Atlantic Writer On PBS: The Bad News For Democrats Is They Have A Hard Time Driving The News Cycle

This wasn’t a news segment — it was a Democrat strategy session broadcast on taxpayer-funded PBS. The host and David Graham, a staff writer at The Atlantic, weren’t reporting facts. They were offering advice, poll-tested messaging, and spin to help Democrats recover from their failures.

Graham said Democrats are “still so shell shocked by the last election" and believe they lost because of immigration. He claimed polling shows that Trump is overreaching on the issue. He pushed the narrative that while Americans support closing the borders, they don’t support “invasive” enforcement like what Trump is doing — including deploying the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles. He said it's not what they believe they voted for or like.

Then he brought up the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case — an illegal immigrant — and said Democrats should use it to stand up for what’s right. He said there is a double opportunity there. As if standing up for someone who entered the country illegally, beat his wife, and allegedly trafficked people is ever right.

Graham even admitted, “you can see them still very nervous about, um, taking anything that might be seen as, uh, getting on the wrong side of the American public.” In other words, Democrats only speak up when the political winds are in their favor.

The host actually asked him, “Are there any sleeper opportunities that we haven't mentioned? Is there anything we haven't talked about so far that you think offers an opportunity for Democrats that we should keep an eye out for?” He whined, “I think the bad news for Democrats is they have a hard time driving the news cycle. And so it's hard to know where things are going…”

That’s absurd. Democrats don’t just drive the news cycle — they own the vehicle. Legacy media, Big Tech, Hollywood, and even PBS act in lockstep, constantly amplifying their narratives. After that, he added, “As we've seen from the No Kings protest, there is a robust opposition to Trump.” He said, "Trump will make new things happen. He does this every few days,” and that each time he does, it is “dangerously unpopular and a chance for Democrats to strike an identity.”

PBS let a partisan Atlantic writer dictate strategy to Democrats while pretending it was news coverage — and until that funding is fully cut, yes, we’re still paying for it.

Why should Americans be forced to subsidize partisan media that acts like an extension of the Democrat Party?