Virginia House of Delegates.

On Sunday, despite the significant losses that anti-abortion activists experienced on Tuesday, the Republican Party chairwoman told CNN's "State of the Union" that she believed the GOP should double down on abortion bans.

"Laughably, the purveyors of 'Biden is doomed' coverage will insist voters like Democrats but not Biden," continued Rubin. "That wouldn’t explain why voters didn’t vent their supposed anti-Biden anger in 2022. (Tying Democrats to Biden didn’t work in this election, either.) Other pundits insisted that election results don’t matter(!); instead, stick with their flawed punditry."

She closed by noting that after Jan. 6 2021, the media vowed to focus more on the threats to democracy. While they do, occasionally, she said it doesn't come close to the poll number horseraces.

"Most are stuck in overhyped horse-race coverage and endless chatter over meaningless Republican debates," said Rubin. "Democracy deserves better."

Read the full column at the Washington Post.