There's something bonkers in the hard left's hysteria over Bari Weiss becoming editor-in-chief of CBS News. A psych eval comes toward the end.

John Oliver recently delivered an unhinged tirade against Weiss as a right-wing tool of MAGA. Oliver was his usual self — frantic hands, googly eyes and a rapid-fire string of quips that seldom rose above the merely cute. (His producers had the laugh track in fifth gear. You can tell by the repeated "wall of laughter" that suddenly stops.)

Weiss resigned from her columnist post at The New York Times and proceeded to launch The Free Press, a site that skewers both right and left. Of course, Oliver cherrypicked the items that hit the left. In doing so, he ignored such Free Press headlines as "What Does Trump Think He's Doing with Venezuela?" and "Young Republicans are Radicalizing Themselves Online."

One of Oliver's attempts at ridicule was to note that the University of Austin, a free speech college that Weiss co-founded, "is housed on a couple of floors of a former department store in downtown Austin, which is pretty unusual."

That's rich. The New York headquarters of CBS News, which Oliver called "one of the most trusted names in American journalism," is in a repurposed Sheffield Farms dairy depot (circa 1938) on the far west end of 57th Street. Seems the old building does the job.

Puck, a liberal-leaning media outlet, reported on the left's loss of neurological control in a piece titled, "Bari, Bari, Quite Contrary." Dylan Byers notes that Weiss does have agendas not beloved by many on the left, but that she also stirs up envy. Not every journalist can parlay a Substack "with a bold mission statement" into a nine-figure business, as Weiss has.

Byers cites The Independent site's contention that CBS employees are "literally freaking out" about Weiss taking over the newsroom. These employees, all unnamed, used words like "depressing" and "doomsday."

But Byers said he also spoke to CBS News sources, at least 15 of them, and "the overwhelming response has been excitement, cautious optimism and relief." One of them, also not named, said, "Anyone who is acting like CBS News internally is aghast is not capturing the actual mood."

Time to put the agitated left on the therapist's couch. Why are these true believers so triggered by Bari Weiss and her like? I'm generally center-left myself, so I know what ballpark the hotheads are playing in. Contrarians like to make fun and are also good at poking holes in the "official story." And because they're not easily identified as the enemy, they subject the doctrinal purists to narcissistic injury.

The famous saying goes that "the devil cannot endure to be mocked." (My friends on the center-right see similar hurt on the far-right.)

A former media reporter for Politico, CNN and NBC/MSNBC, Byers wrote, "In my 15-plus years covering this business, in fact, I have never witnessed such a Rorschach test."

This skirmish is part of a bigger battle in the Democratic Party between the noisy far left and a majority that's more moderate and knows not to call themselves socialists. There is no reason why Donald Trump got elected again other than a woke left that Republicans used to scare off the moderate multitudes.

The MAGA right knows that keeping bright spotlights on the left fringes is poison for Democrats. That's currently the best hope Republicans have to avoid a wipeout in the upcoming midterms. That Democrats finally have strong voices able to counter the party radicals is a threat to Republicans, not Democrats.

And so who's afraid of big bad Bari? Not I. She's a breath of fresh air— and entertaining, besides.

Follow Froma Harrop on X @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com. To find out more about Froma Harrop and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.

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