Republicans Can Break the Corporate Media This Cycle

No more limp excuses. The GOP now knows it can defang the power of the media in a general election—if it wants to.

It will take a lot of backbone—Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis-level backbone—but Republicans can break the still-too-powerful influence of the legacy corporate media. It’s a gamble, but one worth taking. Fact is, most Republicans do not need the mainstream media to win elections. For many of them, the media offers more downside than upside.

First we should recognize that legacy media are Democratic operatives, and therefore we have to treat reporters, nationally and locally, as the opposition. Republicans should simply decline to participate in their partisan attacks. How many times do Republicans need to be burned and voters lied to before realizing they need to ignore the media to neuter it? At some point, it’s Charlie Brown’s fault for playing with Lucy.

Nationally, there are friendly media outlets that Republicans can talk to, leak information to, and create reporter relationships with. This both helps Republican candidates avoid the opposition media and builds up an alternative mediasphere. If Republicans prove they can win with this formula, the corporate media, in a few election cycles, becomes relegated to just leftists for political coverage.

It will be impossible for people to not take notice. But is it possible to do?

Yes, in a general election. And we know it: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is essentially following this path and taking the risk alone. He has spent more than four years completely icing out the Florida media—to their delightful shrieks and howls. Even now, in the midst of a rapidly heating up GOP primary, he continues to ignore the media.

DeSantis has already proven the worth of this strategy in Florida, the third-largest, most diverse state in the union with still powerful media outlets in Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville and elsewhere. After telling legacy media to pound sand for four years, he went from a 2018 gubernatorial win of a fraction of a percent, to winning by 19 points four years later in a state with roughly equal voter registration. No media needed.

Unfortunately, old-school consultants, many conservative talking heads, and far too many fearful Republicans still don’t see this. They need to catch up.

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