Melee (Updated)

So I partly blame All the President's Men.

Not the book, the movie. The filmed version of the story offers reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward as saviors of the Republic through their reporting on the Watergate scandal. But the book sees things differently: Woodward and Bernstein set out to uncover the truth, and once that's done the Republic can save itself. The former version is the one that's taken hold today, both inside and outside the media itself.

The idea's problematic at any time. It caused journalists to band together to support then-President Obama even when he was wrong. It's caused them to oppose President Trump at any cost and at every opportunity. He is a threat to the Republic, they are its saviors and so he is their enemy. President Trump happily agrees that he and the media are enemies and is eager to further the conflict with his conduct and the conduct of his administration. Of course, he and his people see themselves as saviors of the Republic in this battle, but they agree that the Republic is endangered by the likes of their enemies.

In the press room, this shared worldview fuels things like CNN reporter Jim Acosta's tantrums and Playboy and Sentinel newspapers reporter Brian Karem's press room rant. It also fuels deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders' forays into her own bullying behavior, such as snarking on Acosta's supposed intellectual deficiencies. Now, Acosta may be a twerp who spent his school years regularly being relieved of his lunch money or he may not, but the person with the microphone has the power and Sanders used hers poorly in this case. You might think her experience at the White House Correspondents Dinner would have attuned her to this, but at least in this case, it didn't.

It's not long before every appearance by someone identifiable with one side or the other becomes an occasion for battle. Seth Rogen declines to take pictures with Representative Paul Ryan after taking them with Ryan's sons (he did not know who they were until they introduced their father) and adds in a lecture to Ryan in front of the kids about what an awful person he is. A restaurant owner decides that Sanders' presence in her establishment cannot be allowed and so asks her and her party to leave (and later courageously attributes to her staff the desire to have Sanders removed). A group of people surrounds DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen at a restaurant and chants at her until she leaves. Protestors confront Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi after a screening of the documentary about Mr. Rogers -- proving that whoever they listened to, it sure as hell wasn't Fred Rogers -- and heckle her until she calls the police.

Maybe these are ways decent people behave and maybe they aren't. It's kind of worth noting, I suppose, that except for Rogen all of these brave folks have picked on women, but maybe that's just coincidence.

Anyone who's read memoirs from reporters or government officials from previous administrations knows that the press and public relations staff serve different goals. They always have, even when the government isn't doing anything wrong or trying to cover something up. But even in the chilliest of times, such as the Reagan administration, the PR folks talk about the ways they worked with the press corps to make sure they could do their jobs. And the press folks talked about how the PR flacks did what they could to get information out to the public.

Do these people actually believe they're saving the Republic, as I allude to above? Maybe not in so many words, but reading what they say leaves little doubt that they believe they are fully justified in treating their fellow human beings absolutely awfully. And you would hope they wouldn't do that unless it was for what they thought was a very important cause, even if it isn't specifically saving the Republic.

It's almost certain to backfire on them, though. People who might have decided to vote for anyone who runs against President Trump in 2020 may figure that as bad as he is, folks who mob women at restaurants and movies are worse and at the very least they may stay home instead of voting for the President's opponent.

Even if that doesn't happen, such actions are, well, wrong. Period. End of line. If the Republic gets saved or their cause prevails, it will be in spite of them, rather than because of them.

ETA: Karem should be credited for his moderating comments on a CNN panel discussion Monday morning. While addressing California Rep. Maxine Waters' call for mobbing Trump cabinet officials if they are seen in public, Karem said he would have served Sanders in spite of their differences.