Eric Boehlert: After touting Trump as "populist," New York Times paints Biden as elitist

[babylonsister]

After touting Trump as "populist," New York Times paints Biden as elitist
Rolex nonsense
Eric Boehlert
1 hr ago


This is why Democrats cannot have nice things.

Reviving a long-running gotcha narrative that portrays wealthy Democrats as hypocrites, the New York Times has been dinging President Joe Biden since Inauguration Day as being out of touch with voters. It's a dishonest pursuit that looks especially absurd following Trump's four years of gaudy, country club excess, which the newspaper ridiculously labeled, “populism.”

At the swearing, the Times reported Biden wore, "a stainless steel Rolex Datejust watch with a blue dial, a model that retails for more than $7,000," and noted the handsome piece "costs the equivalent of dozen or so stimulus checks." The Rolex was "a far cry from the Everyman timepieces that every president not named Trump has worn conspicuously in recent decades," the Times stressed. "Recent presidents have tended to wear Everyman timepieces such as Timex and Shinola."

Note that a Shinola men's watch costs between $400-$1,400, so it's not clear how that brand fits into the "Everyman" mode, unless Times staffers routinely make three and four-figure timepiece purchases. In the same article detailing the price of Biden's Rolex ($7,000), the Times omitted any references to the cost of the gold Rolex Trump wore as president. ($36,000.)

The urgent wristwatch update came three days after the Times delivered a reported piece on Biden's exercise bike of choice, Peloton, noting the high-end workout machine, "does not exactly comport with Mr. Biden’s “regular guy from Scranton” political persona."

Instead of focusing on what's on Biden's wrist or in his exercise room, the better way to determine his "Everyman" agenda is to look at his earliest policy initiatives. To date, they include asking the Education Department to extend the federal student loan payment and interest pause through Sept. 30, pledging to raise corporate income taxes to 28 percent, and firing union-hating officials at the National Labor Relations Board.

The fact that the Times seems obsessed with Biden's missing "Everyman" bona fides after the paper treated Trump as a man-of-the-people "populist" is unforgivable. Trump’s corrupt brand of pro-corporate, anti-worker politics represented the exact opposite of populism, which stands as a political struggle on behalf of regular people against elite economic forces.

more...

https://pressrun.media/p/after-touting-trump-as-populist-new

[Ferrets are Cool]

1. We all know they are going to do this

All we can do is expose it for the nonsense and hypocrisy that it is.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

2. Repubs just do stuff, meh...

Dems have to explain everything.

[Walleye]

3. Elite? Everybody in his home state calls him by his first name

Do you ever see Trump in a neighborhood coffee shop buying his own coffee and tipping the staff? This is almost slander, he’s a really down-to-earth regular guy.

[vlyons]

4. So what's wrong with being elite?

Elite definition is - the choice part : cream. I should hope that all Biden's cabinet picks and WH staff are elite, the cream of the crop. Having gone to the best, most elite schools and graduated magnum cum lauda. Having held and been successful in important jobs.

I don't care if Trump's ignorant trailer trash supporters are jealous of their betters. Maybe if they hadn't dropped out of high school and worked hard to be A students, they could have gotten a scholarship to an elite school.

I see what Boehlert is trying to do. Being labeled as an elitist seems a whole lot better than being labeled a a Fascist, a corrupt criminal, a liar, and a traitor.

[mountain grammy]

5. Shame on the NYT.

[catbyte]

7. Especially since I saw a tweet that said the Rolex could've been Beau's. But even if it wasn't,

wth, NYT? Just because Democrats fight for working people doesn't mean they have taken a vow of poverty. So much snark so soon. But they're probably suffering from a "scandal deficit" so they're going overboard trying to find things to write about. Hello, tan suit...

[mountain grammy]

8. No kidding

It’s infuriating and frankly so typical of American conservative media.

[July]

6. "Recent presidents . . ."

That sentence alone is pure bullshit. The MOST recent president has a Rolex and two other pricier watches.

And I’d better tell my hairdresser that her Peloton disqualifies her from being a “regular gal.”

[bullwinkle428]

9. A peloton bike costs $1895. I know all kinds of "proud, blue-collar" types

around here that have a slew of motorized toys that all cost WAY more than that (like by a factor of 10 or more), none of which do a damn thing to contribute to their physical health through their usage.

You can drop 5 figures + on a top-quality road bike, if you're really looking for something high-end, as used by the pros in the Tour De France, for example.

[lark]

10. This is why I unsubscribed to NYT years ago with their Clinton derangement syndrome.

They are big money and that's it and they always push the repugs. Fuck them.

[judesedit]

11. Don't buy, visit, or use advertisers of NYT. Hit them in their pocketbook

Why would you want to be misinformed anyway?

[no_hypocrisy]

12. What? Did Murdoch buy the NYT too?

[Hortensis]

13. Yes. That the NYT would join efforts to redefine "populist" as safe and respectable

Last edited Mon Jan 25, 2021, 10:00 AM - Edit history (1)

and "of the people" is despicable and after attempted coup a particularly so.

The Republicans' long pattern of hostile plots and lawless destruction of our democratic systems leading to actual insurrection with intent to overthrow is a classic demonstration of a populist movement in action.

Trumpism is what a dangerously advanced populist movement looks like. The LW populist movement is far less advanced but nevertheless also dangerous because for populists ideology is typically much less important than taking down the established government. That's what differentiates populists from the fascists, monarchists, socialists, theocratists, or whatevers also drawn to the flag their populist leader is currently waving. It's the chance to act out resentment and antagonism against the majority and its choices.

[UpInArms]

14. I despise the sideways crappola the NYTs does

They epitomize what sucks

[NCDem47]

15. Josh Hawley.

Private prep school.

Stanford University.

Yale Law School.

Talk about Eltitist! But he's a Republican. They're "scrappy" when they make their way up through exclusive institutions.

[PatSeg]

16. Geez, it hasn't even been a week

and already journalists are starting with the petty nitpicking. It is like the last four years didn't even happen.

I went to the New York Times to see who wrote the article and actually had a hard time finding it. Turns out Alex Williams is a reporter in the Style department.

Alex Williams is a reporter in the Style department. In his profile articles, he has hiked through Maui with Woody Harrelson; reminisced about Hepburn and Ali with Dick Cavett; gone gallery-hopping with Kim Gordon; wandered the beach on Martha's Vineyard with Evan Dando; and ducked paparazzi with Justin Theroux.

His lifestyle features have explored the semi-teetotaler culture of the New Sobriety; the unique midlife crisis of Generation X; the challenges of making Friends over 30; the dawning of the new Age of Anxiety; the quest to find love among the circuitry for the Digisexuals; the cultural bias against Night Owls; the hype and hopes of the CBD boom.

https://www.nytimes.com/by/alex-williams

Some of his recent articles:

"A Gadget Lover’s Guide to a Cold, Isolated Winter"

"So Much for Dry January?"

"Can You Poison Your Way to Good Health?"

"The Ugly (and Glorious) Truth About American Supermarkets"

"Guitars Are Back, Baby!"

Apparently the article was "updated", but I couldn't tell what was changed as I hadn't read the original.

I suppose people should be careful what they wish for, when they say they wish things could go "back to normal". This kind of normal we can do without.

[lagomorph777]

17. Can somebody explain how the most unpopular president in history is "populist?"

Seems like an oxymoron, promoted by morons.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

18. Money: continuous controversy sells ads. Money: tax cuts for the rich. Money: deregulation.

[Gothmog]

19. I do not subscribe to the NYT due to the crap it pulled on Hillary

I like the Washington Post and I will not forgive or forget the efforts that the NYT took to help elect trump