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Daily Inspiration Quote by Geraldo Rivera

"I think of myself as Special Forces, clearing the path for the infantry"

About this Quote

Geraldo Rivera casting himself as "Special Forces" is peak self-mythologizing, but it’s also a revealing job description for a certain strain of American TV journalism: loud reconnaissance that treats the news cycle like hostile terrain. The metaphor flatters him twice. Special Forces are elite, risk-tolerant, and psychologically wired for danger; infantry are the masses who move in after the hard part is done. Rivera isn’t just saying he reports first. He’s claiming a moral hierarchy where attention is courage, and spectacle is service.

The subtext is competitive insecurity dressed as camaraderie. By positioning mainstream reporters as the "infantry", he implies they’re necessary but ordinary, bound by slower rules, while he operates with improvisational license. That neatly excuses the messiness of his signature style: the high-stakes stakeouts, the breathless live shots, the willingness to be wrong in public as long as he’s early. If the mission is to "clear the path", collateral damage becomes part of the narrative. Missteps aren’t mistakes; they’re the fog of war.

Context matters: Rivera rose in an era when television didn’t just cover events; it produced them. The war analogy smuggles in an old cultural reflex - that legitimacy comes from proximity to danger - and repackages ratings pressure as civic duty. It’s a line built for a medium that rewards the first footprint more than the cleanest map.

Quote Details

TopicMilitary & Soldier
SourceHelp us find the source
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Rivera, Geraldo. (2026, January 15). I think of myself as Special Forces, clearing the path for the infantry. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-think-of-myself-as-special-forces-clearing-the-60075/

Chicago Style
Rivera, Geraldo. "I think of myself as Special Forces, clearing the path for the infantry." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-think-of-myself-as-special-forces-clearing-the-60075/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I think of myself as Special Forces, clearing the path for the infantry." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-think-of-myself-as-special-forces-clearing-the-60075/. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.

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About the Author

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Geraldo Rivera (born July 4, 1943) is a Journalist from USA.

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