Super Bowl bursts popular right-wing media myth

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Super Bowl bursts popular right-wing media myth
Conservative commentators and podcast bros have had to backtrack on San Francisco

By Sophia Tesfaye
Senior Writer
Published February 10, 2026 9:00AM (EST)


(Salon) always thought the idea of San Francisco as a dystopian nightmare was some kind of bit. An exaggeration made meme, something people said with a wink to signal their politics more than their understanding of reality. I didn’t realize just how many Americans actually believe it so deeply that they could travel across the country, step off a plane and walk through one of the most visually stunning cities on the continent — only to be shocked that they were lied to.

Super Bowl visitors who discovered the truth over the weekend got a glimpse behind the curtain of right-wing media manipulation. While the game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots was played about 40 miles south of San Francisco, much of the NFL’s activities and media opportunities were staged in the city that’s served as conservative media’s favorite punching bag for decades. What right-wing media does exceptionally well is curate reality by looping the same context-free footage. With former Speaker of the House — and San Francisco resident — Nancy Pelosi serving as a convenient caricature of liberal elites, Fox News, MAGA talk radio and right-wing social media influencers have relentlessly portrayed the city as a dystopian hellscape of human feces, discarded needles, rampant crime and zombie-like drug addicts stumbling through streets abandoned by anyone with sense or resources.

....(snip)....

There’s no denying that San Francisco faces serious challenges. Anyone who actually lives there — or has lived there, as I have — knows that. Wealth inequality is glaring. Housing costs are obscene. The fentanyl crisis is real. The pandemic greatly exacerbated existing fractures and hollowed out downtown retail.

But here’s the part that the propaganda machine depends on people not understanding: None of these problems are unique to San Francisco, and none of them tell the whole story of the place.

....(snip)....

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, who has spent years cultivating an audience that overlaps heavily with conservative media consumers, took his followers on a pizza tour of the city and surrounding areas, ultimately crowning a spot in Oakland as the best. Jake Malasek, the company’s content creator who was visiting from Florida, tweeted his surprise: “I may have been too harsh on San Francisco in terms of its beauty. This is pretty sweet.” Senior Barstool producer TJ Hitchings was effusive about the city’s iconic Tonga Room, calling it “the best bar I’ve ever been to in my life.” .................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/02/10/super-bowl-bursts-popular-right-wing-media-myth/