Media top headlines February 22
In media news today, Chris Rufo thanks John Oliver for ‘unintentional favor’ following critical race theory monologue, The Washington Post editorial board voices support for federal no-fly list for passengers who disobey mask mandates, and NBC’s Beijing Olympics ratings are called a ‘disaster’ for the network.
Former New York City mayor and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg is the latest to warn Democrats there may be impending danger for this year's midterms after last week's San Francisco school board recall election sent shock waves across the nation.
A Tuesday op-ed from the former mayor warned Democrats of the "seismic challenge" ahead, saying that the party is headed for doom unless it corrects its course.
Voting booths (iStock) (iStock)
"The political earthquake that just occurred in San Francisco should be a dire warning to the national Democratic Party, because the same fault line stretches across the country and the tremors are only increasing," Bloomberg wrote.
Bloomberg argued that domestic politics are posing the greatest threat to preserving democracy and protecting the Constitution before diving into a criticism of his party's – and the San Francisco school board's – failures to act on behalf of concerned parents.
SAN FRANCISCO ORGANIZERS CELEBRATE RECALL OF WOKE SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS: 'MESSAGE IS LOUD AND CLEAR'
"I continue to believe that a healthy and vibrant Democratic Party remains essential to beating back the Republican Party’s dangerous turn toward authoritarianism and its tolerance for election subversion. But I am deeply concerned that, absent an immediate course correction, the party is headed for a wipeout in November, up and down the ballot," he said.
Parents and community members attend a Loudoun County School Board meeting, just 40 minutes from Fairfax. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)
"Three months after Republicans scored major election upsets in Virginia and New Jersey, largely because of the frustration parents felt with Democratic officials who catered to teachers’ unions and culture warriors at the expense of children, voters in San Francisco recalled three school board members by margins of nearly three to one. Coming from America’s most liberal city, those results should translate into a 7 to 8 on the Richter scale, because the three main factors that drove the recall are not unique to the Bay Area."
The former mayor's concerns match the sentiments of other major outlets in wake of San Francisco's shocking recall, including Newsweek and the Los Angeles Times. The former called the vote a "wake-up call" for Democrats, while the latter described it as a "warning" that the outcome for the party could be "very bad" in this November's midterms.
NEWSWEEK, LA TIMES ISSUE 'WARNING' AND 'WAKE UP' CALLS FOR DEMOCRATS AFTER SAN FRANCISCO VOTE
Bloomberg reiterated criticism for the school board's focus on "political correctness" instead of prioritizing education, referring to the school board's ideas to remove a merit-based admissions process from one of its prestigious schools and to rename district institutions named after "racist" figures, including former U.S. presidents Georgia Washington and Abraham Lincoln and current California Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
FILE - A pedestrian walks below a sign for Dianne Feinstein Elementary School in San Francisco on Dec. 17, 2020. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File) (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
"Voters need to hear from Democrats that schools remained closed for too long, and that improving schools means closing achievement gaps, not eliminating standards," he said, suggesting what the Democrats' true priorities should be.
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Donny Deutsch, host of "On Brand With Donny Deutsch," argued much of the same on an MSNBC panel last week, saying that Democrats would be wise to steer clear of "super-wokeness."
"This is a factual political discussion," he said on "Morning Joe.: "If you give the Republicans the ability to point the Democrats as this super-woke culture focused on the wrong things that don't matter to voters … you're going to lose. So you need to step away from super-wokeness."