We referenced the recent Washington Post meltdown in our ‘feel good story of the week’ post about left-wing organizations effectively ceasing to function amid endless and all-consuming internal woke recriminations. It was a two-pronged saga featuring a pair of young journalists and infamous drama magnets. One is now out of a job, following a weeklong public nervous breakdown (though her pre-existing lawsuit against the Post is presumably still moving forward). The other is said to be facing new professional oversight. In a Friday evening monologue, Maher focused on the former situation, ripping the now-ousted reporter, her former employer, and entitled, self-absorbed younger workers in general. Savage and deserved:
People keep joking about Maher getting ‘red-pilled’ over the last few years, but I think that’s a misread of his mindset. He’s still a traditional liberal, and his contempt for the Republican Party remains palpable. What’s changed is that his antipathy for the new Left seems to have grown nearly as powerful these days, and he feels compelled to use his platform to battle forces that he views as illiberal bullies on his own ‘side.’ Intra-family squabbles can get ugly, and that’s what this is. It’s often righteous and enjoyable, of course, but conservatives should not hold our collective breath waiting for the moment that Maher finally becomes ‘one of us.’ He’s repulsed by both tribes. And that’s fine. It’s important to have voices on the center-left fighting these insufferable and destructive forces. As one of the self-identifying ‘good Millennials’ Maher mentions, I welcome his contributions to the culture wars, even though we often still disagree on any number of subjects. The biting, scorching glee with which he goes after ‘progressive’ excesses and insanity is both delightful and needed. Relatedly, contrast the slow-motion disaster at the Post with what happened at Elon Musk’s SpaceX last week: