...Said The Guy Who Blocked Me For Asking Pointed Questions

He's such a punk-ass he blocks me, unblocked me to troll, then reblocks me. 😂 https://t.co/XXgQGUt7t5

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) February 1, 2019

From last October:

On The Occasion of Joe Scarborough Admitting That The Left Was Right About The Right All Along...

...during a panel discussion featuring an entire parade of Republican horribles who have spent their entire adult lives creating the Republican monster factory that produced Trump and now swear that none of them ever had the slightest fucking idea what was really going on inside their Republican Party...

...Rick Wilson finally blocked me on The Twitter for the egregious sin of pointing out over and over again that the Left has been right about the Right all along. 

Rick Wilson will spend endless hours amusing himself online punching down at mentally underclocking MAGA stumblebums with 10 followers.   Rick Wilson will while away even more hours online calling Respected Blue Check Republican rage monsters funny names.  But Rick Wilson has never had the guts to field any of the pointed and obvious questions I have sent his way over the past couple of years. Questions about his culpability for the madness he now pretends he had no hand in.  Questions about the ethics of looting the Liberal critique of the GOP from 1998 and selling it back to credulous Centrists as breathless epiphany in 2018.

You know, stuff like that.

This is the lifeboat we all said the Brain Caste of the GOP would build for itself to preserve their careers and privileges.  This is what it looks like -- a Mercedes SL-Class version of the old, reliable Bush Off Machine, now re-purposed for the Age of Trump.  And they don't want any Libtard troublemakers with long memories and inconvenient questions fucking it up for them.

And so, for asking these very basic questions on behalf of every Libtard who has been slandered as an America-hating coward and traitor and moonbat for decades for the unpardonable sin of being right about the Right all along, Mr. Wilson has now joined Matthew Dowd, Charlie Sykes and Jonah Goldberg in blocking me...

A lesson to all you younger bloggers out there: if you want to make past the rope line and get in on any national conversation of material important (or, more critically, provoke a conversation on a vital subject you believe is being ignored), eventually you absolutely must get yourself byline at some brick-and-mortar media outfit or think tank somewhere, or some personal friend inside the business willing to promote your material.

Sad but true.

Because with very rare exceptions, it doesn't matter how right you are or how well you write.  In fact, your talent will work against you because no career media professional can afford to have their rep damaged by being publicly slobbersknockered --

-- by some nobody blogger from nowhere. 

All that matters is how ouchlessly you can be dismissed.

Allow me a minor demonstration.  Trivial, really.  A five-finger exercise in which I make a few, minor tweaks to the 800 words of priceless media real estate the Washington Post awarded to Mr. Wilson yesterday:


Rick Wilson:

If you’re still working for Trump, his stink won’t ever wash off 

A juicy tell-all can’t absolve you now, ex-Trumpers. You’ll be remembered as enablers.

driftglass:

If you’re still working for Republicans, their stink won’t ever wash off 

A juicy tell-all can’t absolve you now, Republicans. You’ll be remembered as the builders of the Monster Machine that created Trump (Just kidding.  No one but a few nobody Liberal bloggers from nowhere will remember a dam,n thing.)

Rick Wilson:

Twenty months ago — four months into President Trump’s tenure — I tried my best to warn members of his team that even at that early stage, if you worked for Trump, it was time to quit.

driftglass:

Twenty-five years ago  — as Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh completed their takeover of the GOP — I tried my best to warn every Republican I knew that even at that early stage, if you were a Republican, it was time to stand up and fight.  Because it would not end well.  Fourteen years ago, when I discovered blogging, I began saying exactly these same things in "print". Today I am a media pariah for doing so.

Rick Wilson:

“Do it now,” I wrote, to preserve your professional reputation or a semblance of dignity.

driftglass:

“Do it now,” I wrote over and over again, because your party is in the hands of madmen who are destroying our country.

Rick Wilson:

There was a window of time during which giving Trump a chance was justifiable out of a sense of duty to country. ... But that window closed. You had ample opportunity to see, up close, the capriciousness, vainglory and allergic reaction to facts that the rest of us saw from afar. If you’re just now disavowing Trump, or explaining away your support for him, don’t bother. You own it. Leaving 2016 to 2019 blank on your LinkedIn page won’t save you from disgrace.

driftglass:

There was a window of time during which continuing to work for the Republican Party was justifiable out of a sense of duty to country. ... But that window closed a quarter of a century ago. You had ample opportunity to see, up close, the capriciousness, vainglory and allergic reaction to facts that those of us on the Left have been screaming about for decades.  If you’re just now noticing that your entire party is fucked-in-the-head, or explaining away your continued, despicable work on behalf of  your fucked-in-the-head party, don’t bother. You own it. Leaving 1994 to 2016 blank on your LinkedIn page won’t save you from disgrace. 

Just kidding!  The entire corporate media ecosystem is bending over backwards to make absolutely sure that not only are you never held responsible for building the Monster Machine that gave us Trump, but that no one remember anything at all prior to 2015, so go for it!

Rick Wilson:

Sure, you might get a book deal. 

driftglass:

Hey look!  You got a book deal!

Rick Wilson:

And you’ll probably find private sector employment — K Street is still a cozy hideout for plenty of Washington rejects.

driftglass:

And you’ll definitely find private sector employment — cable teevee, op-ed columns and consulting-for-wingnuts-on-the-downlow are still cozy hideouts for plenty of Republicans hiding out from history.

Rick Wilson:

But history will remember you as an enabler, not a truth-teller.

driftglass:

Bush who?  Tea Party what?  Bwahahaha!  Don't worry, history will remember nothing because history is now a media-driven social construct and we control the media so we decide what the "past" is.  So go nuts in the sure and certain knowledge that no one but a few Libtard bloggers will remember you as an enabler, not a truth-teller.

Rick Wilson:

If you were still employed by the president or tap dancing on his behalf at any time in recent months, his stink is on you, and it won’t wash off.

driftglass:

If you were still employed by Republican Monster Machine that created Trump or tap dancing on the GOP's behalf at any time in the last 30 years, don't worry.  Washing the stink off Republican ghouls and hobgoblins and rehabbing their careers over and over again is the media's business model.  Just ask Newt Gingrich!

Rick Wilson:

At best, though, most of the rest are Omarosas, passing off the obvious as insight: When Omarosa Manigault Newman left the White House staff, we didn’t need her to tell us that Trump spouts race-baiting drivel. He’s done it out in the open for years.

driftglass:

At best, though, most of the rest are Rick Wilsons, passing off the obvious as insight: When Rick Wilson started making a living attacking the same toothless Republican rubes he had made a living pandering to, we didn’t need him to tell us that the Republican base are bigots and imbeciles.  Hate Radio and Fox News have been out and proud about this for decades.

Rick Wilson:

In the words of Ed Lover: C’mon, son. Lack of self-awareness is a terrible quality, even for a toady.

driftglass:

In the words of George Orwell: Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.

Rick Wilson:

So peddle your fictional nonfiction. Write your anonymous op-eds. It won’t matter. For a year, or two, or more, you stood athwart history yelling: “Thank you, sir! May I have another?” You served a man bent on division and distraction. You helped him make America grate again. Even after he leaves office, you won’t be able to live it down.

driftglass:

So peddle your fictional nonfiction. Write your Washington Post op-eds and block your legitimate critics on the only venue they are afforded to level the playing field. It won’t matter. For decades you made your daily bread standing athwart history yelling: “Libtards are America-hating, terrorist loving scum!  They're the real racists!” You served a political party bent on division and distraction. You helped create the Monster Machine that made the rise of a horror like Trump inevitable.  And the minute he leaves office, you'll go right back to pimping the same monstrous policies on behalf of the same monstrous party and no one but a few nobody Liberal bloggers from nowhere will remember.   So live it up!

Behold, a Tip Jar!