October 6: Fiddling while the world burns

In which, DC drama and courtroom comedy dominate the American mediascape while the world seems to stumble from crisis to crisis.

Dramedy in DC and the courtroom

I’m gonna mash the mess of American national party politics up into one section because the world was a very active place this week and the American media only has eyes for NYC and DC apparently.

So, we had Congress narrowly avoiding a shutdown, but not without some fire alarm shenanigans from a rogue Democratic Representative who either forgot how to get to the floor to vote, or was trying to delay the vote for some reason.

Then, as soon as the shutdown got pushed off to Thanksgiving… I mean, averted, the GOP’s populist conservatives staged a revolt to oust Speaker McCarthy.

Fresh off of a week in court to defend himself in a fraud case, former President Donald Trump floated the idea of heading to DC to do what he does best - bring people together to figure out this Speaker mess. 

I gotta hand it to former President Trump, he has got the American media’s number. How can you be indicted on multiple federal charges, in court in defending yourself against a business fraud charge, stirring the pot of party politics in DC, and still everyone thinks you’re a shoo in for the GOP nomination? They guy just sucks up all the news cycle oxygen.

Even for this blurb, what started as a “our national politics is a mess” story came swirling around to Trump. But, that’s kind of the point. Maybe our national politics isn’t so much a mess as our news media is fixated on a uniquely polarizing figure… 

Nah, our national politics is a mess, the media loves reporting on it, Donald Trump takes advantage of it, and we’re all a little too fixated on that Bermuda triangle.

Onto news of more substance.