so much as

Senator had been put in handcuffs—why, in fact, the incident was entirely his fault, and placing a federal lawmaker in custody did not warrant so much as an apology—Noem had a simple explanation.

A rapid montage of clips tracking the decay of TV news and politics — including Obama’s tan suit kerfuffle and the barring of AP for not bowing to Trump’s Gulf of America edit and ending with Elon Musk’s notorious straight-arm gesture, looking like nothing so much as a Nazi salute — was flown into Clooney’s final speech.

But the film’s meta moments are not a deconstruction of the form, so much as they are a mirror.

But these meta moments are not a deconstruction of the form, so much as they are a mirror.

Welsh said "thank you so much" as she received a trophy which referenced all four shows, before joking that she didn't mind which show won best soap at the event, because "I've been in all of them".