So this is their plan.
They have 100% embraced being activists through their journalism, and are counting on their credibility as esteemed, respectable journalists to make it an inevitable conclusion that Science and The Press will save the day from Evil Trump. The Experts in silicon valley will back them up, and it will be a noble coalition of Smart People who pull the country back from the brink of madness, in their eyes.
Too bad they're a bunch of partisan, elitist hacks who don't bother hiding the contempt they have for the rest of the country. They did so much better with their manipulation schemes when they at least pretended to be neutral.
These people are such drama queens. I'm just so thrilled when they always find a way to insert themselves into the story as a bonus. Ugh.
Powerline blog goes into an article written by Ben Strauss of The Athletic, which is unfortunately paywalled. This makes a distinction between traditional viewership stats, and what is called 'Out of Home' stats, in short a way to account for bars, restaurants, airports, hospitals, etc. Bit more breakdown and detailing of the stats, along with some context from past years.
'What he's turned this country into'
Exactly what has he turned this country into? Last time I checked, the people supporting purity tests and purging the unclean are those in the movements you support, Yong.
It never fails to amaze how much these guys think that knee-jerk smug and smarmy is the way to go. So - okay, you 'own' the 'trumpists'. ..now what? Do you think you're being convincing? Because you posted this really awesome tweet, and banished these people from your channel, these people suddenly no longer exist?
It's totally 2016 all over again, except they're taking it further. Try and frame things so that there is no way for there to be a moral opposition, mock and deride the other side, then act shocked and flabbergasted when it inevitably whiplashes in their faces, and then make all these dumb excuses about how 'the russians' or 'the bots' or 'hacks!'.
Disappointing but ultimately not surprising.
Brings back memories of the onset of Occupy Wall Street, where there were magically a bunch of professionally printed 'Occupy Everything' signs ready for use for the first marches in a bunch of cities. The committed ones have been coordinating this stuff for a long time.
I've had someone I know who's fallen deep into the pro BLM messaging on this stuff claim that these viewership numbers don't matter because supposedly the livestreaming audience has grown explosively. They claim records are being set, blablabla. Does anyone know if hard numbers of any kind are being published for the livestreams?
This is someone who reflexively dodges and twists to defend the movement, to the point of claiming the violence is all right wing agitators, etc., and I'm pretty sure it's a bunk claim anyway. Just would be curious if we know what the online viewership is.
Of course they did. They want a Technocracy. What better way to push that then to prop up who will effectively be a puppet president?