The Catch 22 of Silent Observation

In an interview with conservative commentator Charlie Sykes at The Bulwark, former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan defended his silence about election misinformation and other problems at Fox News with what Sykes dubbed “in the room-ism.”

Sykes followed the interview with an edition of his Morning Shots newsletter that delved into this idea. Sykes weaves quotes and paraphrases from his interview with Paul Ryan with quotes from news outlets that show just how far Ryan’s being “in the room” while hoping to do good gets him. Spoiler: nowhere, it gets him nowhere.

Sykes points out that “in the room-ism” fails because it is a catch-22. You stay in the room where it happens so that you can speak truth to power, but if you speak truth to power, you will no longer be allowed in the room. This ousting happened to Liz Cheney, Sykes points out, when she bravely stood up to the insurrectionists and grifters in her party.

As a Fox News board member, Paul Ryan sees himself as a bulwark against the conspiratorial bent of some of Fox’s hosts. Sykes, and Ryan himself, mentioned times that Ryan spoke out against the conspiracies Fox promoted in the wake of the 2020 election. And yet Fox kept promoting conspiracies we now know they knew were baseless. Paul Ryan being in the room amounted to nothing except to make him look complicit in spreading lies, misinformation, and misleading Fox viewers.

This may sound harsh against Paul Ryan, especially from a conservative group that sees Ryan as one of our own. However, those who see Ryan as an ally must understand the grave mistake it is to assume that just being the contrarian in the room will put you in place to stop a disaster. We’ve already seen how Ryan could not bring about the change he hoped for, but there are others besides Ryan. Trump’s presidency is full of stories of staff members who believed they could curtail Trump’s worse impulses. Instead, Trump just cycled through chiefs of staff and others until he found ones willing to do the dirty work he preferred.

We are in a moment where it is essential to be sober-minded about the people in the room with us. Only some people are willing to hear out contrary ideas or opinions. Often, people like Paul Ryan are just being used to apply a veneer of respectability to what will end up being deplorable actions by bad actors. It may seem difficult to imagine that our being around will not help, but even Jesus tells us there are times that we must shake the dust off our sandals and leave people be. And, again, in the case of Trump officials or Paul Ryan at Fox News, how many people have tried to right those ships and failed? Why do we believe that we will be any different?

And yet there are times when staying and being a force for good is okay. But there are some critical things to consider when we weigh whether we should stay or we should go:

1) How much authority do you have? Can you operate freely, or will your speaking out mark you for being fired, let go, or otherwise asked to leave the room? Without authority and autonomy, you will likely be ignored and used as a token to prove that your group is not that bad.

2) Has anyone else tried to make the same suggestion before? How did that go? If people have tried and failed before you, where is the evidence you will not fail?

5 More Things

1) If you plan to run against Donald Trump to be the Republican nominee for president in 2024, don’t mention the Jan. 6th insurrection. That is the main takeaway of a Politico article from this week. Ron DeSantis, Mike Pence, and Nikki Haley, who have all condemned Jan. 6th and Trump in the past, are now tight-lipped on the issue since announcing or eyeing presidential runs. This makes sense for those who wish to court the MAGA vote because Jan. 6th is becoming a touchstone for the MAGA-world as the insurrection attempt rises favorably. Politico also reports that moderate Republicans don’t want to mention Jan. 6th because they want to move past Trump. But how do you move past Trump if you’re unwilling to condemn what happened on Jan. 6th?

2) It’s not news that Fox News was in panic mode after Biden won the 2020 election. But The New York Times has more information into just how low hosts like Bret Baier were willing to go to retain viewers and, presumably, good ratings. Baier suggested that viewer reactions should rank higher than actual numerical calculations when calling states during the 2020 election. Baier even suggested reversing Fox’s calling of Arizona for Biden because it upset Trump and and “hurting us.” Meaning the truth was hurting Fox ratings. As someone who grew up watching The Fox Report with Brit Hume, Chris Wallace and then Bret Baier, believing it to represent fair if conservative slanted news, this is a troubling development.

3) Right-wing conspiracists claim to care about election integrity but are making it harder to catch voter fraud. The Washington Post reports even though both Republicans and Democrats have agreed to use ERIC (Electronic Registration Information Center) to keep voter rolls up to date and free from fraud, the group is now facing backlash in Republican-led states thanks to unjustified conspiratorial thinking on the right. These critics “have claimed that the group is actually a left-wing vehicle that shares sensitive voter data with liberal groups, encourages bloated and inaccurate rolls and enables the very fraud it is intended to stamp out.” This week Florida, Missouri, and West Virginia pulled out of the group, which could shutter ERIC. If that happens, our nation will lose yet another tool to keep voter fraud at bay.

4) Tucker Carlson isn’t telling the truth, again, according to NBC News. This time with help from Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, Carlson is running selective footage from Jan. 6th that fits the MAGA-world narrative that the insurrection was nothing more than a peaceable assembly of like-minded folks wanting a tour of the Capitol and maybe a prayer meeting. In Tucker’s telling, Ashli Babbit (the insurrectionist killed at the Capitol) is a martyr. Brian Sicknick, an actual martyr who gave his life trying to protect the Capitol, our election, and our elected officials, died for other reasons unrelated to being sprayed with bear mace and attacked by insurrectionists shouting things like, “Oh, Naaaaaaancy.” It did not take long for Senators Mitch McConnell, Thom Tillis, Kevin Cramer, and others to cry foul to Tucker’s claim. Tillis probably summed it best: “I think it’s bullsh*t.” Tillis added, “I was here. I was down there, and I saw maybe a few tourists, a few people who got caught up in things. But when you see police barricades breached, when you see police officers assaulted, all of that ... if you were just a tourist you should’ve probably lined up at the visitors’ center and came in on an orderly basis.”

5) Not to pile on Tucker Carlson, but The Washington Post is reporting that in the wake of the Jan. 6th insurrection, Carlson was giddy about being done with Donald Trump. Carlson reportedly told his producer, Alex Pfeiffer, “I hate him passionately.” after suggesting that the insurrection meant they were close to ignoring Trump.

Join the AVC Book Club

Join our American Values Coalition Book Club where we have a great community and thoughtful discussion. We recently started a new book:

Reading the Times: A Literary and Theological Inquiry into the News. We will be reading and discussing it over multiple weeks, so it's not too late to join us! Click below to sign join us today!

Enjoy a classic Lincoln quote (that often leaves off the last two words)... on a classic 16 oz. pint glass. All proceeds benefit AVC's vital work.