This time, unlike in 2016, the media is determined to observe those strange people living outside the media bubbles.

We’ve all seen how the mainstream media lives in NY and DC bubbles. Regardless of where they came from, they often embody the shock at how people outside the coastal and liberal bubbles live.

They *literally* didn’t know anyone who voted for Trump, so they were shocked that 60 million people did so. On campuses, which are feeding grounds for journo bubbles, there were crying circles on election night 2016.

Media outlets like Politico are determined not to ignore the deplorables in 2020, so they are going on safaris to observe those strange Trump-supporting beings.

I’ve seen this phenomenon before. In April 2009, I wrote about how media covered the Tea Party movement in rural upstate NY, Looking At Tea Parties Through Binoculars, Like On Safari:

I attended the Tea Party in Corning, NY, yesterday. There was a good crowd in this relatively small town in western upstate NY (several hours from NY City), several hundred in total. Corning is home to Corning glass and Steuben glass. The entire region has been hit hard by the exodus of jobs to less tax intensive parts of the U.S. and abroad. I don’t remember which speaker said it, but one of them described how politicians from New York City come up to the region so that they can say they have visited the countryside, and stare at the inhabitants as if through binoculars, like on safari. And that description was a metaphor for what is motivating the Tea Parties and fueling the outrage…. But you wouldn’t know that if all you have are binoculars, and you are on permanent safari.

I followed up with NY Times goes on safari to Texas, struggles to understand natives’ love for their “trucks”:

Back to Politico. It ran an article recently about The unexpected joy at a Trump rally in Iowa:

I had not been to a Trump rally since the 2016 campaign. And the first thing I noticed Thursday night when Donald Trump and Mike Pence spoke at Drake University in Des Moines was how much more joyous the event was for his supporters than what I remember from four years ago…. But with Trump in power, presiding over peace and prosperity, on the cusp of beating two articles of impeachment, and dominating the news when it should be the Democratic candidates’ moment to shine, his fans seemed in a celebratory mood…. A group of female college students from Iowa State took selfies and danced. When Trump mentioned his reelection, a bidding war erupted: “Four more years!”, “Twelve more years!”, “Thirty more years of Trump!” … Why was everyone so happy?

If you have to ask, you’ll never understand Tea Party events were just as joyous, though portrayed in the media as a national security threat. You had to be there. If you find the joy “unexpected,” you are part of the problem. Olivia Nuzzi of New York Magazine promoted the Politico article on Twitter with this comment: Something you notice at Trump campaign events is, for his supporters, these are safe spaces where they can relax. They tailgate. They make new friends. The speech is largely besides the point. @RyanLizza observed their joy outside the DSM rally last night Something you notice at Trump campaign events is, for his supporters, these are safe spaces where they can relax. They tailgate. They make new friends. The speech is largely besides the point. @RyanLizza observed their joy outside the DSM rally last night: https://t.co/vEzi1YBsml — Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) January 31, 2020 I thought it was an impressive observation from a New York Magazine journo, until I saw her follow up (which either has been deleted or I can’t seem to find now) that she meant

Trump supporters felt safe in an environment where their views were not challenged. The responses from anti-Trumpers were pretty much what you’d expect. They didn’t like what Politico saw on safari. And neither, really, did the journos who went on safari.



