Here are two stories reflecting a larger trend in America at the moment - elected officials routinely, consistently making unhinged racist comments to staff, coworkers or the public.
The first case involves Probate Judge Kathleen Ryan in Oakland County, Michigan who was recorded by a coworker over several months engaging in profanity laced diatribes about woke liberals, minorities, LBGTQs, etc. The coworker first submitted the recordings in an official written complaint to the head of the superior court who initially did nothing until he then submitted the same information to the Michigan State Supreme Court, at which point the superior court removed the judge from the docket pending a review. A final decision has yet to be announced but it is clear this judge should never sit in a courtroom in a position to affect the fate of others ever again.
https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2024-09-06/michigan-judge-loses-docket-after-shes-recorded-insulting-gays-and-black-peopleThe second case involves Idaho State Senator Dan Foreman -- proud Republican, Roman Catholic -- who appeared at a candidate forum on October 1, 2024 with other Republican and Democratic candidates running for various state seats. The forum was organized to allow questions from the audience to be addressed by the candidates. One question posed to Foreman was whether discrimination existed in Idaho. Foreman simply replied "No." Later in the rotation, another candidate Trish Carter-Goodheart followed up with her response to the same question. In a post later, she summarized her response this way:
https://www.boisestatepublicradio.org/politics-government/2024-10-03/dan-foreman-racism-idaho-nez-perce-candidate-kendrickThe question on the floor was about a state bill addressing discrimination. One of the candidates responded, claiming that "discrimination doesn't exist in Idaho." When it was my turn to speak, I calmly pointed out that just because someone hasn't personally experienced discrimination doesn't mean it's not happening. Racism and discrimination are real issues here in Idaho, as anyone familiar with our state's history knows. I highlighted our weak hate crime laws and mentioned the presence of the Aryan Nations in northern Idaho as undeniable evidence of this reality.
That's when Sen. Foreman lost all control. His words to me: "I'm so sick and tired of this liberal b*llsh*t! Why don't you go back to where you came from?!"
Trish Carter-Goodheart is a member of the Nez Perce tribe. The Nez Perce have roots in the Idaho region going back a few thousand years. She IS home.
The Idaho State GOP later issued a statement defending Foreman and denying he said anything racist or offensive. However, Lori McCann, Carter-Goodheart's Republican opponent in the race for a Idaho House seat read Carter-Goodheart's statement and confirmed her version of events, stating she "found it to be an accurate account of what transpired in Kendrick."
Was this just one bad night for this Republican? Uhhhhh, NO. He has a history of extreme outbursts in public, AT the public. Check out the examples at the end of this video from the Boise NBC affiliate KTVB covering this story. See the video at the 4:57 and 5:40 marks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MnMqlP10lMThe first clip is body camera footage taken by the County Sherrif's Office in September 2017 when Foreman attended the county fair and became verbally abusive. The fact the footage came from body camera footage seems to indicate police were called to diffuse the situation and intervention was needed. The second clip was filmed in 2018 when students at the University of Idaho arrived for a SCHEDULED meeting to talk to him about birth control and were instead greeted by him screaming at them that abortion is murder and the next time they show up at his office, they'll be dealing with the Idaho State Police.
There is one aspect of these stories that is providing a hint of optimism. Watching the local news coverage of these events seems to reflect a noticeable change in editorial style. Local news outlets have been gutted over the last 20 years as the FCC allowed further network consolidation and the few stations left still attempting ANY journalism about local events have become so afraid of offending advertisers or frankly offending their local audience that virtually ANY issue is couched in obligatory "both-sides" rhetoric to avoid charges of bias. However, as more of these extreme incidents occur, I seem to be seeing more local reporters just look into the camera and report these for what they are. Watch the demeanor of the reporter in the KTVB clip. As another example, check out this example from Kyle Clark on Next9 that airs on the NBC affiliate in Denver:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DTcHLPvf2wMass media outlets have contributed to these problems by soft-pedaling public incidents of these behaviors by couching them as just one side of an issue. Local media outlets are under EXTREME financial pressure due to dwindling audiences and viewership. Given those pressures, seeing more coverage like these stories presented without the type of "weasel word" disclaimers that has prevailed over the last twenty years of media consolidation that coincides with unchecked extremism is unexpected. Is it a sign that key actors who contributed to this mass-media induced psychosis have seen enough of the consequences and are more willing to stop softening their reporting and identify these behaviors as unacceptable? If so, it may help at least dilute the Kool-Aid in the toxic punch bowl that has been poisoning public dialog.
WTH
