For Members Only: Reporters Not Welcome
by Evan Sarzin
Let’s visit one of the original thirteen colonies and a battleground state still. North Carolina! In Fayetteville Earl Phillip, the state director for the Donald Trump campaign, was about to give a speech when he spied an enemy of the state seated in Golden Corral, a convivial setting for a political rally. Motioning toward a reporter for the Triad City Beat, Phillip banished him from the room. Phillip also declined to be photographed by the subversive muckraker. “I can really do some talking, but I can’t because we have a member of the press here,” I will leave it up to you: If you want to know the real deal, he’s gonna have to leave. If you want me to speak PC he can stay,” Phillip said. By acclamation, the supporters opted for some plain talk.
Phillip had good reason to eject the Triad City Beat, a paper known for its weekly entertainment listings and green politics. They don’t follow the Code, as explained by Phillip. But you don’t have to take his word for it. Look at the kind of seditious, untrustworthy, unpatriotic audience TCB admits to having and actively courts.
“Our readers have a few things in common: They’re smart, and know the value of staying informed. And they’re engaged — they go to the theater and to museums, restaurants, concerts and shows. They vote. They use greenways and parks. They care about their communities and want to help make things better.” These so-called “readers” have nothing but trouble in mind. What swine. Those corralled must not have been TCB subscribers.
Phillip is a seasoned operator in North Carolina Republican politics. He is the former North Carolina African-American state director for the Republican National Committee. While in that office, he inadvertently stated his opinions on the record. Democrats cannot be Christians, and vice versa, he declared in a regrettable moment of candor. He further embarrassed himself by revealing to the American people that President Obama was not black. His father was African, Phillip explained, and he did not grow up in a black neighborhood. Phillip, born in the Virgin Islands, grew up in urban Baltimore. Telling North Carolinians that the President was not black must have confused a lot of people.
Earl Phillip is a man who has learned about plain talk the hard way. Now, when Philip wants to talk smack, he clears the room of reporters, who will print what he says without sanitizing it. Those who remain apparently have no ethical dilemma.
Evan Sarzin takes time from his undisciplined writing habit to practice real estate and commercial law in New York City.
He has maintained his blog, The Revolted Colonies TM (therevoltedcolonies.blogspot.com) since 2010. When not otherwise loitering, he is a photographer and performing musician.