Business Insider Gets Blow-Back After Publishing Story Fantasizing About Trump's Death
Eighty-one-year-old President Joe Biden is the oldest man to hold his office in American history — and not only that, he looks like a high-mileage 81.
Biden’s physical condition and numerous gaffes have promoted a quiet, polite discussion in the media about whether or not he’s “lost a step” (a favorite euphemism) and should step aside. The answer is that he was never competent in the first place, but never mind that: The media will hold conversations about his age in the gentlest, most understated tone possible.
Business Insider, meanwhile, is openly speculating on what happens if 77-year-old Donald Trump kicks it during the campaign.
A real news headline today. Sick freaks! pic.twitter.com/NBzuITFgtd
— RealBenGeller (@RealBenGeller) November 25, 2023
A handy guide to what would happen if he were to expire! You know, theoretically. No one’s hoping for outcomes here.
Business Insider’s Sonam Sheth noted that if the 77-year-old (but going on 78!) former president “dies while seeking reelection, a few different things could happen, depending on when he dies and how close it is to Election Day.
“There’s no national deadline to file to run for president of the United States. Instead, filing deadlines vary depending on the state and party,” he noted.
For instance: “If Trump were to die before January 1, 2024, there would likely be other Republicans who want to jump into the race,” Sheth noted.
[firefly_poll]
“Many states’ filing deadlines have already passed, however, meaning that state election officials would need to adjust them to allow new candidates to enter the race.”
However, if the primary season is already underway, some states might adjust their regularly scheduled primaries to allow new candidates to enter the field.
Then there’s the case of if Trump died after the primaries but before the convention. In that case, the state delegations would decide — and each candidate would have a chance to make their pitch for the position.
“And if Trump secured the GOP nomination but died between the convention and Election Day 2024, the RNC would convene to select another presidential candidate,” Sheth noted.
Right. Now, do that handy guide for Joe Biden.
Of course nobody in the establishment media would do it such terms, because doing so would get their peers calling them “sick freaks” and noting the bloodless nature of the prose on such a sensitive subject was tonally out of place. He’d be accused of planning for Biden’s death.
Which is exactly what he’s doing with Donald Trump. Except only conservatives were the ones calling Business Insider out, and the hue and cry was far from what we would have seen if it were the other way around:
Trying to normalize this is pretty crazy https://t.co/tGNzfDyBXZ
— TrashDiscourse (@ThaWoodChipper) November 25, 2023
Absolutely despicable @BusinessInsider
— SazzygirlinCali (@RjbRocklin) November 25, 2023
Now do Biden @BusinessInsider what a bunch of sick freaks to actually put out a headline like this of a former president and presidential candidate https://t.co/ij498A05UL
— Tiffany ? (@tiffanylloree) November 25, 2023
Not sure if this would be acceptable if we changed the name to Biden… https://t.co/mfTVadD41Y
— CoCoNutz (@CoCoBNutz) November 25, 2023
First, Levi Strauss heir Rep. Dan Goldman says Trump must be “eliminated,” and now Business Insider is openly asking: What would happen if Donald Trump “dies while seeking reelection” in 2024?
Don’t put anything past these people.https://t.co/Emm6AG8DkG
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) November 25, 2023
And that’s the thing: Kirk is right. Donald Trump has been the excuse for the establishment media to say and do things to Republicans that, before his nomination, would be off the table for any serious politician or journalist.
George W. Bush, John McCain, Mitt Romney — they were nominees that the media may have loathed, but among their various calumnies against them was never a piece that, say, speculated on what might happen if they died. (Nudge nudge, wink wink.) That sort of thing would have been seen, quite rightly, as out of line.
But because Trump crossed some kind of psychic border for the left and the establishment journalism community, everything became OK. The smears against Republicans whispered under their breath? They could now be said openly.
Just don’t let anyone say the same things about the more obviously enfeebled candidate, provided that candidate is of the right party and persuasion (i.e., the Democrats, and preferably on the left side of it). That’s when things that should be considered absolutely unacceptable, are.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
