Look what you made me do
by digby
CNN’s chief White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, recalled finding himself in a “twilight zone” as he was targeted with boos and jeers from people who attended a campaign rally held Monday by President Donald Trump in West Columbia, South Carolina.
“When I was at this rally tonight, people were coming up to me and saying: ‘Why are you mean to President Trump? Why are you mean to Sarah Sanders?'” Acosta told the CNN anchor Don Lemon on Monday night.
Acosta is no stranger to Trump’s ire and has frequently butted heads with the White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in daily press briefings.
According to the CNN correspondent, Trump supporters, including a woman who he said whipped the crowd “into a frenzy,” accosted him by shouting and taunting.
“An elderly woman came up to me and said that I needed to get the ‘eff’ out,” Acosta said. “And then she turned to the crowd and whipped them all into a frenzy and they were saying, ‘Go home Jim, CNN sucks, fake news,’ and so on. And to me, it’s sort of like, really? This is civility?”
Video footage on social media captured the scene:Granny leads go home Jim, in SC rally to Jim Acosta CNN.
Marvin Beach pic.twitter.com/VXK3InYYBc— Trad American Angel™ (@RightWingAngel) June 25, 2018
“It’s sort of like being beamed into the twilight zone, Don, covering a political rally where your fellow Americans —you stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, you do the national anthem, and then they all turn on you and start screaming at you like this. It’s just unlike anything I’ve ever seen before and it’s quite startling.”
But it seems to be some kind of game of ritual humiliation for some of them rather than anything serious. They get to act like bullies and then force the victim to say “thank you sir, may I have another.”
At one point, however, rally goers approached Acosta and asked for autographs and selfies, according to BuzzFeed News. Acosta reportedly obliged and signed campaign memorabilia including a hat with Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
“I think it helps calm them down,” Acosta said, according to BuzzFeed News. “If I were to say no, it could make it more venomous.”
Another act of civility appeared to bridge the divide between Acosta and the crowd. After an elderly woman at the rally was in need of a chair, Acosta reportedly gave up his seat:
A moment of civility: As POTUS is delayed due to weather, @CNN’ s @Acosta gave up his chair to an elderly Trump supporter. She was so appreciative that she wanted her photo taken with him. Her son said to Jim, “You’re a good man. Your mama raised you right.” #SCGov pic.twitter.com/0vXaCgjugE— Meg Kinnard (@MegKinnardAP) June 25, 2018
Acosta has a big important TV career so I don’t exactly feel sorry for him.
But this is sick, nonetheless. In fact, it’s grotesque. Trump basically puts the press in a cage and uses them as a target for his deplorable followers to aim their overwhelming hatred without being called bigots. And the targets must smile and pretend that it’s all just a game in order to keep them from exploding.
This is what abusers do.
Just don’t deny a Republican a side salad.
.