I want to ask a couple of fact-based questions.
“I want to ask a couple of fact-based questions.”

Yesterday morning, as the current president tried to shift focus away from all the indictments and onto guess who…

Trump_tweet.png

…MSNBC correspondent and AM Joy host Joy Reid interviewed former GOP spokesdroid/Washington Examiner contributor Jen Kerns, who dutifully supported Trump’s misdirection by echoing the idea that the “Uranium One deal is problematic.” That is when Reid gave a master class in countering the right’s campaign of deliberate insinuation and lies with a commanding deployment of facts, insight, and rectitude:

I fear there will be a reckoning for all the cheerleadery “watch this Trumpologist get smacked down for being appalling” videos we’ve all been posting by way of consolation for the past year. And I also fear that fatuous lefty self-satisfaction still wins the silver medal in the Olympics of what is wrong with the world.

(Every time I hear Keith Olbermann speak aloud in that Johnny Tremain argot of his I want to stand in the corner with a lampshade over my head until he stops.)

But this is not that.

This is an inspirational display of professionalism, preparedness, stealth, certitude, skill, experience, talent, and grace in an incredibly pressurized situation, against an opponent whose transparent crassness and by-the-book smear tactics demanded nothing short of the total fact-based smackdown she duly received.

There’s an impulse to watch this and feel “yay for our team, boo for theirs!” And indeed yay, and obviously boo.

But more importantly: Consider what it would take for you to A) know, B) retain, C) have instant access to, and D) be fiercely eloquent about the many intricate facts of this story while also AA) remaining fundamentally dispassionate (while of course displaying passion on a much deeper level), BB) allowing the shill whose lunch you are packing on TV to retain a morsel of dignity (while of course being utterly disgraced on a much deeper level), and CC) remaining telegenic all the while.

The only way we can hope to survive the right wing’s war on reality is by actually knowing everything about everything all the time. Tall fucking order. I’m grateful to Joy Reid for giving such an inspired example of what that process actually looks like.

Sean Nelson has worked at The Stranger on and off since 1996. He is currently Editor-at-Large. His past job titles included: Assistant Editor, Associate Editor, Film Editor, Copy Editor, Web Editor, Slog...