OPINION
Premium

Time Mag Raves About Congressional Fashion Protest, While David Frum Works Out His Psychoanalysis On-Air

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Mar 04, 2025
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

Get access to Brad Slager's "Riffed From the Headlines," a daily VIP feature where he looks to bring accountability to the mainstream media. Use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership!

Low Octane Gas Lighting – SKY NEWS

  • Well, even if he did not say it, they are still offended.

Yes, Europe is still in a snit over Vice President JD Vance daring to talk with less than fawning language about them. In the latest mewling from across the pond, Vance was discussing the Ukraine controversy and he mentioned forces being used “from some random country that has not fought a war” in the last few decades. Sky News reports that many are upset that he was denigrating British and French troops.

Except…he did not do so. He never mentioned those allies, instead referring to the unknown potential nations that would undertake action in Ukraine. But, since everyone over there is upset with Vance already, accuracy need not be applied.

News Avoidance Syndrome – VARIOUS OUTLETS

Recommended

JD Vance Hits Back at Agitators Who Terrified His Three-Year-Old Daughter Sarah Arnold
A Former Top Aide for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Had Quite the Secret Matt Vespa

  • This is an example of approved astroturf coordinated messaging, we assume.

Some years back, Sinclair Broadcasting was being scolded in the press for having all of its affiliates reading off the same corporate mission statement on the air. The press treated this as some kind of affront to the general public because it showed a hive mind operation, or some such complaint. Yesterday it was revealed that Senate Democrats came out with some bizarre messaging where its members put out identically-edited video clips while reading from the same script.

If the intent was to flood the zone to be sure their message was heard, it instead came off looking like the actions of unthinking drones incapable of speaking for themselves.

And the press has had little in the way of critiques for this optics fumble.

Matching Media Memorandum – VARIOUS OUTLETS

  • This makes us feel as if the press snuck up on us with this messaging!

The reaction in the press to the meltdown in the Oval Office last week when Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy scuttled the mineral rights deal and Trump tossed him from the White House has been uniformly blamed on our president. And, in that same uniform fashion, they have come out with identical analysis, fed by the Democrats.

Despite the fact the meeting was nearly an hour long, and things had been genial between all parties and the signing appeared to be imminent until Zelenskyy spouted off, the press has all come to a similar conclusion: This was a planned ambush by Trump and Vance.

DNC PR Firm – TIME MAGAZINE

  • It failed so much last time, you should try it again.

The press seems particularly impressed that the Democrats are poised to register some forms of protest for tonight’s not-really-the-State-of-the-Union Address. Noisemakers and eggs are said to make some sort of an appearance in the chamber, and the media have been giddy about this. Adding to the expectant glee is Time Magazine, which seems to be impressed that female members of Congress will be in matching attire tonight.

Dozens of Democratic congresswomen are planning to wear pink to President Donald Trump’s Joint Address to Congress on Tuesday night as part of a coordinated protest against the President’s policies. New Mexico Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, who chairs the Democratic Women’s Caucus, confirmed exclusively to TIME on Monday that the pink attire is meant to “signal our protest of Trump's policies which are negatively impacting women and families.” “Pink is a color of power and protest,” she says in an interview. “It’s time to rev up the opposition and come at Trump loud and clear.”

Wow, Democrats are opposing Trump policies, with color. We are sure most people are already aware of this stance, but you go girl, we guess.

This coverage just seems a tad overblown, considering the last time the ladies of Congress decided to color coordinate it was to stand up against the threat to abortion laws, and we know how well that white-out opposition fared.

Artisanally-Crafted Narratives – THE ATLANTIC

  • Um, David? The only one going there was yourself.

It may be time to officially declare David Frum as going over the horizon of sanity. The man has been verbally indicating an off-kilter mindset for some time, but he has been straining to sound cogent and centered for some time.

The latest dose of evidence comes as he was discussing the Ukraine fallout, and Frum took things to a – we’ll say a “curious” place:

I don't have time for your psychosexual anxieties. You may feel inadequate in your masculinity, looking for some puffed up person on television to bully a valiant leader fighting for a billion people.

Yeah, oh…kay now…we are just going to go over there now and…talk to anyone else.