We can discard the classic Pauline Kael quote and upgrade to this Samantha Bee quote now.
Tapper pressed on though, asking if Douthat had a larger point about "smug liberals."
"I'm not talking about you, but is there a smug liberal problem?" Tapper asked.
"I just can't take responsibility for the way the election turned out. I don't, I can't. Is there a smug liberal problem?" she asked. "I don't think there is. I do the show for me and for people like me, and I don't really care how the rest of the world sees it, quite frankly."
That's honest. If more of the lefty entertainment industry were willing to be this honest, it would be refreshing. Of course Bee, like most of the Daily Show pod progressives, are blatantly pandering to the left. Jon Stewart pretended he was talking to independents and people sick of the media and politics. Bee isn't bothering to pretend. Neither is Oliver. And that's great,
One of the biggest effects of the Trump revolution may be that there just isn't room for a debate about media bias anymore. There's nothing to debate when every headline is some variation of Trump Smells - AP or Trump has Cooties - New York Times. They're barely bothering to be coy anymore. Bee isn't being coy at all.
She has no idea what people outside her rich lefty bubble might be like. And isn't interested in them. Only in mocking them for not being her. This is Mean Girls politics in its final stage. And that's great.
The subversive left is far more dangerous than the totalitarian left... before it takes power. This type of thing isn't subversive. It's totalitarian but without real force behind it.