Not so Fast, Joe and Mika. How About an Apology?

They aren't the only ones who have lied to the public for years and caused real world harm, fear, denial of reality, anxiety, division and chaos

Dear Joe and Mika,

It took the near-total collapse of mainstream media for you to finally puncture the mass hysteria you’ve been pumping into the veins of the American public for seven years. It must have been a real gut punch to realize none of your endless caterwaulings had much impact.

Indeed, most people don’t watch your show. I would never be caught dead watching it. I’d rather shave my head, pour battery acid all over it, then plunge it into an outhouse toilet, but I know people who did, maybe who still do, people like my mom.

She woke up with you every morning and believed every word you said. She agreed with you. She couldn’t understand how anyone, least of all her own daughter, would “go to the dark side” by voting for Trump because you never explained it to her, and it would have meant something coming from you.

You’ve helped drive so many Americans to hate the other side because you were part of a media machine that decided your job was to meddle in our elections and help stop Trump from winning. You must feel like fools now. That’s gotta really burn.

I can’t help you wipe off the scuzz of shame. That will take time. But there is one thing you can do to help undo some of the damage you helped cause. You can apologize to people like my mom. You owe them more than some kind of idiotic statement about being diplomatic.

You must come clean. Admit that you lied. Admit you were part of a massive corporate media machine that lied. Admit that you didn’t have our best interests at heart when you lied. Admit you scared people and distorted their perception of reality. Admit that you ignored or covered up information they needed to know because it might “help” Trump.

You should totally and completely unmask. You know, like Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie.

You could do the country a solid just by coming clean and admitting that all of you were never serious about Trump being Hitler or a threat to democracy. You never really believed that, did you?

I feel lucky that I figured it out relatively early. In the Summer of 2020, I realized the media was lying to me about COVID and the protests. That sent me on a quest for the truth. I wasn’t the only one. It was like an exodus for all of us to suddenly realize the media we put our faith in had become nothing more than state propaganda.

It went much deeper and darker than just politics, though. You helped drive a wave of dehumanization against half the country. Everything you said about Trump implicated his supporters too. When they showed up in DC on January 6th many Americans falsely believed they were driven by racial grievance. You helped sell that lie.

It was a lie that, even back in 2015, led to real-world violence against Trump supporters:

When Trump called you all “fake news,” I used to think it was the worst thing a president could say. But then I realized he was right. It was fake and biased and all of the things our news isn’t supposed to be.

Instead, we’ve turned to independent media to get the truth. Here are some of those giving you the proper beat-down you richly deserve.

Megyn Kelly:

Glenn Greenwald:

Ben Shapiro:

I’m all for making America sane again, but you both have contributed to ending marriages, splintering friendships, driving young women insane, and breaking families apart. Now that you’ve decided to end it once and for all, and start behaving like rational, reasonable adults, it’s a good time to follow up with an apology.

Admit that you never believed what you said about Trump, that you mostly did it for ratings, or because you were trying to undo the reputational damage you suffered because you had helped get him elected the first time. Admit that it went too far, and you never realized how bad it would get. Admit that you in the media have your work cut out to earn back the public’s trust.

Who knows, maybe you’ll start a domino effect, and the rest of the legacy press will follow suit. Most of us have tuned you out, and we won’t be returning, but you should do it because it’s the right thing to do. You can be heroes, just for one day.

Thanksgiving is coming up. What better time to tell your viewers they should not shun their family members who voted for Trump. Tell them we’re a better country united than divided. Say you’re sorry. It’s the least you can do.

Sincerely,

America