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Fox Reporter CAN'T STOP Asking Ridiculous Questions
Fox News reporter Peter Doocy is now part of the White House Press Corps and he is making asking snippy, idiotic questions a top priority. Unfortunately for him, Press Secretary Jen Psaki has not been entertaining his silly “gotcha” questions. Doocy asked why Amazon is working with the Biden administration on COVID when they didn’t work with the Trump administration. Psaki rightly pointed out that that’s a question for Amazon or the Trump people, not for the Biden White House. Another question Doocy raised was about Trump’s second impeachment, asking if it would be too “divisive.” Biden has no role in the Trump impeachment and that question is better directed at the Senate, which is set to begin its trial in a couple of weeks. Doocy also criticized Biden for taking his mask off when surrounded by his family at the Lincoln Memorial on Inauguration Day.
Yesterday, Peter Doocy asked Biden himself about his supposed conflicting messaging on coronavirus. Biden said recently that at this point nothing can be done to change the trajectory of the virus. Doocy felt as though that contradicted what Biden said two months ago about how he was going to “shut down this virus.” Biden pointed out that the peak case numbers could be behind us at this point, although we’re still around the peak death period. Fox News will keep trying their best to be adversarial, but it’s going to be difficult to do after four years of defending the joke that was the Trump presidency.
How to Talk to Conspiracy Theorist Family & Friends
One of the most common requests for a segment I've gotten over the last couple of weeks is from people who write in and say: "I have a Trump-supporting conspiracy theorist family member or friend or coworker and I don't really know how to talk to them.” I've generally said that depending on the relationship you want to maintain with people, you would take an either more or less aggressive approach in talking to them. Generally speaking, the best way to go about talking to people to get them to re-examine their beliefs is not to beat them over the head with facts but to ask some carefully calibrated questions to hopefully encourage them to re-examine their opinions.
The Socratic method of questioning is a popular persuasion tactic but it’s important to be asking the right questions. Asking how people got to their conclusions allows them to think backward and examine their own lines of logic. Asking about news sources and what makes a news site believable has also been shown to be very useful. Importantly, just because a belief isn't based on a solid foundation, that doesn't mean that someone will easily give up on that belief. For many people, deradicalization will be a long and arduous process and maybe some people are really “too far gone.” But the effort has to be about working to develop critical thinking skills and improving media literacy around the country.
From yesterday’s show:
WHOA: 69% Approve of Biden's Week 1 COVID Response
Joe Biden has begun his presidency with sky-high approval ratings. According to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll released on Sunday, 69% of Americans approve of Joe Biden’s coronavirus response. According to the latest Hill-HarrisX poll, Biden has a 63% approval rating overall. This is far higher than any approval number generated by Trump during his four years. Also, 81% of Americans support the federal mask mandate, and 70% support rejoining the World Health Organization. More and more, the evidence suggests that the key reason Trump lost was because he failed to take coronavirus seriously. Biden has an incredible opportunity to start fresh and to take a more centralized and sensible approach to battling the COVID-19 pandemic.
--More on the show:
--David Shor, data analyst and veteran of Obama presidential campaign, joins David to discuss his grand theory of American politics
--How the inclusion of extremists in policy, economic, and culture debates poisons the well and prevents progress
--Joe Biden's first approval rating is 63%, the highest of any President in 12 years, and higher than Donald Trump's approval rating ever was
--Religious extremists are struggling with how to cope with their prophecy ending up false in the wake of Joe Biden defeating Donald Trump
--MyPillow founder Mike Lindell is banned from Twitter after months of spreading election fraud disinformation and other widely debunked election claims on Twitter and other social networks
--Voicemail caller asks where the unity that conservatives now demand from Joe Biden was when Donald Trump was elected in 2016
--On the Bonus Show: Mitch McConnell allows Senate power-sharing, Biden admin will speed up putting Harriet Tubman on $20 bill, Senator Patrick Leahy will preside over Trump's 2nd impeachment trial, much more...
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