Safe Bets For Tonight: It’s hosted by CNN and NYT, so the questions to the candidates are going to suck. The moderators want this to become a professional wrestling match, so look for lots of questions crafted to spark fights among the candidates. I predict Erin Burnett will ask Warren and Sanders about how they…
Category: CNN
NYT, CNN play Gotcha! with Senator Kamala Harris' Environmental Record.
The Exxon oil wells off the California coast are a dark cancer on our fair nation. And when the pipeline that carried Exxon’s oil from those wells broke, and bespoiled miles of coast line and poisoned wildlife, Then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris vigorously intervened. Harris and her successor successfully assisted in the criminal prosecution of the oil pipeline…
How the press keeps helping Trump spread his crooked Ukraine conspiracy
Tapped to handle damage control on the stunning revelation that Donald Trump aggressively tried to pressure a foreign country to dig up dirt on his possible 2020 Democratic opponent, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo engaged in reckless bouts of misinformation during appearances on Sunday morning shows yesterday—and the hosts did nothing to stop him. In…
Letting Trump constantly lie about 9/11 means the press will let him lie about anything
Sometimes it feels like the press has just completely surrendered to Donald Trump's relentless lies, and that reporters have essentially thrown up their hands, signaling that Trump has complete permission to fabricate whatever wild fantasies he wants and journalists won't really do much. Perhaps it's one part laziness, one part exhaustion? But watching what unfolded…
Trump's new press secretary taunts CNN on Twitter; it doesn't go well
As the saying goes, to err is human, whereas to err; double-, triple-, and quadruple-down on the erring; and then take out a Sharpie to alter an official government weather map before denying you did so is oh-so-Trumpian. For some reason, Donald Trump’s new press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, thought it would be a good idea to tweak…
Confirmed: Trump lies to reporters more often than he lies to any other group
Press advocates scored an important legal victory this week when a U.S. District Court judge ordered the White House to reinstate media credentials to reporter Brian Karem, whose access had been stripped away by Donald Trump's team after a dust-up during a Rose Garden ceremony in July. There, former Trump aide Sebastian Gorka called Karem a…
Larry Kudlow goes full Orwell in new CNN interview
On a good day, listening to top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow discuss economics is like watching the chief herpetologist at the Bronx Zoo run around screaming in the gift shop with a Gaboon viper latched to his scrotum. Today, he looked even more out of his element. In an interview with CNN’s Brianna Keilar,…
'The chosen one': Now more than ever, the press needs to address Trump's manic instability
In a presidency marked by incoherent pronouncements and bizarre visions of grandeur, Donald Trump seemed to reach new, troubling heights last week. He referred to himself as “the chosen one.” He quoted a rabid conspiracy theorist radio host who declared that Israeli Jews love Trump as if he were the “King of Israel” and “the second…
Trump flips out on NBC reporter for pointing out his stupidity
Watching White House press conferences these days is like watching psych ward orderlies try to convince their patients not to eat live pigeons whole in the exercise yard. Yesterday was no different. After whining that President Obama enjoyed the “benefit” of 0 percent interest rates and two payroll tax cuts (you know, because his predecessor had left him with…
Trump dupes the press about passing gun laws—again
Folding like a cheap suit, Donald Trump once again signaled that he's going to stand in the way of any kind of gun reform legislation in the wake of two more massacres that left 31 people dead and dozens more injured. Trump lying about gun laws and brazenly walking back his public pledges for action…
What Bernie Sanders gets right with his critique of the corporate media
For generations, the politicians consistently and publicly finding fault with the news media have largely been Republican. But as frustrations rise on the other side of the aisle this campaign season, more Democrats are speaking out, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders. His structural critique of corporate media in America is an important one and goes to…
Jake Tapper lays into Trump for spreading 'deranged' conspiracy theories
We are all Jake Tapper this morning. (Hey, it’s better than all of us being Chuck Todd. Though if I were, I’d shave off that fucking goatee posthaste, and advise you to do the same. It just doesn’t work for his face. I mean, seriously.) Tapper began CNN’s State of the Union this morning with…
Memo to media: 'Congress' isn't blocking new gun laws—the GOP is
Obstructionist Republicans have been blocking common-sense gun laws for years, even as the laundry list of gun massacres continues to grow. The radical maneuver comes against overwhelming public support for Democrat-backed legislation. If ever there's been an example of an entire political party in America completely out of step with the country, this is it….
Media 'optics' police hounded Obama and Clinton for years, now give Trump a pass
What a difference a new administration makes. After spending years as self-appointed patrollers of so-called political optics, relentlessly ticketing Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for supposedly major and minor infractions, the D.C. press has dropped that pursuit under Donald Trump. No longer obsessing over how things look or bemoaning a lack of proper theatrics, Beltway…
Why the D.C. press isn't equipped to handle Trump's racist re-election crusade
Doubling and tripling down on his bigoted commentary and racist tweets, Donald Trump is all but boasting that his re-election run will be fueled by hate speech and hardcore white grievance. Unlike anything ever seen before in American politics (remember, segregationist George Wallace didn't have a Twitter feed), Trump's re-election strategy is to basically spark…
KS-Sen: Kris Kobach (R), “I might still support Trump if he said 'I'm a racist'”
Yes, he said that: x YouTube Video Republican Senate candidate Kris Kobach left CNN anchor Chris Cuomogobsmacked Tuesday night when he had to seriously think about whether he’d continue to support Donald Trump for president if he openly admitted to being a racist, saying he’d have to weigh who Trump was running against. Appearing on CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time to…
Dark days: When journalists won't name Trump's blatant racism
Three months ago the Associated Press updated its influential AP Stylebook, which news editors and producers across the country use as a guideline in terms of what language to use when covering today's current events. In a key and dramatic change, the AP this year began urging news outlets to accurately describe racist behavior when it's…
The press soft-pedals GOP’s wild and dangerous insurrection in Oregon
The political and militia showdown that's been unfolding around Oregon's state Capitol is a stunning news event by any modern standard. After fleeing the state in order to prevent a quorum that's needed for a vote on climate change legislation, Republicans are being aided by right-wing militia members who are promising to lay down their lives for…
How the press played along with Trump's Iran 'crisis' charade
Dubbed “the decider,” Donald Trump basked in lots of undeserved media glory last week after he invented a crisis with Iran, then claimed to have solved it by calling off a planned bombing raid on the country at the last minute. Largely missing from the tick-tick “crisis” storytelling was the media acknowledgement that the whole episode…
Jake Tapper laughs in Pence's face: 'We don't have the cleanest air and water in the world'
On CNN this morning, Mike Pence tried to summon as much gravitas as he could — veering dangerously close to the event horizon of fatally constipated — in order to sell a few of those common-sense homespun lies that play so well in the heartland. He sounded like an ass — but, significantly, not a…
CNN election analyst: 'The strong opposition to Trump's re-election remains historically high'
This is eye-opening, encouraging, energizing even. But Trump’s defeat is not a fait accompli — not by a long shot. So let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. After all, when Donald Trump first announced he was running for president, I thought Carrot Top had a better chance. (Oh, if only Carrot Top were president. A…
Trump biographer: Donnie believes he's above the law because of 'genetic superiority'
First of all, “genetic superiority” isn’t really a thing. Genes are just clumps of information, and they make an organism either suitable or unsuitable for its environment. And Donald Trump lives in an environment where he’s never more than a few miles away from a McDonald’s, which makes him — well — not particularly adaptable (i.e.,…
CNN's new 'political editor' tied to the shameful Seth Rich conspiracy story
This is craven. Because Donald Trump twiddles his tweeter thumbs at CNN 24/7, the network has apparently bowed to the “pressure,” hiring a former Trump DOJ official and Republican operative, Sarah Isgur Flores, to oversee its 2020 election coverage. That’s not a typo. It’s not meant to say “to oversee its quarterly urinal cake acquisition”…
Rudy Giuliani: “As far as I know” Trump Didn't Tell Cohen to Lie….
Rudy appeared today on CNN’s State of the Union and spouted a bunch of gobbledygook framed by two classic examples of temporizing…. opening with “As far as I know”…. x Rudy Giuliani: “As far as I know, President Trump did not have discussions … in which he told (Michael Cohen) or counseled him to lie. If…
TV Networks Set To Kiss Trump's A** Tomorrow Night.
Nothing like continuing to give Trump all the air time he wants. (CNN)The major television networks will provide wall-to-wall coverage of President Donald Trump's prime time address on border security on Tuesday. NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox broadcast network all said on Monday that they had agreed to the White House's request for air time….
The times, they are a-changin'
There is an ill wind blowing in Washington DC right now, and the staff in the west wing had better make sure that all of the windows are closed, or before too long, His Lowness could end up catching a cold that could be the presidential end of him. The winds have subtly shifted in…
Jeff Zucker of CNN Wants to Hire “Independent-Minded” Trump Officials After the Elections.
Susie Madrak of Crook and Liars has a great piece up about the BS that Jeff Zucker is spewing. According to Zucker, he is not interested in hiring Trump officials that he thinks are liars. He wants to hire “independent-minded” people like Nikki Haley. Let that sink in for a nanosecond. Since when is anyone…
Don Jr. pushes dumb conspiracy theory about CNN, gets spanked like a little boy
Donald Trump Jr. is about one flickering brain cell away from being a really unpopular Muppet, and the zeal with which he gloms onto random conspiracy theories (a la his dough-brained father) is further proof of that. The latest? Because a photo exists of Anderson Cooper standing waist-deep in water several feet from his cameraman…
Fox News, et al., have been hiring pundits who are legally barred from criticizing Trump
Suppose you were a movie reviewer who’d signed a nondisclosure agreement that bars you from criticizing anything Michael Bay produces. Wouldn’t you think it appropriate to mention that you’re legally bound to give him a pass by, say, the eighth graph of your seventh Tranformers review? Maybe just say, “Hey, if I tell you that…
With Omarosa, the media is setting a disturbing double standard.
* Spoiler Alert * I will not be watching Chuckles' big interview with Omarosa on Meet The Press tomorrow. And I won't be watching on Monday either, when Tweety interrupts her every sentence. In fact, I won’t even use her picture on this diary. As far as I'm concerned, Omarosa Manigault Newman is nothing more…
FINALLY! CNN's Victor Blackwell Shows How to Properly Interview a Trump Surrogate
When you book a Trump surrogate to come on your show, the one thing you should always expect is lies, lies and more lies. The president never encouraged violence, the president never praised a dictator, the president never said what everyone heard him say. Nowadays, I’ve noticed a shift to things Obama or his people…