The Problem with Allies

A walkthrough of how media partners with so-called allies to shape narratives

Jul 04, 2025

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“The Problem With Jon Stewart” was a current affairs show that premiered on Apple Television back in 2021. Each week, Stewart tackled a single issue—a problem—with his trademark approach to comedy.

The show’s eighth episode, “The Problem With White People” focused on the so-called “racial reckoning” that followed the May 2020 murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

In his signature comedic fashion, Stewart walked viewers through a video of the reactions of media anchors, appeared shocked that Chauvin’s level of racism could exist in America.

Stewart followed that up with a video montage spanning several decades of Black civil rights activists, authors—even rap stars—articulating their concerns about the country’s race problem.

Last May, a couple of blocks on MSNBC‘s “Katie Tur Reports” reminded me of the Stewart episode, and how traditional media’s uses “convenient memory” to shape its preferred narrative.

In the first segment, Tur is joined by David Drucker and Jeremy Peters, both seasoned journalists. The young man between Drucker and Peters gazing seriously into the camera is named Ed Elson. Ostensibly, he is there to add a Gen Z perspective to the conversation.

Based on an earlier social media post, he’s new to the world of cable news punditry. So new in fact, in an earlier appearance the network misspelled his name.

Because cable news is both-sides television, Elson immediately shifted the focus away from Republicans, the party that is forcing the tax cuts down our throats, to take an opportunity to trash Democrats.

Elson makes the curious assertion that the Democratic Party’s “big mistake” with Gen Z (I assume he meant during the last election) was that the Party’s entire political strategy centered around “pop stars and identity politics,” instead of being “willing to tackle the real issues.”

It is difficult to believe Elson is unaware of the dozens of campaign speeches given by Kamala Harris outlining her platform of housing for first time homebuyers and money for startups, both of which appear to address the very “real issues” he says are important to Gen Z, but there it is.

If that wasn’t enough of a red herring, Tur’s next segment gives the whole dishonest game away.

This time Elson is joined by Paul Rieckhoff, an Iraq War veteran and frequent MSNBC guest. He is also the founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Tur kicks off the segment by discussing Senator Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) ‘Fighting Oligarchy’ tour.

As an aside, she mentions that Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has traveled with Sanders on several legs of the multi-state tour. Tur’s dismissiveness towards AOC is notable because at the time, the New York Democrat was drawing enormous crowds while touring with Sanders, even drawing thousands in places like Idaho and Montana.

A few days earlier on Kalshi, a prediction market that tracks the odds of the Democratic Party’s potential 2028 presidential nominee, AOC was in a virtual tie with Gavin Newsom. Sanders wasn’t even ranked.

By including Ocasio-Cortez in his tour, Sanders appeared to be passing her the progressive torch, but Tur barely mentions AOC. Instead, the panel’s discussion focuses on whether the 83 year-old Sanders was gearing up for a president run.

Tur flips the conversation over to Elson for his take on Sanders’ message regarding the GOP tax proposal. Here’s where the Gen Z’er earns his stripes. He responds by saying Sanders’s messaging is “on point,” then adds his two cents:

Tur and Rieckhoff’s amazed reaction is so outlandish that it seems scripted. The pair marvel at Elson’s remarks, as though they’d never heard anything like them before.

Despite Elson’s status as a political neophyte, Rieckhoff suggests that Democrats should retain him to communicate their message with Gen Z’ers. You’d think the twenty-six year-old newcomer had just solved the three body problem on live television.

The whole charade might have worked if not for one thing:

Elson’s comments, the ones Tur and Rieckhoff were losing their minds over, were the same goddamned things Democrats like AOC, Jasmine Crockett—not to mention Kamala Harris during her presidential run—have been saying for years. For the love of Pete, the entire reason AOC was traveling the country with Sanders was because the two of them were delivering the same freaking message!

Tur and Rieckhoff’s parlor dance explains why, instead of talking about AOC, a popular Democrat whose superpower is her ability to deliver a message, Tur kept things focused on Sanders, who, although he caucuses with them, is not a Democrat.

Which makes perfect sense, because this block was designed, not to speculate on the ridiculous notion of another octogenarian presidential run, but to cast Democrats in a negative light. Like the preceding segment, its objective was to plant the seed that the Party is losing Gen Zers because they’re too focused on the wrong things.

Perhaps unknowingly, Elson plays the role of straw man for an entire cohort, pushing the ridiculous narrative that, while Sanders’ message is “on point,” while Democrats delivering the identical message, are somehow out of touch.

You might wonder how someone like Elson ends up as a talking head on MSNBC. Perhaps it’s his pedigree. He attended Phillips Academy, which is also known as Andover.

In case you’ve never heard of Andover, the elite school was founded in 1778, and is one of the glide paths to an Ivy League education. Elson’s next stop was Princeton, where in 2021, he graduated summa cum laude with a degree in classics. He was also a commencement speaker that year.

After a stint as a research assistant for Michael Wolff, the author of Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, Elson landed a similar role with someone you may know from his frequent appearances on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program, or one of his many podcasts, like the one he has with tech journalist Kara Swisher. His name is Scott Galloway.

Galloway is a former hedge fund manager, who, about fifteen years ago, sold his digital intelligence business for a little over $150 million. Now he does TED talks, serves on at least a half dozen corporate boards, and has about the same number of podcasts. Galloway is also a professor of marketing at New York University’s Stern School of Business

Elson parlayed his research role with Galloway into a job as the co-host of “Prof G Markets,” one of the most popular podcasts in the country. Galloway, or “Prof G,” is the main attraction, but being the wingman of a wealthy, marketing juggernaut ain’t a bad for your first full-time job.

Their mentor-protégé vibe might explain Elson’s view of the Democratic Party. That’s because for the past few months, Galloway has been telling anyone who’ll listen that identity politics are a huge problem, particularly for white men of about Elson’s age.

Here’s a quote from a talk Galloway gave about a year ago where Galloway trashes Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The event was sponsored by The Wall Street Journal, but guess where I found it?

On the YouTube channel of The Rubin Report, a conservative talk show hosted by a guy named Dave Rubin.

That makes sense, because, even though he’s considered a centrist, what Galloway is saying about DEI has got to be music to the right-wing’s ears (emphasis added):

l think we need to recognize our victory and our progress, but then figure out a way to come together. Because DEI is causing a lot of problems. Because what has happened with DEI…people of color deserve advantage, they they've been treated really poorly right?
Well also the Japanese, we interned the Japanese in concentration camps, what about them? What about women? Think about all that women have taken. Well what about gay people for God's sakes?
They've been persecuted; and we ended up with a construct an expensive construct that has huge apparatus and people that can never be fired you can never question it, or you're called a racist if you ever question DEI efforts, right, where we're purposely advantaging 76% of the population the only people we are not advantaging are the 24% of people in America applying to college that are white and male.
So when you are have an apparatus trying to advantage 76% you're not advantaging them you're discriminating against the 24%, so what's the solution?
Affirmative action is an amazing thing… Republicans and Democrats all believe there are certain people with winds in their face that could use a hand up the key is and the thing that causes all agita is a misdirect it's around okay who qualifies the affirmative action should be based on color and that color should be green…

Galloway’s lament over the struggles of young, cisgender white men rings hollow, given how effortlessly his protégé moved from elite prep school to Ivy League campus, ultimately landing on MSNBC.

As for Ed Elson, he’s on a roll. He’s on his way to becoming a regular on Katie Tur’s program. Last month, he sighed with talent powerhouse Creative Artists Agency (CAA), the same agency that represents superstars like Meryl Streep, Steven Spielberg, and Zendaya.