What Part of “Shut the F*** Up!” Did They Not Understand?
Cable news hosts continue speculating about U.S. military intelligence after Pelosi and Biden ask them to stop
Editorial rights purchased from Stock. Photo by breakermaximus.
This is not an argument against free speech, though you might assume that from the title. It’s about how corporate news outlets have lost all sense of responsibility.
A couple of days ago I watched Nicole Wallace (host of Deadline White House) interview Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. When Wallace asked Speaker Pelosi about the role U.S. intelligence played in the sinking of the Moskva, a Russian ship off the coast of Ukraine, Pelosi made it very clear that such questions were “not helpful.”
Likewise, Speaker Pelosi cautioned against speculating about what weapons Ukraine still needed and when the US might provide them.
President Biden has made similar comments in the media recently. If you’ve been watching the war and paying attention, you already know Putin is looking for excuses to blame the U.S. for the current situation. Therefore, the administration is making a concerted effort not to present information in a way that would announce any kind of direct United States aggression toward Russia.
Putin knows we’re supplying weapons, money, and training to Ukraine. He also knows we have shared a great deal of our intelligence with them. We are the ones who warned Ukraine that Putin would invade — beyond the borders of the Donbas region, where Russians have been fighting Ukrainians since 2014.
But we have also learned that Putin is a very emotional leader. Like Trump, saving face is of utmost importance. If he believes the United States was responsible for a humiliating defeat (which the sinking of his flagship vessel was for him) it could encourage Putin’s worst impulses.
We also don’t want to announce to Putin when Ukrainians will get more weapons, what kind of weapons, and what they’re capable of. Again, this is a war. It would be irresponsible to unnecessarily antagonize your enemy and you definitely should not share your strategy with the enemy. I’m not sure why cable news hosts need to be told this, but they were told. More than once.
Despite the very clear messages sent by Biden and Pelosi, this is now the most repeated topic on every episode of cable news I’ve watched in the last three days. Every news show on MSNBC is showcasing military experts to talk about exactly what Biden and Pelosi have asked them not to talk about.
Even when they’re not talking about it, they run breaking news banners across the screen with headlines like “Reports show U.S. intelligence helped sink the Moskva.”
This is a war we’re talking about. It’s not Game of Thrones. Do the hosts and staff at MSNBC have any concerns about how their choice of subject and their presentation might affect the course of this war? It would appear not.
The moment Nicole Wallace finished her interview with Pelosi, the breaking news banner I referenced above appeared. I was dumbfounded. I expected MSNBC to take it down. I thought Speaker Pelosi’s response to Wallace’s line of questioning was a bit of a slap-down, frankly. Perhaps Pelosi was too polite about it and MSNBC staffers unaccustomed to responding to subtleties didn’t get the message. But I swear I could feel Nicole Wallace’s face burning as Pelosi explained the significance of refraining from such talk.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t see Wallace’s face. I would have liked to. But the camera stayed focused on Speaker Pelosi, and because she has such impeccable manners, she performed an impromptu monologue until the sting of her remarks had passed. When the camera finally focused back on Wallace, I thought I detected a flash of contriteness, but she quickly moved on in her usual fashion.
In the next program on the same channel, Ari Melber (host of The Beat) did a feature story on the same topic. As did Chris Hayes an hour later. And Ali Velshi an hour after that. That’s when I gave up and took refuge in a K-drama on Netflix.
This afternoon, I turned on the TV hoping for good news, and I was shocked when I got it. All civilians have been evacuated from Mariupol. Their city has been leveled, and their homes destroyed, but they did not die like trapped rats after months confined to the basement of a factory while being pummeled by daily explosions.
Unfortunately, my joy was short-lived, as it often is these days.
Just as I was informed of the successful evacuation, I was reminded that tomorrow, May 9, is the anniversary of the day Russia defeated the Germans in World War II. Many believe Putin will hold a celebration in Mariupol to commemorate that victory.
Early in this war, Putin accused Ukrainian soldiers of using civilians, particularly women and children, as human shields. I think that’s what Putin will do. I think he will force the rescued women and children of Mariupol to march with Russian soldiers.
If Russian soldiers are interspersed with the unfortunate souls that were just pulled from the recesses of the Asovstal Steel and Ironworks facility, Ukrainians could never attack them. It’s probably the only way to ensure that Putin’s celebration can be filmed without incident.
My fear is that we’ll see the recently rescued prisoners of Mariupol on display. I’m concerned that Russians will parade them through the streets — the streets with Russian names now printed on their signs — thus ensuring that the last shred of dignity they might have managed to hold onto will evaporate.
I hope I’m wrong. I really hope I’m wrong.
I can’t help but go back to the people on MSNBC who are ignoring Biden and Pelosi’s requests to refrain from speculating in a way that might cause further danger, and it infuriates me.
Can they not do that little bit to help this cause? Can they not apply a tiny bit of human conscience to their programming? Is that too much to ask, even when there’s a war?
Speaker Pelosi’s request on Deadline White House was broadcast on Friday. I just watched MSNBC’s weekend coverage. Yet another military expert says the help we offer Ukraine should be done in secret, then he broadens the topic by elaborating, as an “expert” — for all the world to hear — the list of the specific types of munitions we have been asked for but have not yet supplied to Ukraine.
Once again, I find myself asking: What part of shut the f*** up do you people not understand?”
CORRECTION: Today I am hearing reports that say there are still civilians who have not yet evacuated from the plant in Mariupol — I’m not sure anyone is 100% sure of anything right now.