WATCH: Dan Abrams and Radio Host Matt Jones Call Out Media Promoting Extremists Over Popular Moderates in Scathing Critique
NewsNation host Dan Abrams and popular Kentucky sports talk radio personality Matt Jones called out the media for promoting what the former labeled political “extremists.”
“For all the headlines that extremist politicians generate these days. the evidence is piling up at their brand of politics is not really what Americans want,” said Abrams — the founder of Mediaite — during his show, Dan Abrams Live, on Thursday. “A new poll out shows that some of the most popular politicians in America are moderates, many of them come from places that might surprise you.”
According to a Morning Consult survey published last week, the 11 most popular governors in America are Republican, followed by Kentucky’s Andy Beshear as the most popular Democratic governor. Most of those governors, led by Massachusetts’ Charlie Baker, are moderates.
“The secret to their success? They’re both extremely moderate and pragmatic,” said Abrams — referring to Baker and Beshear. “They have effective working relationships with members of the opposite party. They govern in a bipartisan fashion. They actually get things done. Who knew? Who knew that could be so popular? And they’re not alone.”
“You don’t hear a lot about these people on the major cable news networks. And that’s because consensus governing doesn’t make good headlines,” he added. “It’s not what gets ratings. Division gets ratings. Hysteria gets ratings. Fear gets ratings.”
Abrams then showed pictures of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and former President Donald Trump and lamented the media covering them instead of the popular moderates.
“The media doesn’t want to show you the people trying to bring us together like those popular Republicans in blue states, or the popular Democrats in red states. They want to show the people that are trying to tear us apart,” said Abrams. “But those effective leaders who build bridges and try to heal the divides between us? They’re out there. It’s time we started talking about them more.”
Abrams then brought in Jones — a moderate Democrat and prominent Kentucky-based media personality who weighed a run for the Senate against Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in 2020. Jones explained how Beshear is a successful Democratic governor in a red state like Kentucky:
If you’re going to have any success in a state where the majority of the constituency is not your party, you have to have spent your life kind of get to know these people and understanding what makes them tick. I’m sure if you’re Charlie baker of Massachusetts, you spent your whole life around liberals and you understand how to talk to them in a way that they will not think is demeaning.
In Kentucky, if you talk to the average Kentuckian like most Democrats do, they will think that you are better than them. They will think that you have an elitist view of them, and they’re not going to consider you at all. Andy Beshear, his dad was governor. He’s been around. He’s from a small town, so am I. And I think that helps. The reason all these moderates are popular … in states where the majority party is not theirs is that in order to succeed in that environment, you have learned how to communicate with those that are different. And most people in Washington never have to do that.
Watch above, via NewsNation.
