I need to come clean: I am the opposite of a Lesley Stahl fangirl. Whatever a journalist is in the year 2023, Lesley Stahl is the antithesis of that and she is only improving upon my dislike of her with her completely misguided, softball, soft-lens 60 Minutes Interview with Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is a fascist, an insurrectionist, and a f*cking danger to all of our lives. But sure, let’s put her on national television and make her seem normal, Lesley. What could go wrong?
To get you up to speed if you haven’t been paying attention to either Stahl or Greene, on Sunday Greene did a sit-down interview on 60 Minutes with Stahl and got the full primetime treatment. We’re talking b-roll of walking around outside, soft focus lighting, and of course, Stahl asking asinine questions and never offering more than the lightest push-back or holding Greene accountable at all because apparently in America you can attempt to overthrow the government and get away scot-free (for now) because nothing has consequences anymore.
If it sounds bad that’s because it really is! I’m pissed! Many other people are too. Even MSNBC put out an op-ed that is akin to “WTF Lesley?!”
Stahl did bring up some of Greene’s more “controversial” views, including her false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump and that Democrats are “pedophiles” for supporting trans rights. But there was only the mildest of pushback on either claim from Stahl. Most damning was when, during the back-and-forth on Greene’s use of pedophile, Stahl asked: “Can’t you fight for what you believe in without all that name-calling and without the personal attacks?”
Therein lies the biggest problem with trying to profile someone like Greene in the “view from nowhere” or “just the facts” framing that “60 Minutes” still utilizes. Stahl’s question makes it seem like Greene’s anti-trans arguments are stances that should just be taken down a notch, instead of policy positions that actively hurt and endanger trans Americans and their families.
Ah, yes, accusing someone of being a pedophile is simply “name calling” because we’re so numb to all this f*ckery on the right, it’s been normalized.
That op-dd continued:
If anything, Greene’s rising prominence is a sign that the GOP is still being pulled further to the right, not looking for a moderating force in the post-Trump era. The fact that Greene could land, and feel good about, a major interview like this makes Stahl complicit in the congresswoman’s shadow campaign to be Trump’s running mate in 2024. And to not address that rightward drift, her role in exacerbating it, and the way it is doing lasting damage to our country, does a major disservice to the “60 Minutes” audience.
Can we simply not give these ghouls a platform? Must their voices be heard? They are systematically stripping away the rights of everyone they deem an “other.” Why the hell does someone like that need a primetime slot to swat away mild accusations of being a “meanie”? Hell, if you have her on TV, show her the corpses of children in their classrooms (which one? I don’t know pick one, there are a lot to choose from) and ask her why she is against an assault weapon ban. Show her what a woman who died of sepsis after not being able to receive an abortion looks like. Why are we letting the fascist minority in their country control our narrative and make their message seem mild and palatable, here?! Why are we making national platforms fun and normalizing for them? Why?!
I am furious about this. Many people on social media are too:
But guys, she’s a white blonde woman! She looks good on TV! Don’t push her too hard or we may look mean. It’s not as if there aren’t an infinite amount of mean-spirited white women clamoring for their opportunity to make a national name for themselves.
Even worse, the official 60 Minutes Twitter account got in on the action:
Her opinions are trash and harmful to this country. What the f*ck are we doing, here? How has journalism failed so spectacularly? When it comes to a woman who believes that Parkland was a false flag, it’s not your job to call that “controversial.” It’s your job to call that harmful and f*cking bonkers and to point at this woman and say “this person is dangerous.” You don’t go give her the glamor treatment and act like it’s a normal thing to believe. What the everloving f*ck is wrong with you?
(featured image: CBS)
