https://www.newsbusters.org/ en https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jorge-bonilla/2024/08/08/msnbcs-chris-hayes-frantically-tries-firefight-walzs-military Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s decision to embellish, exaggerate, and otherwise puff up certain aspects of his military service have rapidly turned into a raging wildfire which the Regime Media are desperately trying to contain and extinguish, lest it also consume the presidential prospects of Vice President Kamala Harris. There was desperate firefighting across the dial, perhaps none more desperate than MSNBC’s Chris Hayes: MSNBC's Chris Hayes desperately tries to firefight for Tim Walz and his embellished service pic.twitter.com/6Mg7lmHTgf — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) August 8, 2024 MSNBC ALL IN WITH CHRIS HAYES 8/7/24 8:33 PM CHRIS HAYES: But there's an experience that is even rarer among the tiny fraction of Americans who enlist, a much smaller share make a career of it, serving 20 years or more with multiple, multiple deployments. Only a tiny fraction of those thought to stay in the service after being disabled on the job, and one of them is Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. An enlisted soldier in the National Guard for nearly a quarter of a century, a journey that began on a Nebraska farm as soon as he was eligible to join. TIM WALZ: My father served during the Korean War and the day after I turned 17, he took me down to an Army National Guard recruiter and I raised my hand and signed up. HAYES: That was in 1981. Ronald Reagan was president. Now Walz continued to serve for the next 24 years, under four Commanders-in-Chief. He spent most of that time as an artillery soldier, and it took a toll on his hearing. In fact, in 2002 after he'd already done 20 years he qualified for retirement. A medical board considered discharging him because of his hearing impairment. Instead he convinced them to let him complete his final enlistment, which began after 9/11. Walz achieved the highest enlisted rank in the army, Command Sergeant Major, but rather than stay in and complete the schooling for the rank, Walz retired in 2005 at the rank of Master Sergeant. In part, he says, because he wanted at that point to speak freely about political injustice, specifically, the Iraq war. The following year, he was one of more than 60 anti war veterans running for Congress, the Fighting Dems, a group that included Jim Webb, Patrick Murphy and Tammy Duckworth. One has to laugh at the prospect of Acela Media elite now pretending to care about service members generally, and about the arcane details of promotions and billeting, and E-9 command splits specifically. The fact is that they don’t, but must pretend to do so in order to defend the Regime and its new prospective deputy figurehead.  Nothing in Hayes’ four minute-plus segment addressed the specific claims made against Walz, or debunked any of what is already on the record. At most, Hayes presents an alternate version of events, without evidence: that of the brave dissident sacrificing promotion in order to fight “political injustice”, as opposed to the man who ditched his unit in order to avoid deployment to Iraq. But as more details become available Walz becomes harder to spin, and the media begin to look more ridiculous and servile. From Walz’s archived website: On Thursday, March 17 the National Guard Public Affairs Office announced a possible partial mobilization of roughly 2,000 troops from the Minnesota National Guard. First District congressional candidate Tim Walz currently holds the rank of Command Sergeant Major in the 1-125th Battalion, which is based in New Ulm and largely composed of men and women from southern Minnesota. The announcement from the National Guard PAO specified that all or a portion of Walz's battalion could be mobilized to serve in Iraq within the next two years. Walz, who teaches Global Geography at Mankato West High School, has been an active member of the National Guard since 1981. He has been previously deployed during his 23 years in the National Guard, including an eight month deployment during Operation Enduring Freedom. When asked about his possible deployment to Iraq Walz said, "I do not yet know if my artillery unit will be part of this mobilization and I am unable to comment further on specifics of the deployment." Walz knew his unit might deploy well before his decision to retire. Just to put a really fine point on it, the item, dated March 20th,2005 is titled, Walz Still Planning to Run for Congress Despite Possible Call to Duty in Iraq.  It increasingly looks like Walz chose his Congressional run over his unit. That, combined with other embellishments, such as his claims of serving in Operation Enduring Freedom, and his wearing of a Special Forces ballcap despite never serving in such a unit, becomes increasingly hard to defend. Good luck with that. Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned segment as aired on MSNBC’s All In With Chris Hayes on Wednesday, August 7th, 2024: CHRIS HAYES: Every year about 2 million Americans serve in the Armed Forces either full-time or one weekend a month. They come from all walks of life. All serve in different ways. Many serve as Senator JD Vance did. After high school, he signed up for a four-year enlistment in the Marines including six months in Iraq doing public affairs. He was then honorably discharged. We should say that's a bit of a rarity among politicians. Most politicians serve as officers after college. They don't enlist after high school because serving as an officer after college means better pay, better benefits, and there is a little bit of a division between officers and the enlisted Armed Forces. But there's an experience that is even rarer among the tiny fraction of Americans who enlist, a much smaller share make a career of it, serving 20 years or more with multiple, multiple deployments. Only a tiny fraction of those thought to stay in the service after being disabled on the job, and one of them is Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. An enlisted soldier in the National Guard for nearly a quarter of a century, a journey that began on a Nebraska farm as soon as he was eligible to join. TIM WALZ: My father served during the Korean War and the day after I turned 17, he took me down to an Army National Guard recruiter and I raised my hand and signed up. HAYES: That was in 1981. Ronald Reagan was president. Now Walz continued to serve for the next 24 years, under four Commanders-in-Chief. He spent most of that time as an artillery soldier, and it took a toll on his hearing. In fact, in 2002 after he'd already done 20 years he qualified for retirement. A medical board considered discharging him because of his hearing impairment. Instead he convinced them to let him complete his final enlistment, which began after 9/11. Walz achieved the highest enlisted rank in the army, Command Sergeant Major, but rather than stay in and complete the schooling for the rank, Walz retired in 2005 at the rank of Master Sergeant. In part, he says, because he wanted at that point to speak freely about political injustice, specifically, the Iraq war. The following year, he was one of more than 60 anti war veterans running for Congress, the Fighting Dems, a group that included Jim Webb, Patrick Murphy and Tammy Duckworth. WALZ: I spent 24 years in the Army National Guard. I spent the better part of two decades as a public school teacher. I'm a small business owner. I'm a father and I'm a husband. I intend to come here to Washington to provide authentic leadership and to truly represent the people of my district and the people of the United States. HAYES: After a surprise victory in a red district, Walz became the highest-ranking enlisted veteran ever to serve in Congress and worked to help end the military's anti-gay Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. WALZ: I had students that I taught in the classroom, coached on the football field, trained in my Guard unit and they went off to Iraq to fight for this nation. They went off to Afghanistan to fight for this nation. Not once, not once in my career did the question of sexual orientation ever come up. It's time to erase this mistake for our security and for Americans, and I'll be with you every step of the way. HAYES: After Donald Trump was elected president, Walz became the ranking Democrat on the House Veteran Affairs Committee. He fought the Trump White House plan for privatizing veterans’ healthcare while using his own experiences with the VA to help other veterans get their benefits. Walz's experience in the Armed Forces is an atypical one for most Americans, particularly for politicians at the national level. There really is literally no one like him. Now Walz is running with Kamala Harris against Donald Trump and JD Vance and perhaps not that surprisingly, Republicans are trying to swift boat Walz, denigrating his service the way they did with Vietnam vet John Kerry 20 years ago, saying he stole valor and left the Army to avoid going to Iraq. It’s a playbook Republicans also used against Walz when he ran for governor of Minnesota and it failed then because they're lies. It turns out when voters hear about the quarter-century Walz spent as a citizen soldier, the time he spent since then fighting for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans to get the benefits they deserve, they don't see what Republicans do. They see a rare kind of veteran in politics who can cut through the self-serving BS, rather than adding to it.   August 8th, 2024 1:45 AM Jorge Bonilla 285387 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jorge-bonilla/2024/08/07/regime-media-networks-scramble-cover-walz-ditching-his-unit-ahead Newly minted Democratic vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz (MN) has a major problem on his hands due to his penchant for embellishing his record of service at the Army National Guard. The networks who so warmly welcomed him into the race are now doing their level best to spin this problem away. Watch as ABC’s Selina Wang tries to wave the whole thing away by noting that Vance didn’t engage in any hostilities while in Iraq, echoing the Harris campaign and making up a Walz counterattack that never happened: SELINA WANG: New rivals Vance and Walz, both veterans. Vance, who deployed to Iraq in the Marines and did not see any active fighting, going after Walz's military background, accusing him of leaving his unit before it deployed to Iraq, and lying about his service. Seizing on this moment: TIM WALZ: And we can make sure those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons are at. JD VANCE: He has not spent a day in a combat zone. What bothers me about Tim Walz is the stolen valor garbage. Do not pretend to be something that you're not. WANG: Reporter: Walz served in the Army National Guard for 24 years and has never claimed to have seen active combat, despite those comments that he carried a gun in war. He retired honorably in 2005 to run for congress as the crisis in Iraq was growing. The Harris campaign saying in a statement, the Governor carried, fired, and trained others to use weapons of war innumerable times. Governor Walz would never insult or undermine any American's service to his country. In fact, he thanks Senator Vance for putting his life on the line for our country. It's the American way. Walz hitting right back. WALZ: Donald Trump, he sees the world differently than we see it. He has no understanding of service. “Hitting right back”, says Wang without evidence of Walz directly addressing the claims presented by multiple parties going back to the 2000s. CBS’s Nancy Cordes didn’t do much better, closing out her live hit from the Harris rally with this weak offering: NANCY CORDES: The Vance campaign has also been going after Walz all day for retiring from the Army National Guard a few months before his battalion being called up to Iraq. Onstage today, Walz said he proudly wore the uniform for 24 years and retired in order to run for Congress. Major. There’s a pattern there- the deflection to Walz’s 24 years of service in the Guard. In contrast, NBC’s Gabe Gutierrez simply aired what everyone else said, with no “seasoning” of his own: GABE GUTIERREZ: Vance also slamming Walz for these past comments calling for gun control, saying he carried weapons during war. WALZ: And we can make sure those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons are at. GUTIERREZ: Walz served in the National Guard but never in combat. VANCE: Well, I wonder, Tim Walz, when were you ever in war? When was this -- what was this weapon that you carried into war? GUTIERREZ: Today the Harris campaign said Walz carried, fired and trained others to use weapons of war innumerable times. Governor Walz would never insult or undermine any American service to this country.  The “24 years” stuff is misdirection and “How Dare You” bait that attempts to deflect from the substance of the accusations against Walz, to wit: that he dropped out of Sergeant Major school, completion of which was a condition of his promotion to Command Sergeant Major of his artillery battalion, upon learning that the unit would deploy to Iraq.  This story is rapidly moving, with new and shocking details continuously emerging. As Joe Simonson of The Washington Free Beacon reports, Walz KNEW. Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz knew his National Guard battalion was being eyed for a likely deployment to Iraq when he decided to retire, the Washington Free Beacon has learned. Walz said he had a "responsibility" to "serve if called on," shortly before he dropped out of the Guard, an archived campaign statement shows. That statement eliminates any doubt over whether Walz knew an Iraq deployment was on the table when he decided to leave the service. A source who served in the Minnesota National Guard at the time previously told the Free Beacon that the timing of Walz’s retirement "left a bad taste in a lot of peoples’ mouths." "As Command Sergeant Major, I have a responsibility not only to ready my battalion for Iraq, but also to serve if called on," Walz said in a campaign statement on March 20, 2005. Just three days prior, the National Guard Public Affairs Office announced that at least part of his battalion could be shipped overseas to the Middle East in the next two years. Walz left the National Guard that May. Two months later, his battalion was put on notice that they would be deploying to Iraq. This is in addition to emerging photographic and video evidence of Walz’s embellishments and false claims of being a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom, which would’ve entailed deployment to Afghanistan. At a bare minimum, the press should put as much effort into this story as it did into unearthing Senator JD Vance’s past statements after his selection as Trump’s running mate. There is a lot that Walz must answer for in the coming days. Unfortunately, the press seems more interested in making this all go away than in getting answers and drilling down. Click “expand” to view the full transcripts of the aforementioned reports as aired on their respective network newscasts on Wednesday, August 7th, 2024: ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT 8/7/24 6:36 PM  LINDSEY DAVIS: We move on now to the race for The White House. The newly formed Democratic ticket, Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz, barnstorming the Upper Midwest in this their first full day of campaigning together. One day after debuting the ticket in Philadelphia, Vice President Harris and Governor Walz spoke to crowds in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and just outside Detroit. Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance is shadowing their moves. Vance also in Eau Claire trying to cross paths with Harris and Walz on the tarmac. The Democratic running mates continue their blitz through the battlegrounds in the coming days, with Vance not far behind. ABC's Selina Wang checks in from Michigan. SELINA WANG: Tonight, the race for The White House is in full swing, with both campaigns battling to win the Midwest. Air force Two and JD Vance's campaign plane meeting on the tarmac. JD VANCE: I just wanted to check out my future plane. WANG: Holding dueling rallies in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. VANCE: How great it is to be here in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: Good afternoon, Wisconsin. WANG: Vice President Kamala Harris and her new running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on the trail for their first full day of campaigning, drawing another huge crowd. HARRIS: So, in the next 90 days, we need you to use your power. We need you to knock on doors. We need you to register folks to vote. We need you to energize, and organize, and mobilize and make your voices heard. WANG: The campaign saying they've raised $36 million in the 24 hours since Walz has been on the ticket. A new poll out today shows Harris and Donald Trump effectively tied among likely Wisconsin voters. Harris hoping Walz, from bordering Minnesota, will help them take the state. New rivals Vance and Walz, both veterans. Vance, who deployed to Iraq in the Marines and did not see any active fighting, going after Walz's military background, accusing him of leaving his unit before it deployed to Iraq, and lying about his service. Seizing on this moment: WALZ: And we can make sure those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons are at. VANCE: He has not spent a day in a combat zone. What bothers me about Tim Walz is the stolen valor garbage. Do not pretend to be something that you're not. WANG: Reporter: Walz served in the Army National Guard for 24 years and has never claimed to have seen active combat, despite those comments that he carried a gun in war. He retired honorably in 2005 to run for congress as the crisis in Iraq was growing. The Harris campaign saying in a statement, the Governor carried, fired, and trained others to use weapons of war innumerable times. Governor Walz would never insult or undermine any American's service to his country. In fact, he thanks Senator Vance for putting his life on the line for our country. It's the American way. Walz hitting right back. WALZ: Donald Trump, he sees the world differently than we see it. He has no understanding of service, because he's too busy servicing himself again and again and again. Again and again and again. This guy weakens our country to strengthen his hand. DAVIS: Let's get right to Selina Wang, live outside Detroit. And Selina, both campaigns in Michigan tonight. There is a keen awareness of just how important both these battleground states are. WANG: That's right, Linsey. Harris and Walz, they are racing to win over voters in these critical battleground states, well aware that this election is only 90 days away. And they've had massive crowds at their rallies, and they've been energized and fired up including here in Michigan. JD Vance, on the other hand, he’s been following Harris in every state that she's been visiting, but opting to hold smaller campaign events instead of rallies. Linsey? DAVIS: Selina for us, thanks so much. CBS EVENING NEWS CBS EVENING NEWS 8/7/24 6:34 PM MAJOR GARRETT: Meanwhile, Kamala Harris and her new running mate Tim Walz held a rally in battleground Wisconsin today, at the same time, in the same city as  Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance. This split screen moment comes as we’re learning tonight that a 2020 phone call from Donald Trump may undercut his own campaign's attack line against Walz. Here is CBS's Nancy Cordes. NANCY CORDES: It's the first full day of their partnership, and the second day that the lines to see Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz stretched out of sight. TIM WALZ: You had to walk 2 miles. I had nothing to do with that, by the way.  Nothing. CORDES: It happened here in Detroit, and in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, population 70,000. WALZ: Donald Trump is not for you or your family. And Trump's running mate shares those same dangerous and backward beliefs. CORDES: It is here in the Midwest where the campaign is hoping Walz will do the most to attract new voters. VOTER: We could relate to him. He was real. Um- and we need that. We- we need someone that is real. CORDES: The Republican VP nominee, Ohio Senator JD Vance, has been counterprogramming, holding events nearby. Today, he even walked from his plane over to Vice President Harris' plane on the tarmac in Wisconsin. VANCE: I just wanted to check out my future plane, but I also wanted to go say hello to the Vice President and ask her why Kamala Harris refuses -- why does she refuse to answer questions from the media? CORDES: Vance and Trump have been going after Governor Walz for his handling of the unrest in Minneapolis after George Floyd was killed by police in 2020. VANCE: I think Governor Walz has to answer when it comes to his record. This is a guy who says that he stands for public safety, but actively encouraged the rioters who burned down Minneapolis. CORDES: But at the time, Trump was full of praise for Walz, according to this audio recording of a phone call with governors. DONALD TRUMP: Tim is on the phone now. Tim Walz. Again, I was very happy with the last couple of days, Tim. You called up big numbers and the big numbers knocked them out so fast it was like bowling pins.  CORDES: The Vance campaign has also been going after Walz all day for retiring from the Army National Guard a few months before his battalion being called up to Iraq. Onstage today, Walz said he proudly wore the uniform for 24 years and retired in order to run for Congress. Major. GARRETT: Competing with the campaign noise in Detroit and doing so admirably. Nancy Cordes, thank you. NBC NIGHTLY NEWS NBC NIGHTLY NEWS 8/7/24 LESTER HOLT: Now to the race for The White House  with Vice President Harris and her new running mate, Tim Walz, hitting key Midwestern states today and the Trump campaign sending JD Vance to those same battlegrounds. Here's Gabe Gutierrez. GABE GUTIERREZ: Tonight, a battleground blitz. Vice President Kamala Harris and her new running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz sweeping through Midwestern swing states.  KAMALA HARRIS: As we work to move our nation forward, Donald Trump intends to take our nation backward. GUTIERREZ: The ticket riding a wave of Democratic enthusiasm and cash. The campaign saying it's raised $36 million since yesterday's announcement. Walz today going after former President Trump while talking about the experience he and his wife had with IVF. TIM WALZ: When Vice President Harris and I- everyone here talks about freedom, we mean the freedom to make your own health care decisions.  GUTIERREZ: Harris did not previously know Walz well, but multiple sources tell NBC News she chose him because they clicked during an in-person interview on Sunday and that it came down to trusting her gut. HARRIS: We are running a campaign on behalf of all Americans. And when elected, we will govern on behalf of all Americans.  GUTIERREZ: Late today, President Biden was asked if there will be a peaceful transfer of power. JOE BIDEN: If Trump loses I'm not confident at all. He means what he says. We don't take him seriously. GUTIERREZ: Democrats highlighting Walz’s working class rural background and two decades in the Army National Guard. Former President Trump arguing Walz is too far left to win. DONALD TRUMP: He’s a very, very liberal man and he's a shocking pick and I'm thrilled -- I could not be more thrilled. GUTIERREZ: Meanwhile, his running mate JD Vance's plane landing at the same tarmac as Air Force Two, holding events near the Democrats. JD VANCE: And if what Kamala Harris has done at the southern border and if what Kamala Harris has done to raise the price of groceries and housing, if that doesn't bother you, then I think you don't have a pulse. GUTIERREZ: Vance also slamming Walz for these past comments calling for gun control, saying he carried weapons during war. WALZ: And we can make sure those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons are at. GUTIERREZ: Walz served in the National Guard but never in combat. VANCE: Well, I wonder, Tim Walz, when were you ever in war? When was this -- what was this weapon that you carried into war? GUTIERREZ: Today the Harris campaign said Walz carried, fired and trained others to use weapons of war innumerable times. Governor Walz would never insult or undermine any American service to this country.  While back here in Michigan, Harris and Walz trying to shore up union support. AFT MEMBER: I’ve had so many people that have come forward and said they're so excited for this energy that she has brought. It's electrifying. I don't know if Joe Biden could have done that for us. GUTIERREZ: But some Arab-American voters are still skeptical. We first met Lori Kamleh Ajlouny in February, back then she wouldn't vote for President Biden because of his response to civilian deaths in Gaza. Harris now leading the ticket makes her more hopeful but -- LORI KAMLEH ALJOUNY: I'm still very leery, nervous, that it may be more of the same. GUTIERREZ: At this point, do you plan to vote for Kamala Harris? ALJOUNY: Not unless I hear a permanent unconditional cease-fire. HOLT: And, Gabe, with 90 days to go the race in these battlegrounds is showing signs of heating up. GUTIERREZ: Yes, Lester, Harris and Walz are set to meet with union members here in Michigan tomorrow before heading out West to key battlegrounds Ariona and Nevada. Trump is set to campaign in Montana on Friday. Lester. HOLT: Gabe Gutierrez. Thank you.   August 7th, 2024 11:22 PM Jorge Bonilla 285386 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tim-graham/2024/08/07/nb-podcast-zero-self-respect-press-accepts-teleprompter-democrat Kamala Harris is treating reporters like a of troop of Typhoid Marys.  The Republicans, especially J.D. Vance, are making a campaign issue of how Harris has been avoiding the press since July 21, when President Biden announced he was forced out of the race. So far, it’s another basement campaign, and why not?  Our political press corps has zero self-respect. They don’t care about access to the leading Democrats. They obviously care only about Democrat victory. If access to the press endangers Democrats, then the Democrat press is fine with no access.  The National Association of Black Journalists brutalized Donald Trump at their convention, but were fine that Harris claimed she couldn't make it and maybe she could do a Zoom call in September. That seemed to be fine with all the Democrat reporters. Now Vance is taking questions, and they're rough. NBC's Garrett Haake claimed Vance said Gov. Josh Shapiro's "Jewish faith" was the only reason picked Walz, and then he asked him, "Do you have any evidence to support that assertion that a person who is married to a Jewish man is somehow anti-semitic or somehow bowing to anti-Semites?" Vance said the premise was wrong, that he didn't claim it Judaism was the "only factor" in rejecting Shapiro, and said "you should take a little less DNC talking points when you ask your questions and ask a real question." Vance said clearly the Democrats heard from a noisy faction that didn't want Shapiro. Haake seemed to miss the article on NBCNews.com which explained, "Most prominently, Shapiro, an observant Jew who has sharply condemned the rise of antisemitism, including at some pro-Palestinian protests, has faced scrutiny over his record on issues related to Israel." CBS took a similar tack when they interviewed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Instead of asking a question, Vlad Duthiers asserted Republicans can't plausibly suggest the Democrats have any antisemitism issue. AOC oozed at "incredible leader" Chuck Schumer and Kamala's husband Doug Emhoff, a "profoundly wonderful figure." Over at CNN, Jake Tapper found himself on the defensive when his colleagues Abby Phillip and Audie Cornish told him picking Shapiro would have harmed Harris with "Uncommitted voters" -- that's code for radical-left Muslims who want Israel wiped off the map -- needed to be heard. Tapper insisted Shapiro had the same opinions on Israel that Walz did, but he apparently made the "mistake" of attacking anti-Semitic encampments on college campuses. Cornish said Harris needed to have "more of an open door to the parts of the party that had been very frustrated with the Democrats." What conservatives call the "from the river to the sea crowd" of Israel eliminationists apparently deserves to be treated with great respect and plenty of euphemisms. Enjoy the podcast below, or wherever you listen to podcasts.    August 7th, 2024 10:35 PM Tim Graham 285376 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/sarah-butler/2024/08/07/mea-culpa-van-jones-atones-speaking-ill-harris-vp-pick-motives On Tuesday, CNN’s Dana Bash filled in on Anderson Cooper 360 and gave Van Jones a second chance to praise Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as Kamala Harris’s vice president choice. Earlier in the day, Jones claimed that Walz was picked to appeal to “anti-Jewish bigots” among Democrats. This time around, Jones described Walz as “young” and “fresh” before Bash introduced new Harris/Walz campaign "merch." Bash began the segment by seemingly hinting at the social media firestorm Jones was embroiled in by hinting he was “not so sure about Walz” at first.     She also mentioned that there “were Republicans who were worried about Josh Shapiro” getting picked as Harris’s running mate. Jones responded that Republicans “were not scared of Governor Walz. But they should be.” Jones continued by claiming he was hearing a lot of bipartisan praise for Walz: “I've heard from my most conservative friends and my most liberal friends and even my radical friends -- everybody is like this guy is amazing because he talks like a normal person about stuff that people really care about and its effective.” Jones described the 60-year-old governor as “young, and exciting, and fresh, and new.” He then went on a rampage about how “uniting” Harris has been to the Democratic Party: The other thing is that Kamala Harris has managed to do something without relying on Donald Trump to do it. She has united this party. We used to say that the only thing to unite this party is Donald Trump. She's not talking about Donald Trump. She's talking about a future you can believe in. She's giving people hope. Jones decided to point out that Harris “picked somebody [who] does not look like her and from where she’s from.” He called this an “unbelievable feeling that's sweeping through the country and Donald Trump is scared and he should be.” Bash decided to end this segment by announcing new Harris/Walz campaign “merch.” Unsurprisingly excited, she exclaimed: “I want to show our viewers something that our colleague Josh Campbell just pointed out to me and I believe we have it, it's new merch.” The merch Bash shared was a “blaze orange” camo hat. She reminded everybody that blaze orange is “a color used by hunters for safety purposes” and quickly added on “that's what Tim Walz is.” “He is a hunter and the fact that that is one of the first things that they are selling that tells you a lot about the way that they are trying to get the white men,” Bash concluded. Click "Expand" to view the transcript: CNN Anderson Cooper 360 8/6/2024 8:13:28 – 8:15:41 PM DANA BASH: Van, you were not so sure about Walz. You were -- you can tell me if I'm not characterizing your – your position this morning, right. I'm sure you will and because there were Republicans who thought – VAN JONES: Yeah look – BASH: -- Josh Shapiro – JONES: The Republicans were -- BASH: -- or  who were worried about Josh Shapiro. JONES: The Republicans were scared of Josh Shapiro. Republicans were scared of Mark Kelly. They were not scared of Governor Walz, but they should be. They should be because what you just saw tonight was extraordinary. This was somebody -- I've heard from my most conservative friends and my most liberal friends and even my radical friends. Everybody is like this guy is amazing because he talks like a normal person about stuff that people really care about and its effective. And to David's point, Trump was ready to go with strength versus weakness. I'm strong, Biden's weak, give me the job. This is not that. This is old, and sorry, and pathetic, and boring, and doom, and gloom versus young, and exciting, and fresh, and new. And that's a different fight. It's the past versus the future. It is a completely different fight. The other thing is that Kamala Harris has managed to do something without relying on Donald Trump to do it. She has united this party. We used to say that the only thing to unite this party is Donald Trump. She's not talking about Donald Trump. She's talking about a future you can believe in. She's giving people hope. She picked somebody looks– does not look like her and from where she's from, and they fit together like Legos. It is an unbelievable feeling that's sweeping through the country and Donald Trump is scared and he should be. BASH: I want to show our viewers something that our colleague Josh Campbell just pointed out to me and I believe we have it, it's new 'merch'. JONES: New merch? BASH:  All the campaigns get 'merch' up -- really quickly. But this in particular as, Josh is pointing out, is in orange, blaze orange. It's a color used by hunters for safety purposes. And that's what Tim Walz is. He is a hunter and the fact that that is one of the first things that they are selling that tells you a lot about the way that they are trying to get the white men. August 7th, 2024 9:40 PM Sarah Butler 285378 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/michael-wnek/2024/08/07/republican-strategist-schools-cnn-lib-failures-bidenomics During a Monday morning segment of CNN Newsroom, host Jim Acosta invited Republican strategist Shermichael Singleton and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona to discuss the plummeting stock market. As the episode progressed, Acosta allowed Cardona to insist on America’s economic strength and Vice President Kamala Harris’ political genius, prompting Singleton to expose the blatant failures of Bidenomics. Acosta began with a grim review of the stock market decline, which he said was “fueling fears of recession amid a global market meltdown,” and its contributing factors, particularly the recent disappointing jobs report and the Federal Reserve’s neglect in cutting interest rates.  Cardona immediately downplayed the issue as simply “not great numbers that anybody wants to see” and claimed that in comparison to 2008’s financial crisis, “every other indication is that the economy is stable, solid, strong.” “We'll just have to see this through, see what happens,” she flippantly added.     Cardona wasted no time in pivoting to her expectations for a Harris presidency, dismissing the quickly escalating problem, since “the majority of Americans are not in the stock market.” She fawningly declared Harris would “continue to talk about…how she is going to expand the middle-class, how she's gonna make this economy work for everyone.” Furthermore, Cardona hoped that the vice president would “refocus on Donald Trump's plan, Project 2025, and how almost every economist across the spectrum has said if he imposes that plan, it would be a disaster for Americans across the board and especially for low-income and middle-class Americans,” even though the former president has repeatedly distanced himself from the Heritage Foundation initiative. Singleton delivered a fresh dose of reality to his Democratic counterpart, detailing how “difficult” it would be for Harris to defend Bidenomics or even remotely demonstrate how it benefited the average American family: We know that a significant percent of middle-class people are relying heavily on their credit cards, right now. That's gonna become harder for them. Banks are likely going to be more careful in terms of deciding who to lend to and who not to lend to, in regards to small business owners, individuals trying to buy their first homes. Imagine if you're a young person looking in the market. So I think this hits against every single thing the vice president will attempt to argue that Biden–over the four years with her as vice president–has done well for the average person, economically. Ironically enough, Acosta recalled John McCain’s words, “The fundamentals of the economy are strong,” which proved disastrous to his campaign.  Yet, Cardona foolishly insisted that while anyone could see 2008’s crisis coming, “This is not that” and she didn’t “think it makes it difficult for the vice president to make the argument. I think it makes it, actually, more real for her to make the argument that this is about middle-class families, low-income families, workers.” Cardona apparently expected the situation to resolve itself with simple interest rate cuts at the Fed’s next meeting and stated, “That will help Americans across the board.” Singleton wasn’t convinced and warned about pursuing such a solution “prematurely,” suggesting that the Fed “is attempting to be very, very careful in how he placates the markets, not only domestically but internationally.” He reemphasized his previous point, arguing that “this is difficult if you're a Democrat trying to run on the idea that the economy, generally speaking, is strong. By all metrics, that is not the case. If you're a single individual, if you’re a family of four, you are seeing the diminishment of your spending power as compared to eight years ago.” Nonetheless, Cardona dutifully doubled down on her support for Harris and hatred for Trump, echoing her baseless claim that, “Harris is arguing that she is there to focus on expanding opportunities for all Americans, and what Trump wants to do would actually destroy those opportunities for the majority of Americans.” The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read: CNN’s Newsroom with Jim Acosta 8/5/2024 10:37:23 AM EST JIM ACOSTA: Alright, back to our breaking news right now. We are looking at what's taking place down at Wall Street. The Dow Jones is down about 1,010 points, that's about two-and-a-half percent. We’ve been watching this all morning, the plummet is fueling fears of recession amid a global market meltdown. Tech stocks are driving this nose drive–nosedive, I should say–as investors are selling off all of those equities, as well as crypto and oil stocks. Also contributing to the drop, Friday's disappointing jobs report and an unchanged Fed interest rate.  All of that happening as three men are emerging as the front runners to be Kamala Harris’ running mate this weekend. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, met with the vice president for what's expected to be their final interview in the vetting process. Today is likely decision day for Harris, who is launching a week-long battleground blitz with her running mate, tomorrow, starting in Philadelphia. Let's discuss with CNN political commentators Maria Cardona and Shermichael Singleton. Maria, I do want to talk–we're watching the stock market–I do want to talk about the veepstakes, but I suppose there is a political concern about the markets, if this keeps going in this direction. MARIA CARDONA: Well, that's certainly not great numbers that anybody wants to see, right? But I will say, you know, what I've heard economists say, is that this is not an issue that is structural–the way that the 2008 meltdown was–that every other indication is that the economy is stable, solid, strong. And, so, we'll just have to see this through, see what happens.  And, frankly, you know, the majority of Americans are not in the stock market and, so, what I believe that the vice president will continue to talk about, is how she is going to expand the middle-class, how she's gonna make this economy work for everyone, and refocus on Donald Trump's plan, Project 2025, and how almost every economist across the spectrum has said if he imposes that plan, it would be a disaster for Americans across the board and especially for low-income and middle-class Americans. ACOSTA: Let's talk–let's talk veepstakes. Feel free if you want to weigh in on the economy too, Shermichael. SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON: Yeah, I mean, look this is–definitely makes it difficult to make the case and the argument that Bidenomics, if you will, is working for the average American family. I was also reading that the banks in Japan were also tightening the belt. With those types of numbers, if this was to continue, lenders are going to tighten the belt.  We know that a significant percent of middle-class people are relying heavily on their credit cards, right now. That's gonna become harder for them. Banks are likely going to be more careful in terms of deciding who to lend to and who not to lend to, in regards to small business owners, individuals trying to buy their first homes. Imagine if you're a young person looking in the market. So I think this hits against every single thing the vice president will attempt to argue that Biden–over the four years with her as vice president–has done well for the average person, economically. ACOSTA: Yeah, we'll see how it shakes out. I mean, I was talking to Steve Schmidt earlier this morning and he was saying, well, you know, in 2008, I mean, that was a big… CARDONA: Right! ACOSTA: …that was a big impact on that race.  CARDONA: Right. ACOSTA: I remember I was out there with Barack Obama in–when John McCain uttered those words, “the fundamentals of the economy are strong.” I mean that was–that was a big hit to the McCain camp… CARDONA: But that was als–you could see–anyone who was looking at what was going on in the housing market could see that coming. That is n–this is not that. And, so, certainly everyone's keeping an eye on it, but right now–and I don't think it makes it difficult for the vice president to make the argument. I think it makes it, actually, more real for her to make the argument that this is about middle-class families, low-income families, workers, and that there's a… ACOSTA: But how frustrated are they in the White House, right now, with the Fed–with the Fed chairman? CARDONA: I mean, I don't know. I haven't spoken to them… ACOSTA: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.  CARDONA: …but–but there's an argument to be made that this actually will push the Fed to bring down interest rates, which is–my understanding is that this is a reaction to them not doing that. So if that happens, that will help Americans across the board. SINGLETON: You certainly want to–you don't want to do it prematurely, I would argue. We've already had difficulties, earlier this year, selling treasury notes, which allows our country to continue to print unlimitless amounts of money–which is ridiculous–but that's another conversation to have. I think the Fed–if you're looking at monetary easing and monetary theory, generally speaking–is attempting to be very, very careful in how he placates the markets, not only domestically but internationally.  And, so, I'm not convinced, to Maria's point, that the Fed will lower rates by the next Fed meeting, which is in September. Again, this is difficult if you're a Democrat trying to run on the idea that the economy, generally speaking, is strong. By all metrics, that is not the case. If you're a single individual, if you’re a family of four, you are seeing the diminishment of your spending power as compared to eight years ago. CARDONA: But, see, what Harris is arguing is that she is there to focus on expanding opportunities for all Americans, and what Trump wants to do would actually destroy those opportunities for the majority of Americans. (...) August 7th, 2024 9:36 PM Michael Wnek 285340 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/clay-waters/2024/08/07/pbs-anchors-defend-walz-pouncing-trump-unfair-media-labeling After the Kamala Harris campaign named Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, PBS News Hour anchor Geoff Bennett conducted a cozy interview on Tuesday evening with his Minnesota pal Sen. Amy Klobuchar -- just like NPR did -- and quickly transformed himself into a liberal media cliché. Bennett: The Trump campaign is already pouncing, calling him dangerously liberal and saying that the Harris/Walz ticket is the most left-wing ticket in American history. He has championed progressive causes. How do you expect that he will defend his record? “Pounces” is a common media trope suggesting Republicans and cynically or unjustly criticizing Democrats. Klobuchar repeated her already-tired pseudo-folksy anecdote defending Walz’s authenticity by saying “he's probably the first vice president that has stood in a deer stand in 10-degree Minnesota weather for hours and hours at a time.” A suspiciously specific yet apparently vital qualification. Harris’s surprise rejection of popular Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro for the VP slot was mentioned, but not Shapiro’s Jewish identification and his willingness to call anti-semitic campus protesters anti-semitic, two traits that made him unpalatable to the party’s hard left. In an earlier segment Tuesday, co-anchor Amna Nawaz brought on veteran reporter Mary Lahammer of Twin Cities PBS to examine Walz’s record. She tried to trim Walz’s undeniably “progressive” sails (his lifetime American Conservative Union rating as a congressman from 2007 to 2019 was 8.17 out of a possible 100, and he went even further left as a governor). Amna Nawaz: So, Mary, some folks are hailing his selection here as a nod to progressives of the Democratic Party. But I had a Dem source tell me earlier today that he's actually much more moderate than many in the media make him out to be. What do you make of that? Her journalist guest did push back. Mary Lahammer: It depends which office you're talking about. When he was a member of Congress from a rural previously Republican district, he was much more of a moderate. Then, when he became governor for the state and his lieutenant governor, Peggy Flanagan, definitely took him in more of a progressive stance. And then he got an all-Democratic legislature, so ended up passing just a very large list of highly progressive items. So, some folks say, was it a bait-and-switch? He originally ran on this concept of One Minnesota. We are still probably rather divided here. Lahammer relayed some more local criticisms of Walz that PBS may not have wanted to hear:. Lahammer: ….And folks here are very critical of his time during the pandemic in particular. We had a lot of lockdowns. Of course, we had the riots following George Floyd's murder and were very critical of him being slow to send the National Guard out. Also, during the pandemic, we had the largest fraud in the Feeding Our Future fraud case. These pro-Walz segments were brought to you in part by Consumer Cellular. August 7th, 2024 8:08 PM Clay Waters 285380 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2024/08/07/making-fetch-happen-cbs-thrilled-electric-harris-walz-rally Sighh, they really are trying to make fetch happen. Like ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today, Wednesday’s CBS Mornings did what they thought was needed to project joy over the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz ticket and claim they’re “electric” kick off rally was the start of something special. Reacting to clips of The Daily Show fawning over Walz, fill-in co-host Jericka Duncan boasted Walz “had a lot of good one liners” at the rally while co-host and Democratic donor Gayle King gushed that “from what we learned last night, he does seem to have a lot of skills.”     Tossing to chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes, King boasted that the “energized crowd...jumped off the screen” when she watched it on TV. Cordes, who was there, relayed “[i]t was electric inside the arena, too” with “10,000 screaming supporters, thousands more who were waiting outside but couldn’t get in” to see Harris and Walz “lavishing praise on one another”. “It was Walz who first dubbed the Republican nominees ‘weird’ two weeks ago. It caught fire with Democrats, so he brought it back last night,” she added. Cordes didn’t have a soundbite from the Republican inside, instead boiling it down to two sentences: “Former President Donald Trump called Harris and Walz the most radical left duo in American history. The race is on for both sides to define themselves and each other in what feels like a brand-new race.” Following the pattern set by ABC’s Selina Wang and NBC’s Hallie Jackson, CBS had senior White House and campaign correspondent Ed O’Keefe deliver the syrupy Walz biographical segment.     Here were some snippets, which included his military service (but not his questionable statements about it) and a touting of his leftist credentials (click “expand”): O’KEEFE: Born in Nebraska, the 60-year-old governor in his second term, has marveled at the interest in him. WALZ: I don’t know if every high school Geography teacher expects to be in this position at some point. O’KEEFE: Tim Walz also coached the state champion high school football team. HARRIS: Under those Friday Night Lights, Coach Walz motivated his players to believe they could achieve. O’KEEFE: An Army National Guard veteran, he first ran for Congress in 2006 in part over concerns with the Iraq war. WALZ: Our troops deserve a plan to win the peace. O’KEEFE: He represented a Southern Minnesota district, and strongly backed former President Donald Trump in 2016 and developed a bipartisan reputation that got him elected governor in 2018. Critics blamed him for a flatfooted response in 2020, the violence sparked by George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis. People we spoke to in his St. Paul neighborhood admitted he could have done more faster. WOMAN: I think kind of the buck got passed. But I think you live and learn. O’KEEFE: Walz did enact a series of police reforms, including a ban on chokeholds. He spoke to us in 2021 after officer Derek Chauvin’s conviction. (....) O’KEEFE: More recently, Walz signed bills expanding school meals programs — WALZ: Now law. O’KEEFE: — banning conversion therapy for minors and protecting abortion services, even visiting a women’s health clinic in Minnesota with Vice President Harris. He and his wife Gwen, have two children. His daughter was conceived through IVF. (....) O’KEEFE: Hope often co-stars with him in some of his most popular videos. CBS wasn’t done. Later in the show, they trotted out Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) to geek out over Harris and Walz. To see the relevant transcript from August 7, click here. August 7th, 2024 6:59 PM Curtis Houck 285384 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2024/08/07/nbc-buoyed-raucous-opening-plainspoken-walz-oozing-relatability Wednesday on NBC’s Today, the red carpet was rolled out for Vice President Kamala Harris’s new running mate, Governor Tim Walz (D-MN), cheering the “raucous opening rally” a day earlier to celebrate Harris naming a “plainspoken”, “progressive” man oozing “relatability” with “small town, Midwestern roots” and supports “LGBTQ protections”. “That’s the ticket. A raucous opening rally for Kamala Harris and her newly minted running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz,” announced co-hsot Savannah Guthrie in a tease. Chief White House correspondent Peter Alexander had the lead-off report cheering the spin that “the campaign believes Walz small town Midwestern roots will really appeal to voters”. NBC's lead-off story on the Harris-Walz ticket featured Peter Alexander playing Ken Doll for the DNC, boasting Kamala's spin that she sees him "as a happy warrior who has worn many hats", only footnoting the riots and "transgender rights" pic.twitter.com/6YrtnDTPBO — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 7, 2024 “Harris, sources say, was swayed in part by Walz’s biography. A former school teacher and football coach, served more than two decades in the Army National Guard before entering politics, winning a rural Trump district in Congress before becoming the state’s governor,” he added. Like with Scott, Alexander touted clips of but not pushback for Walz attacking Trumpas being responsible for the pandemic crime wave (not the far-left riots and Soros-backed district attorneys) and smearing Senator JD Vance (R-OH) as an elitist. Eventually, Alexander allowed a Republican response, minimizing it to “[t]he Trump campaign seizing on Walz’s governorship, including his progressive policies on abortion and transgender rights, and his response during protests following the death of George Floyd in 2020.” Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker came next with more fluff about the “plainspoken” Walz who supports “LGBTQ protections”, but flashed a tinge of disappointment Governor Josh Shapiro (D-PA) wasn’t selected (click “expand”): NBC's 'Meet the Press' moderator Kristen Welker popped up on 'Today' to continue the full-court press for Harris-Walz, boasting of Walz as a "plain spoken" man "who can...communicate with...rust belt states" despite #MAGA highlighting his backing of "LGBTQ protections" pic.twitter.com/XIMmOtH5VK — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 7, 2024 WELKER: So, he’s someone who’s really energizing the base. And then, I’ve been talking to sources overnight within the Democratic Party, the word that I keep hearing over and over again? Plain spoken. They see him as someone who can reach out, who can communicate with voters in those critical rust belt states, and so, I think that was key as well. But look, one Democratic lawmaker did say to me overnight, boy, if Pennsylvania is razor close, it may have been nice to have Josh Shapiro on that ticket. GUTHRIE: Yeah, the governor of Pennsylvania was also a shortlister. WELKER: Yeah. GUTHRIE: It seems like the Trump campaign is signaling that they are breathing a sigh of relief that he was not chosen. But let’s talk about Tim Walz and how the Trump campaign may decide to attack him. What are the grounds there? (....) WELKER: So, you’re already seeing the Trump campaign trying to make the case this is the most, in their words, radical ticket in U.S. history. They are going to attack his policies, everything from the fact that he enshrined abortion rights to expanding background checks for gun buyers as well as the LGBTQ protections he passed in his state. So, it’s going to be the burden of the Harris campaign to fire back. How is he going to that? I’m been talking to Democrats overnight. They say he’s got to flood the airwaves. He has to not just make use of the Democratic National Convention coming up, but engage in debates and interview and introduce himself to the American public. Like ABC’s Selina Wang, NBC trotted out senior Washington correspondent Hallie Jackson for a lame biographical look at Walz. Along with his military service (which she didn’t mention came to an end when he didn’t want to go to Iraq), Jackson played him up as both a “moderate” and “progressive” and fretted “conservatives [are] taking aim at” his record on “gender affirming care for trans youth, eligibility for driver’s licences for undocumented immigrants, and new gun restrictions like background checks”: Imagine that. Almost like it's coordinated, even if by osmosis! NBC's 'Today' also had a Tim Walz biographical puff piece, including the same video of Walz with his daughter that ABC showed. Hallie Jackson touted his service, but not how he quit to avoid going to Iraq. pic.twitter.com/lPVDnPtfdo — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 7, 2024 To see the relevant transcript from August 7, click here. August 7th, 2024 4:40 PM Curtis Houck 285379 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-fondacaro/2024/08/07/newsnation-questions-if-kamala-picked-walz-placate-dem-anti Much like CNN’s Van Jones did earlier in the day, NewsNation spent part of their Tuesday night wondering if Vice President Kamala Harris picked Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) to be her running mate out of fear she would lose the votes of the anti-Semitic wing of the Democratic Party if she chose Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (D). During his opening monologue, On Balance host Leland Vittert noted that picking Walz was Harris’s “first executive decision” and that it. “Gives us great insight into how she will govern as president.” According to his analysis, the choice of Walz “makes Democratic Twitter happy.”     “Twitter is not real life. It is the most extreme and petty part of life. It is the most extreme and petty part of a political party,” he warned. “But in humor, we found truth,” he declared after reading a Babylon Bee headline quipping: “Democrats worry choosing Jewish vice president may cost them the all-important death to America vote.” Adding: “She did not pick Josh Shapiro. Even Van Jones on CNN said Harris caved in to the darker parts of her party.” NewsNation correspondent-at-large Geraldo Rivera said he was “shocked” that Harris didn’t pick Shapiro. He admitted that there were several people in his orbit who “worried that this election was a nod to the pro-Palestinian wing of the Democratic Party.” “But I think this will be a bed that Palestinian-Jewish thing will be an issue for Democrats going forward, to me, Leland,” he said. In the following hour, host Chris Cuomo touched on similar themes in the opening monologue to his eponymous show. He suggested he felt it “deep in [his] gut” that “Democrats decided it was not a safe bet, if you want to win, to have a Jewish man on the ticket with Harris.” “So, what bothers me more that they think that's the right choice or that I think they made the right call,” he lamented. Cuomo noted that, “Some Jews are even relieved that it wasn't Shapiro” because “They fear increased anti-Semitism in a way they have never felt before.” He proceeded to ask the big questions he felt the Democrats should be asking themselves: I wonder: if avoiding the risk of not being safe, is that how you get better? Should the Democrats default to doing what’s safe; because that's how you win or - or do you take that on and refused to play safe if playing safe means playing to prejudice? Wouldn't that make the Democrats better? Or, is there reason that I'm not the politically astute Cuomo? I'm not the one who was successful and that business. That this magical thinking, it's romantic thinking, it's not realistic. And that while I may see that that would be better in some way, that the reality is it would only be better for Trump because it would make it more likely he would win. “So, I get why Harris picked Walz. I think he's got his own virtues in value to that party. And I get why Democrats like the pick. And it may well be the reason they win if they win this election,” he opined. “But I wonder if the really important part of this moment is who was not picked and why.” The transcripts are below. Click "expand" to read: NewsNation’s On Balance August 6, 2024 7:02:21 p.m. Eastern (…) LELAND VITTERT: Kamala Harris picking Tim Walz is her first executive decision. Gives us great insight into how she will govern as president. In short, Harris's first executive decision makes Democratic Twitter happy. Twitter is not real life. It is the most extreme and petty part of life. It is the most extreme and petty part of a political party. Harris also made this headline from The Babylon Bee come true: “Democrats worry choosing Jewish vice president may cost them the all-important death to America vote,” referring to the pro-Hamas, pro-Palestinian side of the Democratic Party. The Babylon Bee, for those of you who do not know, is a right-wing satirical website. But in humor, we found truth. She did not pick Josh Shapiro. Even Van Jones on CNN said Harris caved in to the darker parts of her party. [Cuts to video] VAN JONES: You also have anti-Semitism that has gotten marbled into this party. You can be for the Palestinians without being an anti-Jewish bigot. But there are some anti-Jewish bigots out there and there's some disquiet now and there has to be. [Cuts back to live] VITTERT: That's Jones. We hire the president to be our commander in chief. That is her most important, his most important role. And normally it's a long job interview. Lots of questions, the primaries, the primary debates, tons of interviews, impromptu gaggle, unscripted moments with voters. All of that is gone. We haven't heard any of that from Kamala Harris. And Harris will not tell us who she is. She hasn't had a meaningful interaction with the media since her coronation 16 days ago. (…) 7:06:53 p.m. Eastern GERALDO RIVERA: I was shocked as you are that he didn't pick Josh Shapiro who is nimble, charismatic, sharp it seemed. My wife and I and our friend group across the nation worried that this election was a nod to the pro-Palestinian wing of the Democratic Party. (…) I'm sorry he didn't pick Josh Shapiro. I worry that it's like Jackie Mason and Mel Brooks that Shapiro was too Jewish. But I think this will be a bed that Palestinian-Jewish thing will be an issue for Democrats going forward, to me Leland. (…) CUOMO 8:10:03 p.m. Eastern CHRIS CUOMO: Let's do it through the lens of me. Okay? I'll be the Guinea pig. I don't know what bothers me more. Deep in my gut. To think that Democrats decided it was not a safe bet, if you want to win, to have a Jewish man on the ticket with Harris. Now and telling me that Harris's husband is Jewish. Yes, he is. I know that. It's not the same thing to me as having the VP be Jewish. It's not, “Oh, we already have a Jewish guy!” What, because she's married to one? So, what bothers me more that they think that's the right choice or that I think they made the right call. And as you know, I believe America is nothing without her diversity. It is our secret sauce. And the more our institutions look like the country – not exaggerated to the majority or minority, but reflective of both in proportion, the better. And I respect the historic nature of a black woman at the top of the ticket. I think it matters. Should it be dispositive? Of course, not. Will it win the election? I don't know. We could just as easily lose it because that's what safe really means. I see value in a ticket that has a double minority demographic, but maybe it is unsafe. When I talk with black and Jewish friends, black and Jewish colleagues, black and Jewish politicos, black and Jewish Democrats, party people. They all kind of default to acknowledging that it would be dicey to have a black woman and a Jewish man on the same ticket. Some Jews are even relieved that it wasn't Shapiro. Instead of feeling pride. They fear increased anti-Semitism in a way they have never felt before. Certainly here in America. And sadly, I get it and I hate that they feel like that. And I'm here to defend Jewish Americans, as with all minorities. We are one family or we are nothing. I wonder: if avoiding the risk of not being safe, is that how you get better? Should the Democrats default to doing what’s safe; because that's how you win or - or do you take that on and refused to play safe if playing safe means playing to prejudice? Wouldn't that make the Democrats better? Or, is there reason that I'm not the politically astute Cuomo? I'm not the one who was successful and that business. That this magical thinking, it's romantic thinking, it's not realistic. And that while I may see that that would be better in some way, that the reality is it would only be better for Trump because it would make it more likely he would win. So, I get why Harris picked Walz. I think he's got his own virtues in value to that party. And I get why Democrats like the pick. And it may well be the reason they win if they win this election. But I wonder if the really important part of this moment is who was not picked and why. And what that says not so much about the Democrats, but about our country. (…) August 7th, 2024 4:01 PM Nicholas Fondacaro 285377 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/mark-finkelstein/2024/08/07/democrats-now-libertarians-morning-joe-hypes-walzs-mind-your Somebody call the FTC: we've got a glaring case of false advertising! The Democrats are now trying to pass themselves off as some sort of neo-libertarians. Kamala Harris kicked off the notion, making "freedom" her campaign slogan,. And at the rally yesterday announcing her pick of Tim Walz, her new running mate put a cherry on it. Walz claimed: "In Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and their personal choices that they make. Even if we wouldn't make the same choice for ourselves, there's a golden rule: mind your own damn business!" On today's Morning Joe, Jonathan Lemire enthused over Walz's libertarian line: "That line also going to be a thing. Mind your own damn business." Really? Walz believes in respecting neighbors' choices, "even if we wouldn't make the same choice?" As Andrew Stiles at The Washington Free Beacon has noted, during Covid, Walz: "Established a taxpayer-funded phone line in Minnesota so liberal scolds could snitch on their neighbors who refused to wear masks outside." East Germany's Stasi would have been proud!   The Catholic League has exposed other examples of Walz sticking his nose into Minnesotans business, including: During the Covid-19 lockdowns, Walz banned houses of worship from having gatherings of larger than 10 people, even though he permitted retail stores, casinos, bars and restaurants to operate at 50% capacity, and he okayed opening the Mall of America. On April 27, 2023, he signed a law that banned “conversion therapy” for transgender youth. These exploited young people want to “detransition” back to their father-determined sex, but Walz wants to take this right away from them. Other examples of how Democrats are the anti-freedom party: they want to mandate: What kind of cars you can drive. What kind of energy you can use. What kind of people you have to allow into girls' locker rooms and onto girls' sports team. What kind of people you must hire to meet DEI standards. What kind of words can get you fired from your job--or never hired in the first place. What kind of speakers are allowed on campus. So please, "Coach," spare us your neo-libertarian nonsense! Note: Before Jonathan Lemire talked up Walz's "mind your own business,"  Mike Barnicle slobbered over the VP announcement rally: "Watching the Coach yesterday and watching the Vice President yesterday, it was mesmerizing in the sense that it's been awhile since I've seen a rally like that, either on TV or in person.  And watching it, you could just sense the power in the hall. And it was the power of joy, the power of laughter, the power of hope for the future." Gag me with a $40 Harris-Walz camo hat! Here's the transcript. MSNBC Morning Joe 8/7/24 6:12 am EDT MIKE BARNICLE: Watching the Coach, and I'm going to call him the Coach from now until Election Day, watching the Coach yesterday and watching the Vice President yesterday, it was mesmerizing in the sense that it's been awhile since I've seen a rally like that, either on TV or in person.  And watching it, you could just sense the power in the hall. And it was the power of joy, the power of laughter, the power of hope for the future. But especially, the power of those who were in the hall and those who were thinking or considering voting for this ticket, the Vice President, and the Coach. For those considering voting for the ticket, giving them the power to think that they're participating in something that will put a smile on your face. It's been a long time since any aspect of the American politics has put a smile on anyone's face. And these two people yesterday managed to put a smile on the nation's face. JONATHAN LEMIRE: Yeah. The contrast was so evident, and front and center. And Walz, this is what they billed him as. He's got that folksy, Midwestern charm. I think it's right to spend time on his biography. It is very impressive.  Mike is right. The moment where the Vice President referred to him as Coach, and they kept repeating it, Coach! Coach! That's going to be a thing. I think that's clear, and the campaign recognizes that. Walz, talking about how the Republicans have tried to take away abortion rights. And he talked about in Minnesota, even if you don't agree on the same thing, if you're respective of privacy, he said something along the lines of, mind your own damn business when it comes to whether or not the government has the ability to oversee a woman's body.  That line also going to be a thing. Mind your own damn business.  August 7th, 2024 3:34 PM Mark Finkelstein 285366 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/free-speech/catherine-salgado/2024/08/07/lawmakers-blast-google-meta-erasing-trump Two congressional lawmakers took aim at Big Tech’s apparent attempts at “erasing" the Trump assassination attempt from the internet — and possible government censorship collusion to do so. Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) separately sent letters to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Google challenging Meta and Google’s censorship of images and information related to the assassination attempt on Trump. Gaetz and Marshall called out the tech companies in the letters for their apparent election interference efforts. Gaetz wrote to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on July 31 asking for any communications the department had had with Big Tech companies between July 13 and July 31. He cited scandals at DHS, including its habit of colluding with Big Tech to censor speech and the Director of the Secret Service stepping down after failing to protect former president Donald Trump.   “These two major scandals at DHS have a single focal point which is the apparent Big Tech censorship and the digital ‘erasing’ of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump,” Gaetz wrote. The congressman highlighted the widely reported cases of Meta and Google censorship. “Numerous news outlets have reported various irregularities in search results and home pages,” Gaetz wrote. “For example, Facebook has acknowledged that it censored an authentic photograph of Donald Trump as ‘false information’ and Google has acknowledged that it excludes and does not autocomplete results for searches relating to the Trump assassination attempt.”  Related: Trump: Google, Facebook ‘RIGGING THE ELECTION’ with Censorship ‘Again’  Sen. Marshall wrote his letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai addressing Google’s explanation that it took “no manual action” to suppress search suggestions for the words “assassination attempt on.” The search engine suggested the names of other presidents but not Trump.  Marshall stated that Google’s excuse is “woefully inadequate, disingenuous, and misleading.” He  argued, “If the autocomplete function is truly reflective of the recent searches completed on Google, the self-learning algorithms should have easily adjusted their autocomplete function during a massive increase in search queries over the last two weeks.” Related: Worst Censorship of July: Election Censorship Heats Up Marshall also noted that Google employees have reported political bias as a “company standard” before, and that “some of my Republican colleagues have raised concerns regarding recommendation system algorithms under the umbrella of Alphabet and the bias of content they provide to operators seeking information.” He requested information on Google’s search algorithms, ranking and autocomplete functions. Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment and provide an equal platform for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using MRC Free Speech America’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable. August 7th, 2024 3:15 PM Catherine Salgado 285375 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2024/08/07/msnbc-and-cnn-already-condemn-swift-boating-walz Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz had not even been VP Kamala Harris’s running mate for 12 hours before MSNBC’s All In host Chris Hayes accused Republicans of “swift boating” him on Tuesday. On Wednesday, CNN’s Jim Acosta and Brianna Keilar followed suit by also turning the clock back to 2004 as they defended Walz from GOP criticism. Hayes was displeased at anyone arguing Walz has a problematic past while supporting Donald Trump: Some Republicans are talking about swift boating Walz because he left the National Guard back in 2005 rather than stay and deploy to Iraq though I'm not sure trashing an honorably discharged 24-year Army veteran, the highest ranking enlisted man ever to serve the United States Congress, if I'm not mistaken, later worked on the House Veteran Affairs Committee, I don't think that helps Donald Trump, whose own former staffers say he called American war veterans suckers and losers.      Hayes also turned into a humorless scold as he went after some conservatives for claiming Minnesota isn’t in the Midwest and might as well be considered Canada, “Republicans are going to find out, I think, that framing a gun-owning Midwest nice guy as a radical far-left commie ends up painting you into some really weird corners. Some conservatives, now in order to keep this whole shtick going, now claiming Minnesota just isn't real America. No, literally, the secretary of the Ohio Republican Party said 'Minnesota isn't even in the Midwest, it's basically Canada' which last I checked we have 50 states. National Review writer [Heather Wilhelm] who said Minnesota is ‘Canada lite’ ‘might as well be a different planet.’” On Wednesday, Walz’s GOP counterpart, JD Vance, gave a press conference where he criticized Walz for retiring from the National Guard prior to his unit’s deployment to Iraq. He also took exception to Walz using his military service to justify calls for gun control by referencing weapons “I carried in war” despite having never been to war.     Vance’s comments were carried live on CNN Newsroom, but Acosta still turned to The Atlantic’s senior editor, Ron Brownstein, and recalled, “I mean, these attacks were going to come and they do remind me of when I covered the Kerry campaign back in 2004, the so-called swift boating of John Kerry was a key part of that campaign. Questioning his military service, even though John Kerry was a war hero. It does sound familiar these lines of attack.” Like Hayes, Brownstein didn’t actually defend Walz, but instead tried to make the conversation about Trump, “A couple of big differences being Tim Walz is not the presidential nominee and Donald Trump is not really someone who can go around complaining about people dodging military service, right? I mean, that isn't really an effective line of comparison or argument for him.” Later in the day, CNN News Central host Brianna Keilar didn’t understand what the big deal was, “We should also mention there's reporting that JD Vance did not see combat in his role. I would argue it doesn't matter. They both served. But what do you think about this, kind of, getting some swift boat vibes here.”   Like it’s 2004 again. “Getting some Swift boat vibes here.” CNN’s Brianna @brikeilarcnn trying to discredit criticism of Tim Walz by JD Vance. pic.twitter.com/db7cTBfetg — Brent Baker 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@BrentHBaker) August 7, 2024   Sure, but Vance did deploy to Iraq and that is what he was talking about on Wednesday, which CNN, again, ignored. Here is a transcript for the August 6 and 7 shows: MSNBC All In With Chris Hayes 8/6/2024 8:44 PM ET CHRIS HAYES: Who do you think comes out sounding more radical to you, at least? Some Republicans are talking about swift boating Walz because he left the National Guard back in 2005 rather than stay and deploy to Iraq though I'm not sure trashing an honorably discharged 24-year Army veteran, the highest ranking enlisted man ever to serve the United States Congress, if I'm not mistaken, later worked on the House Veteran Affairs Committee, I don't think that helps Donald Trump whose, own former staffers say he called American war veterans suckers and losers.  Republicans are going to find out, I think, that framing a gun-owning Midwest nice guy as a radical far-left commie ends up painting you into some really weird corners. Some conservatives, now in order to keep this whole shtick going, now claiming Minnesota just isn't real America. No, literally, the secretary of the Ohio Republican Party said “Minnesota isn't even in the Midwest, it's basically Canada” which last I checked we have 50 states. National Review writer who said Minnesota is “Canada lite” “might as well be a different planet.” *** CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta 8/7/2024 10:37 AM ET JIM ACOSTA: Yeah. Ron Bronstein, I mean, these attacks were going to come and they do remind me of when I covered the Kerry campaign back in 2004, the so-called swift boating of John Kerry was a key part of that campaign. Questioning his military service, even though John Kerry was a war hero. It does sound familiar these lines of attack. RON BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, of course. A couple of big differences being Tim Walz is not the presidential nominee and Donald Trump is not really someone who can go around complaining about people dodging military service, right? I mean, that isn't really an effective line of comparison or argument for him. *** CNN News Central 8/7/2024 1:05 PM ET BRIANNA KEILAR: We should also mention there's reporting that JD Vance did not see combat in his role. I would argue it doesn't matter. They both served. But what do you think about this, kind of, getting some swift boat vibes here.   August 7th, 2024 2:44 PM Alex Christy 285374 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2024/08/07/abc-giddily-celebrates-folksy-tim-walzs-meteoric-rise-kamala ABC’s Good Morning America understood the assignment on Wednesday to play proverbial clapping seals over Vice President Kamala Harris picking Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) as her running mate, casting him as a “folksy”, innocent guy from Minnesota with a “meteoric” “rise” who “fired up” a Philadelphia rally but can also “reach out to the rural conservative voters”. They also heralded his governorship as making law “a wish list of Democratic bills” on social issues, but were otherwise light on specifics and, like, CBS and NBC, kept Walz’s image squeaky clean and ignored statements and positions Walz has taken. That included his peddling of the crude, false claim about GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance having had sexual relations with a couch. Co-host and former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos kept it superficial by first boasting in a tease of “a look at the Army National Guardsman, former high school teacher, football coach, father of two, six-term congressman” who’s “[e]ager to go head to head against his opponent.” “[Harris] introduced her running mate to the nation last night and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz fired up the Philadelphia crowd with new takes on the Trump-Vance ticket,” he later added                     Congressional correspondent Rachel Scott embraced her unofficial job in Democratic public relations by gushing over the “packed house” Tuesday night in Philadelphia for Harris and Walz, boasting the two see “their campaign as a fight for the future”. North Korean-like state-run media report on Harris-Walz ticket by ABC's Rachel Scott on 'Good Morning America', fawning over the "packed house", light on specifics other than vague allusions to Walz's far-left politics, only mentioning Team Trump says he's "a liberal extremist" pic.twitter.com/ej447LDKDG — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 7, 2024 “Overnight, Vice President Harris taking the stage with her new running mate...introducing Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to the nation. As a father, congressman, sergeant major, teacher and former football coach,” Scott began. Scott simply narrated their rally, bragging that Walz went “after the former President, who was found guilty in the hush money trial of falsifying business records” and offering no pushback to Walz’s claim that “violent crime was up under Donald Trump” as being the former president’s fault. She also led viewers through a clip of Walz smearing Vance as an elitist, ignoring the Republican’s early years of poverty inside a broken home. “Walz also using his family’s personal history with IVF to make the case for reproductive rights....His star rising in Democratic circles in recent days after he coined a new line of attack against Republicans, calling them weird,” she later bragged. The second half hour saw more of the same with senior White House correspondent one-upping Scott with a syrupy profile of Walz. Wang began by swooning over his “rise” as “meteoric” that’s been “anything but conventional”. Wang continued with more biographical details meant to make him seem as normal and soft as a baby’s bottom, including former students who just so happened to be ready to talk about how accepting he was faulty adviser for the gay-straight alliance at the high school he taught at. ABC's 'Good Morning America' excitedly promotes "folksy" Tim Walz, calling it "meteroric" "rise" for a man who's "anything but conventional" and can "reach...rural conservative voters" Selina Wang touted his military service (but not that he quit so he wouldn't have to go to… pic.twitter.com/G0b65kUBvI — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 7, 2024 Wang hit all the campaign talkers, down to calling him a “moderate” but nonetheless eagerly embracing the label of “radical liberal” (click “expand”): WANG: Walz, a former high school social studies teacher, now a vice presidential candidate at 60 years old. He joined the Army National Guard at 17 to help pay for college, serving 24 years as an enlisted soldier while teaching in Minnesota. HARRIS: Tim Walz was the kind of teacher and mentor that every child in America dreams of having. WANG: He also coached football taking the team to its first state championship and leading the school’s first gay straight alliance. FORMER STUDENT JACOB REITAN: As a student that was bullied and a student that needed to feel safe in my high school community, both Tim and Gwen made Mankato West a safe place for people like me and I’ll always be grateful to them. FORMER STUDENT NOAH HOBBS: He’s genuine, authentic, caring human being. WANG: Walz crediting his students for his turn to politics. WALZ: They encouraged me to run for office. They saw in me what I was hoping to instill in them, a commitment of common good, a belief that one person can make a difference. WANG: In 2006, Walz was first elected to Congress. The avid hunter and gun owner representing a rural, conservative district in Minnesota for 12 years and winning re-election even when Trump won his district by double digits. He was known as relatively moderate in Congress, helping pass a veterans suicide prevention bill and voting to build the Keystone XL pipeline, which was opposed by environmental groups. WALZ [in 2018]: I do. STATE SUPREME COURT JUSTICE [in 2018]: Congratulations. WANG: But as governor, he signed into law a wish list of Democratic bills on paid family leave, legalizing recreational marijuana, universal background checks on gun purchases, transgender protection and free school breakfast and lunches for all. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade, Walz was the first governor to pass legislation codifying the right to abortion. Donald Trump blasting Walz as a radical liberal, a label he’s laughed off. WALZ: What a monster. Kids are eating — eating and having full bellies so they can go learn and women are making their own health care decisions. [SCREEN WIPE] If that’s what they want to label me, I’m more than happy to take the label. WANG: Republicans also acting his response to violent protests in 2020 after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Walz only deploying the National Guard after three days of chaos. WALZ [in 2020]: If the issue was that the state should have moved faster, yeah, that is on me. Of course, nothing about how, for example, Walz set up a hotline during the pandemic for Minnesotans to report to the authorities their neighbors for insufficiently abiding by lockdowns. Wang brought up Walz’s wife, Gwen, in context of the two having their two kids through IVF, but ignored Gwen’s almost celebratory reaction to Minneapolis burning in 2020 (click “expand”): WANG: But sources say Harris was won over by Walz folksy straight forward manner. Supporting Walz every step of the way, his wife Gwen a lifelong English teacher. The couple have two kids and have been open about their IVF journey. WALZ: And I remember praying every night for a call for good news. The pit in my stomach when the phone rang and thing any we heard the treatments hadn’t worked. So, it wasn’t by chance that when we welcomed our daughter into the world, we named her Hope. WANG: Now 23 years old — HOPE WALZ: Good job, dad. WALZ: Oh, thanks, Hope. WANG: — Hope is a frequent star on her father’s social media account. WALZ: Then we’re gonna get some food. Corn dog. HOPE WALZ: I’m vegetarian. WALZ: Turkey then and then — HOPE WALZ: Turkey is meat. WALZ: — not in Minnesota. Turkey’s special. Wang closed with more propaganda that repeatedly claimed Walz “has proven” he’s liked by “rural conservative voters” even though “some critics say that his record more firmly cements vice President Harris as a progressive” The Harris campaign is betting that Governor Walz can reach out to their rural conservative voters in those critical battleground states. Harris and Walz are going to be blitzing through the states this week, knowing there are only 90 days until the election.  (....) You already have Republicans attacking him for being even more liberal than Vice President Harris. And some critics say that his record more firmly cements vice President Harris as a progressive. But at the same time, he has proven that he can reach out to the rural conservative voters, even those who have supported Donald Trump. So, the Harris campaign is making a bet that, even though his record is conservative [sic], his back story, his demeanor will be able to reach out to those Midwestern voters into those swing states that they need to clinch the White House. To see the relevant ABC transcript from August 7, click here. August 7th, 2024 1:23 PM Curtis Houck 285373 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2024/08/07/pbs-laments-afghanistan-tarnished-bidens-fdr-first-year PBS released a new Frontline documentary on Tuesday about President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the presidential race, but it was really more of an ode to his entire career. However, even PBS could not ignore the disastrous exit from Afghanistan, which it claimed overshadowed an “FDR-like first year.” Former White House press secretary turned MSNBC host Jen Psaki hyped, “We knew we were walking into a pandemic, an economy that was reeling, so there was a crisis management aspect, certainly, of the first year. He felt that when you come in as president, especially at the moment he did, he needed to be a healer.” Biden biographer Evan Osnos added, “Part of Biden's promise to the public was, ‘I'm going to show you that government can actually work again. That's what my decades of experience will deliver. We can show that Washington will work and we can put practical things in people's hands, like stimulus checks.’"     Following a montage of audio snippets from various media personalities discussing Biden’s spending initiatives, CBS’s Robert Costa further hyped, “He's able to push people to get something done on the American Rescue Plan, then on infrastructure.” After some more audio files, Costa continued, “Works for months to try to get Build Back Better revived… He's trying to get so much done, and he does get a lot done. So the domestic front, Biden has an FDR-like first year.” Narrator Will Lyman then transitioned to a new topic, “But during that first year, one decision would tarnish his presidency.”     Documentarian Chris Whipple recalled that “Biden was hellbent on withdrawing. He did not come into this with a, with an open mind, necessarily, to any other options. He was hellbent on getting out.” PBS then played a clip of Biden claiming that Afghanistan would not go the way of South Vietnam, including how there would be no rooftop evacuations of the American embassy in Kabul, before playing news clips from the chaotic withdrawal. The rest of the documentary was not much better. Earlier, the Washington Post’s Marc Fisher recalled the car crash that killed Biden’s first wife and daughter, “After the crash, he needed something to comfort him. He needed something to envelop himself in.  He needed a place to be a part of that would sustain him and would give him a sense of purpose and give him a sense of achievement. And the Senate gave Biden a sense of belonging. Biden's instinct is to envelop himself in institutions.”     Osnos also compared Biden’s time in the Senate to church, “Here's a guy who had grown up within the Church, which is defined by this sense of ritual and ancient traditions. Things that are worth preserving because they provide order in a disordered world. And he gets to the Senate at a moment of tremendous chaos in his own life, having suffered this terrible loss, and all of a sudden, the rituals of the Senate, and the kind of clarifying effect of being a part of this institution, almost feels to him like an extension of these values and patterns that had made so much sense to him and his family as a young person. So the Senate became a, sort of, stand in for the Church for him.” Other than Afghanistan, the toughest PBS got on Biden was from the left, accusing him of being too nice to Clarence Thomas during his confirmation hearing. When it came to Biden’s plagiarism scandals, PBS rolled out First Lady Jill Biden to lament “his character was being attacked.” Here is a transcript for the August 6 show: PBS Frontline: Biden’s Decision 8/6/2024 9:37 PM ET MARC FISHER: After the crash, he needed something to comfort him. He needed something to envelop himself in.  He needed a place to be a part of that would sustain him and would give him a sense of purpose and give him a sense of achievement. And the Senate gave Biden a sense of belonging. Biden's instinct is to envelop himself in institutions. WILL LYMAN: The Senate would define Biden and shape his life. EVAN OSNOS: Here's a guy who had grown up within the Church, which is defined by this sense of ritual and ancient traditions. Things that are worth preserving because they provide order in a disordered world. And he gets to the Senate at a moment of tremendous chaos in his own life, having suffered this terrible loss, and all of a sudden, the rituals of the Senate, and the kind of clarifying effect of being a part of this institution, almost feels to him like an extension of these values and patterns that had made so much sense to him and his family as a young person. So the Senate became a, sort of, stand in for the Church for him. … 10:33 PM ET DARLENE SUPERVILLE: After Joe Biden is finally sworn in as president, you know, he's finally gotten this thing that he's wanted his whole life, he couldn't really celebrate. There were no parties. There were no inaugural balls because of COVID. It was super weird. RON KLAIN: He came down from the residence on the West Colonnade towards the Oval Office. And I remember looking at him and saying, "This is just an incredible thing to see after all this time.” That he is coming into the Oval Office as president of the United States. So, I felt a lot of excitement and a lot of anxiety about the fact that we were gonna now start to do a lot of work. JEN PSAKI: We knew we were walking into a pandemic, an economy that was reeling, so there was a crisis management aspect, certainly, of the first year. He felt that when you come in as president, especially at the moment he did, he needed to be a healer. OSNOS: Part of Biden's promise to the public was, "I'm going to show you that government can actually work again. That's what my decades of experience will deliver. We can show that Washington will work and we can put practical things in people's hands, like stimulus checks." DON LEMON: The first batch of stimulus payments will start going out to Americans in need this weekend. WOLF BLITZER: The president declaring, "Help is here." OSNOS: He gets trillions of dollars in new spending passed by Congress. RACHEL MADDOW: These are the priorities that the Biden administration has said they want to get done. ANCHOR: $1.9 trillion COVID stimulus relief package to help Americans struggling throughout this pandemic. ROBERT COSTA: He's able to push people to get something done on the American Rescue Plan, then on infrastructure. ANCHOR 2: The president is poised to sign into law the largest federal investment in infrastructure in generations. ANCHOR 3: It will have transformative impact on the middle class. It will be huge for Biden's legacy. COSTA: Works for months to try to get Build Back Better revived. MAN: Democrats will continue to fight for Build Back Better. ANCHOR 4: The ultimate test of the president's legislative power as the bill is in the hands of the Senate. COSTA: He's trying to get so much done, and he does get a lot done. So the domestic front, Biden has an FDR-like first year. MAN 2: This is the most successful legislative presidency. LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: Can surely be credited to the fact that Joe Biden has more legislative experience than any president in history. LYMAN: But during that first year, one decision would tarnish his presidency. JOE BIDEN: I'm now the fourth United States president to preside over American troop presence in Afghanistan. I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth. CHRIS WHIPPLE: Biden was hellbent on withdrawing. He did not come into this with a, with an open mind, necessarily, to any other options. He was hellbent on getting out. REPORTER: In this withdrawal in Afghanistan, do you see any parallels between this withdrawal and what happened in Vietnam with some people feeling... BIDEN: None whatsoever. Zero. The Taliban is not the Sou-- the North Vietnamese Army. They're not remotely comparable in terms of capability. There's gonna be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of a embassy of the United States. REPORTER 2: Black smoke seen rising from the U.S. embassy, the chaos directly contradicting any talk of an orderly evacuation process.  REPORTER 3: Twenty years of American and NATO-led gains collapsing in stunning fashion.  August 7th, 2024 1:20 PM Alex Christy 285372 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/free-speech/gabriela-pariseau/2024/08/07/google-wont-let-search-giant-turns-users-harris Google is still redirecting users to news about Vice President Kamala Harris even when they search for a completely different name, an MRC Free Speech America search found.  Now that the Democratic Party nominee has picked her running mate, Tim Walz, MRC decided to put Google once again to the test. Researchers conducted a comparison of Google’s search results when searching for “j d vance rally” and “tim walz rally,” and in both cases, Google referenced Harris. But in the case of Vance, Google referenced Harris even before Vance.   When MRC researchers searched for the terms “j d vance rally” on Tuesday, Google displayed a news panel labeled “Top Stories Kamala Harris and JD Vance.” All of the top six news results referred to Vance, four of the six stories referred to Harris as well. But when MRC researchers searched for Harris’s own vice presidential pick (“tim walz rally”) Google showed Walz’s name first. “Top Stories Tim Walz ᐧ Kamala Harris,” the news panel read. A USA Today story noted an upcoming Philadelphia rally, CNN noted Harris’s recent decision to choose Walz as her running mate and a third article noted that Trump blasted Walz as a “West Coast wannabe.”  This comes after just last week Google similarly placed Harris’s name ahead of Trump’s in a search for “donald trump” and “trump rally.” When MRC researchers searched for the terms “donald trump” last Tuesday, Google displayed what is described as a “knowledge panel” about the former president including his name and former title. The search giant followed up with a news panel labeled “News about Harris·Trump.” A search for the terms “trump rally” similarly prompted news panels favorable to Trump’s opponent. “Kamala Harris rally in Atlanta,” read the title of the first news panel. Google has thus far not been fully transparent as to why this is happening, but the company has in the past set the terms for which results it will allow its algorithm to produce. Earlier this year, Gemini, Google’s AI chatbot, repeatedly refused to generate images of white people when prompted. For example, when asked to produce images of popes, it reportedly produced images of an Asian female pope. The chatbot also reportedly portrayed U.S. revolutionary soldiers as Asian women and Vikings as black. Kris Ruby, AI researcher and CEO of Ruby Media Group, told Fox News host Jon Scott on Fox Report that AI algorithms are given parameters and rules of what it is and is not allowed to produce in order to eliminate information deemed “toxic.” “So the issue with the outputs is the input rules and when people are saying make me this photo, draw me this photo, what they don’t see is the parameters and the rules that dictate what is allowed to be made and what isn’t,” Ruby said.   “After a baseline for toxicity is defined, technology companies use safety labels, filters, and internal scoring to shape the digital world,” Ruby told Fox News Digital. "When it comes to AI censorship, whoever controls the definition of toxicity controls the outcome. Every model action (generative AI output) will fundamentally stem from how toxicity is defined. Your version of toxicity shapes the world around you.” Methodology  For this report, MRC Free Speech America analyzed the Aug. 6 Google search results of the innocuous words “j d vance rally” and “tim walz rally.”  MRC Free Speech America created an algorithm to automate this process in a clean environment. A “clean environment” allows for organic search to populate results without the influence of prior search history and tracking cookies. Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on so-called hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable. August 7th, 2024 12:25 PM Gabriela Pariseau 285371 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/justine-brooke-murray/2024/08/07/america-turned-woke-while-we-were-sleeping Have you opened an old-fashioned hard copy dictionary, lately? You'll find the terms and their original definitions are a foreign language. You certainly won't find the word, 'Woke.' We used to consider that simply... poor grammar. But our 'hip' and 'inclusive' cultural overlords used it to guilt us into surrendering our free way of life so we could 'wake up' and fix our social injustices. Because of that, we blindly consented to an entirely new language that redefines truth in order to tip toe around those who reject it. America and the West turned woke because we were all actually asleep. Welcome to 'Woke of Weak.' Join new host, Justine Brooke Murray as she brings you some of the Left's most insane moments and exposes their attempts to weaken our minds. Check out her first video here. Tune in every week for the latest episodes! August 7th, 2024 11:18 AM Justine Brooke Murray 285370 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/business/joseph-vazquez/2024/08/07/exclusive-read-how-politico-and-bloomberg-opinion-whored Politico and Bloomberg Opinion have just been exposed engaging in grotesque journalistic malfeasance just to suck up to the Biden-Harris White House. The Functional Government Initiative (FGI) unveiled another trove of documents of damning communications from 2022 through open records requests, giving MRC Business exclusive access. The documents reveal the extent to which the Biden-Harris Treasury Department had editorial influence over Politico and Bloomberg Opinion. A Politico reporter forwarded his pay-walled Politico Pro piece slapping down worries of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) hiring 87,000 new employees to a Biden-Harris Treasury official who then edited some of the language used for the free version of Politico published a day later. Furthermore, Treasury officials managed to get a hold of interview questions sent in advance for a softball 2022 transcribed-Q&A session with a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and then-Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy Lily Batchelder that took place the following day. Politico senior tax reporter Brian Faler went to bat for the Biden-Harris administration following the backlash to the IRS’s move to use $80 billion in funding it received through the Inflation Reduction Act to employ 87,000 new employees. One estimate noted that 57.3 percent of the new hires — fewer than 50,000 —  “would be assigned to tax enforcement.”  Faler’s article, “The $80 billion question: What will the IRS do with all its new money?” was initially published as a Politico Pro item on Aug. 15. He sent his pay-walled item to Treasury Public Affairs Senior Spokesperson Julia Krieger via email and wrote, “Flagging.” Krieger responded with edits to the article, which appear to have been incorporated into the free version of Faler’s piece published the following day on Aug. 16: “Hi Brian-thanks for this! For the first sentence in the first listicle, can you clarify that this figure is the gross, not the net/so it's clear that we're not talking about 87k ‘new’ employees as it currently reads? I know you have it further down that Natasha expects 50k attrition, but would be good [sic] clarify at the outset since there's been so much misinformation on this exact issue of ‘new’ hires.” The original sentence in question read as follows: “The Biden administration wants to use the money to hire 87,000 new people, a hiring spree that has Republicans warning of a gathering army of tax collectors.” But following the edits from the Biden-Harris Treasury, the word “new” was eliminated from the free version of the piece. Politico effectively gave the Biden-Harris Treasury Department editorial power over its reporting.  In comments to MRC Business, Faler pushed back, claiming “I didn’t ‘clear’ anything with anyone outside Politico, and never would. The Treasury Department spokeswoman was complaining about a published story – it had already gone out to the world. She didn’t see any version or draft of the story before it was posted.” Faler further obfuscated, “What I had flagged for her was the story that had been sent to our subscribers earlier that morning, which is a courtesy we extend to anyone we quote or interview for a story.” What Faler didn’t initially address was the fact that the Politico Pro story published Aug. 15 was specifically edited to remove the word “new” per Krieger’s requests in the Aug. 16 free version published the following day.  When pressed further on why the framing of the free version of his article was edited per Treasury’s direction, Faler threw Politico’s editors under the bus by passing off responsibility to them, saying it was “far above” his “pay grade:” Here’s what happens when someone complains that something I wrote was wrong or misleading: I take it to my editor, because it’s a conflict of interest for me to decide if the complainer is correct. I explain the situation to my editor, and he (and possibly others) decides how to proceed. I presume here the editor(s) agreed with Treasury that that sentence could have been said better. I don’t really know for sure because conversations about stories that go on our main site are far above my pay grade, [emphasis added]. Faler effectively alluded that it was his supervisors’ decision to let Treasury give editorial direction on the Politico piece. But Politico isn’t the only one that has engaged in this open journalistic collaboration with the Biden-Harris Treasury.  Another email dated Jan. 25, 2022 from then-senior spokesperson for Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen — Alexandra LaManna — was sent to other Treasury department staff boasting that “we have the questions in advance” for a transcribed Q&A interview between Bloomberg Opinion columnist Alexis Leondis and Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy Lily Batchelder set to take place the next day. The documents obtained by FGI showed the specific questions that were forwarded to Treasury officials, with a good portion of them appearing in the published interview three days after the email was sent, “How Messy Will This Tax Season Get?”  One question that was forwarded in advance dealt directly with an IRS mistake, meaning that Treasury was given ample opportunity to get Batchelder’s propagandized answers in order first before the interview. “Erroneous child tax credit information was sent out recently by the IRS that didn’t match what taxpayers actually received. What should taxpayers do if they’re in this situation?” Batchelder responded by playing the victim in the published interview, arguing that this was part of a broader issue of “chronic under-funding” for the IRS. In fact, the email chain between the Treasury officials showed apparent collaboration on the various questions. Yellen counselor Natasha Sarin appeared to respond in the chain with edits on possible answers to a few of Leondis’s questions, “Hi team, In my lane. A few edits in caps below.” Batchelder responded with apparent glee, “Thanks so much for all the work that went into this! Attached is a revised version.”  MRC Business also reached out to Leondis for comment but received no response as of the publication of this report.  The Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics forbids journalists from engaging in any “political and other outside activities that may compromise integrity or impartiality, or may damage credibility,” which seeking approval on content on a story from a government entity would clearly constitute. In addition, SPJ instructs journalists to “resist internal and external pressure to influence coverage.” It appears neither Politico, nor Bloomberg got the memo.  This isn’t even the first time MRC Business has caught leftist media publications committing journalistic offenses to favor the Biden-Harris administration. FGI recently shared documents to MRC exposing CNN congressional reporter Clare Foran seeking pre-approval from Department of Energy officials on three pre-published paragraphs pertaining to Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Jennifer Granholm. Following DOE approval, Foran’s three paragraphs would end up being published 99 percent verbatim in her article targeting Republicans for pushing to prohibit Granholm from implementing any rule that would “limit consumer access to gas kitchen ranges and ovens.” Also, in June 2023, FGI gave MRC Business the goods exposing another email exchange revealing Bloomberg News acting as the Treasury Department’s personal PR firm in an apparent attempt to get special privileges. An email chain showed Bloomberg Senior Washington Correspondent Saleha Mohsin appearing to be fired up over Treasury officials censoring Yellen quotes obtained by Bloomberg News despite the outlet’s “commitment” to her. “Bloomberg reporters show enough commitment to Yellen that we travel far and wide to cover her,” Mohsin wrote, “only to have you [sic] quotes killed. Yellen made the same comments live to the networks and its no big deal.” Conservatives are under attack. Contact Politico at 703-647-7999 and Bloomberg Opinion at letters@bloomberg.net and hold them to account for violating journalistic ethics. August 7th, 2024 10:41 AM Joseph Vazquez 285369 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2024/08/07/got-lot-done-daily-show-lauds-walz-selection Comedy Central's The Daily Show’s temp host of the week, Michael Kosta, welcomed Vice President Kamala Harris’s selection of Tim Walz to be her running mate on Tuesday by praising Walz’s liberal record as governor of Minnesota. Even jokes nominally about Walz were more about Midwestern stereotypes than Walz. Kosta began by hyping, “But since you guys have probably never heard of this guy before, I Googled him in a panic on your behalf this morning. And what I found out is that Tim Walz has got a lot done as governor. He legalized marijuana, passed family—yeah, it is a weed crowd. He passed family and sick leave, he codified abortion rights. And provided free meals for all school kids.”     He also noted, “Which makes him an ironic VP pick. Democrats said, "Man, you've done so much as governor. We'd like to promote you to a position where you'll do absolutely nothing." But if you ask me, his appeal to this ticket isn't just his record as governor. It's his overall vibe. You know? And that vibe, it's Midwestern dad as [bleep].” After playing a video of Walz in his car discussing DIY repairs, Kosta played a second clip of Walz’s vegetarian daughter passing on a corn dog. After Walz suggested turkey instead, his daughter informed him that turkey is also a meat. Kosta reacted, “Aw, he's trying so hard! He's trying so hard. ‘You don't eat meat? Well, fish isn't meat, and Turkey's kinda like fish! Let's get a cheeseburger.’ I will say, it makes it harder for the alt-right to call you a soy boy when you're like, ‘Bison is a vegetable.’"  Kosta also hyped Walz’s time as a high school football coach before discussing another photo of Walz’s dietary choices, “Oh my god, he was a small town high school football coach? And he's been married for 30 years? And he's eating a bucket of cookies? Leave it to Minnesota to measure cookies by the bucket. This guy is almost too Midwestern. Even his bad stuff is still Midwestern.” Even when Kosta turned to Walz’s moral failings, he still managed to make the joke about something else. After playing a clip of a reporter recalling Walz’s DUI where he was going 96 in a 55 MPH zone, Kosta added, “Well, yeah, of course he was driving that fast. He had to get home before he hurt anybody driving drunk! He's from the Midwest, I should know! So yes, Tim Walz has a DUI arrest. But just one. So, no wonder voters elected him governor. He's the most responsible driver in the whole Midwest.” Tame jokes about Walz’s love for cookies could be compared to jokes about how JD Vance’s beard makes him look like a Civil War reenactor, but missing from Kosta’s collection were any jokes that would be comparable to Vance's cat ladies remarks, couches, or left-wing policies. Here is a transcript for the August 6 show: Comedy Central The Daily Show 8/6/2024 11:02 PM ET MICHAEL KOSTA: But since you guys have probably never heard of this guy before, I Googled him in a panic on your behalf this morning. And what I found out is that Tim Walz has got a lot done as governor. He legalized marijuana, passed family—yeah, it is a weed crowd. He passed family and sick leave, he codified abortion rights. And provided free meals for all school kids. Which makes him an ironic VP pick. Democrats said, "man, you've done so much as governor. We'd like to promote you to a position where you'll do absolutely nothing." But if you ask me, his appeal to this ticket isn't just his record as governor. It's his overall vibe. You know? And that vibe, it's Midwestern dad as [bleep]. … KOSTA: Aw, he's trying so hard! He's trying so hard. "You don't eat meat? Well, fish isn't meat, and Turkey's kinda like fish! Let's get a cheeseburger." I will say, it makes it harder for the alt-right to call you a soy boy when you're like, "Bison is a vegetable."  And Tim Walz is not just a Midwestern dad now, he's been a Midwestern dad his whole life! He served in the National Guard. He has his own award-winning tater tots hot dish. How much more Midwestern can he get? ANCHOR: In 1994, he married fellow school teacher. They moved to Mankato in the mid-'90s where he began teaching and coaching football at Mankato West High School. KOSTA: Oh my god, he was a small town high school football coach? And he's been married for 30 years? And he's eating a bucket of cookies? Leave it to Minnesota to measure cookies by the bucket. This guy is almost too Midwestern. Even his bad stuff is still Midwestern. ANCHOR 2: In 1995, Tim Walz was arrested in Nebraska for driving under the influence. He was driving 96 miles an hour in a 55 mile per hour zone. KOSTA: Well, yeah, of course he was driving that fast. He had to get home before he hurt anybody driving drunk! He's from the Midwest, I should know! So yes, Tim Walz has a DUI arrest. But just one. So, no wonder voters elected him governor. He's the most responsible driver in the whole Midwest. August 7th, 2024 10:06 AM Alex Christy 285367 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/culture/justine-brooke-murray/2024/08/07/harvard-tries-and-fails-stop-jewish-students-suing “Justice, justice you shall pursue…” (Deuteronomy 16:20) The racial Marxists running Harvard University tried… and FAILED to stop their Jewish students from attempting to sue them. U.S. district judge Richard Stearns denied the school’s plea, Tuesday, to dismiss a lawsuit accusing it of being a safe space for raging Jew haters. His 25-page decision claimed the six student plaintiffs make credible allegations that Harvard not only failed to respond to antisemitic harassment and physical violence by faculty and classmates, but the school “failed its Jewish students” entirely.  He also said he was “dubious” Harvard could argue the First Amendment protected the campus jihadists. Apparently, calling for the genocide of Jewish students does NOT “depend on the context”  - like their former DEI president Claudine Gay said in her disastrous testimony to the House Committee investigating antisemitism.  Harvard’s students initially filed the lawsuit against their school in January, only eighteen days after Gay resigned from her position in disgrace. The university quickly mustered a Jewish replacement to the dismay of campus Hamas fans, who waved banners depicting him as a devil with horns. But as Jewish as he was advertised, he still allegedly sat on his hands while the campus erupted further into what looked like a scene from 1930’s Germany… at least that’s how plaintiff and Harvard alum Shabbos Kestenbaum feels. The same Alan Garber who smiled and nodded during Claudine Gay’s “context-dependent” answer did nothing when Harvard Professors published an antisemitic cartoon, students began monitoring Jews during the encampments, and daily calls for an intifada greeted us on our way to class pic.twitter.com/CSpyXBohfG — Shabbos Kestenbaum (@ShabbosK) August 4, 2024 In May, Harvard’s student body joined the nationwide campaign to make campuses Judenrein by trashing their campus with a month-long hobo encampment. They upped the ante from earlier stunts featuring masked mobs cornering Jewish students and creeching the word, “shame” in their faces.  “Mobs of pro-Hamas students and faculty have marched by the hundreds through Harvard’s campus, shouting vile antisemitic slogans and calling for death to Jews and Israel,” describes the lawsuit. “Those mobs have occupied buildings, classrooms, libraries, student lounges, plazas, and study halls, often for days or weeks at a time, promoting violence against Jews.” If the lawsuit successfully finds that the university violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Harvard may stand to lose its federal funding. August 7th, 2024 9:31 AM Justine Brooke Murray 285365 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tim-graham/2024/08/07/column-harris-walz-and-minnesota-freedom-fund-scandal Kamala Harris announced that her running mate will be Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who drew national huzzahs in the last few weeks for underlining the Democrat message that J.D. Vance is a major-league weirdo. Vance congratulated Walz for the gig, and lowered the boom: “Tim Walz allowed rioters to burn down Minneapolis in the summer of 2020, and the few that got caught, Kamala Harris helped bail them out of jail.” One of many stories omitted by the pro-Kamala media was her June 2020 tweet soliciting donations to something called the Minnesota Freedom Fund: “If you're able to, chip in now to the #MNFreedomFund to help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota." It’s a bit euphemistic to describe rioters as “protesting.” Democrats usually call rioters “insurrectionists” if they love Trump. If they’re racially obsessed leftists, then they deploy affirming terms, like a “rebellion” or a “reckoning.” In a check of the Nexis database for Harris and the MFF, here’s a few media outlets that have skipped this story for years: ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, The New York Times, and USA Today. NPR offered a few stories hailing the MFF, but none mentioning Harris. The Washington Post “Fact Checker” squad rushed to Kamala’s defense on it. If you’re able to, chip in now to the @MNFreedomFund to help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota. https://t.co/t8LXowKIbw — Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) June 1, 2020 There were some assorted exceptions. By August of 2020, the Associated Press reported in passing that Harris (alongside actors Steve Carell and Seth Rogen) supported the MFF, and KMSP, the Fox affiliate in Minneapolis, “reported the fund used donations to recently free people charged with murder, sex crimes and other violent offenses.”   CNN’s Jake Tapper briefly noted Harris’s MFF tweet on July 29 as an issue. But in 2021, CNN host Don Lemon ran a clip of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), but then lectured bizarrely: “So, let's set the record straight. There was no bailing out. Right? Kamala Harris tweeted about a fund to help people post bail, which is entirely legal. Stop it, Lindsey. You guys know better than that. Well, maybe you don't.” A new Twitter controversy erupted on July 25, when Minneapolis CBS affiliate WCCO complained, “Trump falsely accuses Harris of donating to Minnesota Freedom Fund, bailing out ‘dangerous criminals’.” WCCO was extremely technical. Trump said at a rally, “one of the dangerous criminals Kamala helped bail out of jail was Shawn Michael Tillman,” who murdered a man after his release. Like the usual Democrat fact-checkers, WCCO took “helped bail out of jail” to mean “donated,” when it’s quite clear Harris asked for people to “chip in now” to the bail fund. She “helped” the fund.   Twitter’s Community Notes quoted Kamala’s tweet from 2020: “The tweet contained a donation link. This tweet has not been deleted and is available.” Elon Musk tweeted: “CBS lies about Trump lying.” This social-media battle did nothing to nudge the pro-Kamala media to action. WCCO reporter Esme Murphy interviewed Harris in 2022, and her question didn’t even mention the “chip in” tweet. Instead she merely asked Harris, “Do you have any thoughts about this?” You can hear the extremely evasive Harris answer in the full interview on YouTube, but it didn’t make Murphy’s story on TV. For his part, Gov. Walz appointed Minnesota Freedom Fund Executive Director (and “Soros Justice Fellow”) Tonja Honsey to the state's Sentencing Guidelines Commission. He even kept her on his team after she admitted she faked an "indigenous" ancestry like Elizabeth Warren. Issues like Harris fundraising for bailouts of violent rioters and criminals will only surface when pro-Harris media outlets disparage Trump for bringing it up. “Prosecutor” Harris and “moderate” Walz have a narrative they need to enforce.  August 7th, 2024 5:58 AM Tim Graham 285364 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jorge-bonilla/2024/08/07/cbs-correspondent-reports-inside-hezbollah-rally The last time we heard from CBS correspondent Imtiaz Tyab, we watched him seethe over the IDF airstrike that killed Fuad Shukr, the Hezbollah military commander that was involved in the 1983 bombing of Marine Barracks Beirut that killed 241 Marines and, more recently, the drone bombing of a soccer field that killed 12 Druze children. I regret to inform you that Tyab is mad again. Tyab had the opportunity to seethe further while attending a Hezbollah rally in Beirut. WATCH: CBS EVENING NEWS 8/6/24 6:41 PM IMTIAZ TYAB: In a fiery speech via video link, Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah told supporters that following last week's assassinations of a top Hezbollah military commander and Hamas' main political leader, Israel should be afraid of Iran's planned revenge attack. And from what he called the “Axis of Resistance”, which also includes Hamas and the Houthis. Well, as supporters of Hezbollah vowed to avenge the assassination, we can hear the sound of Israeli fighter jets in the skies above Beirut break the sound barrier.  What is the vetting process for a Western journalist to get into a Hezbollah rally? Is there a process? Is there security? We don’t know for sure. But we do know that Tyab was there and got a nice shot of an angry crowd waving yellow Hezbollah flags.  Then, as now, Tyab complained about IDF warplanes flying overhead. Then, as now, Tyab centers his report on the specter of broader war in the Middle East. Then, as now, Tyab echoed Hezbollah talking points.  The story may change from day to day, but the end result is the same.  Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned report as aired on the CBS Evening News on Tuesday, August 6th, 2024: MAJOR GARRETT: Tonight, the Middle East is bracing for a retaliatory strike on Israel by Iran and its proxies over the recent assassinations of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders. CBS's Imtiaz Tyab is in Beirut. IMTIAZ TYAB: In a fiery speech via video link, Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah told supporters that following last week's assassinations of a top Hezbollah military commander and Hamas' main political leader, Israel should be afraid of Iran's planned revenge attack. And from what he called the “Axis of Resistance”, which also includes Hamas and the Houthis. Well, as supporters of Hezbollah vowed to avenge the assassination, we can hear the sound of Israeli fighter jets in the skies above Beirut break the sound barrier. Hours earlier, Hezbollah drones were seen above Nahariya, and were targeted by Israeli air defense missiles. But one missile missed its target and crashed to the ground, injuring several people at a bus stop. A later Israeli air strike in southern Lebanon killed four. This volatile tit for tat is widely seen as a prelude to a much feared wider war, and comes as the Pentagon announced it moved another aircraft carrier to the region to join the U.S. warships already there. And tonight, CBS News has learned a squadron of F-18 fighter jets have been sent from the USS Theodore Roosevelt to an airbase at an unnamed Middle East partner nation with F-22s also on the way as the region continues to brace for Iran and its proxies’ response to Israel's brazen assassinations. Major? GARRETT: Imtiaz Tyab, thank you   August 7th, 2024 2:16 AM Jorge Bonilla 285363 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jorge-bonilla/2024/08/07/abc-cbs-nbc-give-warm-regime-media-welcome-tim-walz The network evening newscasts wasted no time welcoming Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to the bright lights of national politics as he was announced as Vice President Kamala Harris’s chosen running mate. And it was a warm welcome, indeed. ABC, as the most Harris-sycophantic network, ran a flattering profile of Walz within the broader report on the pick and the rally, unlike NBC and CBS which did standalone reports focused solely on Walz.  Here’s how ABC condensed Walz’ resumé for viewer consumption: RACHEL SCOTT: Walz grew up in rural Nebraska, served 24 years in the Army National Guard. He moved to Minnesota, his wife Gwen's home state, taught high school social studies, coached the football team. In 2007, Walz unseated a Republican, serving six terms in Congress. The two-term governor codifying abortion rights in the state after the fall of Roe versus Wade, enacting gun safety legislation, and guaranteeing free lunches in public schools. Walz laughing off criticism that his record is too liberal. WALZ: What a monster. Kids are eating and having full bellies so they can go learn, and women are making their own health care decisions. The report ran nearly five minutes, but not one second was dedicated to Walz’ dismal handling of the George Floyd riots of 2020, and his unacceptable delay in calling in the National Guard as Minneapolis and other cities nearly burned to the ground. CBS and NBC devoted time to this part of Walz’ history.  Other things not covered: some of Walz’ truly controversial initiatives as governor, such as his signing of legislation making Minnesota a “trans refuge” state. Per The New York Post: Walz, 60, a former high school teacher, signed the so-called “Trans Refuge” bill into law in April 2023, prohibiting the enforcement of out-of-state subpoenas, arrest warrants and extradition requests for people who travel to the North Star State from other states for gender-affirming care. A month earlier, the Democrat signed an executive order protecting gender-affirming care in Minnesota, including puberty blockers, surgeries and hormone therapy.  The action also called upon state agencies not to approve health insurance plans that didn’t cover gender-affirming operations.  “As states across the country move to ban access to gender-affirming care, we want LGBTQ Minnesotans to know they will continue to be safe, protected, and welcome in Minnesota,” Walz said in a statement at the time.  On “codifying abortion rights”, the fundamental “freedom” most ardently championed by the Harris-Walz campaign and their media allies, we get awful clarity about what that means, precisely. As reported by Mary Margaret Olohan: As Democrats and media outlets accuse former President Donald Trump of dramatizing the Democratic abortion agenda, data from the Minnesota Department of Health shows that at least eight babies who survived abortions in the state were left to die. Under a 2015 Minnesota law, the state formerly was required to report whether abortions resulted in the live birth of a baby, what actions were taken to preserve the life of that baby, and whether the baby survived. Those reporting requirements exposed that between Jan. 1, 2021, and Dec. 31, 2021, physicians performed five abortions that resulted in a baby’s live birth. None of those babies survived. None received lifesaving care. Two of them received “comfort care”, the type of care first described by then-Virginia Governor Ralph Northam and which we are told NEVER happens. To add insult to injury, Walz changed the rules after these deaths. None of the networks covered these inconvenient parts of Walz’ record. In fact, they did their level best to hide these items from public consumption. Rest assured, they will become part of the public record, and they will do so a lot sooner than the Regime Media would like. Click “expand” to view the full transcripts of the aforementioned reports as aired on their respective evening network newscasts on Tuesday, August 6th, 2024: NBC NIGHTLY NEWS NBC NIGHTLY NEWS 8/6/24 6:35 PM LESTER HOLT: In a new poll, almost three quarters of Americans say they've never heard of Tim Walz or don't have an opinion on him. But that's about to change as he steps into the spotlight. Here’s Gabe Gutierrez with a closer look.  GABE GUTIERREZ: A white-haired working-class politician from the rural Midwest, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is seen as a plainspoken attack dog, who is not shy about taking on the Republican ticket. TIM WALZ: These guys are just weird. And, you know, they're running for He-Man Women Haters’ Club or something. GUTIERREZ: At 60 years old, he’s just six months older than Kamala Harris, but they're from very different backgrounds. Walz grew up in small-town Nebraska, spending summers working on the family farm. At 17 he joined the National Guard, eventually becoming a school teacher and football coach and meeting his wife Gwen. After moving to Minnesota, the father of two was elected to Congress in 2006 and ran for governor in 2018, winning in a landslide. His progressive record now touted by Democrats includes creating paid medical family leave, legalizing recreational marijuana, and increasing tax credits for low-income families. But Republicans have slammed other bills he signed, making undocumented immigrants ineligible for driver’s licenses, state funded health care, and free college tuition at state universities. Also, in 2020, as George Floyd's killing triggered riots and looting in Minneapolis, Walz drew criticism over why it took him three days to call in the National Guard. WALZ: It is what it is. And I simply believe that we try to do the best we can. GUTIERREZ: But Walz also brings strong union support as Democrats look to appeal to the critical Rust Belt. WALZ: I had an opponent who thought this was a real zinger when we were going at it. He said “Governor Walz is in the pocket of organized labor”. And I said “that is a damn lie. I am the pocket”. GUTIERREZ: A hunter and gun owner, Congressman Walz was once endorsed by the NRA. but that changed dramatically when he became governor, since he’s backed new gun restrictions. Lester.  HOLT: All right, Gabe. Thank you. CBS EVENING NEWS CBS EVENING NEWS 8/6/24 6:34 PM MAJOR GARRETT: Tim Walz's path to the presidential ticket went from the Army National Guard, to the schoolhouse, to Capitol Hill, to the Governor's Mansion. CBS's Ed O'Keefe has more on who Walz is and where he stands. ED O’KEEFE: A quip by Tim Walz two weeks ago about former President Donald Trump and running mate JD Vance grabbed Democrats' attention. TIM WALZ: These are weird people on the other side. They want to take books away. They want to be in your exam room. O’KEEFE: And it caught on.  KAMALA HARRIS: And by the way, don't you find some of their stuff to just be plain weird? O’KEEFE: Born in Nebraska, the 60-year-old governor in his second term has marveled at the interest in him. WALZ: I don't know if every high school geography teacher expects to be in this position at some point. O’KEEFE: He also coached a state champion high school football team. An Army National Guard veteran, Walz first ran for Congress in 2006, concerned about the Iraq War. WALZ: Our troops deserve a plan to win the peace. O’KEEFE: He represented a southern Minnesota district that strongly backed Trump in 2016, and developed a bipartisan reputation that got him elected governor in 2018. Critics blamed him for a flat-footed response in 2020 to violence sparked by George Floyd's murder in Minneapolis. WALZ: This has obviously been the most difficult week in Minnesota in recent history. O’KEEFE: A series of police reforms, including a ban on chokeholds, followed. More recently, he signed bills expanding school meals programs, banning conversion therapy for minors, and protecting abortion services- even visiting a women's health clinic in Minnesota with Harris. He and his wife Gwen have two children, including a daughter conceived through IVF. WALZ: Governor Walz here, out at the State Fair with my daughter. HOPE WALZ: Hope. O’KEEFE: Who has co-starred with him in some of his most popular videos. WALZ: We’re going to get some food. Corn Dog? HOPE: I'm a vegetarian. WALZ: Turkey, then. O’KEEFE: We’re told when Harris called this morning, Walz didn’t initially answer because came up as no caller I.D. She called again, he answered and accepted and the duo has now raised at least $20 million since the announcement this morning. Another sign, Major, of fresh enthusiasm for the Democratic ticket. GARRETT: Not a spam call after all. Ed O’Keefe, thank you. ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT 8/6/24 6:32 PM LINSEY DAVIS: Tonight, the speculation is over. The Democratic ticket now complete. With her campaign barely two weeks old, today, Vice President Kamala Harris made her most consequential decision so far, naming Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. Just moments ago, they made their debut during a rally in Philadelphia. Vice President Harris and Governor Walz side-by-side for the first time in front of about 12,000 cheering supporters. Walz, a progressive governor, considered a dark horse, chosen after a quick vetting process, managing to edge out popular Pennsylvania Senator(sic) Josh Shapiro. Walz is a retired Army National Guard member. Also, a former high school teacher and football and basketball coach. The Trump campaign immediately going on the attack, calling him a liberal extremist. But top Democrats were quick to embrace the new add to the ticket. President Biden calling Governor Walz a powerful voice for the middle class. Walz is already credited with changing the tone of the race with just one word. ABC's Rachel Scott leads us off from Philadelphia. RACHEL SCOTT: Tonight, Vice President Kamala Harris introducing her new running mate. KAMALA HARRIS: Governor Tim Walz of the great state of Minnesota. SCOTT: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz joined Harris on stage in Philadelphia before a crowd of thousands, calling it the honor of a lifetime, saying he's all in. SCOTT: Supporters lining up hours before their first joint appearance. It's been just 16 days since Harris became a candidate. HARRIS: We are the underdogs in this race. But we have the momentum and I know exactly what we are up against. SCOTT: Harris making the call this morning. HARRIS: I want you to do this with me. Let's do this together. Would you be my running mate? And let's get this thing on the road. WALZ: I would be honored, Madam Vice President. SCOTT: Crowds cheering as Walz left his St. Paul home this morning, flying to Philadelphia to join Harris on a blitz through the battleground states. The decision came down to the wire. Her campaign printing multiple signs with the names of different contenders. Among the finalists, popular Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, and Arizona Senator and former astronaut Mark Kelly. But in the end, Walz and Harris really hit it off. Walz grew up in rural Nebraska, served 24 years in the Army National Guard. He moved to Minnesota, his wife Gwen's home state, taught high school social studies, coached the football team. In 2007, Walz unseated a Republican, serving six terms in Congress. The two-term governor codifying abortion rights in the state after the fall of Roe versus Wade, enacting gun safety legislation, and guaranteeing free lunches in public schools. Walz laughing off criticism that his record is too liberal. WALZ: What a monster. Kids are eating and having full bellies so they can go learn, and women are making their own health care decisions. SCOTT: Walz and his wife have two children, Gus and Hope. Hope a fixture on Walz's social media. WALZ: Hi, Minnesota, Governor Walz here along with… HOPE WALZ: Hope. SCOTT: Walz's star rising in Democratic circles in recent days, after he coined a new line of attack against Republicans. WALZ: These are weird people on the other side. These guys are just weird. That's what they are. SCOTT: Calling them “weird”. WALZ: They want to take books away. They want to be in your exam room, that's what it comes down to. And don't sugar coat this. These are weird ideas. SCOTT: Tonight, the Trump campaign calling Walz a liberal extremist. JD VANCE: And again, the biggest problem with the Tim Walz pick -- it's not Tim Walz himself. It's what it says about Kamala Harris, that when given an opportunity, she will bend the knee to the most radical elements of her party. SCOTT: Senator JD Vance on a tour of his own through the battleground states, saying he reached out to his new rival. VANCE: I actually called Tim Walz. I left a voicemail. I didn't get him, but I just said "Look, congratulations. Look forward to a robust conversation, and enjoy the ride." DAVIS: Let's get right to Rachel Scott, who’s at the Harris-Walz rally in Philadelphia. Rachel, it seems the Harris campaign is really banking on Walz helping to deliver voters in key battleground states in the Midwest and in Pennsylvania. SCOTT: Exactly, Linsey. In fact, this Democratic ticket, Vice President Kamala Harris, Governor Walz, they're continuing their swing through the battleground states, next heading to Wisconsin and Michigan. A source close to the vetting process tells me they believe that Walz will appeal to those Midwestern blue collar voters in those critical states that they need to win. Tonight, Vice President Kamala Harris says they're already seeing momentum in those states. As for former President Donald Trump, tonight, I'm told that his campaign is relieved that it is not Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro on the ticket. At the same time, the former president has been fuming on social media that president Joe Biden is out of this race, Linsey. DAVIS: Lots of excitement in that room. Rachel, thank you.   August 7th, 2024 1:06 AM Jorge Bonilla 285362 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/mark-finkelstein/2024/08/06/scarboroughs-strange-christian-celebration-dems-unto-them-born Wait! We thought it was those scary right-wing Christian nationalists who were dragging their religion into politics! So what the heck was Joe Scarborough up to on today's Morning Joe, when he echoed some Bible verses about the coming of Jesus, but invoked it to celebrate Democrats having a couple of good weeks in the presidential race? "Gene Robinson, before we get to the news of the day, behold, you bring tidings of good news to Democrats east, west, north, and south, for unto them is born the reason for exuberance."   I'm anything but an expert on the Christian liturgy, but Scarborough's mention of "tidings east, west, north, and south," could be a reference to Daniel 11:44, which speaks of "tidings out of the east and out of the north."  And then there's the Christmas carol, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, wherein the line appears: "Oh tidings of comfort and joy."  Even more shocking was Scarborough's mention of "for unto them is born." That clearly seems a reference to Isaiah 9:6: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." And then Luke 2:11-14: "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." So in Scarborough's mind, good fortune for the Democrats is equivalent to the birth of the Savior and Christ the Lord? Has Joe lost his mind? Or throwing the Bible behind the Democrats is just a little whimsey? Scarborough also struck a strangely bellicose tone, out of keeping with his Christian theme.  Criticizing whiny Democrats who supposedly don't think they deserve "good things," Scarborough angrily shouted at them: "BS! You take. What. You. Need! You fight! If you need it, you take it." Scarborough was riffing off Gene Robinson's current Washington Post column, "For Democrats, there’s cause for rational exuberance."  Note: Judging by his facial expression, Robinson appeared initially bewildered by Scarborough's strange invocation of Christian themes. And in contrast with Scarborough's bizarre religious allusions, Robinson invoked an entirely secular metaphor, saying that while Democrats should express joy, they also need to focus on the "three yards and a cloud of dust" of campaigning. That line is associated with Woody Hayes, the legendary Ohio State coach [1951-78], who won by largely sticking to a conservative ground game. Here's the transcript. MSNBC Morning Joe 8/6/24 6:06 am EDT JOE SCARBOROUGH: Gene Robinson, before we get to the news of the day, behold, you bring tidings of good news to Democrats east, west, north, and south, for unto them is born the reason [shouts] for exuberance! You know, Democrats, it's one thing I never understood about Democrats. EUGENE ROBINSON: Yeah. SCARBOROUGH: [Whiny voice] We don't we don't deserve good things. I'm like, BS! You take. What. You. Need! You fight! If you need it, you take it by getting the most votes. By knocking on the most doors. ROBINSONL Exactly. SCARBOROUGH: And every time you knock on a door, every time you plant a yard sign, you do it with exuberance. You do it with joy. And you do it knowing you have no choice but to win. ROBINSON: Right, yeah. SCARBOROUGH: And Gene, you're telling Democrats, it's okay. You can be happy while you're going out about your business of working hard and winning elections. ROBINSON: Right. You don't have to be overconfident, but be happy. You just had, like, two of the best weeks ever in politics, right? You've had this amazing couple of weeks. You've got more money than you can spend at this point. You just have to figure out how to spend it. You've got an opponent, a Republican ticket, that's self-destructing in any number of ways. They just helped you put Georgia back in play for the election. So, yeah! You should be a little pumped at this point, and you can be happy about what has happened without saying, you know -- without being overconfident, without being silly about it, and, and sort of not tending to business. So tend to your business, and get it done. It's, it's, you know, three yards and a cloud of dust, there's that part of it. But do it with some joy. And do it, you know -- SCARBOROUGH: Exactly. ROBINSON: It's a happy time for the Democratic party right now. August 6th, 2024 10:52 PM Mark Finkelstein 285347 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/clay-waters/2024/08/06/pbss-barron-lopez-turns-prof-defend-dignity-authenticity-kamala The Saturday edition of PBS News Weekend was hosted by the paper’s most liberal reporter (and also a CNN contributor) Laura Barron-Lopez, and she took full advantage, harkening back to Donald Trump’s wild appearance before the National Association of Black Journalists to accuse the former president of appealing to racists and anti-semites. Providing PBS-selected back up was a hard-left academic who hailed the underwhelming Kamala Harris as, if not the Second Coming, then part of the “Third Reconstruction Period in the United States,” along with Barack Obama. (What does that mean? Your guess is as good as mine). Anchor Laura Barrón-López: Earlier this week, speaking to a gathering of black journalists, former President Donald Trump questioned Vice President Kamala Harris's racial identity. Barrón-López: It's not the first time Mr. Trump and other Republicans have accused a politician of color of not knowing their own race or ethnicity. Trump's comments on Wednesday echoed his lies about Harris in 2020 and Barack Obama during his presidency, that they were not natural-born American citizens.   Democrats, including some in the media, have spent decades accusing black conservatives of betraying their race (see Clarence Thomas smeared as an “Uncle Tom”). But don’t expect an airing of those grievances on the PBS News Hour. Barron-Lopez spoke with Peniel Joseph of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at the University of Texas, who smeared some white voters as anti-semitic, which takes nerve, given the onslaught of left-wing anti-semitism in the United States since the October 7 massacre, which even weighed on Kamala Harris’s choice of running mate and may have prevented her from choosing popular Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, as her running mate. Peniel Joseph: I think this is a long standing tradition of questioning the citizenship, the dignity, the authenticity, of black political figures. When we think about Kamala Harris, in this context, what Trump is doing is really talking to his own base. He's talking to white voters who are aggrieved by this idea, which is false, that they are being replaced by people of color, sometimes they feel they're being replaced by Jews. So there is this racist, anti-semitic strain that he is tapping into by saying she doesn't know whether she wants to be South Asian, she doesn’t know whether she wants to be black. Barron-Lopez went all in on racial essentialism. Barrón-López: I wanted to ask you about a Pew survey that dates back to 2022, where it found that race is very much a part of the identity for black Americans and how they connect to others. It found that 76 percent of black Americans say being black is extremely or very important to how they think about themselves. So what happens to black Americans when someone who is in a leading position like Donald Trump just openly questions who is or isn't black? (Hypothetical: Would Barron-Lopez be pleased to find that, say, 76 percent of white Americans think being white is very important to them?) Joseph used the same tired talking leftist points about “diversity is strength” and how a President Harris would fulfill the “idea of an aspirational America where we embrace multiracial democracy.” Joseph: ….with the election of Barack Obama in 2008, that really opened up this third Reconstruction period in the United States, where we've been pushing for an embrace of multiracial democracy, yet those redemption is forces are still there, as we've seen, with the Vice President's run to be the first black woman and South Asian woman president. It brings us closer to that idea of an aspirational America where we embrace multiracial democracy, and we find strength in the difference in the diversity within our country. That’s a lot of weight on the shoulders of a lightweight politician. This segment was brought to you in part by Consumer Cellular. A transcript is available, click “Expand.” PBS News Weekend 8/3/24 7:11:12 p.m. (ET) Laura Barrón-López: Earlier this week, speaking to a gathering of Black Journalists, former President Donald Trump questioned vice president Kamala Harris's racial identity. Donald Trump, Former U.S. President: And now she wants to be known as black. So I don't know is she Indian or is she black?   Reporter: She is always identified as a black woman and she went to a historically black college. Trump: But you know what? I respect either one. I respect either one, but she obviously doesn't, because she was Indian all the way and then all of a sudden she made a turn and she went — she became a black person. Laura Barrón-López: It's not the first time Mr. Trump and other Republicans have accused a politician of color of not knowing their own race or ethnicity. Trump's comments on Wednesday echoed his lies about Harris in 2020 and Barack Obama during his presidency, that they were not natural born American citizens.   Peniel Joseph is the founding director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at the University of Texas at Austin. He's also author of "The Third Reconstruction: America's Struggle for Racial Justice in the 21st Century." I want to first note that back in 2020, Donald Trump's campaign spokesperson said that Kamala Harris is a black woman, and pointed to donations that Trump had made to her earlier campaigns is evidence that he is not racist. But again, these are not the first instances of Trump questioning Harris's identity and her race. What is behind this? Peniel Joseph, The University of Texas at Austin: I think this is a long standing tradition of questioning the citizenship, the dignity, the authenticity, of black political figures. When we think about Kamala Harris, in this context, what Trump is doing is really talking to his own base. He's talking to white voters who are aggrieved by this idea, which is false, that they are being replaced by people of color, sometimes they feel they're being replaced by Jews. So there is this racist, antisemitic strain that he is tapping into by saying she doesn't know whether she wants to be South Asian, she doesn't know whether she wants to be black. He's signaling to his followers, that this is the coming wave that I'm here to protect you again. Laura Barrón-López: As you noted, Donald Trump isn't the only white politician to question the identity of people of color, or try to define who is or isn't really black. But how far does this go back? Where did it start? What's the history of it? Peniel Joseph: Well, the history of questioning people's racial identity goes back to Antebellum America where, in certain context, African Americans who are mixed race tried to get their rights legally acknowledged by courts. And in this country, we really have a one drop rule where whether your mother or father was white, you were legally defined as black as a species of property, who could not be willed any estates who couldn't be an air of a white person who couldn't run for public office who couldn't sit in juries. Now, when we fast forward to the 20th and the 21st century, as we know, there's a whole bunch of African Americans of mixed race heritage, but they're still identified as black in this country. Kamala Harris went to Howard University, Historically Black College. She's at aka Alpha Kappa Alpha, which is part of the Divine Nine, historically, African American sorority and fraternities. She's lived her life as a black woman. In this context, the move to undermine the authentic experience of black people plays out in different contexts, both culturally, politically, economically. In this context, it's the denial that a black woman could be President of the United States, because in certain ways that racial and gender barrier are one of the last symbolic barriers that we have to break. Laura Barrón-López: I wanted to ask you about a Pew survey that dates back to 2022, where it found that race is very much a part of the identity for black Americans and how they connect to others. It found that 76 percent of black Americans say being black is extremely or very important to how they think about themselves. So what happens to black Americans when someone who is in a leading position like Donald Trump just openly questions who is or isn't black? Peniel Joseph: Well, I think it makes black Americans think about the solidarity and the unity of their shared history, right. And so in certain ways, Trump and these allegations against Kamala Harris, just like the allegations against Barack Obama, that he wasn't an American citizen, are a distraction. And the late great Nobel Prize winning writer Toni Morrison always reminds us that racism is a distraction, it distracts us from the work that we need to do. So I think right now, all the reaction that we're seeing is that the black community is really solidly behind the Vice President, but also other groups are as well. So, I think it's having the opposite effect. But again, I don't think it's intended to be directed to black people. Laura Barrón-López: When I covered the 2019 Democratic primary, even Democratic primary voters said to me that they weren't sure if the country was ready for a woman president or was ready for a woman of color to be president. Do you think that it's different now? Peniel Joseph: Well, yes, I mean, I think the country is always battling between two stories, it's telling itself. One story is a reconstructionist story that celebrates multiracial multigender democracy. The other is a redemption story that really is about fear, anxiety, a racial caste system that subordinates black people, women, people of color, Jews, people who are otherwise in our society. And I think with the election of Barack Obama in 2008, that really opened up this third Reconstruction period in the United States, where we've been pushing for an embrace of multiracial democracy, yet those redemption is forces are still there, as we've seen, with the Vice President's run to be the first black woman and South Asian woman president. It brings us closer to that idea of an aspirational America where we embrace multiracial democracy, and we find strength in the difference in the diversity within our country. Laura Barrón-López: Professor Peniel Joseph of the University of Texas at Austin. Thank you for your time. Peniel Joseph: Thank you. August 6th, 2024 10:19 PM Clay Waters 285349 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/mary-clare-waldron/2024/08/06/powerful-voices-cbs-praises-pelosis-legacy-softball It seems that with the unfolding of another election year, book tours are often a major campaigning tool. Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (CA) was invited on CBS Mornings as a key guest for the morning show. Yet just as Dr. Jill Biden, and Chelsea Clinton have done in the past, what started out as an interview quickly became CBS and Pelosi’s chance to campaign. It’s worth noting the attitude with which CBS approached the interview and the very clear bias from the beginning. Nancy Pelosi was not an apolitical figure but the face of the Democratic Party as she was speaker of the House for eight years and was in Congress for nearly 40. The excitement shown by co-host Gayle King betrayed any idea of the interaction being anything other than glorification: We’ve got some powerful voices coming up in our 8:00 hour, including former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. She just arrived. Her new book takes readers inside her remarkable life in politics. We’ll also get her thoughts on this crucial moment in the presidential race. My guess is, she’s got some thoughts.     As the interview commenced, not only was Pelosi given many softball questions, but was able to preach uninterruptedly against Conservatism, berating former President Trump, and praising Vice President Kamala Harris (click expand): KING: But why do you think that he finally decided to make the decision to step down? It seemed to take a minute. PELOSI: Well, you really have to ask him, but I think it was very important that he did so. His legacy is one of the greatest. It’s hard to think of any president in a two-year period, one-term have the most accomplishments that. He is consequential. Much of that is threatened by a Republican victory because they want to undermine. For example, what’s his name said he asked a billion dollars in the fossil fuel industry — KING: Yes. PELOSI: — and he would go undermine what we’ve done to protect climate, pharma; what we did to lower the price of prescription drugs, and that’s more to come. What we’ve done in so many ways. Joe Biden, 16 — almost 16 million jobs created. The other guy, the worst job creation record since Herbert Hoover, a job loser. When finally asked a more challenging question, regarding the inclination of Americans to choose Trump when it came to financial leadership, Pelosi went again on an uninterrupted monologue for over two minutes (2:10) (click expand): JERICKA DUNCAN: When you talk about issues at our kitchen table, you have chapters dedicated to health care and the economy, which are big when you look at the surveys and voters and what their issues are. Most recently, CBS News reported in a poll that voters find that they would be more financially better off if Trump was in office. How do you change that perception as a Democratic Party? How do you change that perception? PELOSI: Well, thank you for the question, because Joe Biden has done so much, and now Biden-Harris administration has done so much, and now we have to protect that as we go forward. The — again, job creation, lower unemployment and the rest, we have to message it more directly to them as to where it came from. Some people just — no, they think that certain things came from Trump that didn’t. We have to make that clear, and that’s the burden is on us to do that. We haven’t been as successful. If they think of a guy who lost all the jobs that he did, the mess that he caused with COVID — denial, delay, loss of life, loss of jobs and the rest and so again, it behooves us to make that case in a stronger way than it has been, and that’s part of the legacy. That’s part of our legacy in the House and the Senate as well, because our members had to take some tough votes to do what we did for the rescue package, for the unemployed — the infrastructure bill, for the CHIPS and Science Bill. We had very few, well, practically no Republican votes, 13 for infrastructure, 24 for CHIPS and Science, but the one that gets me, and I want anybody — any woman, who are watching this and their families, you want — I understand about people having a different view about the abortion and Roe v. Wade and the rest of that. I come from an Italian Catholic family, has a little more conservative view on that subject than I do, but that’s their view, and this is mine, but the question we put on the floor, Kathy Manning of North Carolina had a bill, women have a right to contraception; 203 Republicans voted on the bill. Eight voted yes women have a right to contraception, 195 voted no, women do not have a right to contraception, so think about that. Think about that when you’re thinking about what does this mean to me? It was no surprise that CBS went out of its way to praise the former Speaker of the House, this attitude toward Pelosi was natural for most networks. The hypocrisy which surrounds the media however, was never more prevalent than in these situations. There was nothing the Liberal Media loved more than a politician bashing the Republican Party. The problem was that this wasn't journalism.   The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read: CBS Mornings 08/06/24 7:18:16 AM EST [ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi] VLADIMIR DUTHIERS: Still ahead this morning, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be here to talk about her new book, the growing threat of political violence, and how she sees the presidential race shaping up. (....)   7:43:45 AM EST  [ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi] GAYLE KING: We’ve got some powerful voices coming up in our 8:00 hour, including former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. She just arrived. Her new book takes readers inside her remarkable life in politics. We’ll also get her thoughts on this crucial moment in the presidential race. My guess is, she’s got some thoughts. (....)   7:55:38 AM EST [ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi] DUTHIERS: Still ahead, a visit from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, she’ll talk about her new book, the presidential race, and the violent attack against her husband. That’s coming up next. (....)   8:00:07 AM EST KING: Coming up in this 8:00 hour, a legend in politics. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is who we’re talking about. Her new book reveals what she’s learned over decades in Washington. We’ll also get her thoughts on the presidential race. (....)   8:05:22 AM EST [ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi] JERICKA DUNCAN: Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is with us this morning. Coming up, we’ll talk about her new memoir, The Art of Power and get her take on the presidential race. (....)   8:11:52 AM EST [ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Rep. Nancy Pelosi Live: Former House Speaker On New Book, Presidential Race and Legacy] KING: One of the Democratic Party’s most powerful leaders is with us at the table today. House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi has spent nearly 40 years in Congress. You heard me right, 40 years in Congress. She is the only woman ever elected Speaker of the House. She held that position for four terms during the Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations. She stepped down from House leadership last year, but continues to represent San Francisco’s 11th congressional district. Her new book, it’s called The Art of Power: My Story as America’s First Woman Speaker of the House. Look at this cover. I love the cover. It tells the stories behind the biggest political battles of her speakerships. Congresswoman, we’re so glad to have you here. Madam Speaker, always good to have you at the table. CONGRESSWOMAN NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): My pleasure to be here. Thank you. KING: You know, in your book, you say running for office is not for faint of heart. Page 7, sometimes you have to take a punch, sometimes you have to throw a punch. I want you to think about the best punch you’ve ever thrown. I’ll give you a second to think about that, but I want to start with news today, because everybody knows we’re expecting a decision momentarily from Kamala Harris about who will be her running mate. I know it’s her decision and hers alone. I know that even if you knew, you wouldn’t tell us. So my question is this, if you were her, who would you pick today? She’s got all good candidates. Who would you pick? PELOSI: Well, I think that she has a wonderful array of choices. KING: She does. PELOSI: And any one of them would be a cause for celebration. So again, she has attracted people of the highest caliber to want to serve with her, but it’s her decision alone and I have — as Speaker, as leader and that never been informed by the candidate of the — except right before, like a few minutes before, but no collaboration. It’s always their own decision to make, so it would be interesting to see, obviously. We’re all waiting to hear. KING: Yes, we’re all — PELOSI: But everyone and I could make a case for any one of the six people that we know about, that she was considering. KING: — well, we’re at this place because President Biden decided to step down. What do you think it finally took? Many people say you were very involved in that. I know that you said you didn’t make any calls, you didn’t pressure anybody, but it’s been reported that you said we can do this the easy way or the hard way. I don’t know if that’s true, if you said that or not. Did you say that? PELOSI: I say it all the time, but I didn’t say in relationship to this. KING: But why do you think that he finally decided to make the decision to step down? It seemed to take a minute. PELOSI: Well, you really have to ask him, but I think it was very important that he did so. His legacy is one of the greatest. It’s hard to think of any president in a two-year period, one-term have the most accomplishments that. He is consequential. Much of that is threatened by a Republican victory because they want to undermine. For example, what’s his name said he asked a billion dollars in the fossil fuel industry — KING: Yes. PELOSI: — and he would go undermine what we’ve done to protect climate, pharma; what we did to lower the price of prescription drugs, and that’s more to come. What we’ve done in so many ways. Joe Biden, 16 — almost 16 million jobs created. The other guy, the worst job creation record since Herbert Hoover, a job loser. KING: But the other guy — but now we’re here with the other guy, and Harris is clearly the choice. Why do you think she gives Democrats the best chance of winning? PELOSI: Well, I think — KING: In a sentence, yes. PELOSI: — its fresh and new, and we’re very excited about what she will bring to the table. I know people are excited about a woman, a woman of color and that, but it’s about what a difference she will make in people’s lives, at their kitchen table, jobs, education, protecting the environment, against gun violence, as well as other threats to the water and air that people — children drink and breathe, and the list goes on. KING: And uniquely qualified. PELOSI: And a woman’s right to choose, that’s a democratic freedom principle. It’s also an economic principle for people at their kitchen table, the size, timing and if they would have a family, the list goes on. DUNCAN: When you talk about issues at our kitchen table, you have chapters dedicated to health care and the economy, which are big when you look at the surveys and voters and what their issues are. Most recently, CBS News reported in a poll that voters find that they would be more financially better off if Trump was in office. How do you change that perception as a Democratic Party? How do you change that perception? PELOSI: Well, thank you for the question, because Joe Biden has done so much, and now Biden-Harris administration has done so much, and now we have to protect that as we go forward. The — again, job creation, lower unemployment and the rest, we have to message it more directly to them as to where it came from. Some people just — no, they think that certain things came from Trump that didn’t. We have to make that clear, and that’s the burden is on us to do that. We haven’t been as successful. If they think of a guy who lost all the jobs that he did, the mess that he caused with COVID — denial, delay, loss of life, loss of jobs and the rest and so again, it behooves us to make that case in a stronger way than it has been, and that’s part of the legacy. That’s part of our legacy in the House and the Senate as well, because our members had to take some tough votes to do what we did for the rescue package, for the unemployed — the infrastructure bill, for the CHIPS and Science Bill. We had very few, well, practically no Republican votes, 13 for infrastructure, 24 for CHIPS and Science, but the one that gets me, and I want anybody — any woman, who are watching this and their families, you want — I understand about people having a different view about the abortion and Roe v. Wade and the rest of that. I come from an Italian Catholic family, has a little more conservative view on that subject than I do, but that’s their view, and this is mine, but the question we put on the floor, Kathy Manning of North Carolina had a bill, women have a right to contraception; 203 Republicans voted on the bill. Eight voted yes women have a right to contraception, 195 voted no, women do not have a right to contraception, so think about that. Think about that when you’re thinking about what does this mean to me? DUTHIERS: Congresswoman, let me ask you about the book. You start the book by recounting the violent, politically motivated attack on your husband, Paul. How concerned are you about the possibility of political violence as we approach this election? And it’s not just your husband. It’s Gabby Giffords. It’s Congressman Scalise. It’s the attempted assassination on the former president. Why are we here? And what can we do to avoid it getting worse? PELOSI: Well, we have to avoid it getting worse, because this is a democracy. We want people to participate and especially more women, minorities — more diversity into our leadership and our participation in government, but I will say in my case that it was a culmination of years of Republicans demonizing me, cloven feed horns, a devil, a demon. KING: Crazy Nancy was your nickname. PELOSI: All of that, and it contributed to it and they have to stop that. It’s an indication of the bankruptcy of their ideas, because they don’t have anything to talk about — KING: How is your husband, Paul, today? PELOSI: — so they have to have the politics of what they call personal destruction. KING: Can you just say how Paul is doing today? PELOSI: You’re nice to ask, thank you. He’s coming along. He’s coming along, but getting hit on the head is — it has its after effects. But thank you for asking. People have been so generous with their prayers and their love and their thoughts from all over the world. Unfortunately, on the Republican side, they made a joke of it, made a joke of it and that is not — that’s not — that’s not civilized. KING: That’s not okay. DUTHIERS: Thank you, Congresswoman. Thank you very much. The Art of Power is on sale right now. August 6th, 2024 8:33 PM Mary Clare Waldron 285361 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/michael-wnek/2024/08/06/twinkle-eye-tim-morning-joe-fawns-over-happy-warrior-walz Vice President Kamala Harris announced her running mate pick, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D), on Tuesday morning. MSNBC’s Morning Joe wasted no time in showering praise on the Governor for his apparently numerous positive qualities, insisting he would help secure the win for the Harris campaign with a “twinkle in his eye.” Co-host Mika Brzezinski announced the breaking news from the Associated Press, immediately celebrating the Governor and how “he brings to the table a background that is very down to earth and connected with people and their daily lives, as a former teacher.” However, co-host Joe Scarborough wasn’t convinced about the “interesting pick” and expected that the choice “opens up a number of issues for the Democratic ticket to now defend.” The Financial Times’s Ed Luce was on board with the “good pick” and praised the fact that Walz “talks in a way that isn't perceived by Republicans, or non-Democrats in general, to be looking down on them. He talks in a very engaging, everyday manner, very practical, very common sense.”      Luce highlighted several of the Governor’s other “normal” attributes and suggested “it's very difficult to paint him as Kamala’s equivalent of J.D. Vance.” Why? Because “Vance was, as Governor Walz put it, a weird choice who talks in weird ways.” Simply put, in Luce’s opinion, “Walz is the unweird.” Well, that’s an interesting assertion considering Walz’s very weird policies and past statements. Like the time he claimed “One person’s socialism is another person’s neighborliness,” or when he pledged to invest in a company that built ladders taller than former President Donald Trump’s border wall to ensure that illegal immigrants could run rampant through the United States.  If that’s not weird enough, then a quick look at Walz’s radical policies on religion and sexuality certainly were. For example, in May 2023 he signed a bill that repealed protection in Minnesota for babies that were born alive after botched abortions. He signed another bill (that went into effect in January) requiring Minnesota schools to stock period products in boys' bathrooms. Yet, Brzezinski wholeheartedly agreed with Luce’s points, adding that Walz “also brings maturity to the ticket without being too old, which I guess people talk about a lot these days, especially on the Trump side, looking as old as he has lately.” In terms of the Harris campaign itself, she further argued that “this is a younger ticket with enough wisdom and maturity to bring to the table their ideas and their vision for the country.” But Walz is no young buck as Brzezinski would have her viewers believe. He boasts the ripe old age of 60 years old, in comparison to Senator J.D. Vance’s (R-OH) 40 years. Harris herself will be 60 years old before the election in November. Former Missouri Senator and MSNBC contributor Claire McCaskill (D) had an abundance of honeyed words for Walz, listing his various accomplishments and gushing over his “wink…smile…and sense of humor”: I think what really made the difference here is he's joyful when he's on the attack. He almost, you know, like, does it with a wink, and a smile, and a sense of humor when he is going after these guys. And that's what Kamala Harris needs. She needs somebody who will keep the lightness in her campaign, who will be a happy warrior. And that is Tim Walz. He is one happy warrior. I think he's a terrific pick. Brzezinski thought McCaskill was “absolutely right” and took a turn drooling over the fact that Walz “seems to almost have a twinkle in his eye when he’s going after people,” which she harped on more than once during the segment. Jonathan Lemire also weighed in on Walz’s “impressive resume” and lauded him as “the guy who coined weird.” “That phrase which Democrats have used so effectively against Trump and Vance and Republicans, you know, that has taken off in the last ten days or so, is from the mouth of Governor Walz on our air calling them weird,” he boasted. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read: MSNBC’s Morning Joe 8/6/2024 09:03:56 AM EST MIKA BRZEZINSKI: We’ve got a couple of news organizations confirming it, including the A.P., “Breaking News: Kamala Harris picks Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as running mate as she looks to boost the Democratic ticket in the Midwest.” JOE SCARBOROUGH: For our viewers…Yeah. BRZEZINSKI: I was gonna say, to Ed's point, he sounds like, you know, a football coach (laughs), talking about very progressive issues. He does have–he brings to the table a background that is very down to earth and connected with people and their daily lives, as a former teacher. SCARBOROUGH: You know, it's an interesting pick. You know, I think ironically enough, people have looked at him as the safe pick. I would disagree. This opens up a number of issues for the Democratic ticket to now defend. But this is–it looks like, according to the Associated Press–and we're still waiting at NBC news to confirm it–but the Associated Press and other news organizations, Ed, have, in fact, said it's Walz. What are your thoughts? ED LUCE: I think it's–I think it’s a good pick, to be honest. I mean, I think Shapiro would have been as well. But, you know, he talks in a way that doesn’t–isn't perceived by Republicans, or non-Democrats in general, to be looking down on them. He talks in a very–in a very engaging, everyday manner, very practical, very common sense.  You know, he's a hunter. You know, he shoots. He's got a pretty normal family. He's from a blue collar background. He served in the military. I think it's very difficult to paint him as Kamala’s equivalent of J.D. Vance. J.D. Vance was… BRZEZINSKI: Right. LUCE: …as Governor Walz put it, a weird choice who talks in weird ways. Walz is the unweird. So I think it’s gonna be pretty hard–and I would echo what Jonathan said earlier. You know, the first principle of selecting a running mate is to do no harm. I don't think he's gonna do any harm. I don't think this is gonna be a ten-day story, “why did Harris pick Walz.” I think it's gonna be a three-day story, and it’s gonna be a united Democratic Party, and he’ll be a popular choice. He’s–he communicates in a very effective, very un-fake way. BRZEZINSKI: Yeah. And to add to Ed's point, as we bring in Claire McCaskill to this conversation–nobody better than Claire–Tim Walz also brings maturity to the ticket without being too old, which I guess people talk about a lot these days, especially on the Trump side, looking as old as he has lately. At the same time, this is a younger ticket with enough wisdom and maturity to bring to the table their ideas and their vision for the country. Claire, your thoughts on Tim Walz? CLAIRE MCCASKILL: I think he's a great pick! I–listen, he grounds her in a way that really matters, especially for all of the country that is not on the coast. This is not a coastal elite guy. This is not an Ivy Leaguer. This is a guy who says things like, “You'd lose your hair, too, if you supervised a high school lunchroom for 20 years.” This is a guy who can give you advice on how to fix your car. This is a guy who has served 25 years in the National Guard and who has served his country admirably.  He has been in Congress. He knows the levers of power in government and how to wield them. He's been a governor in a state that while, yes, Minnesota is blue, but it's not bright blue. I remember a time when Republicans were getting elected statewide in Minnesota. And he does have this way of communicating.  I think what really made the difference here is he's joyful when he's on the attack. He almost, you know, like, does it with a wink, and a smile, and a sense of humor when he is going after these guys. And that's what Kamala Harris needs. She needs somebody who will keep the lightness in her campaign, who will be a happy warrior. And that is Tim Walz. He is one happy warrior. I think he's a terrific pick. BRZEZINSKI: Yeah. And also adding to that joyful in his approach, I think you're absolutely right, Claire. He seems to almost have a twinkle in his eye when he's going after people. And let’s just put to the table, here, that we're hearing this from multiple news sources. Apparently the phone call hasn't been made, the actual conversation hasn't been had yet, but this is the choice.  SCARBOROUGH: Yeah. BRZEZINSKI: But it was down to two… SCARBOROUGH. Right. Yeah.  BRZEZINSKI: …amazing choices. And ultimately, some of these decisions have to be made in terms of who you feel most comfortable with, who you think you can work with, who you think will be the best fit on your team.  SCARBOROUGH: Yes! Yeah. BRZEZINSKI: That's stuff that, you know, can only be made by the candidate. (...)   09:10:57 AM EST JONATHAN LEMIRE: We're already seeing from Republicans some attack lines about Governor Walz, most importantly invoking the 2020 riots there–the Black Lives Matter riots after… SCARBOROUGH: Right. LEMIRE: …the George Floyd death. We’re seeing that. We’re seeing the people have already–Governor Desantis of Florida has already teamed Harris/Walz the most liberal ticket in history. But I think there are selling points to this pick as well. He is–he’s a former schoolteacher. He’s a national guardsman. He was in the House. He was governor.  He has a very impressive resume. He is the guy who coined weird. That phrase which Democrats have used so effectively against Trump and Vance and Republicans, you know, that has taken off in the last ten days or so, is from the mouth of Governor Walz on our air… SCARBOROUGH: Right. LEMIRE: …calling them weird. So, that–he is an effective communicator, he’s a talented politician, no doubt, and they think that that will help them in some rural areas cut down margins of defeat. But we know–as we had Steve Kornacki on yesterday–that wasn't really the case in Minnesota itself. Walz has a libertarian streak. He is someone who I think will be good on the stump as an attack dog, in a kindly manner, but there are going to be some who think Josh Shapiro should have been the pick. (...) August 6th, 2024 5:28 PM Michael Wnek 285359 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/sarah-butler/2024/08/06/cozy-npr-sets-klobuchar-praise-optimistic-and-thoughtful-walz Taxpayer-funded National Public Radio hosted Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) on Morning Edition with A Martinez. The whole interview was dedicated to praising “thoughtful” and “optimistic” Democratic Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota, who Kamala Harris chose to be her running mate on Monday. Martinez began the interview by asking Klobuchar, “How can he actually help Harris's campaign?” Klobuchar responded, “Tim Walz is someone who can govern, who leads, who brings people together in our state in his red plaid shirt -- Democrats, Republicans, Independents.” Things got personal quickly as Klobuchar continued, “I know him. He's a good friend. My mother-in-law brought them a Parmesan chicken dinner when their son was born.” She went on to talk about how her “husband's hometown [Mankato] is where Tim taught high school football.” Klobuchar also mentioned that it is a “very big deal” to look into “other people’s background[s] for these jobs.” Seeming to be highly impressed, she added on “Not a lot of vice presidents have stood in a deer stand in 10-degree weather in Minnesota. Tim Walz has done that.” (Paul Ryan, the Republican veep pick in 2012, was also a deer hunter in Wisconsin winters.) Martinez asked her what she knows “about his personality that maybe no one else knows.” Unsurprisingly, Klobuchar took this as a moment to commend Walz and bash Trump:   Just that he is exceedingly optimistic, and we need that in our country right now with that dark cloud of Donald Trump constantly cutting people down and trying to divide. Tim got us through the pandemic in a big, big way in terms of always being an optimist, always looking to the future and what was ahead. But she wasn’t finished as she continued to describe Walz as a man who is “thoughtful and a nice person” who also “cares about people.” She added that he’s “genuine” and professed that “Tim Walz, who speaks without notes, who's as blunt as can be, but also as positive as can be is exactly what the country needs right now.” For the last question, Martinez asked Klobuchar, “What are some of the main policy initiatives that he has championed in Minnesota that you might expect the campaign to be talking about while they're on the trail?” She responded again that he “took our state in a big way through the pandemic and stabilized things,” meaning it was locked down with heavy restrictions. Klobuchar concluded the free advertising for the Harris campaign by hyping his support for abortion, “He is someone that made sure that we enshrined in law a woman's right to make her own decisions about her health care. He believes that women should make that and not politicians.” Click "Expand" to view the transcript: NPR Morning Edition A Martinez  8/6/2024 10:57 AM ET A MARTÍNEZ: Vice President Kamala Harris has announced he's chosen Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. Harris and Walz are expected to make an appearance at an event in Philadelphia this evening. Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota backed her home state's governor to join the Democratic ticket, and she joins me now to discuss. Senator, one of the things when I ask someone what makes a great VP candidate, they always say three words - do no harm. But Senator, you know Tim Walz, how can he actually help Harris's campaign? AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): Well, we have a lot higher standard than that. Tim Walz is someone who can govern, who leads, who brings people together in our state in his red plaid shirt - Democrats, Republicans, Independents. He represented a rural district for years in Congress, was one of only two Democrats elected there in 100 years. On the Ag Committee, Veterans’ Committee, Armed Services, grew up in a little town in Nebraska on a farm and signed up for the Army National Guard at age 17. So, what Kamala Harris has done here with her leadership, has brought someone in that she can trust. I know him. He's a good friend. My mother-in-law brought them a Parmesan chicken dinner when their son was born. That's how far back we go. My husband's hometown is where Tim taught high school football. But she's brought someone she can trust and then someone who can lead and someone who understands the Midwest and rural America. So that is, I think, a very big deal when it goes when you look at other people's background for these jobs, not a lot of vice presidents have stood in a deer stand in 10-degree weather in Minnesota. Tim Walz has done that. MARTÍNEZ: Not many. I would imagine that, yeah, not many on that list. What do you know about his personality? And you're friends with him. What do you know about his personality that maybe no one else knows? KLOBUCHAR: Just that he is exceedingly optimistic, and we need that in our country right now with that dark cloud of Donald Trump constantly cutting people down and trying to divide. Tim got us through the pandemic in a big, big way in terms of always being an optimist, always looking to the future and what was ahead. He is also someone who's thoughtful and a nice person, cares about people, and it's just something about him and some people say, well, “I haven't heard of him.” Well, maybe that's because he's just been doing his job for all these years. Maybe because he came from a humble background and didn't think when he was growing up he wanted to be in politics. He was a high school geography teacher and I just think that kind of different background right now and genuine Tim Walz, who speaks without notes, who's as blunt as can be, but also as positive as can be is exactly what the country needs right now and Kamala Harris had, really, the foresight to think, you know this is someone different, that maybe not everyone knows, but he is someone that's a seasoned leader and can get things done for this country. MARTÍNEZ: You mentioned Tim Walz doing his job, and that may be a reason why people don't know about him nationally. What are some of the main policy initiatives that he has championed in Minnesota that you might expect the campaign to be talking about while they're on the trail? KLOBUCHAR: Sure. So, you know, the first thing is he took our state in a big way through that pandemic and stabilized things. We're now sixth in the country by CNBC rates for doing business. So he gets that mixture of standing up for workers, which he's done time and time again and working with business. We have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. And I think right now in the economic times that we're in, that's really important. Secondly, he's someone that has stood up for civil rights and for women. He is someone that made sure that we enshrined in law a woman's right to make her own decisions about her healthcare. He believes that women should make that and not politicians. MARTÍNEZ: All right. That's Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. Senator, thank you for sharing your thoughts on Tim Walz. KLOBUCHAR: Well, incredible to be on, and you're going to have fun getting to know Tim Walz. Thanks, everyone. August 6th, 2024 5:27 PM Sarah Butler 285360 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/free-speech/tom-olohan/2024/08/06/trump-google-slayer-big-tech-behemoth-loses-massive A U.S. District Court Judge just handed down a devastating ruling for the godfather of all the Big Tech censors–Google. U.S. District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta ruled Monday in U.S. v. Google that “Google is a monopolist and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly. It has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act.” Former Attorney General William Barr filed the lawsuit initially while Donald Trump was still president. Fox News host Laura Ingraham celebrated the decision on the Aug. 5 edition of her show The Ingraham Angle. Crediting the Trump administration, Ingraham said the former president “may be a Google slayer.”  In his ruling, Judge Mehta specifically noted that he found Google to have a monopoly in “general search services” and “general search text ads.” According to the Sherman Act, such violations can lead to $100,000,000 in fines for a corporation, but the consequences of this decision could go much further.  Mehta added, “Google’s distribution efforts are exclusive and have anticompetitive effects; and Google has not offered valid procompetitive justifications for these agreements. Importantly, the court finds that Google has exercised its monopoly power by charging supracompetitive prices for general search text ads. That conduct has allowed Google to earn monopoly profits.” The U.S. Department of Justice argued that Google reached its current dominance of internet searches by paying companies such as Apple to make Google the default search engine on their products. Google has paid Apple $8-$12 billion a year for such prime treatment, according to The New York Times. Such efforts have clearly borne fruit as Business Insider reported that 90 percent of internet searches take place on Google and its subsidiary YouTube, amounting to billions of searches a day.  Mehta noted this market dominance prominently in his ruling, which mentioned that Google already hosted 80% of “all search queries in the United States” by 2009. The ruling also pointed out that Google spent $26 billion in ad revenue in 2021 to ensure that its corporate partners not only gave the search giant “default placement” on their devices  but also that they agreed “not to preload any other general search engine on the device.” Thirty-six states and three U.S. territories joined the lawsuit including: Colorado, Nebraska, Arizona, Iowa, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Conservatives are under attack! Contact your representatives and demand that the State Department be held to account to adhere to the U.S. Constitution and that Big Tech mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on so-called hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable. August 6th, 2024 3:59 PM Tom Olohan 285357 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/bill-dagostino/2024/08/06/journalists-are-already-lying-through-their-teeth-about-moderate It’s only been a few hours since Kamala Harris picked hard-leftist Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) as her running mate, and the media are already lying at full throttle about his supposedly “moderate,” “centrist” record. Before getting into the absurd garbage that journalists are peddling today, let’s first dispel with the notion that Walz is, or ever was, a “moderate.” It’s already well established that he’s governed Minnesota as a hard-line leftist: he allowed the BLM riots in 2020 to run rampant through the Twin Cities; he supports hormone treatments and sex change operations for children; and during a particularly draconian COVID-19 lockdown, he established a hotline that encouraged Minnesotans to snitch on their neighbors for gathering outdoors. But even most (though not all) corporate journalists are not dishonest enough to claim that he’s been a centrist Governor. Instead, the preferred talking point is that, while he trended more progressive during his stint as Minnesota’s Chief Executive, he spent 12 years in Congress as a solid moderate. But that’s also a lie. The American Conservative Union (ACU), which rates how conservative each members of Congress is, gave Walz a lifetime rating just eight percent — tying him with the likes of Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Joaquin Castro (D-TX) when he left Congress in 2018. Meanwhile, Heritage Action, which employs a similar rating system, gave Walz a more generous but still very left-wing lifetime score of 13 percent. If that sounds like a centrist to you, then you’ll find nothing amiss with the video below. But for everyone still tethered to reality, this chorus of reporters calling a Walz a moderate should sound pretty nutty:     On Tuesday morning, MSNBC contributor and former Missouri Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill (whose lifetime ACU rating was 12%) lambasted those who would dare describe Walz as a leftist: “The idea that Time Walz is some lefty is just not true in reality. He got elected in a district that was very moderate… He is definitely somebody who is absolutely more moderate than people are giving him credit for right now.” Later that morning, MSNBC contributor and former Florida Dem Carlos Curbelo spent several minutes wildly gaslighting the audience of MSNBC’s José Díaz-Balart Reports: “It’s the same formula as 2020 for Democrats, but inverted. Now the progressive candidate is at the top of the ticket, and the more centrist, deal-making candidate is the Vice Presidential nominee.” Hillyard repeated the claim that Walz was a “centrist” several times during that segment. Against all odds ABC chief Washington correspondent Jon Karl somehow managed to outdo even the two former members of Congress on MSNBC’s payroll. Over the course of just a few minutes, wove the term “moderate” into his analysis so often that one wonders whether he was being paid per utterance: He does have a record in Congress as a very moderate Democrat representing a very moderate to conservative district in Minnesota… He had a pretty moderate record… He was viewed as a moderate… He will appeal, have a more personal connection to some of those moderate voters… He has a proven ability to do well with rural, moderate, even conservative voters. Not that any of this is surprising. After all, the corporate media’s primary task is to get Democrats elected. When the American public are turned off by lawless rioting and transgender surgery for minors, that means they have to lie to do their jobs. August 6th, 2024 3:48 PM Bill D'Agostino 285358 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-fondacaro/2024/08/06/view-cast-reacts-walz-vp-pick-will-bring-smarts-and-fun-back Since ABC’s The View was in between seasons, the Cackling Coven didn’t have a televised outlet to spew their gooey praise for Vice President Kamala Harris’s pick for running mate. Since their vanity couldn’t be satiated by a camera, they had to settle for posting their hot takes lauding Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) on X. Fake Republican Ana Navarro admitted she knew next to nothing about Walz but pledged her undying loyalty to the new Democratic Party ticket anyway. “I don’t know much about #TimWalz. As long as he hasn’t shot a puppy, stabbed a dead bear cub or attacked cat owners, and there are no rumors about him and a porn star or furniture, I’m good with him,” she proclaimed.   I don’t know much about #TimWalz. As long as he hasn’t shot a puppy, stabbed a dead bear cub or attacked cat owners, and there are no rumors about him and a porn star or furniture, I’m good with him. — Ana Navarro-Cárdenas (@ananavarro) August 6, 2024   Navarro would be well served to check her cultish behavior. Walz was on record praising the kind of socialism she fled from when she immigrated from Nicaragua. “One person’s socialism is another person's neighborliness,” he touted. He also showed how little he cared about border security when he suggested that he would invest in a company that would make ladders taller than Trump’s border wall. Friday moderator Joy Behar had arguably the most cringe take. “These two will bring smarts and fun back. Enough with the non laughing [sic], angry, crowd,” she boasted, accompanied with grainy photos of both Harris and Walz.   These two will bring smarts and fun back. Enough with the non laughing, angry, crowd. pic.twitter.com/UKm4npEQkc — Joy Behar (@JoyVBehar) August 6, 2024   Moderator Whoopi Goldberg had deactivated her account long ago, Sara Haines hadn’t been active since the beginning of the year, and Sunny Hostin had only posted about a dog rescue group as of publication. As for faux conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin, she was the only one to provide a kind of rolling reaction to the pick. In a now-deleted post, her initial take announced her thoughts with one word: “Disappointing.” Her second response was to call it “An extraordinary missed opportunity” that Harris didn’t go with Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. “The progressive mob came for Josh Shapiro & a lot of it was gross & simply thinly veiled antisemitism,” she lamented. “But he has a bright future ahead because the VAST majority of this country supports Israel, stands w/our Jewish friends, & would love to see a Jewish VP &or POTUS someday.” In another post, she added: “The mini focus groups of my TL: progressives are cheering Walz, moderates & disillusioned R’s are disappointed.” Over time, she started posting some good things about Walz in a pros and cons list:   Pros of Tim Walz: -strong midwestern messenger. -executive experience as a governor -likely an effective surrogate in critical swing states of MI & WI -flipped a swing seat in Congress Cons: -seen as very progressive on guns & Gaza -not viewed as a moderating force on the… — Alyssa Farah Griffin (@Alyssafarah) August 6, 2024   “Tim Waltz served in the Army National Guard. He’ll debate JD Vance who served in the Marines,” she noted. “Last cycle no one on the ticket served in the military. This time there are veterans on the bottom of both tickets.” August 6th, 2024 2:22 PM Nicholas Fondacaro 285356 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2024/08/06/cbs-hot-and-bothered-kamala-choosing-amiable-centrist-scrappy-tim Like we saw on ABC and NBC, Tuesday morning’s CBS News Special Report heralded Vice President Kamala Harris’s pick of Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) as her 2024 running mate, calling him an “amiable” “centrist” with a “scrappy” but “easygoing” demeanor. On top of that, he was even seen as dreamy given he’s equally “comfortable talking in a t-shirt and a baseball cap as he is talking in a suit as he is talking in a tuxedo.” Senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang went first in boasting of Walz as “very popular” and “has a voting record on the issues that really lines up with Harris” and ensured there was “no abortion [ban] under his watch” and “passed a massive police reform package.” Jiang also trumpeted how Walz embodied “the power of one word” in political messaging with Walz allegedly coining the term “weird” to describe Republicans. CBS Mornings co-host and Democratic donor Gayle King repeatedly went to former Harris aide-turned-CBS News contributor Ashley Etienne to sing Harris’s praises (even though, like many who work for Harris, never stick around long). Etienne laughably said Walz “rallied his state and moved his state through incredibly tough times” and, in a dig at Governor Josh Shapiro (D-PA) (since she couldn’t say he wasn’t picked because he’s Jewish), said Walz “can speak to [voters] on their level about issues that matter most to them in a way that I think Shapiro and the others could not.” “I know him, as you put earlier, to be very scrappy...I will tell you he’s incredibly funny. He’s, you know, direct — well, you know, plain spoken and I think that’ll jive very well with the Vice President and her personality,” she added. In response, King gushed that he’s someone people will appreciate since they “like” those who are “plain speaking without being mean. If that’s the case, then why does he think, for example, half the country is “weird” and a bunch of “fascists”? Chief election and campaign correspondent Robert Costa was also enthralled, calling Walz “fun” and possessing “wit” who will be able to serve as Harris’s “attack dog” and “do it with a smile.” Costa later boasted of “centrist” Walz as someone “who seems amiable, easy-going, can crack a joke, talks about hot dish up in Minnesota, that famous dish they love to do — the casserole, can talk about fishing, but he’s also someone, it must be noted, who politically is well liked by progressives”: Walz a “centrist” and cooks casseroles. CBS’s Robert @CostaReports: He seems “like kind of a centrist Midwesterner in persona...” pic.twitter.com/z3qBDf5ivj — Brent Baker 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@BrentHBaker) August 6, 2024 King showed how she felt about Walz: CBS's Gayle King on Tim Walz: “I’m telling you, there seems to be a lot of — there’s something appealing about a guy for people who say it is comfortable talking in a t-shirt and a baseball cap as he is talking in a suit as he is talking in a tuxedo.” pic.twitter.com/LM3uYz8yO9 — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 6, 2024 King let Etienne close things out by promoting Walz under the false notion that Republicans want to ban IVF (click “expand”): ETIENNE: Well, I think there’s one little tidbit we should be aware of and that both his children were conceived via IVF. So, the campaign is saying that he’s going to lean into the reproductive rights fight with the Vice President. This is the year of the woman. This is an advantage that she has over Donald Trump, and he’s going to be an active player, leaning into this issue as — as well. And so, to have a man with this level of conviction and his personal story lean in on this issue is going to be interesting to see on the campaign trail. But they think that he will be an asset when it comes to conveying that message to women, the threat that Donald Trump and Vance pose to their reproductive rights and other rights. KING: I — when you joined us on the broadcast earlier, you said this would be personal for Vice President Harris. This is someone you know well. So, if you could just take us behind the curtain a little bit, personally feelings — how — what do you think that it really — when she went to bed last night, and she woke up this morning, what do you think her first thought was when she woke up and said, Tim Walz is the guy for me? ETIENNE: I think it’s — I think it’s two things that, one, he’s proven that he can win tough races. And secondly, he’s got a deep compassion and conviction for the American people and the plight of the American people and he’s seen it on every end of the political — in every end of the political realm and field, so I think those were the things that probably took her over the edge. To see the relevant transcript from August 6, click “expand.” CBS News Special Report August 6, 2024 9:17 a.m. Eastern WEIJIA JIANG: He is very popular, and he has a voting record on the issues that really lines up with Harris. After George Floyd was killed in his state, he passed a massive police reform package. He said there would be no abortion under his watch in 2022. And, on economics, he said the Democrats really need messaging and to make it more clear. And, Gayle, let’s talk about messaging for a minute and the power of one word. In the early days that Vice President Harris was going to become the likely nominee, we were not talking about Tim Walz. And then, he went on television and one word — he said Republicans were weird and then he gained a lot of attention and his profile soared, and it never really stopped. And again, today, we can report that he will be joining vice president Kamala Harris on the Democratic ticket and they will be stumping together in a matter of hours in Philadelphia. GAYLE KING: Weijia Jiang, you raise a really good point. Two weeks ago, we were not talking about Tim Walz but here we are this morning. (....) 9:19 a.m. Eastern ASHLEY ETIENNE: I think the breath of Walz’s experiences is probably what persuaded her most. I mean, being a military veteran, former teacher to a chairman in Congress to an executive governor who rallied his state and moved his state through incredibly tough times, I think makes him incredibly appealing to her and will provide her with this broad perspective that I think she needs, which is, you know, what are the challenging facing the American people, how do we implement legislation and rally congress around it and get it done on the ground in these states? So, I think he’s good for her for that reason and then also, what was just mentioned, the fact that he’s won in these very tough districts, in these tough red-leaning districts, I think, gives him and her — the ticket — a leg up when it comes to going into those areas where the one and two percent — those independent and disaffected Republicans are. He can speak to them on their level about issues that matter most to them in a way that I think Shapiro and the others could not. That’s going to be value add for her going into the next race when it’s going to be decided on the margins. (....) 9:20 a.m. Eastern ETIENNE: So, I — I can imagine he’s overwhelmed with excited but I know him, as you put earlier, to be very scrappy. And so, I can imagine he’s ready to get in and get dirty and push back in all kinds of ways. I don’t know that they had a really good solid relationship before this process started, but neither did she with Biden and neither did Obama with Biden. So, I don’t think that’s a really deciding factor. But I will tell you he’s incredibly funny. He’s, you know, direct — well, you know, plain spoken and I think that’ll jive very well with the Vice President and her personality. KING: Yeah, I think people like plain speaking without being mean. Thank you very much, Ashley. And we can say, Tim Walz, apparently a very good neighbor. He’s got a very nice lawn. Let’s go now to Roberta Costa — let’s go now to Robert Costa because, Robert, people say it doesn’t make a ton of electoral sense. What’s your take on that and why she picked Governor Walz? ROBERT COSTA: Good to be with you, Gayle. In the eyes of many top Democrats close to Vice President Harris, it may not make sense electorally if you were just speaking about a map, but to top Democrats, it does make political sense because they see in Governor Walz someone who can fill the void left by President Biden. President Biden was close to organized labor in this country. He was able to go to the industrial Midwest — I was there with him — and talk to union members and say, you have to stick with the Democrats. Don’t listen to former President Trump. I’m one of you. Let’s stick together as traditional Democrats. And Tim Walz, as the Minnesota governor, has built a record, but he’s also built a relationship with labor and other key constituencies inside the Democratic Party. And so, he’s going to help Harris rebuild that Biden-Harris coalition ahead November, along with all of the personal characteristics he does bring to the race. As Ashley said and as Weijia so ably reported, he has a personality, he has an ability to have a bit of fun, some wit, and he doesn’t mind taking a shot at the GOP. And often, your role as VP is to be the attack dog that can do it with a smile. (....) 9:24 a.m. Eastern KING: But it’s also interesting too, though, Nancy, because he was considered a dark horse. I think that’s what’s fascinating to many people. It seemed to have boiled down to, if you believe what you were hearing in the media, that it boiled down to Mark Kelly and Josh Shapiro, then over the last week we started hearing the name more and more about Tim Walz. What do you make of that, how he appeared, to some, coming out of nowhere, and it’s like running a race and, all of a sudden, he’s ahead of the pack? NANCY CORDES:: What I make of it was that all these people were having to, you know, go from a standing start. And, remember a few weeks ago, we were not even thinking about any of these people being a running mate because we thought that Kamala Harris would be the running mate to President Biden. Suddenly when that changed, yes, Pete Buttigieg, probably better known to a national audience, Josh Shapiro somebody who has been talked about as a person with presidential ambitions. They had the early edge because people knew about them. But Walz proved over the course of a couple weeks that he had really great communication ability. He had a way of making the case that some of the other top contenders didn’t and that could come in handy — not even necessarily in Minnesota, where Democrats haven’t lost a presidential race since 1972 — but in other Midwestern states, certainly like Wisconsin and Michigan, which are big battleground states this year. KING: I’m telling you, there seems to be a lot of — there’s something appealing about a guy for people who say it is comfortable talking in a t-shirt and a baseball cap as he is talking in a suit as he is talking in a tuxedo. I know we gotta go, but can we go back to Bob Costa for just a second? Because, Bob, do you think this was an attempt to satisfy the more liberal wing of the party? What are — what are your thoughts on that? COSTA: It’s fascinating, Gayle, politically, because you look at Governor Tim Walz and, if you have — if you know nothing about him, you see a guy who seems amiable, easy-going, can crack a joke, talks about hot dish up in Minnesota, that famous dish they love to do — the casserole, can talk about fishing, but he’s also someone, it must be noted, who politically is well liked by progressives in the House of Representatives, where he once served. Pramila Jayapal, who’s the leader of the Progressive Caucus, one of the key progressives in the House, she’s been a key stakeholder for him in recent days, saying I’d love to see Tim Walz on ticket. So had former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She’s been advocate for him, kind of winking in recent days that she’d love to see a former House colleague land on the ticket. When you have Pramila Jayapal and Nancy Pelosi both being boosters for your vice presidential candidacy, that says a lot, that even though you may seem like kind of a centrist Midwesterner in persona, politically he touches a lot of bases. (....) 9:27 a.m. Eastern KING: What do you think Tim Walz’s assignment will be in this campaign? ETIENNE: Well, I think there’s one little tidbit we should be aware of and that both his children were conceived via IVF. So, the campaign is saying that he’s going to lean into the reproductive rights fight with the Vice President. This is the year of the woman. This is an advantage that she has over Donald Trump, and he’s going to be an active player, leaning into this issue as — as well. And so, to have a man with this level of conviction and his personal story lean in on this issue is going to be interesting to see on the campaign trail. But they think that he will be an asset when it comes to conveying that message to women, the threat that Donald Trump and Vance pose to their reproductive rights and other rights. KING: I — when you joined us on the broadcast earlier, you said this would be personal for Vice President Harris. This is someone you know well. So, if you could just take us behind the curtain a little bit, personally feelings — how — what do you think that it really — when she went to bed last night, and she woke up this morning, what do you think her first thought was when she woke up and said, Tim Walz is the guy for me? ETIENNE: I think it’s — I think it’s two things that, one, he’s proven that he can win tough races. And secondly, he’s got a deep compassion and conviction for the American people and the plight of the American people and he’s seen it on every end of the political — in every end of the political realm and field, so I think those were the things that probably took her over the edge. KING: All right, well, Ashley, thank you so much. ETIENNE: Alright, Thank you. KING: Thank you, Bob and Nancy Cordes. Democrats will soon have a presidential ticket 13 days before their convention in Chicago and 13 weeks before the presidential election. So, recap, Tim Walz has been in office for five and a half years. He is the current chairman of the Democratic Governors Association. He was also in office during the crisis that followed the murder by police of George Floyd. And he will be the running mate for Vice President Kamala Harris. We have been waiting for the last 48 hours about who it was going to be. Now, we know. Get used to it, people. Harris/Walz is the ticket. August 6th, 2024 2:22 PM Curtis Houck 285355 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2024/08/06/chuck-todd-raises-yellow-flag-after-harris-picks-walz-vp Sandwiched between several odes to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz after VP Kamala Harris announced him as her running mate, NBC chief political analyst Chuck Todd conceded on MSNBC’s Tuesday installment of Andrea Mitchell Reports that his selection at the expense of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro raised a “yellow flag” about progressives’ ability to bully Harris. First, Todd had to get in the obligatory praise, “Look, I like to say, you know, sometimes people speak Washington and sometimes people speak American. Tim Walz speaks American, you know? He’s not going to tell you about his subcommittee chair, he’s not going to tell you about—I have a feeling he won’t talk about the Veterans Committee, he’ll talk about just helping veterans and things like that. So, in that sense, it strikes me that's what Harris is looking for.”     The fact that Shapiro is Jewish and doesn’t have patience for Hamas sycophants on college campuses led far-left Democrats to oppose him being Harris’s number two, which was not lost on Todd, “but it does tell me, I’m wondering, I have a yellow flag in my head going, ‘huh, if you squeal loud enough, she hears and responds.’ You know, there's going to be people that will come away from this experience thinking, ‘huh, the progressive backlash is what got her off of Shapiro or what got her off of Kelly.’” Todd spared Harris a red flag because, “In fairness, maybe they didn't vet either. Okay, that's also a possibility when all is said and done, but on substance, I can't help but have that takeaway.” Later in the segment USA Today Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page returned to MSNBC’s regular scheduled programming by alluding to the idea that Walz was the one who came up with the attack line that Republicans are “weird,” “You now, if the Democrats lose Pennsylvania and then lose the presidency as a result, there’ll be a lot of second-guessing about this decision. On the other hand, Tim Walz is the opposite of weird. Like in a dictionary, if you had ‘weird’ and ‘ant-weird,’ you’d have Tim Walz’s picture there as a high school coach and its history teacher, and a guy that seems as normal as can be.  If Walz is supposed to be the guy who ensures progressives don’t abandon Harris, it wouldn’t make much sense for Republicans to find him appealing, but that didn’t stop Page from trying to wish cast his bipartisan credentials into existence, “maybe in hindsight that'll turn out to be a great decision if Tim Walz is appealing to rural Americans and gets some swing and even Republican votes maybe they wouldn't have gotten with Shapiro on the ticket.” So, Walz is meant to shore up progressive support, but Shapiro wouldn’t appeal to Republicans? How does that make sense? Here is a transcript for the August 6 show: MSNBC Andrea Mitchell Reports 8/6/2024 12:08 PM ET CHUCK TODD: Look, I like to say, you know, sometimes people speak Washington and sometimes people speak American. Tim Walz speaks American, you know? He’s not going to tell you about his subcommittee chair, he’s not going to tell you about—I have a feeling he won’t talk about the Veterans Committee, he’ll talk about just helping veterans and things like that. So, in that sense, it strikes me that's what Harris is looking for, but it does tell me, I’m wondering, I have a yellow flag in my head going, “huh, if you squeal loud enough, she hears and responds.” You know, there's going to be people that will come away from this experience thinking, “huh, the progressive backlash is what got her off of Shapiro or what got her off of Kelly.” In fairness, maybe they didn't vet either. Okay, that's also a possibility when all is said and done, but on substance, I can't help but have that takeaway. … SUSAN PAGE: You now, if the Democrats lose Pennsylvania and then lose the presidency as a result, there’ll be a lot of second-guessing about this decision. On the other hand, Tim Walz is the opposite of weird. Like in a dictionary, if you had “weird” and “ant-weird,” you’d have Tim Walz’s picture there as a high school coach and its history teacher, and a guy that seems as normal as can be. I also wonder if Vice President Harris was affected by her own difficult relationship, fractious with Joe Biden— ANDREA MITCHELL: Absolutely. PAGE: — in the early years of their presidency, of their administration and that she didn't want that and maybe in hindsight that'll turn out to be a great decision if Tim Walz is appealing to rural Americans and gets some swing and even Republican votes maybe they wouldn't have gotten with Shapiro on the ticket, so remains to be seen, but I think often you are fighting the last war and that was for Kamala Harris the last war. August 6th, 2024 2:02 PM Alex Christy 285354 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2024/08/06/nbc-moderate-walz-looks-lot-dads-hails-ticket-beautiful-mosaic Vice President Kamala Harris selecting Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate on Tuesday caused NBC's cast of characters to gush with praise. Throughout the coverage, Walz would be called a “moderate” who can win over Republicans and a "progressive" who can appease Muslim and Arab voters upset with President Joe Biden on Israel while also being lauded for looking “like a lot of dads,” while the Harris-Walz ticket was described as a “beautiful mosaic.” White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez’s biography of Walz recalled, “After moving to Minnesota, he volunteered for John Kerry’s presidential campaign, and in an upset, he was elected to Congress in 2006. Walz served in Washington for the next 12 years, establishing himself as a moderate Democrat. Then, he ran for governor in 2018 winning in a landslide.”   “In an upset he was elected to Congress in 2006. Walz served in Washington for the next 12 years, establishing himself as a moderate Democrat...” – NBC’s @GabeGutierrez pic.twitter.com/CuJAqnmct1 — Brent Baker 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@BrentHBaker) August 6, 2024   Later, senior national correspondent Jonathan Allen claimed Walz will help Harris when back those who are upset with Biden on Israel, “Tim Walz is someone who has been elected in a state with a significant Muslim population that is very much behind him and has appreciated his governorship, and that’s something that they might be able to tout as they go forward, someone who has that relationship as the Democrats try to bring back some of those voters.” Anchor Lester Holt then asked, “Is he going to be a unifying force within the party?”     Allen then tried to have it both ways. He claimed Walz is both a progressive, but also moderate enough to win over Republicans, “Here is somebody who is basically a progressive, but has been able to win over a significant number of independent Republican voters in his own state, and that’s something, if he's not the exciting candidate on the ticket, I think that will be fine with Kamala Harris, she is bringing the energy, but absolutely somebody that will assure a lot of Democrats, both Midwestern and moderates, and also the Progressives.” Later still, presidential historian Michael Beschloss gushed of Walz, claiming his selection disproves the idea of Democrats being coastal elites and hyping his ordinary physical appearance, “The point I'm making is that for anyone who wants to say the Democrats are coastal elites and they’re urban and they’re in the cities in the, and they cannot talk to anyone else. As you know, Lester, I come from Illinois, and all I can tell you, I don’t know Tim Walz, but he looks like an awful lot of public school teachers I had in school, and also like a lot of dads.”     Holt followed up, “I am wondering what the model is for Vice President Harris. Obviously she understands her relationship with President Biden, but what will we look for to see how she is reflecting on that relationship and previous president-vice presidential relationships.” Beschloss waxed poetic, “Well, Kamala Harris has been vice president for almost four years and has talked to a lot of vice presidents, certainly knows how to make this relationship work, knows that this is key in running the United States government, but at the same time, it is important in the political culture to have a president and vice president who seem to embrace, as much as possible, the diversity of America. Jimmy Carter called the American society ‘a beautiful mosaic’ of all kinds of people. You take a look at this ticket, this does it pretty well.” Cringe aside, if Allen is correct and Harris picked Walz in order to appease people who think that Biden has been too mean to Hamas, is that really “beautiful”? Here is a transcript for the August 6 show: NBC Now Special Report 8/6/2024 9:15 AM ET GABE GUTIERREZ: A working class politician from a rural background, Minnesota’s Tim Walz is known for not pulling punches. TIM WALZ: This is not about the Second Amendment, this is about the safety of children and our community. GUTIERREZ: A self-described white dude for Kamala Harris, the popular governor will not run alongside the nation's first woman of color on top of a major party ticket. Walz grew up in small-town Nebraska and joined the National Guard as a teenager. He served in the National Guard for more than two decades eventually becoming a schoolteacher. After moving to Minnesota, he volunteered for John Kerry’s presidential campaign, and in an upset, he was elected to Congress in 2006. Walz served in Washington for the next 12 years, establishing himself as a moderate Democrat. Then, he ran for governor in 2018 winning in a landslide. … JONATHAN ALLEN: Well, I think, there are a couple ways, Lester, that it aligns Democrats. Number one is as Ryan was attesting to, you know, this is someone that's very familiar to Democratic activists, to the Democratic core, he'll have to be introduced to the broader electorate within the party and outside of the party, but Tim Walz is very experienced as a campaigner. I also think there is a little sub rosa thing going on here, Lester, which is Democrats have been having difficulty because of President Biden and Vice President Harris's position on Israel, they have had difficulty with Arab voters, with Muslim voters, most notably in Michigan. Tim Walz is someone who has been elected in a state with a significant Muslim population that is very much behind him and has appreciated his governorship and that’s something that they might be able to tout as they go forward, someone who has that relationship as the Democrats try to bring back some of those voters. LESTER HOLT: Is he going to be a unifying force within the party? ALLEN: Oh, absolutely, Lester. Here is somebody who is basically a progressive, but has been able to win over a significant number of independent Republican voters in his own state, and that’s something, if he's not the exciting candidate on the ticket, I think that will be fine with Kamala Harris, she is bringing the energy, but absolutely somebody that will assure a lot of Democrats both, Midwestern and moderates, and also the Progressives. … MICHAEL BESCHLOSS: The point I'm making is that for anyone who wants to say the Democrats are coastal elites and they’re urban and they’re in the cities in the, and they cannot talk to anyone else. As you know, Lester, I come from Illinois, and all I can tell you, I don’t know Tim Walz, but he looks like an awful lot of public school teachers I had in school, and also like a lot of dads. HOLT: Yeah, and I am wondering what the model is for Vice President Harris. Obviously she understands her relationship with President Biden, but what will we look for to see how she is reflecting on that relationship and previous president-vice presidential relationships. BESCHLOSS: Well, Kamala Harris has been vice president for almost four years and has talked to a lot of vice presidents, certainly knows how to make this relationship work, knows that this is key in running the United States government, but at the same time, it is important in the political culture to have a president and vice president who seem to embrace, as much as possible, the diversity of America. Jimmy Carter called the American society “a beautiful mosaic" of all kinds of people. You take a look at this ticket, this does it pretty well. August 6th, 2024 12:10 PM Alex Christy 285353 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/sarah-butler/2024/08/06/van-jones-admits-walz-pick-appeals-anti-jewish-bigots-among On Tuesday's CNN Newsroom Jim Acosta hosted Van Jones who commented on Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) being announced as Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate for president. Shockingly, he called out the pick as an appeal to "the darker parts in the party" in terms of "anti-Jewish bigots" and claimed they will vote for Walz regardless. Acosta teed up Jones's take on the pick by noting that some doubt that Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (D) would "offer his full support" behind Waltz. He asked Jones if he thought it was a “little risky” that Harris didn’t go with Shapiro. Jones responded “hey listen the Conservatives, the right-wing Republicans, they were chewing their fingernails down to the knuckle because they were afraid of a Josh Shapiro.”     Pivoting to Walz, Jones then went on to say that Muslims and Arabs have not “felt seen by the Biden administration” as reason Harris picked him. Clearly understanding that he was going to ruffle a lot of feathers with what he was about to admit, Jones lamented: "People don't want to talk about it -- we got to talk about it." He then proceeded to call out the Walz pick as blatant appeasement of "anti-Semitism": On the one hand, you have a lot of young people who are concerned about Gaza. You have a lot of Muslims and Arabs and others, they have not felt seen by the Biden administration. You started hearing that genocide joke, that was building that was building and so those folks needed to have a candidate that they could feel comfortable with. This helps him in that regard. But you also have anti-Semitism that has gotten marbled into this party. You can be for the Palestinians without being an anti-Jewish bigot. But there are some anti-Jewish bigots out there and there's some disquiet now and there has to be. How much of what just happened is caving into some of these darker parts in the party? So that's going to have to get worked out. It’s going to have to get talked through. Jones concluded that these things will need to be “worked out.” He praised Shapiro a little more by saying he has a “magnificent future in this party.” Click "Expand" to view the transcript: CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta 8/6/2024 10:27:01 – 10:29:26 AM JIM ACOSTA: I suppose we might – VAN JONES: That’s that. ACOSTA: Yeah we might see the governor out there in Philadelphia later today. Maybe we won't, we'll find out about that. But I mean, it seems to be -- to be a stretch that there would be sour grapes here and that Shapiro is not going to offer his full support. JONES: Look, Josh Shapiro is a class act from beginning to end. He’s a rising star in this party. He's done an extraordinary job. He gets Republican votes, independent voters, moderate votes, smurfs vote for him, muppets vote for him, I mean, the guy is a vote magnet and there's a reason for that. He is a class act. He's a -- he's a true American, and he's going to show up and he's gonna – ACOSTA: Do you think it was a little risky though, Van, that she didn't go with Shapiro to kind of lock down Pennsylvania? I mean yes, David Chalian you were saying earlier just because you pick him as your running mate, doesn't mean you automatically win Pennsylvania. But I got to think it would have helped just a little bit. JONES: Hey listen that – the -- the Conservatives, the right-wing Republicans, they were chewing their fingernails down to the knuckle because they were afraid of a Josh Shapiro, they were afraid of a mark Kelly, they're not as afraid of this new governor because they think they can define him but so here's the challenge you've got in this party, and you know, people don't want to talk about it -- we got to talk about it. On the one hand, you have a lot of young people who are concerned about Gaza. You have a lot of Muslims and Arabs and others, they have not felt seen by the Biden administration. You started hearing that genocide joke, that was building that was building and so those folks needed to have a candidate that they could feel comfortable with. This helps him in that regard. But you also have anti-Semitism that has gotten marbled into this party. You can be for the Palestinians without being an anti-Jewish bigot. But there are some anti-Jewish bigots out there and there's some disquiet now and there has to be. How much of what just happened is caving into some of these darker parts in the party? So that's going to have to get worked out. It’s going to have to get talked through. But I tell you what, if you have a Josh Shapiro who says, you know what I give this my stamp. I give this my support. I believe in this ticket that's going to help a great deal. And Josh Shapiro has a magnificent future in this party regardless. But this is -- it's mostly positive. You’re seeing mostly enthusiasm, but there is some disquiet and conversation we got to have inside this party. ACOSTA: Interesting. All right Van Jones I know that conversation will continue I'm sure there are a lot of folks in the Harris campaign who will push back on some of those notions there. But we'll keep that conversation going, Van Jones. August 6th, 2024 11:54 AM Sarah Butler 285352 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2024/08/06/perfect-backstory-abc-cheers-kamala-picking-folksy-moderate You could ABC is already in love. During Tuesday’s ABC News Special Report on Vice President Kamala Harris selecting Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) as her running mate, the liberal journalists were ebullient over Walz as not only “folksy” and “personal”, but also “the All-American definition of a man from middle — Middle America” with a “perfect backstory” and both a “moderate” and “progressive”. Good Morning America co-host and former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos went first, gushing to senior White House correspondent Selina Wang that “Walz appears to fit the all American definition of a man from middle — middle America. High school teacher — teacher, football coach, member of the Army National Guard before becoming a member of Congress and now governor.” A day after she gave cover to anti-Semitism by referring to opposition to Governor Josh Shapiro (D-PA) as having to do with “views” he holds being a “concern” for “Arab Americans”, Wang didn’t beat around the bush when celebrating Walz: ABC is pleased Kamala Harris went with Tim Walz, saying he “has that perfect back story” of being “folksy, personal”, and “fit[s] the all American definition of a man from middle — middle America”.... George Stephanopoulos: “Walz appears to fit the all American definition of a… pic.twitter.com/xgGl9Il3mC — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 6, 2024 Chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl came next and also didn’t bring up Shapiro being Jewish as why he didn’t get the nod, instead citing sources as having said the call really came down to Harris having “really hit off with — with Tim Walz”. As you can see below, Karl tried to have it both ways with Walz’s labeling: ABC’s Jonathan Karl says Tim Walz was “the most progressive...of the three finalists,” BUT had “a record in Congress as — as a rather moderate Democrat” “[I]f you look at his experience in Congress, George, you know, he’s a six-term member of the House before he ran for… pic.twitter.com/Cpi2QubDTl — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 6, 2024 Chief White House correspondent and lead Democratic Party apple polisher Mary Bruce was giddy at the idea of covering Walz, proclaiming he’s so “folksy” and “plainspoken” that “appeals to a lot of voters”. She even celebrated him as referring to half the country as “weird” (which speaks volumes about how Bruce sees Americans she supposed to work on behalf of): ABC’s Mary Bruce, already chief apple polisher for Kamala Harris, fawning over her having to make this “decision...alone”, settling on a “folksy” man Tim Walz who has such a “plainspoken way of talking” “[H]is Midwestern appeal, that plainspoken way of talking that he has, he’s… pic.twitter.com/KOUgpJ3ZVs — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 6, 2024 Congressional correspondent Rachel Scott and political director Rick Klein brought it home with the former cartoonishly suggesting it could continue to be a struggle for Republicans to define the Harris-Walz ticket. Klein suggested this could help really lock down a Democratic win (click “expand”): KLEIN: [T]he Harris campaign knows that if you win in the upper Midwest, you almost certainly win the election and the movement that we’ve seen in the battleground state polling in the 538 polling average just since Joe Biden left the race is substantial, and it’s particularly pronounced in those upper Midwest states in Wisconsin, in Michigan, in Pennsylvania. Now, Tim Walz isn’t from any of those states. Other finalists like Josh Shapiro were, but Walz is from just the other side of those states. He represents a part of the country, a redder part of a bluer state, as Jon Karl pointed out. That’s critical. A lot of voters there are similar to the voters in Wisconsin and in Michigan and in Pennsylvania that will almost certainly decide the election. I think it’s fair to assume that Governor Walz, after he’s selected, will spend plenty of time in those battleground states, as will Vice President Harris herself. She’s going to be in Pennsylvania later today. She’s planning to hit all of those big battlegrounds in the next couple of days. You see that shift, all of those three states at the top — Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania that by themselves almost certainly would make Vice President Harris president. Harris. And her hope will be that Tim Walz helps deliver those states. STEPHANOPOULOS: Doubling down on the Midwest. To see the relevant transcript from August 6, click “expand.” ABC News Special Report August 6, 2024 9:12 a.m. Eastern GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Vice President Kamala Harris is set to pick Minnesota Hovernor Tim Walz as her running mate. There he is right there. Two term governor — governor of Minnesota. Want to go straight to Selina Wang, who is there in Philadelphia. And, Selina, “Walz appears to fit the all American definition of a man from middle — middle America. High school teacher — teacher, football coach, member of the Army National Guard before becoming a member of Congress and now governor.” SELINA WANG: Exactly. He really has that perfect back story. He also has those rural roots, and he’s really emerged as the dark horse in this veepstakes race. He has emerged as the favorite very recently as he has been on the cables, on the network, showing that he can effectively push back on those Republican attacks. He’s the one, George, remember, who labeled J.D. Vance and his Republican allies as, “weird,” which gained a lot of steam with the Harris campaign. He has this folksy, personal, informal vibe that is really appealed to a lot of Democrats. And they believe that his rural backstory, the fact that he was a former member of the NRA, as you say, he is this high school former high school teacher, he was a football coach, that this can help a appeal to those independent swing state voters. But it is unprecedented, George, how all of this has played out. I was told that, as of last night, according to sources, Vice President Harris still had not made her decision and that her team was printing out signs with multiple different candidates on it ready to go at any moment. This decision coming down to the wire, her and her close team have been keeping this decision under lock and key. They wanted to avoid any leaks. STEPHANOPOULOS: And let me bring in Jon Karl, our chief Washington correspondent. We know that the vice president met with — with three finalists on Sunday, not only Governor Walz, but also Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona. JONATHAN KARL: Yeah, all three had strong arguments to make to be her running mate. All three under serious consideration until the very end. Tim Walz came through as somebody that frankly, Kamala Harris was comfortable with. She actually had known Josh Shapiro much longer. The two of them both former attorneys general she had known had a longer relationship with him. But people that I’ve spoken to said she really hit it off with — with Tim Walz. Both of them coming from states that are important, Pennsylvania, perhaps the most important battleground state. But Minnesota, a — a state that Democrats, won last time and were counting on winning again, but where Donald Trump had shown strength and more importantly, it’s that whole area Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan. The feeling was having a Midwest governor who had governed in a state that — that — that — that has significant pockets of Republican voters would be good for her. And, if you look at his experience in Congress, George, you know, he’s a six-term member of the House before he ran for governor. His district is a district that Donald Trump carried quite handedly, a pretty conservative district. And as a member of Congress, he was viewed as a — as a moderate Democrat. Now, he is seen certainly among these three finalists as the most progressive, the most liberal politically of the three finalists. But he does, you know, have a record in Congress as — as a rather moderate Democrat representing a very moderate to conservative district in Minnesota. STEPHANOPOULOS: And let me bring in Mary Bruce, our chief White House correspondent. Mary, that personal chemistry, obviously paramount in the final decision. But in the last couple of weeks, Tim Walz also had been performing very well on the stump and a lot of Democrats believe he lines up well with former President Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance. MARY BRUCE: Yeah, certainly, George, his Midwestern appeal, that plainspoken way of talking that he has, he’s a bit folksy, and I think that certainly appeals to a lot of voters, especially perhaps some — some Joe Biden supporters. He clearly showed — Kamala Harris believes that he is able to get out there on the stump, clearly articulate the case against Donald Trump and he was creating a lot of buzz, as Selina said, he coined that, that — that — that one word takedown of the Trump-Vance team, just calling them weird. That is something that really gained a fair amount of traction. And so much of this decision while yes, it is about, you know, who can put what states in play, you know, looking at the map, looking ahead to the future, it is also a decision that is simply about chemistry, camaraderie, compatibility. This is a job, of course, that Kamala Harris knows better than anyone else. And clearly, when it came down to it, she believes that she and Tim Walz make a good team here, that they are going to be able to not just govern well, but also win. All of these things factor into this decision. And, of course, this is the most consequential decision of her career and one that she has had to make at absolute warp speed. Just 16 days, George, 16 days. That’s how long she has had to get used to being a candidate and to making this huge decision. And despite all of the decision making, all of the vetting, when it comes down to it, this decision was up to Kamala Harris alone. STEPHANOPOULOS: No question about that. Let’s bring in Rachel Scott with the first reaction from the Trump campaign. Rachel. RACHEL SCOTT: Yeah, we’re just getting word in from Donald Trump’s campaign and also from the former President and his allies saying, “even worse than dangerously liberal and crooked Kamala Harris.” That’s the reaction to this news that we are now reporting that Harris is picking Governor Tim Walz to be her running mate. Just yesterday, George, the former president Donald Trump, was saying quite the opposite. In fact, during an interview, he said that whoever Harris chooses to be, her running mate would be better than her. We know that the Trump campaign for days now has really been trying to recalibrate their focus, trying to figure out what exactly their strategy is, because they wanted to run against President Joe Biden. Once President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, they now have tried to figure out what their new line of attack is not only on Vice President Kamala Harris, but also now on someone who is going to be her running mate. When — when President Biden was still in the race, we know there was that phone call between Senator JD Vance and also Vice President Kamala Harris agreeing to meet again once again on the debate stage. We’ll have to see what happens with a potential vice presidential debate and whether or not Governor Tim Walz will agree to debate senator JD Vance, Donald Trump’s running mate, George. STEPHANOPOULOS: Okay, Rachel, thanks. Let’s bring in our political director, Washington bureau chief Rick Klein. And, Rick, as now that we know that it’s going to be Walz, I imagine he’s going to be on a continuous loop between the states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. And we’re seeing this at a time when Kamala Harris does have some momentum in those states. RICK KLEIN: George, the Harris campaign knows that if you win in the upper Midwest, you almost certainly win the election and the movement that we’ve seen in the battleground state polling in the 538 polling average just since Joe Biden left the race is substantial, and it’s particularly pronounced in those upper Midwest states in Wisconsin, in Michigan, in Pennsylvania. Now, Tim Walz isn’t from any of those states. Other finalists like Josh Shapiro were, but Walz is from just the other side of those states. He represents a part of the country, a redder part of a bluer state, as Jon Karl pointed out. That’s critical. A lot of voters there are similar to the voters in Wisconsin and in Michigan and in Pennsylvania that will almost certainly decide the election. I think it’s fair to assume that Governor Walz, after he’s selected, will spend plenty of time in those battleground states, as will Vice President Harris herself. She’s going to be in Pennsylvania later today. She’s planning to hit all of those big battlegrounds in the next couple of days. You see that shift, all of those three states at the top — Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania that by themselves almost certainly would make Vice President Harris president. Harris. And her hope will be that Tim Walz helps deliver those states. STEPHANOPOULOS: Doubling down on the Midwest. Okay, Rick Klein, thanks very much. One more time. Vice President Kamala Harris has picked Minnesota Governor Tim Walz — poised to pick Tim Walz as her running mate. August 6th, 2024 10:25 AM Curtis Houck 285350 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2024/08/06/daily-show-uses-olympic-boxing-controversy-spread-fake-news-about Comedy Central’s weekly temp host of The Daily Show, Michael Kosta, reacted to the outrage that Algerian boxer Imane Khelif is  allowed to compete in the women’s Olympic boxing tournament on Monday by spreading fake news about pro-life laws in America in an attempt to argue conservatives are being hypocritical. He also conveniently never said the words “failed gender test.” For the International Olympic Committee, Khelif is a woman because her passport identifies her as such, and that is good enough for Kosta, “Because, again, this female boxer is female. Can we stop this before America turns it into a presidential campaign issue?”     Just like CNN, The Daily Show wants to claim conservatives are overreacting and trying to make a controversy where none exists by projecting domestic arguments over transgenderism onto Khelif. However, none of the criticism directed towards conservatives addresses the possibility that Khelif has Differences of Sexual Development which can lead a woman to have male levels of testosterone and would explain the failed gender test. Instead, Kosta tried to argue conservative concerns are hypocritical, “By the way, if conservatives are so concerned with women's safety, maybe consider caring about it outside of sports? There are women in America who are like, ‘Help me, I'm having an ectopic pregnancy,’ and conservatives are like, ‘Shut up! We're trying to protect women over here.’" Of course, there is nothing in any pro-life law that prohibits treatment for ectopic pregnancies, but Kosta rolled right along and claimed conservatives simply cannot believe that Khelif could be so talented, “Look, I'm sorry this elite athlete does not look like the way you think a woman should look, but a woman is allowed to be dominating and powerful at a sport without you questioning her gender. Because, don't forget, these guys—don't forget, these guys dragged her, an Algerian female boxer, into their American conservative culture war. And if they are going to use her as a metaphorical punching bag, the least they can do is step into the ring and let her use them as a literal punching bag.” Khelif’s case raises serious questions about fairness in women’s sports that deserve to be discussed, but such discussions will never happen if people like Kosta insist there’s nothing to see here by omitting key information from their stories and deflect by repeating easily debunked talking points about ectopic pregnancies. Here is a transcript for the August 5 show: Comedy Central The Daily Show 8/6/2024 11:05 PM ET MICHAEL KOSTA: Because, again, this female boxer is female. Can we stop this before America turns it into a presidential campaign issue? JD VANCE: The far left wants to allow biological males to beat the living crap out of women in boxing. KOSTA: Is that really what this race is going to be about? J.D. Vance is going to be out on the campaign trail like, "You know, when I was growing up in the holler, the one thing we cared about was international women's boxing regulations."  By the way, if conservatives are so concerned with women's safety, maybe consider caring about it outside of sports? There are women in America who are like, "Help me, I'm having an ectopic pregnancy," and conservatives are like, "Shut up! We're trying to protect women over here."  Look, I'm sorry this elite athlete does not look like the way you think a woman should look, but a woman is allowed to be dominating and powerful at a sport without you questioning her gender. Because, don't forget, these guys -- don't forget, these guys dragged her, an Algerian female boxer, into their American conservative culture war. And if they are going to use her as a metaphorical punching bag, the least they can do is step into the ring and let her use them as a literal punching bag.  August 6th, 2024 10:00 AM Alex Christy 285348 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jorge-bonilla/2024/08/06/cbs-correspondent-hypes-irans-beating-war-drums-ahead-attack One of CBS’s most ardently pro-Hamas correspondents has now moved towards, if not outright cheerleading for Iran, leveraging her platform as an instrument of pro-Iranian propaganda. Notice the jarring juxtaposition between Major Garrett’s framing of Debora Patta’s dispatch from the Middle East, and how the report actually opened: CBS EVENING NEWS 8/5/24 6:41 PM MAJOR GARRETT: Several U.S. personnel were injured today in a suspected rocket attack on the al-Asad airbase in Iraq. We don't yet know the severity of the injuries and no group has claimed responsibility. The White House says the president and vice president have been briefed. Today's attack comes amid growing fears of an all-out war in the Middle East with Iran and its proxies threatening to strike back against Israel for the recent assassinations of senior Hamas and Hezbollah leaders. The U.S. is beefing up its military presence in the region, sending additional warships and fighter jets. CBS's Debora Patta is in East Jerusalem. DEBORA PATTA: The war drums are getting louder. Following Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination, Teheran says Israel must be punished for what it calls its cowardly attack on Iranian soil. Both Israel and Iran say they don't want this to escalate, but nobody wants to be the first to take a step back. Once Patta takes over, there is no mention of the Iranian proxy attack on al-Asad, nor any mention of injured American servicemembers. Patta goes straight to Iranian war drums. After discussing a potential encirclement of Israel by Iranian proxies, Patta advocates for an indeterminate and unilateral Israeli ceasefire as the only remedy for the ongoing conflict. It goes without saying that there are no calls for Hamas to lay their weapons down and turn over all remaining hostages.  Had this surrender happened, or had Hamas not conducted its savage attack in the first place, there would be no need for what Patta describes further in the report: The remains of more than 80 Palestinians were returned today after Israel took some of the bodies to check if any hostages were among them. These are the nameless dead waiting for loved ones to claim them. There are high levels of anxiety here but for many Israelis, life simply goes on.  The goal, clearly, is to depict Israelis as coldly detached from the suffering happening in Gaza. But, again, there is no interest in adjudicating responsibility for the attacks- which is ultimately Iran’s. It staggers the mind that CBS would continue to run pro-Hamas propaganda and call it news. But, alas, here we are. One shudders to consider what the next few dispatches will look like once the rockets start flying. Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned report as aired on the CBS Evening News on Monday, August 5th, 2024: MAJOR GARRETT: Several U.S. personnel were injured today in a suspected rocket attack on the al-Asad airbase in Iraq. We don't yet know the severity of the injuries and no group has claimed responsibility. The White House says the president and vice president have been briefed. Today's attack comes amid growing fears of an all-out war in the Middle East with Iran and its proxies threatening to strike back against Israel for the recent assassinations of senior Hamas and Hezbollah leaders. The U.S. is beefing up its military presence in the region, sending additional warships and fighter jets. CBS's Debora Patta is in East Jerusalem. DEBORA PATTA: The war drums are getting louder. Following Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination, Teheran says Israel must be punished for what it calls its cowardly attack on Iranian soil. Both Israel and Iran say they don't want this to escalate, but nobody wants to be the first to take a step back. Former Israeli diplomat to the U.S. Alon Pinkas.  ALON PINKAS: And, most warning, is a coordinated- the so-called 360-degree attack. Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iran from the east, the Houthis in western Yemen from the south. Hamas in both Gaza and the West Bank. So Israel will be encircled. PATTA: And where does America sit in all of this and what should they be doing?  PINKAS: The last thing that America wants is a scenario in which they are dragged into the conflict. PATTA: U.S. General Michael Kurilla helped coordinate the defense of Israel during the Iranian attack in April when more than 300 missiles and drones were fired, and was back here today meeting with Israel's defense minister. The U.S. still believes the best way to prevent this from spiraling out of control is a cease-fire in Gaza. In weekend protests, families and friends of hostages accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of choosing escalation over a deal. As the world's attention is focused on Iran, in Gaza they count their dead every day. The remains of more than 80 Palestinians were returned today after Israel took some of the bodies to check if any hostages were among them. These are the nameless dead waiting for loved ones to claim them. There are high levels of anxiety here but for many Israelis, life simply goes on. There’s still an all-out effort internationally to prevent this from escalating, but one mistake could be lethal. Major. GARRETT: Debora Patta. Thank you.   August 6th, 2024 1:02 AM Jorge Bonilla 285346 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jorge-bonilla/2024/08/05/pbs-only-evening-newscast-report-firing-unrwa-9-over-potential As the Middle East braces for war, a major news story broke yet went unreported across the major evening network newscasts: The United Nations’ Palestinian relief agency, known as UNRWA, fired nine employees over their potential involvement in Hamas’ barbaric October 7th attack against Israel.  In fact, the ONLY evening newscast to report on the UNRWA firings was PBS NewsHour. Here is that report in its entirety: PBS NEWSHOUR 8/5/24 7:14 PM AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhile, the United Nations says it has fired nine staffers from its agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA. That comes after an internal investigation found they may have been involved in Hamas' October attack against Israel. Allegations of such involvement led more than a dozen countries to pause funding to UNRWA, including the United States. Most have since resumed doing so, though the U.S. has not.  It is true that PBS only mustered a mere 25 seconds for this story on their hourlong newscast. But that is 25 seconds more than ABC, CBS, and NBC combined, a pathetic display from a Regime Media that is given to coddling Hamas if doing so casts the Regime in a favorable light. To be clear, this was an editorial decision. Once ABC, CBS, and NBC decided that they HAD to report on American female gymnasts bending the knee to the Brazilian gold medal winner, there was simply no time. As in the Seinfeld episode: not a square to spare. But the story did warrant a writeup on each of the networks’ websites: ABC, CBS, and NBC each had items on the UNRWA firings.  This isn’t the first such omission when it comes to UNRWA, either.  As our colleague Nick Fondacaro noted at the time, the networks were equally disinterested in covering the IDF’s discovery of a huge tunnel housing a Hamas data center, which was hardwired into the UNRWA facility above it.  This is but the latest in an ongoing series of omissions which betray a bias that, if not pro-Hamas, is certainly anti-Israel. This is important to keep in mind as the next several days unfold, and Iran shows their hand.    August 5th, 2024 11:14 PM Jorge Bonilla 285345 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tim-graham/2024/08/05/newsbusters-podcast-byron-donalds-stays-calm-stephanopoulos-yells The media's unelected Democrats cannot tolerate anyone questioning the racial authenticity of Kamala Harris. On This Week, ABC's cantankerous George Stephanopoulos yelled at Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) over Trump questioning her racial shape-shifting. Donalds calmly stated and repeated that this is a phone issue, and that George was the one obsessing over race.  But it's far too common for journalists to question the blackness of black conservatives and Republicans, and suggest they're just pandering to the white man. ABC's The View did this in June, as Joy Behar suggested Donalds was stupid, and Sunny Hostin bizarrely implied black Republicans were mythical figures, like "unicorns." But when Trump said in Atlanta that Harris was a "low-IQ individual," CNN morning host Kasie Hunt said this was "definitely race-related." These people have a field full of cows when you pronounce her name Ka–MAH-la. But you can compare Trump to Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, and Mao, homicidal tyrants all, is fair game.  The contrast in "accountability" between Republicans and Democrats was on display on Sunday and Monday. After yelling at Byron Donalds on Sunday, Stephanopoulos sounded remarkably soft on Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), celebrating her new book. He began "You wrote a book called The Art of Power. How is power an art?" Then there’s this: STEPHANOPOULOS: Your book is also in many ways a plea for political civility and decency. You open of course with the attack on your husband from a couple of years ago. The harrowing events of January 6th. It does seem like we've gone off the rails in many ways.  These people are so preposterous. Pelosi was consistently celebrated. On CBS Sunday Morning, she bizarrely suggested President Biden belonged on Mount Rushmore. CBS's Lesley Stahl expressed a little skepticism, but then launched into puffing Pelosi's excellence: “If there were a Mount Rushmore for Speakers of the House, Nancy Pelosi would certainly be up there, commemorating her 20 years as a commanding leader in Congress.” Enjoy the podcast below, even as the media can be more disturbing than enjoyable.    August 5th, 2024 9:14 PM Tim Graham 285343 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/sarah-butler/2024/08/05/stephanopoulos-fawns-over-pelosis-striking-book-plea-forcivility On Monday’s Good Morning America, ABC co-host George Stephanopoulos hosted Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for a puffball-filled interview about her new book The Art of Power: My Story as Americas First Woman Speaker of the House. Speaking from one liberal to another, Stephanopoulos described the title as “striking” and agreed with Pelosi as she continuously praised Biden. Stephanopoulos began by describing the title of her book as “striking” and asked how power is an art. Pelosi responded with a diversion by praising President Biden and bragging on the Olympic athletes:     Well, first let me just say it's wonderful to be with you on this morning where we celebrate and congratulate the President for the great return of the prisoners. It was a virtuoso, diplomatic performance that once again on his part, following up on his success with NATO and — and the rest. So I'm very happy. And congratulations to our American athletes at the Olympics. In regards to Stephanopoulos’s question, she finally responded “Yeah The Art of Power, you know, it is -- I could have made The Science of Power but it really is more of an art in my view and it is about the ephemeral the -- what people are thinking, respect for them.” Pelosi continued that her book is about “acknowledging consensus building.” She stated that it was not about “power coming down” but rather about power “bubbling up.” In the most laughable moment, Stephanopoulos described her book as a “plea for political civility and decency.” On a more serious note, He went on to recall “the attack” on Pelosi’s’ husband and the “harrowing events of January 6th.” Pelosi added that “politics is a place where you have nonviolent differences of opinion and this has gotten to a place that we have to back off of.” Pelosi then tried to seem patriotic: “We have to make a decision to be the country that we are. Honoring the vision of our founders for this great country. The sacrifice of our men and women in uniform, who protect our freedom -- our freedom and again the aspirations of our children to be safe.” In regards to her “husband’s situation” Pelosi noted it was “sad” because “he’s not very political” (except for the stock trading). She went on to say “They were after me and I feel guilty about his paying the price but in addition to that, we don't want families to feel at risk because someone in their family is engaged in public service.” Stephanopoulos then asked Pelosi gently about what role she had in Biden dropping out of the presidential race. Unsurprisingly, she professed that she has “the greatest respect for the president” and views him as “one of the most consequential presidents in our country.” Pelosi added that they “work[ed] together for a great legacy for our country.” Stephanopoulos asked her how that conversation with Biden went since she stepped down as democratic leader of the house a few years ago and called for a “new generation” to step in. Pelosi responded: I wasn’t asking him to step down. I was asking for a campaign that would win. And I wasn't seeing that on the horizon and that's really more my -- if we're going to win, winning an election is a decision. You make a decision to win and make every decision in favor of winning, in terms of how you mobilize at the grass roots level and own the ground to get out the vote. How you have a message that is bold and progressive, but not menacing to the public. Stephanopoulos concluded by joking “You just gave us another lesson in The Art of Power in the way you answered that question. Thank you for coming in.” Click "Expand" to view the transcript: ABC’s Good Morning America 8/5/2024 7:40:28 AM 6 minutes 5 seconds GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Back now with Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker emerita who is out with a new book The Art of Power: My Story as Americas First Woman Speaker of the House. Thank you for coming in today. NANCY PELOSI: My pleasure. STEPHANOPOULOS: Striking — PELOSI: Good morning. STEPHANOPOULOS: — striking title The Art of Power. PELOSI: Yeah. STEPHANOPOULOS: How is power an art? PELOSI: Well, first let me just say it's wonderful to be with you on this morning where we celebrate and congratulate the President for the great return of the prisoners. It was a virtuoso, diplomatic performance that once again on his part, following up on his success with NATO and — and the rest. So I'm very happy. And congratulations to our American athletes at the Olympics. Aren’t they — don’t they make us so proud and happy? STEPHANOPOULOS: They’re doing great. PELOSI: Yeah. The Art of Power, you know, it is — I could have made The Science of Power, but it really is more of an art, in my view, and it is about the ephemeral the — what people are thinking, respect for them. It's about — it's about, again, acknowledging consensus building and the rest of that. It's not about power coming down. It's about bubbling up. STEPHANOPOULOS: Your — your book is also in many ways a plea for political civility and decency. You open, of course, with the attack on your husband from a couple of years ago, the harrowing events of January 6th. It does seem like we've gone off the rails in many ways. PELOSI: Well, it has no place in our society. I mean, we are a democracy. We have differences of opinion and politics is — is a place where you have nonviolent differences of opinion and this has gotten to a place that we have to back off of. And it is, I think what the public would want, as — as Kamala has said, “we're better than this. We deserve better than this.” And we just have to make a decision — we have to make a decision to be the country that we are, honoring the vision of our founders for this great country, the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform, to protect our freedom, our freedom and again the aspirations of our children to be safe. And — and we have all of that — and I believe in the goodness of the American people. I believe that's what they do want, so we just have to back off what is out there and what was sad about my husband's situation is he's not very political. They were after me. And I feel guilty about his paying the price but in addition to that — in addition to that, all families, we don't want families to feel at risk because their — someone in their family is engaged in public service. STEPHANOPOULOS: It has been a dizzying summer in — in politics. PELOSI: Yeah. STEPHANOPOULOS: You know, we saw the withdrawal of President Biden, historic decision by him. A lot has been written, said about your role in all of this. PELOSI: Yeah. STEPHANOPOULOS: I know you've denied making any phone calls about this, but how would you describe your role in that whole episode? PELOSI: Well I have the greatest respect for the president. I think he will be one of the most consequential — Joe Biden will be viewed as one the most consequential presidents in our country. I want him, his legacy, to be recognized, preserved. It's our legacy, too, in the Congress. We work together for a great legacy for our country — for a great agenda for working families, for kitchen table issues for America's working families. So, I wanted that to be recognized and he was the one who could recognize it the most. So, we just wanted him to make the decision on how we best preserve that legacy and also win. STEPHANOPOULOS: And the only way to do that was for him to step down? PELOSI: But that would be up to him to decide. It was always about him. Why I said I'd make calls because people said I was burning up the airwaves. No I wasn't. The only person that I spoke to about this was the President. Other people called me about what their views were about it, and — but I rarely even returned a call, much less initiated one. STEPHANOPOULOS: Was it easier or harder for you to talk to him about that given your own decision a couple of years ago to step down as Democratic leader of the House? Saying it's time for a new generation. PELOSI: Well it was easier because — it was easier, but I wasn’t asking him to step down. I was asking for a campaign that would win and — and I wasn't seeing that on the horizon and that's really more my — if we're going to win, winning an election is a decision. You make a decision to win and make every decision in favor of winning, in terms of how you mobilize at the grass roots level and own the ground to get out the vote, how you have a message that is bold and progressive, but not menacing to the public, and how you have the money to do that, to attract that largely from small donors, and then, the most important decision is the candidate — STEPHANOPOULOS: If it's all about winning — PELOSI: — is the candidate. STEPHANOPOULOS: What is the most important — what's the best decision for Kamala Harris to make right now for her running mate? PELOSI: Well I'm excited about her candidacy and I think that all of the candidates for vice president are excellent and any one of them would be great. It's a difficult decision because they’re all so great. It is the most important decision for her to make. Not just about who can help win, but who can help serve and lead and whose confidence she trusts — she has confidence in and trusts and so, we're all eager to hear who that may be. But it is, again, necessary for us to have again the candidates, the message, the enthusiasm, own the ground to get out that vote to win the election. STEPHANOPOULOS: You just gave us another lesson in The Art of Power in the way you answered that question. Thank you for coming in. PELOSI: Nice to be with you. STEPHANOPOULOS: The Art of Power is available tomorrow. Robin? ROBIN ROBERTS: Well said. Thank you both so much.   August 5th, 2024 8:12 PM Sarah Butler 285337 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/brent-baker/2024/08/05/washington-examiners-liberal-media-scream-mrcs-assessment Since late January of 2012, the Washington Examiner’s Paul Bedard has once a week featured a “Mainstream Media Scream” selection in his “Washington Secrets” column. For each pick, usually posted online on Monday, I provide an explanation and recommend a “scream” rating (scale of one to five). This post contains the “Liberal Media Screams” starting in January 2023. > For 2021 and 2022, for all of 2020. For all of 2019. For all of  2018. (Re-named “Liberal Media Scream” as of June 11, 2018.) “Mainstream Media Screams” for: > July-December 2017 posts; January through June 2017; July to December 2016; for January to June 2016; for July to December 2015; for January to June 2015. (2012-2014 are featured on MRC.org: For 2014; for June 17, 2013 through the end of 2013. And for January 31, 2012 through June 11, 2013.) Check Bedard’s “Washington Secrets” blog for the latest choice and his other Washington insider posts. Each week, this page will be updated with Bedard’s latest example of the worst bias of the week. (For more of the worst liberal media bias, browse the Media Research Center's Notable Quotables with compilations of the latest outrageous, sometimes humorous, quotes in the liberal media.)   ■ New on August 5: Liberal Media Scream: ABC’s Rachel Scott doubles down on Trump See the posting on the Washington Examiner's site where you can watch the video and read Baker's assessment. A week later, Bedard's article will be posted here.   ■ July 29: Liberal Media Scream: CNN spins Biden as martyr for stopping Trump (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the latest spin from CNN that President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of his reelection race guarantees the end of President Donald Trump too. Fareed Zakaria offered this Sunday on his “My Take” commentary: “The final legacy of Biden is that he has returned the presidency to an office of sanity, decency, and dignity, ushering out the dangerous demagoguery and anti-democratic rhetoric and behavior that preceded him. But for that legacy to endure, and for Biden’s term not to simply be a moment in time, he needed to ensure that the United States actually closes the chapter on Donald Trump.” Perspective didn’t matter. In fact, Biden’s “friends” pushed him out because of his poor polling, and while Vice President Kamala Harris has seen a jump in interest in her, she is leading Trump in only two of eight national polls taken after Biden’s July 21 announcement, and those leads are of 1% and 2%. Zakaria on Sunday’s Fareed Zakaria GPS on CNN: “The final legacy of Biden is that he has returned the presidency to an office of sanity, decency, and dignity, ushering out the dangerous demagoguery and anti-democratic rhetoric and behavior that preceded him. But for that legacy to endure, and for Biden’s term not to simply be a moment in time, he needed to ensure that the United States actually closes the chapter on Donald Trump. “And to help make this more likely, he made the painful decision not to run for the presidency, which will also earn him a special place in the history books. Joe Biden has felt that he has been underestimated all his life. Judging by his tenure in the White House, he’s right.” Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explained our weekly pick: “So much for jaded journalists holding to account those in power. When it comes to keeping Trump from returning to the White House, much of the media eagerly buy into advancing the party line on how Biden made a ‘painful decision’ to put the nation ahead of himself when, in fact, a skeptical journalist would realize it was nothing more than Biden applying grandiose spin, which Zakaria ate up, to cover for an impending humiliating defeat.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ July 22: Liberal Media Scream: NBC insider says Biden as ‘great’ as Washington (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the race among Washington journalists to erase their coverage of President Joe Biden as a senile loser and raise him to sainthood status. The best example came from a former Newsweek reporter and NBC News contributor who not only compared Biden to former President George Washington but also to the Roman statesman Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, considered the figure of virtue for leaving his position of power to return to farming. “I also was thinking of Joe Biden’s legacy,” Jonathan Alter said. “He will be remembered as a great president. He will be mentioned in the same sentence as George Washington. Why? Because selflessly leaving power, and the circumstances of him clinging to it in the last three weeks will be forgotten, the basic decision to leave power, which started with Cincinnatus in 439 B.C.,” he added. From Monday’s Morning News NOW on the NBC News NOW streaming channel: CO-ANCHOR JOE FRYER: You love history so much. What was going through your mind yesterday when this decision came down? How do you rank this in the 21st century as far as important stories? JONATHAN ALTER: Extremely important, extremely unusual in American politics. The last time it happened was in 1968 when incumbent President Lyndon Johnson stepped away. I also was thinking of Joe Biden’s legacy. He will be remembered as a great president. He will be mentioned in the same sentence as George Washington. Why? Because selflessly leaving power, and the circumstances of him clinging to it in the last three weeks will be forgotten, the basic decision to leave power, which started with Cincinnatus in 439 B.C. And then George Washington picks up from Cincinnatus. The city, of course, is named for this. Why Cincinnatus? Why is he still so well known? Because this selfless act — of leaving power, which in human history is an extremely rare thing to do — elevates you. And in combination with a record of genuine achievement, it will put Joe Biden in very, very good stead in terms of history.” Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “What’s next? Comparing Biden to Jesus? Only a matter of time, I suspect, at least in the world of MSNBC and NBC News. Apparently, Alter is so enthralled with Biden that he can’t see a difference between the widely admired George Washington, who rejected the public groundswell urging him to become the king, and the unpopular Biden who only stepped away when faced with the near certainty of an embarrassing defeat bringing down him and much of his party.” Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ July 15: Liberal Media Scream: Anger over blood-splattered ‘fight, fight, fight’ (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the immediately iconic photos of a blood-splattered former President Donald Trump urging supporters to “fight, fight, fight” to restore him to the White House and the media’s queasiness with and misinterpretation of his message. For the president and his supporters, the message was clear: Stand up to the attacks and build a unified base to win. But to many in the media, they saw it as a disturbing, angry message of revenge. At CNN, for example, Jamie Gangel took offense to Trump, who survived the assassination attempt by millimeters. “I think what we’re hearing from people is that’s not the message that we want to be sending right now. We want to tamp it down,” she said. This is what Gangel said on CNN Saturday night, about four hours after the shooting: “I do want to say there was one thing that, when I watched the tape, I found odd because of all of the heated rhetoric. And that is that after he was hit, former President Trump got up and said, ‘Fight, fight, fight.’ I think what we’re hearing from people is that’s not the message that we want to be sending right now. We want to tamp it down.” Brent Baker, the vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “I’m sorry, not, that Trump didn’t display the correct decorum to satisfy Gangel a minute after getting shot and barely escaping alive in an assassination attempt. That Gangel’s first instinct was to attack the words of the victim shows the distorted worldview of CNN, where Trump and MAGA are the threats to democracy which must be suppressed.” Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ July 8: Liberal Media Scream: Welker pushes Meet the Press even further left (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the latest demonstration that NBC Meet the Press host Kristen Welker, in the anchor seat for less than a year, has pushed the show further left than Chuck Todd left it. This Sunday, it was Welker using her trademark practice of beating her point into the ground in demanding another Republican to “accept the election results,” which she obviously believes will show President Joe Biden reelected. Her target was Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), on former President Donald Trump’s short list of running mates. “Can you say unequivocally, unequivocally here and now, that you will accept the results of the 2024 election no matter what they are?” she asked, ignoring warnings from the FBI about election hanky panky and some of the problems found in the 2020 ballot casting. When Vance said he’s hoping for a clean election, Welker said he was signaling that the election won’t be fair. He fired back that it is the media’s blindness to problems that is the threat to the election outcome, not a candidate’s hope for problem-free elections. “What I think actually undermines people’s confidence in the electoral system is when the media is incurious about obvious examples of problems in our electoral system,” Vance said. From Sunday’s Meet the Press on NBC: KRISTEN WELKER: Well, here we are about a week before the Republican convention. Before I let you go, can you say unequivocally, unequivocally here and now, that you will accept the results of the 2024 election no matter what they are? SEN. J.D. VANCE [R-OH]: So long as it’s a free and fair election, Kristen, of course we will. We will use constitutional processes to challenge issues if we think there are issues. But if it’s a free and fair election, we will do what the Constitution requires. We will respect the results. And I expect those results are going to be to reelect Donald Trump. WELKER: It was a free and fair election in 2020. Donald Trump took his concerns to court. He lost in court. But he still has not conceded. Do you understand that when you refuse to commit unequivocally, that feeds into people’s concerns, skepticism about the nation’s electoral process? VANCE: Well, Kristen, I don’t agree with that actually. I think that feeding into people’s concerns about our electoral process is that one-half of America’s political segment, they won’t support legislation that makes it harder for illegal aliens to vote. They won’t support universal voter ID in our elections even though you have to present ID to do almost anything in this country. I think taking people’s concerns seriously about election fraud is the way to reinforce security and confidence in our elections. WELKER: Yes, senator, it’s already against the law for noncitizens to vote. But just on that very point, when you, when others refuse to say, “Yes, we will accept the election results,” do you understand how that undermines people’s confidence in the electoral system? VANCE: But, Kristen, what I just said is I don’t agree with that. What I think actually undermines people’s confidence in the electoral system is when the media is incurious about obvious examples of problems in our electoral system. I think we’ve got great elections, but a lot of things could be better in certain states. I want to work to make that happen so the American people have greater confidence in their elections. That’s what I’ll keep doing. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Welker has managed to make Meet the Press more of a vehicle for the agenda of liberals than it was under Chuck Todd. Every week, it seems, she acts as a thought police operative, demanding Republican guests pay fealty to the Democratic media party line on how elections cannot be questioned, trying to undermine their very legitimacy as elected officials. In Vance’s case, she distorted his answer to appear the opposite of what it was so she could lecture him about his improper thinking.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ July 1: Liberal Media Scream: NBC’s Welker lies about ‘lies,’ can’t stand truthful Republicans (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features President Joe Biden’s media cheerleading squad trying to find some way to divert the public’s attention away from the fact that the president was out of it during last week’s debate with former President Donald Trump. The top tactic of the liberal press was to say that Trump told more “lies” than the comatose president. And when Republicans pushed back, the media just ignored and pressed on. Case in point was NBC’s Kristen Welker, the Meet the Press anchor. One of her featured guests was Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND), who is on Trump’s short list of running mate candidates. Not only did she press him on whether he was a liar, she told lies about debate statements Trump made that have been fact-checked as truthful. “As someone who is on Donald Trump’s short list to be his vice presidential nominee, do you think he should stop saying things that are not true?” She then recited his supposed lies: “Just to say a few: He said that Democrats want to kill infants after birth. That’s not true. He again lied about widespread fraud. Not true. He lied about his comments after Charlottesville. Should he be truthful with the American people if he wants to lead this country? Especially given what you just said that you never lie. That’s your standard, governor.” But Democrats certainly do support allowing abortion up until birth and even death to newborns. That was clearly stated by former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, himself a pediatric neurologist. And liberal reporters love misquoting Trump’s “good people on both sides” comment about the demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia, but it has been debunked, and he was not referring to Nazis as one of the “both” sides. From Sunday’s Meet the Press on NBC: GOV. DOUG BURGUM: Four years ago, when we ended up with the current ticket on the Democrat side, that was this grand devil’s bargain of “everybody drop out, we’re going with these two.” Then, the biggest lie that has been foisted on the American public was seen on Thursday night. People can’t un-see what they saw. What they saw was, we’ve been told by the White House, two weeks ago, the White House was attacking journalists, including your friends, saying that no, you can’t say these stories about that Joe Biden isn’t capable of serving right now. And then, all of America saw it. And you know who else saw it? Our adversaries saw it. Putin saw it. Xi saw it. The ayatollah saw it. I mean, the nation — we keep talking about elections. We are at a greater national security risk today than we were on Thursday because the commander in chief showed that he’s not capable of serving. KRISTEN WELKER: Well, there’s not proof of that, but governor, let me just ask you about the debate and a little bit more of what we saw. By one count, Donald Trump made more than 30 false claims during that debate. I want to play something you told my colleague Chuck Todd on this broadcast last year. Take a look. CHUCK TODD: You ever lied in politics? BURGUM: No. TODD: That you know of? You don’t believe you’ve ever lied? BURGUM: No. TODD: You feel like you’ve always told the truth as you understood it? BURGUM: Absolutely. That’s how I was raised and how I’ve gone forward. WELKER: As someone who is on Donald Trump’s short list to be his vice presidential nominee, do you think he should stop saying things that are not true? BURGUM: I think the whole manufactured thing this morning of, that Donald Trump has said something that he hasn’t said before, I mean, everything that he said on Thursday night he’s been saying before. I mean, so this isn’t, this is not news. WELKER: This is not manufactured. But this is not manufactured, governor. I mean, just to say a few: He said that Democrats want to kill infants after birth. That’s not true. He again lied about widespread fraud. Not true. He lied about his comments after Charlottesville. Should he be truthful with the American people if he wants to lead this country? Especially given what you just said that you never lie. That’s your standard, governor. Brent Baker, the vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Welker is so sure of herself, so smugly superior that she can rattle off a list of supposed lies from Donald Trump without any self-awareness that she is passing on distortions of what Trump said while she demands Gov. Burgum criticize Trump for not being truthful. And then, when Burgum makes a perfectly reasonable observation, she corrects him with the ‘there’s not proof of that’ bromide. Pot, meet kettle.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ June 24: Liberal Media Scream: CNN proves anti-Trump bias days before debate (Washington Examiner post) And just like that, CNN showed its anti-Trump bias on Monday, just three days before hosting the first debate between former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden, proving Republicans correct in complaining that the debate would be an ambush. It came early Monday morning when anchor Kasie Hunt was hosting Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt. At the time, Secrets was considering the week’s choices for the Liberal Media Scream feature with Brent Baker of the Media Research Center. Stories about the strong anti-Trump bias of co-debate moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper started to appear over the weekend, so it wasn’t unexpected that Leavitt would criticize them. Readers may recall that CNN and Trump have an antagonistic relationship, highlighted when CNN host Jim Acosta tussled with Trump during a press conference five years ago. When Leavitt hit CNN’s bias, Hunt, who often includes Republicans on her show, wouldn’t hear of it, shut off her guest’s microphone, and kicked Trump’s spokeswoman off the air. The two traded tweets afterward, but the damage was done and led to a piling on by those upset with Hunt’s liberal bias, including Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) wife, who noted that Hunt called the story about an attack on the senator one of her “favorite stories.” So, for her actions, Hunt wins our Liberal Media Scream of the week with a rating of five out of five screams. From Monday’s CNN This Morning: KAROLINE LEAVITT: Well, President Trump is well prepared ahead of Thursday’s debates. Unlike Joe Biden, he doesn’t have to hide away and have his advisers tell him what to say. President Trump knows what he wants to say, and he’s going to relay his vision to the American people to make this country strong, safe, secure, and wealthy again. He’s been doing that across this great nation, to all corners of this country. That’s why he was in Detroit, Michigan, last week. He was in Philadelphia for a big rally on Saturday night, and that’s why President Trump is knowingly going into a hostile environment on this very network, on CNN, with debate moderators who have made their opinions about him very well known over the past eight years in their biased coverage of him. So President Trump is willing to bring his message to every corner of this country, to voters, to ensure that he wins this election in November. He looks forward to doing that, and I know the American public looks forward to hearing from him. KASIE HUNT: So, I’ll just say my colleagues, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, have acquitted themselves as professional as they have covered campaigns and interviewed candidates from all sides of the aisle. I’ll also say that if you talk to analysts at debates previous, that if you’re attacking the moderators, you’re usually losing. So, I really want to focus on what these two men are going to do and say when they stand on the stage. Now, we have a little bit of what Donald Trump, your boss, has said in trying to set expectations for this debate. I want to play some of a series of his comments, and then we’ll talk about it. Watch. DONALD TRUMP CLIPS: Maybe I’m better off losing the debate. I’ll make sure he says I lose the debate on purpose. Maybe I’ll do something like that. … I assume he’s gonna be somebody that will be a worthy debater. … Should I be tough and nasty and just say you’re the worst president in history, or should I be nice and calm and let him speak? HUNT: So he’s basically saying there, well, will I let Joe Biden win? It does seem as though many Republicans have set the bar very low in terms of arguing that Joe Biden is basically senile. Now, you have people like Doug Burgum coming out and saying, well, President Biden’s very accomplished, trying to set expectations in a different place. What do you expect from Joe Biden? LEAVITT: Well, first of all, it takes someone five minutes to Google Jake Tapper, Donald Trump to see that Jake Tapper has consistently, frequently likened President Trump to Adolf Hitler — HUNT: Ma’am, I’m going to stop this interview if you continue to attack my colleagues. I would like to talk about Joe Biden and Donald Trump, who you work for. If you are here to speak on his behalf, I am willing to have this conversation. LEAVITT: I am stating facts that your colleagues have stated in the past. Now, as for this debate, the expectations for, the expectations for — HUNT: Now, I’m sorry, guys. We’re going to come back out to the panel. Karoline, thank you very much for your time. You are welcome to come back at any point. She is welcome to come back and speak about Donald Trump, and Donald Trump will have equal time to Joe Biden when they both join us … later this week in Atlanta for this debate. Our thanks to Karoline. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Not a good sign for Donald Trump and his supporters ahead of CNN’s debate. If Hunt’s aggressiveness is any guide, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash won’t be reluctant to use their power to kill the podium microphones to silence the candidate who says things they have a long record of denouncing and condemning. Trump may well regret agreeing to allow CNN to host a debate.” Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ June 17: Liberal Media Scream: ‘What the f***?’: Celebrities baffled voters like Trump for sounding ‘normal’ (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features world-class comics expressing shock that the public connects with former President Donald Trump because he sounds normal and even funny. “What the f***?” yelped Charlamagne tha God, appearing on Friday’s Real Time with Bill Maher’s “Overtime” with liberal talker Ana Navarro. The trio were talking about Trump and answering questions when Maher said, “Is Trump dangerous because he’s funny?” When Maher said the fact is that people respond to Trump’s commoner way of talking, the black comic said, “Republicans are more sincere about their lies than Democrats are about their truth. Like when you listen to Donald Trump talk, you listen to Marjorie Taylor Greene, that’s what Waffle House sounds like at three in the morning. And sadly, people relate to that.” From Friday’s Real Time with Bill Maher’s “Overtime” show posted on YouTube after the regular program aired on HBO, picking up as Maher posed questions from viewers: BILL MAHER: Charlamagne, this is for you. “Is Trump dangerous because he’s funny?” CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD [CTG]: What the f***? No, Trump is dangerous because at one point he was president of the United States of America and he’s running to be president of the United States of America again. If he wasn’t, you know, running to be in that position, he’d be the most hilarious person on the planet. ANA NAVARRO: But, I mean, do you, do you actually — you’re a comedian — do you actually find him funny because people are laughing at him? MAHER: Yes, unintentionally? CTG: Yes. MAHER: He’s a scream? Oh, he’s so funny, but he doesn’t know it. No, really. I mean, there are people like that. He has no— NAVARRO: When I, when I listen to him, when he’s talking in those rallies about the sharks and the batteries, I’m waiting for the men in white jackets to show up. CTG: But it’s only because he’s running for president. If he wasn’t running for president, you’d be like, “This stand-up is amazing.” MAHER: But he sounds — and I’ve heard you talk about this subject before — he sounds like more of a normal person. CTG: Yes. MAHER: And that you, I know you said that the Republicans have a big advantage because they communicate better. CTG: Yeah, Republicans are more sincere about their lies than Democrats are about their truth. Like when you listen to Donald Trump talk, you listen to Marjorie Taylor Greene, that’s what Waffle House sounds like at three in the morning. And sadly, people relate to that. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Charlamagne tha God seemingly reflects much of the bafflement of those on the Left as to why average, not-so-political people would be attracted by the messages delivered by Trump and other Republicans. So, aghast at the phenomenon, he must attribute it to how Trump and conservatives are better talkers and liars, not that their policy views better address the problems facing the country.” Rating: THREE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ June 10: Liberal Media Scream: ‘The View’ says black people not allowed to leave the Democratic plantation (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features The View engaging in racial politics and suggesting that minority viewers should stay in their Democratic lane. On the show, Sunny Hostin was discussing Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) giving his support to former President Donald Trump. He is one of Trump’s potential picks for a running mate. Hostin, whose roots are Puerto Rican, accused Donalds of pandering to Trump, though several polls show black voters like the ex-president, especially men, and are moving to the Republican Party after decades of pandering by the Democratic Party. She said that such black voters are ultra-rare. “These black men that he was speaking with, I’d love to see them. It would be like looking at unicorns,” Hostin said on Friday’s show. From Friday’s The View, a show produced by ABC News: JOY BEHAR: Florida congressman Byron Donalds hit a new low when he told a room full of black Republicans that he misses the quote, unquote, good old days. Watch. BYRON DONALDS, on June 4: During Jim Crow, the black family was together. During Jim Crow, more black people were not just conservative — black people have always been conservative-minded — but more black people voted conservatively. And then, H.E.W., Lyndon Johnson, and then you go down that road, and now we are where we are. …. SARA HAINES: What’s scary is when you hear the audio, there are a lot of people going, uh-huh, uh-huh. So it feels like a class needs to be taught to everyone in that room because segregation left you with no choice. Like, you weren’t picking the family. They were literally making you go to different places. They didn’t allow for — so, talking about a black person choosing to be with your family and then looking at the greater social scheme and the injustice of that, he must not know what it is? I mean, that seems like a far leap not to understand Jim Crow, segregation, and the separation of the race. I don’t understand. ANA NAVARRO: If he doesn’t know, shame on him, because there is nothing worse, I think, than when people achieve certain status and certain rights and don’t appreciate, take for granted, the struggles, the deaths, the fights, the marches, everything it took to be able to give Byron Donalds the opportunity he has now because, under Jim Crow, he couldn’t vote. He wouldn’t have been in Congress. He couldn’t have married his wife. He’s married to a lovely woman named Erika, who’s white. Interracial marriage was illegal in Florida until 1969. He could have not gone to Florida State University — for over 100 years, black students were not admitted to that university. Over 250 blacks were lynched in Florida under Jim Crow. For him to be waxing nostalgic about that era that elicits so much pain — that was such a dark period in the history of the United States — is offensive. And for him to be doing it as a black man, as a person of color, is even more offensive. What really drives me crazy, though, is that it’s, like, every three months, a Republican says something more stupid about black history and slavery, right? I mean, last year, we had Ron DeSantis saying — defending that there were good things about slavery, skills that were learned that could be put to good use. Then we had Nikki Haley, who couldn’t admit that slavery was the cause for the Civil War. JOY BEHAR: So, my question to you, Sunny: Is it stupidity, like she says, or is it something else? HAINES: I think it’s pandering. I don’t think it’s stupidity. BEHAR: To whom? HOSTIN: It’s pandering to Donald Trump. I thought it was interesting that the framing was a room of black Republicans. Where are they? Where are they? Because if you look at the stats, 77% of — 81%, I’m sorry, of black men are part of the Democratic Party. Black voters consistently align with the Democratic Party. Ninety, over 95% of black women are part of the Democratic Party. So these black men that he was speaking with, I’d love to see them. It would be like looking at unicorns. And so, I think that the sad thing is, you know, I agree with you, Ana, is that this came from the mouth of a black man, right? And so, if you’re pandering yourself and your community and your history to a man like Donald Trump, who is a disgraced, one-term, twice impeached, convicted felon, we get to say now, is even more despicable in this country. Brent Baker, the vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “What a disgusting display of left-wing elitism. To think that, in the name of calling out racism, you think it’s your place as white people to lecture a black man about his views of the status of the black family and how it has fared over the decades. Liberals just can’t allow anyone to deviate from the approved liberal perspective and, if they do, they must be ‘shamed’ and corrected so they get in line.” Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ June 3: Liberal Media Scream: Stephanopoulos anti-Trump spin, condescendingly Clintonesque (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream highlights the model of the media’s bias in the legal cases against former President Donald Trump — ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. The former Clinton White House communications boss opened his Sunday show, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, with a lecture against Trump and then brought on Trump lawyer Will Scharf to face left-wing talking points. Scharf didn’t take it and challenged the Democratic talker, especially when Stephanopoulos tried to silence him for making points he didn’t like. The actions by Stephanopoulos were reminiscent of the way he used to try to shut down reporters during the 1992 presidential campaign when numerous Clinton scandals were raised, a practice he and other aides continued while in the White House when facing troublesome stories, especially the Travelgate affair. From Sunday’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos on ABC: GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Good morning, and welcome to This Week. In 1774, John Adams said representative government and trial by jury are the heart and lungs of liberty. Two hundred and fifty years later, the heart and lungs of liberty are facing what may be the ultimate stress test. Twelve anonymous jurors rendered their verdict on Thursday, finding Donald Trump guilty on all counts. It’s the third time in the last two years that jurors have rendered verdicts against Trump. Jurors have yet to consider charges against Trump for even more serious crimes: blocking the peaceful transfer of power, concealing classified documents, encouraging the filing of false electors. But for now, the New York jurors have already presented their fellow citizens with a choice: Do we want to be represented, to be led, for the first time in history by a convicted felon? That answer will come in November…. STEPHANOPOULOS: The ethics panel for the state of New York said the judge was not required to recuse….   STEPHANOPOULOS: If appearance of impropriety is the standard for recusal, then why shouldn’t Justice Thomas and Justice Alito have to recuse from the cases before the Supreme Court?…. WILL SCHARF: The weaponization of our legal system, the politicization of prosecution, these are all things that President Trump absolutely has to comment on. I think the fact that he labored under a gag order for as long as he did was manifestly unjust. So, yes, absolutely, President Trump needs to be carrying his message to the American people. And I don’t see how anyone can really poke holes at that. STEPHANOPOULOS: You talked about the weaponization of the legal system. Of course, it was former President Trump who threw out the 2016 campaign, led chants of “lock her up” about Hillary Clinton. But what do you expect from the sentencing process? SCHARF: Well, but hold on a second, George, President Trump may have said that, but after he entered office, he certainly didn’t weaponize the Department of Justice to pursue his political opponents the way that we’ve seen … in the last couple years. Remember, this case in New York, it was called the zombie case. It sat and sat and sat. It could have been brought at any point after 2020. And then suddenly, when President Trump announced his campaign for president, it was dusted off, rushed in front of a grand jury, and then rushed into court. You want to talk about the politicization of the legal system, I mean, this is Exhibit A. It’s absolutely unprecedented in American history. It’s not the way that our campaigns are supposed to be run. We contest elections at the ballot box, not in the courts, in this country. STEPHANOPOULOS: That is true. But, of course, we’ve never had a former president or presidential candidate facing the kind of charges that the president faced because of his own activities. And, of course, the attorney general in Manhattan has nothing to do with the Department of Justice. Finally, what do you expect from the sentencing process? SCHARF: I vehemently disagree that the district attorney in New York was not politically motivated here, and I vehemently disagree that President Biden and his political allies aren’t up their necks in this prosecution. I think the fact that the Biden campaign — STEPHANOPOULOS: There’s no evidence here of that. Sir, there’s no — there’s not — I’m not going to let you continue to say that. There’s just zero evidence of that. SCHARF: Well, how about the fact that Matthew Colangelo was standing over Alvin Bragg’s shoulder when he announced this verdict? I mean, Colangelo was the No. 3 official in the Biden Department of Justice who suddenly disappears and shows up as an assistant district attorney, right as Trump’s case in New York starts to proceed. You want to talk about political — STEPHANOPOULOS: After the decision was made there — SCHARF: You want to talk about political coordination, George, it’s right there in front of you. STEPHANOPOULOS: This has nothing to do — this has nothing to do — no, it’s not. This has nothing to do with President Biden. Do you want to answer the question about the sentencing process or not? SCHARF: I completely disagree that this has nothing to do with President Biden. With respect to sentencing, as I said before, we’re going to vigorously challenge this case on appeal. I don’t think President Trump is going to end up being subject to any sentence whatsoever. And we look forward to getting this case into the next court and taking this again all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary to vindicate President Trump’s rights. STEPHANOPOULOS: Thanks for your time this morning. SCHARF: Appreciate it, George. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “A Sunday sermon followed by aggressive left-wing talking points aimed at not allowing legitimacy for views which do not comport with ‘the facts’ as the very liberal and very partisan Stephanopoulos sees them. We’re in for five more months of this from the media and left-wing activists in it like Stephanopoulos: aggressive disdain for anyone making a point on behalf of Trump, imbued with condescending sneering about how there’s ‘no evidence’ for that point when there’s plenty of evidence for it.” Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ May 27: Liberal Media Scream: MSNBC regular cites Clarence Thomas’s white wife in racist rant (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the latest example of the Left’s hysteria over conservative judges on the Supreme Court. MSNBC regular talker Elie Mystal said that Associate Justice Clarence Thomas not only wanted votes from black people to count less than white votes in elections, but he cited Thomas’s wife of 37 years, Virginia Thomas, who is white, as proof. “Yeah, the through line between the Alito flag story, the Clarence Thomas coup story, and their wives, and what we saw today from the Supreme Court in this gerrymandering decision, the through line is that they don’t want black people’s votes to count equally,” Mystal said on All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC Thursday. “I mean, he ain’t married to Ginni Thomas for nothing, all right — like, that’s what the man thinks,” the black pundit said. He was discussing a 6-3 Supreme Court decision last week to keep a South Carolina congressional map that a lower court had ruled included a racially drawn gerrymander. The court said the challengers had not proven their case. The decision was written by Associate Justice Samuel Alito, who has drawn fire for his wife’s flying of their American flag in the “distress” signal. From Thursday’s All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC: CHRIS HAYES: I want to start on what we got from the court today and the fact it was an Alito-authored decision. It was an Alito-authored decision from the Trump majority, 6-3 majority, liberals in dissent, holding up a Republican gerrymander. ELIE MYSTAL: Yeah, the through line between the Alito flag story, the Clarence Thomas coup story, and their wives and what we saw today from the Supreme Court in this gerrymandering decision, the through line between all of that is that they don’t want black people’s votes to count equally. HAYES: Do you think that is true of Clarence Thomas? MYSTAL: I know that it’s true of Clarence Thomas, all right. Their idea and Clarence Thomas, in his concurrence today, wrote straight up that he does not think the 14th Amendment and the equal protection clause of that amendment can be used to protect the voting rights of black people. HAYES: Yes. MYSTAL: I mean, he ain’t married to Ginni Thomas for nothing, all right — like, that’s what the man thinks. He wrote it today. The through line — understand this, Chris, when these people like Alito and Thomas support the insurrection, right, what are they really saying? They’re saying that Trump won — lost the election but won the white vote, which is true, he did, he won the white vote by a lot, white people should probably do something about that, but he won the white vote by a lot. And what Alito and Thomas are saying is that it is that white vote that Trump won is that’s the only votes that matter. That we should do what the white voters want and when they write these decisions like they did in the gerrymandering case, what they are straight up saying is that black voters can be diluted, can have their voting rights taken away, simply because black voters happen to vote Democrat. Brent Baker, the vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “How insidious an attitude to have toward an American institution when your ideological contention is that it’s Trump and MAGA who are destroying democracy. No, you’re doing that with such a disreputable, race-based attack on the court because you don’t agree with a ruling, compounded by a cheap shot at the first conservative African American on the Supreme Court as a self-hater because the race of his wife doesn’t match his. Can’t go much lower.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ May 20: No Liberal Media Scream this week.   ■ May 13: Liberal Media Scream: Networks shamefully use Reagan to defend Biden (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features all three network Sunday public affairs shows going to bat for President Joe Biden’s betrayal of Israel for largely political reasons by suggesting he was just following a pattern set by former President Ronald Reagan. “Historians would say, ‘Why is it OK for Reagan to do it and not President Biden?'” NBC’s Kristen Welker said in a key example of the effort. At issue was Biden’s flip-flop to hold back weaponry Israel needs to push its effort to rid Hamas from Gaza after the terrorists shocked the world with brutal attacks on Israeli women, children, and troops last October. Biden’s move came in response to campus protests by pro-Hamas protesters. The network talk shows noted that Reagan also played hardball with Israel but typically for more diplomatic reasons than domestic politics. What’s more, as Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) noted, nobody ever questioned whether Reagan had Israel’s back in facing down Arab enemies. From the May 12 ABC, NBC, and CBS Sunday morning interview shows: — ABC’s This Week host Martha Raddatz to Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX): You regularly invoke former President Ronald Reagan. You heard Sen. Coons bring up the fact he paused weapons to Israel as well. You constantly ask yourself, ‘What would Ronald Reagan do?’ That’s what Ronald Reagan did. — NBC’s Meet the Press host Kristen Welker to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC): President Biden is not the first president to use arms shipments to try to influence Israeli policy. As you know, former President Ronald Reagan, on multiple occasions, withheld weapons to impact Israel’s military actions. Did President Reagan show that using U.S. military aid as leverage can actually be an effective way to rein in and impact Israel’s policy?… GRAHAM: The Republican Party is with Israel, without apology. WELKER: Well, historians would say, ‘Why is it OK for Reagan to do it and not President Biden?‘ — CBS’s Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan to Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR): You know that past presidents have withheld military aid to Israel to force changes in behavior. President Reagan did that. President Bush did that. Why do you have a problem with President Biden doing it? COTTON: Ronald Reagan’s decision to pause the delivery of fighter jets in the 1980s was totally different from what’s happened here. Israel is fighting a war of survival against a terrorist group that committed the worst atrocity against Jews since World War II. In the 1980s, an Israeli ambassador had been targeted for assassination. Ronald Reagan knew the pause of fighter jets would not interfere with Israel’s fighting because they had plenty of fighters. He did not pause munitions. Joe Biden is not sending munitions in the middle of a shooting war that’s a war of survival. And look at the broader context. Israel knew that Ronald Reagan had its back in the region. He sank half of Iran’s navy. Joe Biden has consistently given Iran hundreds of billions of dollars of sanctions relief that exactly funded groups like Hamas. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “The sudden respect for the policies of Ronald Reagan from members of the Washington press corps, who are normally disdainful toward him, is remarkable. It makes one think they all got a talking points memo from Biden campaign allies and are repeating them to challenge their Republican guests.” Rating: THREE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ May 6: Liberal Media Scream: ABC’s Karl cries wolf with DEFCON 1 Trump warning (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features another breathless election warning from another ABC News Trump critic, Jonathan Karl. A week after This Week host George Stephanopoulos practically seized up over the possibility of former President Donald Trump returning to power, as many voters want, fill-in Karl spun the election as the most important ever on Sunday. “No more crying wolf. This is it,” he said. With six months before the election, let’s hope the New York City Fire Department starts parking an ambulance at ABC News headquarters in case one of the news readers passes out in warning America whom to vote for. Karl, at the top on Sunday’s This Week on ABC: “Good morning. Welcome to This Week. For as long as I’ve covered politics, politicians have said, ‘This will be the most important election of our lifetimes.’ They said that no matter how high or low the stakes actually were. Election Day 2024 is exactly six months from today, and this time, the divisions in our country are so vast and the choice so stark there’s little doubt this really is the most important election of our time. No more crying wolf. This is it.” Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “The election is six months away, and the top anchors for ABC News are already building themselves into a lather of outrage, lecturing their viewers on who they better not vote for — or else. One wonders how out of control they will become as the election grows closer, especially if polls continue to show Donald Trump in the lead. They’re passing DEFCON 2. Once they hit DEFCON 1, what’s next?” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ April 29: Liberal Media Scream: Could you cry more, George Stephanopoulos? (Washington Examiner post) For years, George Stephanopoulos ran block and worse for former President Bill Clinton. First, it was Gennifer Flowers, and then Travelgate and Whitewater. Multiple other scandals followed. His boss got away with most and didn’t face the music until he was finally impeached for lying about the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal. But on Sunday, in an editorial to lead off his ABC Sunday talk show, the former Clinton spokesman ripped into former President Donald Trump, who is facing several court cases for what some legal analysts see as political attacks. That every move Trump makes is hit by the media or added to his legal troubles isn’t enough for Stephanopoulos. Instead, and the reason he’s our feature for this week’s Liberal Media Scream, he wants Trump treated differently, claiming that the former president has pushed the nation to the brink of civil war despite now being the candidate most people want to win in November, according to CNN. “It’s all too easy to fall into reflective habits, to treat this as a normal campaign where both sides embrace the rule of law, where both sides are dedicated to a debate based on facts and the peaceful transfer of power,” he lectured on Sunday. “But that is not what’s happening this election year. Those bedrock tenets of our democracy are being tested in a way we haven’t seen since the Civil War. It’s a test for the candidates, for those of us in the media, and for all of us as citizens,” he added. From Sunday’s This Week on ABC: Good morning, and welcome to This Week. Until now, no American president had ever faced a criminal trial. No American president had ever faced a federal indictment for retaining and concealing classified documents. No American president had ever faced a federal indictment or a state indictment for trying to overturn an election or been named an unindicted co-conspirator in two other states for the same crime. No American president ever faced hundreds of millions of dollars in judgments for business fraud, defamation, and sexual abuse. Until now, no American presidential race had been more defined on what’s happening in courtrooms than what’s happening on the campaign trail — until now. The scale of the abnormality is so staggering that it can actually become numbing. It’s all too easy to fall into reflective habits, to treat this as a normal campaign where both sides embrace the rule of law, where both sides are dedicated to a debate based on facts and the peaceful transfer of power. But that is not what’s happening this election year. Those bedrock tenets of our democracy are being tested in a way we haven’t seen since the Civil War. It’s a test for the candidates, for those of us in the media, and for all of us as citizens. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Speaking of tests, George Stephanopoulos has failed the journalism test. He seems quite proud of it and likely speaks for all too many in the news media who think they have the moral superiority to declare Trump voters not only misguided but guilty of putting the basic tenets of the country at risk. So, Stephanopoulos, a top Clinton spokesman in the 1990s who suppressed from voters information about his candidate’s misdeeds, will save us all by using those left-wing political instincts to decide which candidate voters should be allowed to pick.” Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ April 22: Liberal Media Scream: Historian Meacham says ‘patriotism’ demands Biden win (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream is a rare five-screamer featuring a liberal journalist turned “historian” and biographer claiming that voter patriotism demands reelecting President Joe Biden over former President Donald Trump. Jon Meacham, the former top editor of Newsweek, said on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, “Patriotism is allegiance to an idea. It’s not just an allegiance to your own kind. That’s nationalism. Trump is a nationalist. President Biden is a patriot.” Talking more like an East Coast elitist than a Tennessee native, the liberal analyst added with seriousness, “I’m lucky in that I don’t have particular policy passions, particular issues.” And he included a condescending little jab at his home state. “I want the constitutional order to continue to unfold, and President Biden is devoted to that constitutional order. Donald Trump is self-evidently not. And I would say to my Republican friends — and I live in Tennessee, so that’s redundant — that it is, in fact, a moral question.” Here is Meacham, on Real Time with Bill Maher, reacting to the news that former Attorney General William Barr (a Trump critic) will vote for his former boss: JON MEACHAM: What Barr is doing, and what so many — I sometimes think of them as the Peter Millar Republicans, right, these are Republicans who are not full MAGA people, they’re men’s grill types who don’t want Democrats picking judges or setting tax rates. They talked themselves into this twice. In ’16 and in ’20. And then came December and January of 2020 and 2021, and, at that point, I believe, and I say this with care, that it is become evident, to me, anyway, that there is a patriotic duty to support President Biden against Donald Trump for this reason: Patriotism is allegiance to an idea. It’s not just an allegiance to your own kind. That’s nationalism. Trump is a nationalist. President Biden is a patriot, and I’m lucky in that I don’t have particular policy passions, particular issues. I want the constitutional order to continue to unfold, and President Biden is devoted to that constitutional order. Donald Trump is self-evidently not. And I would say to my Republican friends — and I live in Tennessee, so that’s redundant — that it is, in fact, a moral question…. To me, the interesting thing about the Republican Party is if you are, in fact, going to put partisanship as your central organizing principle, if reflexive partisanship is the most important thing — I would argue that you need to go back and read George Washington’s farewell address. You need to read the founders that otherwise, you know, they love. You know, they love the founders when they can move it around to agree with them. It’s very clear that if party spirit became the organizing principle, that, that was going to be fatal to the Constitution, and it’s very interesting when Barr said it’s “suicide.” The idea that President Biden is leading us to national suicide. I’m not sure what he’s talking about, but Lincoln used that image in his first major speech in the 1830s. He said if we ever fall, it’s not going to be from a foreign foe: It’s going to be from someone internally rising up and mastering those passions. And those passions about partisanship, that’s what’s ruining us. Brent Baker, the vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Could Meacham be any more condescending and elitist? So much for the pretense of being a journalist and not a partisan activist. His take: I’ve decided which candidate is bad for America, so if you vote for that one, you are not only not a patriot, but you will bring about the destruction of the nation. And he wonders why his neighbors in Tennessee don’t appreciate him for denouncing them as on ‘the wrong side’ of ‘a moral question.’ I bet they have a lot more respect for his views than he does for theirs.” Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ April 15: No Liberal Media Scream this week.   ■ April 8: Liberal Media Scream: Joy Reid wants prison, not airport, named for Trump (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream revealed again just how easy it is to make cable TV hosts suffering from “Trump Derangement Syndrome” go nuts. With Congress on Easter break, there wasn’t much Capitol Hill news last week. So when a report was posted about a GOP proposal to rename Dulles International Airport after former President Donald Trump, MSBNC turned all its guns on the idea. On the ReidOut, host Joy Reid said it was bad enough that the “worst” airport in America is named after Eisenhower-era Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. “Let’s make it worse” by naming it for Trump, she said. Instead, she suggested that Trump’s name be put on a Miami prison, a reference to the legal cases he faces, one in Florida. She and her guests, including Ali Velshi and Fordham University professor Christina Greer, piled on. Greer even bashed Washington’s national airport being renamed after former President Ronald Reagan. Reid said, “Yeah, I just call it ‘DCA.'” From Friday’s The ReidOut on MSNBC: JOY REID: Let’s talk a little about this idea of renaming Dulles. Now, Dulles is not the best airport — it might be the worst airport in America. The Republicans are like, “Let’s name it after Donald Trump.” I love the fact that it’s named after one of the most diabolical secretaries of state who destroyed Iran and a bunch of Central America. ALI VELSHI: But let’s make that worse. REID: Let’s make it worse. Also, the Democrats have said, “Instead, let’s name a prison after Trump.” Thoughts? Thoughts? Thoughts? Name a prison in Miami? VELSHI: That is a fantastic idea. … REID: I think this is a great opportunity for the nerds at the table just to talk about Allen Dulles and also his brother — it was John Foster Dulles, I think, and Allen Dulles, and both of them were involved in destroying Guatemala and Iran. VELSHI: Yeah. REID: So I feel like that’s important, and that’s given me the opportunity, so, thank you, Republicans. CHRISTINA GREER: Well, I mean, we’ve — they’ve already renamed National, Reagan, which I refuse to call it. REID: Yeah, I just call it “DCA.“ Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explained our weekly pick: “Glad something about Trump made them laugh, a brief break from the usual full hour of irrational anger at any mention of anything Trump. Naturally, Reid couldn’t hide how her contempt for Republicans goes way beyond just Trump. It’s a disdain so deep she’s still mad about Ronald Reagan getting an airport named for him and the foreign policy of a president who left office more than 60 years ago.” Rating: THREE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ April 1: Liberal Media Scream: Top editor joins CNN host in ripping MAGA with their ‘truth’ (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream is a rare but deserved five-screamer in which the editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer joins with a CNN host to condemn former President Donald Trump and his MAGA followers. Appearing on CNN This Morning with Kasie Hunt, editor Chris Quinn explained why he wrote a weekend letter to readers about the paper’s anti-Trump coverage. He said, “These are people that watch Fox News or Newsmax and they believe it because they — it appears credible. Then they come to our platforms and see the opposite and they’re conflicted because they like us. They read us for the sports coverage or the local news, or what have you.” Quinn added, “This was for them. I had to, I owed them some sort of an explanation. And the reason it was so difficult is I don’t want to demean them. I don’t want to criticize them. But I can’t stray from the truth. The truth is this guy is a monster. He’s the worst president in history and many people understand that. Those who get their news from not credible sources believe what they’re hearing.” Hunt said, “You said — another piece of this to your point of what the truth is, you said, ‘Trust your eyes. Trump, on Jan. 6, launched the most serious threat to our system of government since the Civil War. You know that. You saw it.’ And just before that you write, ‘This is not subjective. We all saw it. Plenty of leaders today try to convince the masses we did not see what we saw but our eyes don’t deceive us.'” “And I think that this is the piece of it that gets me because I was there on that day and I looked out the window and I saw these people trying to attack the Capitol. And then, now, half of these political leaders are trying to say no, actually, that thing that you saw with your own eyes did not happen.” From today’s CNN This Morning with Kasie Hunt: KASIE HUNT: How to cover former President Donald Trump is — quite literally — one of the hardest, thorniest questions facing us as journalists. It is something that I think about quite literally every single day when I wake up to join all of you. And it is especially true in the wake of Jan. 6, which affected me both personally and professionally in addition to, of course, having enormous implications for our democracy. This is why this all stood out to me. The Cleveland Plain Dealer decided they wanted to address this with their readers head-on over the weekend. The editor, Chris Quinn, writes this: “The north star here is truth. We tell the truth, even when it offends some of the people who pay us for information. The truth is that Donald Trump undermined faith in our elections in his false bid to retain the presidency. He sparked an insurrection intended to overthrow our government and keep himself in power. No president in our history has done worse.” And joining me now is Chris Quinn. He is the editor of the Plain Dealer and Cleveland.com. Chris, thank you so much for being here. It’s an honor to have you. CHRIS QUINN: Good morning. HUNT: So I loved how you approached this because you started with your readers — with the people who write to you about this. Many of them, of course, are supporters of Donald Trump. And you write some of them are more thoughtful than others, shall I say. But this is something that I have wrestled with because there are so many people in the country who support Donald Trump and many of them have reasons for doing that that have to do with the circumstances that they face. We don’t want to lose empathy for those people. We don’t want to not speak to those people. To be, you know, advocates and helpful in terms of providing those people with information. But you sat down and you grappled with this question, and you tried to explain why you’re doing what you’re doing in the way that you’re doing it. Can you explain a little bit more of that to all of us right now? QUINN: Yeah. This was a very challenging piece to write. It actually took me almost six months to get my thoughts together. I get two kinds of correspondence from Trump supporters and one is not nice. It’s very condescending and sneering. And I kind of chalk that up to people who had felt left out of society. Donald Trump gave them a club to participate in. And there’s nothing I can say or do to help them understand what we’re doing. But the other half write me with great courtesy and implore me for an explanation. They say, “You are dismissing a large segment of the country when you say that Donald Trump is the monster you describe him as and I don’t see him that way. What do you say to me?” These are people that watch Fox News or Newsmax and they believe it because they — it appears credible. Then they come to our platforms and see the opposite and they’re conflicted because they like us. They read us for the sports coverage or the local news, or what have you. So this was for them. I had to, I owed them some sort of an explanation. And the reason it was so difficult is I don’t want to demean them. I don’t want to criticize them. But I can’t stray from the truth. The truth is this guy is a monster. He’s the worst president in history and many people understand that. Those who get their news from not credible sources believe what they’re hearing. HUNT: Yeah. I will just say I think that the decline in our local media is a crisis for many, many reasons, but not least is that you, as a local paper, have a level of trust with people in your communities that is simply not possible to establish when you are a national news organization. And I think that really comes through in this piece that you wrote. And you said — another piece of this to your point of what the truth is, you said, “Trust your eyes. Trump, on Jan. 6, launched the most serious threat to our system of government since the Civil War. You know that. You saw it.” And just before that you write, “This is not subjective. We all saw it. Plenty of leaders today try to convince the masses we did not see what we saw but our eyes don’t deceive us.” And I think that this is the piece of it that gets me because I was there on that day and I looked out the window and I saw these people trying to attack the Capitol. And then, now, half of these political leaders are trying to say no, actually, that thing that you saw with your own eyes did not happen. Was it that that really was the thing that underscored this the most to you as well? QUINN: Yeah. And look, it’s heartbreaking what you’re seeing today. I come from a state where we’ve had senators like George Voinovich and John Glenn — people who would never have stood by during these recent years and allowed what’s happened to happen. And today, we have J.D. Vance and we might have Bernie Moreno, whose claim to fame is they want to be puppets for Donald Trump. And it’s not what we should be about. And that’s why I referenced that New Yorker piece in what I wrote because the New Yorker had a book review that looked back and said the reason Hitler came to the fore wasn’t because a bunch of people went and voted to have a fascist leader. It was because the people in government, in trying to get power for themselves, appeased him and that allowed him to rise. That’s what we have going on. Everybody knows what the truth is. The people in Congress were there. They were under threat from it. But for expedience, they’re denying it happened. HUNT: Do you think that those people who are looking to enable Donald Trump, as you say, what is the — their level of culpability here? I mean, obviously, you talk about Trump, himself, and his, the actions that he takes and his role in trying to hang on to power. But these enablers, I mean, what responsibility do they bear? QUINN: I think they have full responsibility. I think journalists who veer from the truth are going to end up having full responsibility. Look, we’re a regional newsroom and we’re doing well. We’re actually one of the local newsrooms that’s kind of figured it out and we’re thriving and we’re not in any danger of going away. But we have our limited influence. And so, we’re doing what we can. We’re, you know, we ask ourselves what’s the right thing to do here? The right thing to do is to call this out, not to say there’s two sides to Donald Trump. There aren’t two sides to Donald Trump. Anybody who has been watching and trying to discern what the truth is here knows that this guy tried to destroy our entire system of government and will do so again. Somebody has to say it. I wish people like Dave Joyce, a congressman from Ohio who’s a good guy, would stand up and just denounce it. Because if you started to have a few people of good conscience do that, maybe we could stop this wave, which is frightening beyond belief. HUNT: Well, I’m very grateful that you took the time to join us today, Chris, and I do commend reading this column. I will again say this is something I think about literally every single day because we do want to be a resource, a place for people who want to support Donald Trump or who feel dissatisfied with the system in their own lives. I just had to make sure that those ears are continuing to be open to us is a challenge that I grapple with every day. And I really appreciated reading this. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “With his smug moral superiority, Quinn encapsulates everything that’s wrong with modern journalism. He’s decided what ‘the truth’ is and his readers better get on board. No wonder fewer and fewer are buying local newspapers. They’ve become just as insulting to their readers as the national media have been for decades. Incredulous that anyone could see Trump as a better president than Biden.” Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ March 25: Liberal Media Scream: Condescending ‘Really?’ to Rubio’s wish to be Trump VP (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream reveals just how deep the disrespect for former President Donald Trump goes in the press, especially with those who have created a profitable side gig writing and talking about him. In just one word, ABC’s Jonathan Karl heaved up a sanctimonious putdown of Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) when the topic of the likely 2024 GOP presidential nominee’s pick for running mate was raised. Rubio has said he would be honored to get the nod, as have about a dozen other leading Republicans. What’s more, Rubio would likely help Trump add to his coalition to create a potentially winning ticket. But all Karl had to say was, “Really?” It didn’t end there. As Rubio explained the problems President Joe Biden dumped on America, Karl couldn’t help but complain, “You’re not suggesting that’s all happening because of Biden?” Rubio affirmed, “Absolutely I am.” Here’s the exchange on Sunday’s This Week on ABC: JON KARL: There was some reporting this week that you are possibly under consideration to be Donald Trump’s running mate. I don’t put a lot of stock in this reporting right now. We’re early. But you said it would be “an honor” to be offered a spot on his ticket. Really? SEN. MARCO RUBIO: Yeah, I think anyone who is offered the opportunity to serve this country as vice president should be honored by the opportunity to do it if you are in public service. I’m in the Senate because I want to serve the country. Being vice president is an important way to serve the country. But I’ve also been clear. I’ve never talked to Donald Trump. I’ve never talked to anybody on his team or family or inner circle about vice president. That’s a decision he’s going to make. He has plenty of really good people to pick from. KARL: I mean, the reason why I asked is, I mean, look what happened to the last guy. I mean, a mob stormed the Capitol, literally calling to hang Mike Pence, and Trump defended those chants of “hang Mike Pence.” RUBIO: I will tell you this, that when Donald Trump was president of the United States, this country was safer. It was more prosperous. We had relations, for example, in a part of the world that I care about called the Western Hemisphere that were very strong. We had a lot of good things done there. I think the country and the world was a better place when he was president, and I would love to see him return to the White House in comparison to the guy who’s there now, Joe Biden, who’s been a disaster economically. Look at the world. Every single day, we wake up to a new crisis, to a new conflict. Everything has gone on fire since the time Joe Biden took over. Afghanistan’s gone down. Ukraine has been invaded. Now the Philippines and the Chinese are on the verge of something bad happening every single day. Not to mention the threats to Taiwan. And we have this blowup in Haiti going on in our very own hemisphere. We wake up every single day, terrorist attacks, 9 million people across the border. That’s what matters to me. KARL: But, I mean, you’re not suggesting that’s all happening because of Biden? RUBIO: Absolutely I am. Absolutely I’m suggesting it’s happening because of Biden. He’s president and his weakness and his — KARL: It’s because of Biden that Russia invaded Ukraine? RUBIO: Absolutely. KARL: It’s because of Biden that Haiti? RUBIO: Absolutely. I mean Putin is sitting there, saying these guys can’t even stand up to the Taliban and they have to fly people hanging off the wings of these airplanes. Now is the time to go. Brent Baker, the vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “How arrogant and condescending for a broadcast network TV host to scoff at a U.S. senator for saying he’d be ‘honored’ to serve as the vice presidential candidate of his party. And then, to act astonished over a common Republican talking point about President Biden’s foreign policy failures shows Karl is little more than a liberal political operative in the guise of a journalist who is incredulous that anyone could see Trump as a better president than Biden.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ March 18: Liberal Media Scream: ‘Bloodbath’ is what media are doing to Trump (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream focuses on the media and President Joe Biden’s distortion of former President Donald Trump’s warning of an economic “bloodbath” if he’s not returned to the White House to stop China’s dumping of autos in the U.S. under Biden. The media, and now the Biden campaign, pulled the word out of a long Trump explanation at an Ohio political rally of auto sales to make it sound like he was calling for a civil war if he’s not elected. It’s very similar to what the media did after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots and spelled out how they’d treat a President Trump if given a chance. Leading that fake rant over the weekend was ABC and a guest on This Week, New York magazine’s Susan Glasser, formerly with the liberal-left Washington Post and Politico. Without any sign of embarrassment for distorting Trump’s words, Glasser ranted on about how threatening Trump is. In office, Trump did assail reporters for their “fake news” and overwhelming bias but also was the most accessible and talkative president during his one term. He followed an Obama-Biden administration that was condemned by journalists for avoiding reporters and using technology to go around the media. Susan Glasser on Sunday’s This Week on ABC: “Donald Trump, it seems to me, it’s very hard eight years into this. We still struggle with how to cover him as journalists, but in a way, the unhinged, rambling rants that you see from the former president of the United States are baked in, and I think, in a way, we are all desensitized and inured to the extraordinary, remarkable and very at times un-American and threatening things that the former president is saying. “I’m not saying it’s easy to understand how to cover it, but I think we have to cover it when the former president, who’s already incited violence among his followers, says that there’s going to be a bloodbath after the election if he does not win. He is telling us what he is going to do. … I’m sorry. I just have to say something. Like Donald Trump is attacking, in a broad-brush sense, the basic pillars of American democracy. Period. Full stop. If that’s not news to you. It’s not about tariffs. That’s not the reason why millions of Americans are supporting Donald Trump. Let’s be real about that.” Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Yes, after eight years of constant hyperventilating by journalists, over supposed outrageous comments from Donald Trump, many have become ‘inured,’ but it’s not journalists. It’s the public to the media’s never-ending scare-mongering about Trump bringing an end to ‘the basic pillars of American democracy.’ Glasser’s answer: Double down and get more journalists to be even more aggressive in denouncing Trump. Good luck with that, convincing anyone who has already tuned out such vitriol.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ March 11: Liberal Media Scream: Hollywood freaks over Trump (Washington Examiner post) Hollywood’s awards season has finally ended and in perfectly normal election-year fashion: Tinseltown freaking out over former President Donald Trump’s possible return to the White House. Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel got a retort from Trump after he blasted the former president and his Republican allies. Kimmel responded, “Well, thank you, President Trump. Thank you for watching. I’m surprised you’re still — isn’t it past your jail time?” But his shruggable performance was far outdone by the angry venting of actor Robert De Niro, who stepped up his attacks on Trump. On Friday, De Niro pleased Bill Maher’s audience by blasting Trump. “Vote for Trump and you’ll get the nightmare. Vote for Biden and it will be back to normalcy,” he began. To laughter and applause from Maher’s Los Angeles studio audience, De Niro marveled at how anyone could support Trump. He called the poll-leading former president “a total monster” who will install a “dictatorship.” More insults followed: “sociopathic, psychopathic, malignant narcissist,” as well as an “idiot” and “clown.” From Friday’s Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO: ROBERT DE NIRO: The bottom line is: It’s Biden vs. Trump. We want to live in a world that we want to live in and enjoy living in or live in a nightmare? Vote for Trump and you’ll get the nightmare. Vote for Biden and it will be back to normalcy. … The guy is a total monster, and anybody, I don’t understand it. I guess they get behind the kind of logic: They want to f*** with people, screw them because they’re unhappy about something. He’s such a mean, nasty, hateful person. I’d never play him as an actor because I can’t see any good in him — nothing, nothing at all, nothing redeemable in him. Whoever the people are who want to vote for him, and they look like intelligent people around there, for some reason, it can’t be, it cannot be. If he wins the election, you won’t be on the show anymore. He’ll come looking for me. They’ll be things that happened that none of us can imagine. That’s what happens in that kind of a dictatorship — which is what he says. Let’s believe him. Take him at his word. He’s a sociopathic, psychopathic, malignant narcissist. He is a dangerous person … the people who somehow think he’s going to be the answer to their prayers, whatever those are. BILL MAHER: Did you know him as fellow New Yorkers? DE NIRO: Never wanted to know him. MAHER: Never wanted to, you must have crossed — DE NIRO: He was an idiot. He was a clown. He was a clown in New York. Brent Baker, the vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Rants like this from pretentious Hollywood celebrities probably drive more to vote for Trump than dissuade anyone from supporting him. How many care about the all-too-predictable left-wing political views of lefties in Hollywood who always denounce the Republican candidate and advocate for the Democratic one? Not anyone who is drawn to Trump.” Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ March 4: Liberal Media Scream: Media role is reeducating you on greatness of Bidenomics (Washington Examiner post) President Joe Biden has apparently realized that pitching “Bidenomics” is a loser politically, but his White House forgot to tell its media echo chamber. According to an Issues & Insights report, Biden has “ditched” the term, with the report noting Biden and his White House used the term 59 times last July. By last month, it got a mention just 10 times. That makes sense since most polls show that the public viewed the term negatively because they feel that the economy is poor and that prices are unjustifiably high. But the well-paid Washington media thinks the public is stupid and needs to be reeducated on just how great Bidenomics is for them. For example, this week’s Liberal Media Scream features longtime editor and columnist Margaret Sullivan telling fellow anti-Trumper Christiane Amanpour that it’s up to them to make sure people understand the consequences of their wrong-headedness. “You know,” Sullivan said on Amanpour’s show, “people think that the economy is not doing well. You know, do our public service mission, which is to make sure, as sure as we can, that we have an informed electorate. Whose fault is that? Well, it’s partly the fault of the media. And I think that that ought to be rectified.” From Saturday’s The Amanpour Hour on CNN CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: The horse race and an age-old dilemma. Why the obsession over Biden’s age misses the point. MARGARET SULLIVAN, GUARDIAN: I wonder whether people are as aware of Trump’s authoritarian plans as they are of Biden’s age. AMANPOUR: My next guest says enough is enough with the media’s hyperbolic herd mentality coverage of Biden’s age and competency. Critic, columnist, and academic Margaret Sullivan urges us to get real about the issues because this election is about much more than, quote, “chasing clicks.” SULLIVAN: I think that the leaders of major American news organizations should have front and center in their minds, and be communicating to their staffs, that this is an extremely consequential election and we should be doing our public service role that it’s not so much about chasing the latest clicks and the latest horse race coverage but rather to make sure that we’re getting the stakes of the race across to people. You know, people think that the economy is not doing well. You know, do our public service mission, which is to make sure, as sure as we can, that we have an informed electorate. Whose fault is that? Well, it’s partly the fault of the media. And I think that that ought to be rectified. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “What Margaret Sullivan advocates is exactly why the media have lost all credibility and trust for most Americans. She’s decided Trump is too dangerous to be president, so journalists should throw away all standards of journalism by openly joining Team Biden to convince voters of Biden’s virtues while downplaying his negatives. And then journalists wonder why they are seen in such low esteem when they are little more than Democratic Party operatives.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ February 26: Liberal Media Scream: Trump Derangement Syndrome flies off the charts (Washington Examiner post) The media have been on a rantfest lately, warning that former President Donald Trump will end democracy and execute his enemies. Just consider what Bob Costas said over the weekend. “You have to be in the throes of some sort of toxic delusion in a toxic cult to believe that Donald Trump has ever been, in any sense, emotionally, psychologically, intellectually, or ethically fit to be president of the United States,” he said. But that’s nothing compared to our Liberal Media Scream focus on Tom Schaller, the author of White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy, who went further to attack the half of the nation that has supported Trump over the years. White rural voters, he told MSNBC’s Morning Joe host Mika Brzezinski, “are the most racist, xenophobic, anti-immigrant, and anti-gay geodemographic group in the country. … They’re the most conspiracist group: QAnon support and subscribers, election denialism, COVID denialism and scientific skepticism, Obama birthism.” And that’s just the start of his five scream rant. From Monday’s Morning Joe on MSNBC: MIKA BRZEZINSKI: As we barrel toward a likely rematch of the 2020 election, one candidate continues to have a hold over white rural voters. But it’s not Joe Biden, seen here as a boy on the right side of your screen, who went to public school, is the son of a used car salesman, and was born to a middle-class family in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Instead, it is Trump, here on the left side, a private school-educated son of a New York City real estate tycoon who became a millionaire at 8 years old and didn’t have to serve because he claimed he had bone spurs in his little feet. So, why is it that Trump appeals so much to a group he couldn’t be more different from? Joining us now, professor of political science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Tom Schaller, and journalist and opinion writer Paul Waldman. Their new book out tomorrow is entitled, White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy. Tom, I’ll start with you. Why are white rural voters a threat to democracy at this point? You would think, as we pointed out, looking at Joe Biden’s background and Donald Trump’s, that the opposite would be true. TOM SCHALLER: “We lay out the fourfold interconnected threat that white rural voters pose to the country. First of all, we show 30 polls and national studies that demonstrate this. So we provide the receipts in Chapter 6. They are the most racist, xenophobic, anti-immigrant, and anti-gay geodemographic group in the country. “Second, they’re the most conspiracist group: QAnon support and subscribers, election denialism, COVID denialism and scientific skepticism, Obama birthism. Third, anti-democratic sentiments. They don’t believe in an independent press — free speech. They’re most likely to say the president should be able to act unilaterally without checks from Congress or the courts or the bureaucracy. They’re also the most strongly white nationalist and white Christian nationalists. And fourth, they’re most likely to excuse or justify violence as acceptable alternative to peaceful public discourse… “I think this is the disconnect, right? They’d rather channel their rage. I think what a lot of white rural Americans have decided is that their economic fortunes are decided by globalization and frankly, late-stage capitalism, which is eating up all the mom and pop stores and taking away the extractive industries, in coal and farming and so forth, so they might as well vote on their culture issues, they might as well vote on God, guns, and religion because they feel like neither party is going to deliver any material benefit. “They’re not going to reverse the closure of rural pharmacies and rural hospitals and rural healthcare facilities, which are disappearing not because of communism and not because of socialism but because of capitalism, right? Rural pharmacies and hospitals are closing because they’re not moneymakers, and unless they’re part of a regional chain, they’re disappearing. So Trump comes in and says, let’s just hate on cities, let’s just hate on minorities, let’s hate on immigrants, and at least they can deliver on that. And so they’re not even voting in their material interest anymore, and that’s causing a further decay and decline of rural communities.” Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explained our weekly pick: “So, if a class of voters prefers a candidate you don’t like, it couldn’t be that they just have a differing opinion with which you can respectfully disagree. No, you must impugn and demean them to discredit their irrational preference for the candidate you condescendingly have decided is not in their best interest. And since this makes MSNBC viewers feel superior, you get a welcoming platform on the left-wing cable channel’s morning show.” Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ February 19: Liberal Media Scream: Colbert says Trump ‘going to prison’ better than sex (Washington Examiner post) Remember when late-night comedy shows were funny instead of being populated by left-wing lecturers? Case in point in our weekly Liberal Media Scream is Late Show host Stephen Colbert. Along with many people last week, he watched the televised testimony of Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis and her explanation of her affair with an attorney she put in charge of the election case against former President Donald Trump. “How good was this sex? Good enough to risk democracy over?” he asked in his monologue. Colbert then added, “You know what feels really good? Donald Trump going to prison. That — that, my friends — is what they call a real happy ending.” From Thursday’s Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS:     STEPHEN COLBERT: Now, I don’t know who’s telling the truth here yet, but I will say exchanging business cards isn’t exactly a meet cute. The movie’s not called When Harry Networked with Sally. Now, at one point, Willis had had enough and really laid into opposing counsel. FANI WILLIS: You’re confused; you think I’m on trial. These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020. I’m not on trial, no matter how hard you try to put me on trial. COLBERT: Damn straight. Yeah. That’s right. That’s right. Here’s the thing. Yes, it’s true Donald Trump and his associates are on trial in this, one of the most important cases in the history of our republic. So, and, I’ve just got one follow-up question here: Given that if you are removed from the prosecution, it could delay this trial until after the election: How good was the sex? Good enough to risk democracy over? Because I’ve never had sex that good. You know what feels really good? Donald Trump going to prison. That — that, my friends — is what they call the real happy ending. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Liberals love to complain that Donald Trump has broken many norms, but prominent entertainment media figures like Colbert have destroyed late-night TV. It was a comedy refuge from hard-edged politics, but Colbert is using his show to advance left-wing talking points and push his hate of Trump and conservatives in the guise of comedy. It’s not funny, and a legend like Johnny Carson, whose political jokes were light-hearted and chided both sides, is rolling over in his grave.” Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ February 12: Liberal Media Scream: MSNBC host laughably says press against Biden (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream has LOL written all over it. Imagine any cable news show host claiming that the media has a negative bias against President Joe Biden. LOL, right? That’s what happened on Sunday’s Meet the Press when MSNBC host Jen Psaki said the media showed its bias when it simply repeated what the nearly 400-page report from special counsel Robert Hur said about the president’s foggy mind. Psaki, who was Biden’s first White House press secretary, complained that the media should be attacking former President Donald Trump, not her former boss. “If you’re sitting in the White House and on the campaign right now, you’re absolutely banging your head against the wall at the way that the Thursday report has been covered, given all of the things” Trump has said and done, she said. From the roundtable on Sunday’s Meet the Press: JEN PSAKI: If you’re sitting in the White House and on the campaign right now, you’re absolutely banging your head against the wall at the way that the Thursday report has been covered, given all of the things that have happened this week, including, and I know you asked Chris Christie about this, the fact that Donald Trump yesterday suggested that Vladimir Putin should have free rein in attacking NATO allies, and what do we see is wall-to-wall coverage of whether a guy who is four years older than his opponent is too old to be president. KRISTEN WELKER: And we are going to get to NATO. Go ahead. BRENDAN BUCK, former spokesman to ex-speaker Paul Ryan: Part of that job, to bring that to the front is, it’s the president’s job to bring that out and attack his opponent. I mean, the president is not taking the opportunity on Super Bowl Sunday. He’s not taking, really, any opportunities. And we hear, time and again — PSAKI: First of all, that’s not true. It’s not being covered. He has traveled just as much as Donald Trump, as Barack Obama. It is hard to break through the cloud of Donald Trump in this media environment. That is true. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “A media hostile to a liberal cause or Democratic politician is such a novelty that liberal political operatives like Jen Psaki just can’t comprehend it. After three-plus years of sycophantic coverage of Joe Biden, he gets a few days of negative coverage, and she lashes out at the media for daring to briefly act as real journalists. Welcome to the world endured every day for decades by conservatives and Republicans.”   Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ February 5: Liberal Media Scream: Kristen Welker likes to lecture Republicans, too (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features a look at new Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker’s treatment of Republican leaders. And surprise — not — she continues to be just as biased as former host Chuck Todd. First, she lectured House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on the border bill released by the Senate on Sunday. “You are now the speaker of the House. Do you not have a responsibility to your voters, to the people who put you in office, to address what you have called a crisis and catastrophe? Isn’t something better than nothing?” she said. Then, she passed along the Democratic talking point that after three years of aggressively enacting open border policies, “Joe Biden said he would shut down the border.” From Sunday’s Meet the Press on NBC: KRISTEN WELKER: You have been calling for legislative change to actually deal with this problem. You are now the speaker of the House. Do you not have a responsibility to your voters, to the people who put you in office, to address what you have called a crisis and catastrophe? Isn’t something better than nothing? SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON: Kristen, we did that. We did that nine months ago. And since we passed our measure in the House to solve this problem, and the reason we had to do it is because we saw that President Biden was not fulfilling his obligation under the law. That’s why it is such a failure of leadership, but we did our part. And by the way, since then, in the nine months since that bill sat on [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer’s desk, collecting dust, 1.8 million illegals have been allowed into this country, welcomed into the country, sent around the nation into every community — communities near everyone listening and watching this morning. And that is a catastrophe, and the American people know it, and that’s part of the reason that Joe Biden has the lowest approval rating of any president facing reelection. WELKER: Even former President Trump, though, called for legislative change on this issue. You have one of the slimmest majorities in the House in history. Don’t you have to compromise to get something done? What you passed in the House can’t pass in the Senate, Mr. Speaker. You know that. JOHNSON: We are willing to work. We are willing to work with the Senate. I am not disclosing that, and I’ve been very consistent for the hundred days that I’ve had the gavel. We are willing to work, but they have to be serious about it. If you only do a few of those components, you are not going to solve the problem, and Kristen, that is not a Republican talking point. That’s what the sheriffs at the border, the Border Patrol agents, the deputy chief of U.S. Border Patrol, a 33-year veteran of the agency, told us. He said that it’s as though we’re administering an open fire hydrant. He said, “I don’t need more buckets,” like the president has proposed. I need to stop the flow, and we know how to do that, but Joe Biden is unwilling to do it. WELKER: Let me ask you about your decision, and by the way, Joe Biden said he would shut down the border. He’s calling for more funding. He’s calling for you to pass this legislation. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “A perfect example of a so-called journalist serving as an advocate for Washington’s media-political establishment, demanding a recalcitrant conservative get in line and adopt the approved narrative.” Rating: THREE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ January 29, 2024: No Liberal Media Scream this week.   ■ January 22, 2024: Liberal Media Scream: Washington Post’s Rubin wants Trump ‘fascists’ reeducated (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features popular Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin doubling down on her Never Trump campaign. Appearing on the MSNBC weekend show Velshi exactly a year from Inauguration Day, the onetime conservative opinion writer said that the masses appearing at former President Donald Trump’s rallies “are part of a fascist cult.” And, she added, “they’re impervious to any kind of data, any kind of information. But what you have to do, if you care about democracy, is mobilize the people who already know that he’s a danger and reaffirm and reeducate the people who are perhaps kind of flirting in the middle — they’re soft Republicans, they’re never Republicans — about the danger of going back to Trump.” Rubin on MSNBC’s Velshi on Saturday: “Why it’s perhaps important to go to one of these rallies is to understand why he does have supporters. These people are part of a fascist cult. And let’s be honest, there are a lot of them. But a lot of them doesn’t mean that they are behaving logically or rationally. To the contrary, we’ve seen in other fascist regimes that millions of people, sometimes even a majority of the country, becomes intoxicated with an authoritarian figure, and these people are utterly irrational. If you speak to some of them, they will spit back these bizarro conspiracy theories. They actually believe in all of the mumbo-jumbo that he tells them. “So I think it would be a wake-up call about what these people are about, and, no, we’re not going to convince people who are part of the cult to switch. As you say, they’re impervious to any kind of data, any kind of information. But what you have to do, if you care about democracy, is mobilize the people who already know that he’s a danger and reaffirm and reeducate the people who are perhaps kind of flirting in the middle — they’re soft Republicans, they’re never Republicans — about the danger of going back to Trump. And I think that’s the job between now and November, and that’s the challenge for the Biden administration.” Brent Baker, the vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “How condescending of Rubin to be so comfortable denigrating supporters of a presidential candidate she despises with one of the most vile insults. Just because she hates Trump doesn’t make those going to his rallies, the very embodiment of democracy in action, ‘fascists.’ Whatever happened to liberals wanting to expand participation in the democratic process?” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ January 15, 2024: Liberal Media Scream: MSNBC’s Mika all in to help Biden’s reelection (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features Mika Brzezinski, the co-host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, fawning over first lady Jill Biden in a sign of where the cable network stands before the 2024 presidential primary season begins. With easy questions quizzing Biden about her favorite emoji to dismissing chants of “Let’s go Brandon” that still follow the president, Brzezinski put on an able defense of the Biden White House. Among the questions posed to the first lady was this: “The division in this country, the cruelty of MAGA Republicans against your family. Does any part of you once in a while think, ugh, maybe we bow out?” The questions were part of Brzezinski’s Know Your Value “movement.” Our partners at the Media Research Center highlighted these from last Thursday’s show and today’s event at the White House: MIKA BRZEZINSKI: You’ve been married to President Joe Biden for 46 years. There have been Senate races, three presidential campaigns, eight years of your husband serving as vice president. Unthinkable personal loss and challenge, and now democracy is on the ballot. What do you think when you hear people say, “Well, I just can’t vote for Joe Biden this election?” What is it that they may not know about him at this point, especially when the alternative seems to want to change this nation so radically? BRZEZINSKI: Potentially another four years in the White House. With everything you do here, does yet another one give you any pause thinking of, like, the personal health and well-being for both of you? The division in this country, the cruelty of MAGA Republicans against your family. Does any part of you once in a while think, ugh, maybe we bow out? BRZEZINSKI: How have you been coping personally with the onslaught of accusations against your husband and your family, including and especially Hunter, the focus of a House Oversight Committee hearing holding, holding him in contempt, obsessing over him, showing pictures of him during vulnerable moments in his battle with addiction on the floor of the House. This would crush any family. BRZEZINSKI: What do you think when you hear Trump Republicans calling it “Biden crime family” or one congresswoman, “The Biden crime family sold out America,” Marjorie Taylor Greene, “He’s a liar, he’s mentally incompetent,” and let’s not even talk about what “Let’s go Brandon” means. But you have U.S. senators holding signs that say that. ….BRZEZINSKI: Your favorite emoji? JILL BIDEN: Oh, my gosh. The turquoise heart. BRZEZINSKI: Turquoise heart? BIDEN: Yeah. BRZEZINSKI: I don’t have the turquoise heart on my phone. What does that mean? BIDEN: It’s like the beach. It’s calm. BRZEZINSKI: Oh, I like that. BIDEN: Color of the sea. BRZEZINSKI: Do I type out turquoise heart? Comfort food? BIDEN: Oh, french fries. BRZEZINSKI: Umm. Yeah, yeah. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Mika Brzezinski is all in on the reelection of Joe Biden. First lady Jill Biden picked well in selecting Brzezinski to interview her, confident she wouldn’t be challenged as they both could commiserate with how awful Trump is and how mean Republicans are to her family, topped by letting her tout the turquoise heart emoji. How informative.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ January 8, 2024: Liberal Media Scream: Stephanopoulos judges Trump an insurrectionist, unqualified for 2024 (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream is a five-screamer featuring an ABC host and former Clinton handler acting as judge, jury, and executioner of former President Donald Trump and his effort to remain on the 2024 primary ballots and let voters, not partisan state officials, decide his fate. ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, on his Sunday show This Week, was quizzing his panel about the campaigns in some states to declare Trump ineligible for election because an official decided that the former president triggered a 14th Amendment ban on insurrectionists. On his show, which occurred the day after the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, one of his panelists suggested the Supreme Court will decide Trump is guilty but that it will be up to Congress and not the states to erase the GOP front-runner’s name from the ballots. “If you say he engaged in insurrection,” Stephanopoulos said, “I don’t see how you can escape the plain meaning of the 14th Amendment and say he’s qualified to run for office.” Panelist Donna Brazile, an influential liberal and former acting Democratic Party chairwoman, told her host, “I totally agree with you, George.” From the roundtable on Sunday’s This Week on ABC: GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Sarah, what’s your guess on what the court does here? SARAH ISGUR, SENIOR EDITOR OF THE DISPATCH: I think you’ll have the Supreme Court hold that he is not disqualified from being on the ballot. They’ll overturn the Colorado Supreme Court. STEPHANOPOULOS: The question is, how will they do it though? ISGUR: Correct. I think they’ll say that, in fact, the 14th Amendment makes clear it’s up to Congress. If Congress can requalify someone by a two-thirds vote, there’s no timeline on that. Which means that, you know, as one of the amicus briefs has pointed out, it’s really supposed to be post-elections about holding office, not running for office. And so I think they’ll say it’s really Congress’s job. The states can’t make up their own standard. Is it beyond a reasonable doubt? Is it more likely than not? Et cetera. What’s interesting to me will be whether or not the Supreme Court goes out of their way in order to get those three, Kagan, Sotomayor, Jackson votes, in saying, “Yes, it was an insurrection, and yes, he engaged in it, but it’s up to Congress.” STEPHANOPOULOS: I don’t see how they can do that, Donna Brazile. If you say he engaged in insurrection, was the question I asked Nancy Pelosi, I don’t see how you can escape the plain meaning of the 14th Amendment and say he’s qualified to run for office. DONNA BRAZILE: I totally agree with you, George. Brent Baker, the vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Another example of how Stephanopoulos remains a Democratic partisan first, a journalist a distant second. No true journalist would weigh in with a definitive conclusion on what the Supreme Court should do weeks before a ruling on such a contentious issue which divides Americans. Stephanopoulos has clearly put himself in the camp with those who want to deny the public’s ability to vote for whomever they prefer. So much for saving democracy from Trump when you want to subvert the process.” Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ December 25, 2023 and January 1, 2024: No Liberal Media Screams these weeks.   ■ December 18, 2023: Liberal Media Scream: Scaremonger Scarborough: Trump will ‘execute’ foes, crush ‘American experiment’ (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features MSNBC Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough’s latest anti-Trump ranting. The host, whose earlier claim that former President Donald Trump will “execute” foes should he be reelected won the Media Research Center’s “Worst Quote of the Year,” said on Monday that Trump would destroy America’s democracy, too. “A year from now, it could be over, the American experiment at an end one year from now,” Scarborough said in comments we graded a rare five out of five “liberal media screams.” His comments are clearly what the latest Rasmussen Reports survey was tapping into when it found that more voters than ever believe the left bias in the media has reached a new high. The comments also raise a question about what scaremongering liberal media figures will be saying in 11 months if Trump is on the verge of beating President Joe Biden. Scarborough on Monday’s Morning Joe in a discussion with Politico’s Jonathan Lemire: “One year from now, it could be over. American democracy could be over. Donald Trump, one year from now, could win. He’s told us what he is going to do. When I say American democracy is going to be over, I haven’t said this. Donald Trump is the guy who said it. He is the one talking about executing generals that are not loyal enough to him, a guy that’s talking about terminating the Constitution if it gets in the way of his power. He’s the guy that’s talking about taking off news networks he disagrees with. He’s the one talking about prosecuting and putting in jail people who disagree with him. He’s the one saying that. “So, a year from now, it could be over, the American experiment at an end one year from now. So, let me ask you, with that being the case and with Joe Biden’s poll numbers getting worse, why is the White House going around singing, ‘Don’t worry, be happy’? Because that’s basically what they’re saying. Why does Joe Biden still have all of his campaign people inside the White House? When are they going to go out and start working on the campaign — not of his lifetime, of our lifetime? When are they going to start acting like American democracy is on the line and stop telling everybody to not worry?” Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explained our weekly pick: “Saying day after day after day the same over the top ‘the sky is falling’ warning to try to scare his viewers about Trump ending democracy is doing nothing but making Scarborough look every bit as unhinged as he wants people to see Trump. It may be catnip for MSNBC viewers, but Scarborough has become a parody of someone stuck inside a Trump Derangement Syndrome whirlwind unable to make cogent criticisms.” Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ December 11: Liberal Media Scream: PBS runs interference for Biden over Hunter scandals (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the efforts of Public TV and a Washington Post columnist to deflect the latest criminal indictment of first son Hunter Biden away from President Joe Biden. Following the tax charges filed by the Justice Department against Hunter Biden, the PBS NewsHour was eager to tell viewers on Friday that it saw no connection to the president. Anchor Geoff Bennett started with the “context” that Hunter Biden “does not work in the White House for his father in the way that Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump did. And the indictment does not in any way implicate President Joe Biden.” PBS guest Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post also ran block for Biden. “For Republicans to try to make a connection between Hunter Biden and trying to say that, 'Well, if you’re going to go after Trump, well, why shouldn’t we go after Biden?' these are two completely different cases,” he lectured. From Friday’s PBS NewsHour: GEOFF BENNETT: So, let’s start with the latest legal trouble facing Hunter Biden, with the important context that Hunter Biden’s a private citizen. He is not seeking, nor has he ever held, public office. He does not work in the White House for his father in the way that Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump did. And the indictment does not in any way implicate President Joe Biden. And yet this will certainly add to the problems, the political problems, facing this White House, as House Republicans, Jonathan, zero in on Hunter Biden’s business dealings as part of their own investigations. JONATHAN CAPEHART: As part of their own investigations that have been going on for years now, and they’ve been using the president’s son, the president’s troubled son, to try to sully the president. And so far, they’ve come up with nothing, even though, next week, apparently, they’re going to be voting on, you know, to authorize an impeachment inquiry, trying to make connections that aren’t there. Look, when you read the indictment, when you hear about the indictment, it’s bad. I mean, it’s not good. It’s not good at all. But we’re talking about someone, as you — I’m glad you put that proper context there. He’s an adult. He has not held office. He’s not sought office. He’s not working for his father. The only thing is, is that he — his father is president of the United States. He’s being held accountable. And I take — I agree with [Hunter Biden’s lawyer] Abbe Lowell that, if his last name weren’t Biden, he probably wouldn’t even have these charges. They would have worked it out. But he’s facing the consequences, and he’s going through the legal avenues that are afforded to him. And for Republicans to try to make a connection between Hunter Biden and trying to say that, 'Well, if you’re going to go after Trump, well, why shouldn’t we go after Biden?' these are two completely different cases. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “You can almost feel through the screen how uncomfortable the PBS team was to even cover this story, but they realized they had to at least mention it, so they poured on the caveats so their audience wouldn’t be burdened with any information that might hurt their perception of President Biden. It’s the exact opposite tack they take with Donald Trump, where any allegations around him are amplified and discussed ad nauseam.” Rating: THREE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ December 4: Liberal Media Scream: Media eagerly team with Liz Cheney to undermine Trump (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the remarkable teaming of the media with conservative Republican former Rep. Liz Cheney to stop former President Donald Trump’s 2024 bid. Repeating her success in winning Democrats to her cause after the Jan. 6 riots and in her No. 2 role on the House Jan. 6 panel, the media have eagerly opened its best shows for her to talk about her new book and campaign against Trump. The media have helped to promote her book and provided top platforms, notably on CBS Sunday Morning, where she warned that “one of the things we see today is sort of a sleepwalking into dictatorship in the United States.” In interviewing her about Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning, John Dickerson offered the perfect set-up question: “If a person is a member of Congress and they have sworn an oath to defend the Constitution, can they defend the Constitution and also endorse Donald Trump?” Cheney replied: “You can’t be for Donald Trump and for the Constitution. You have to choose.” The media's focus on the book has helped it into the No. 1 spot on Amazon on Monday, a day before it is released. From Sunday’s CBS News Sunday Morning: JOHN DICKERSON: After losing her 2022 Republican primary, Cheney traded the U.S. Capitol dome for the Thomas Jefferson-designed rotunda at the University of Virginia, where she has been lecturing on politics and writing a new book, Oath and Honor. Let me ask you about that oath. If a person is a member of Congress and they have sworn an oath to defend the Constitution, can they defend the Constitution and also endorse Donald Trump? LIZ CHENEY: No. It’s inconsistent. DICKERSON: So, they’re breaking with their oath by saying they would like him to be the next president? CHENEY: In my view, you know, fundamentally, there is a choice to be made. You can’t both be for Donald Trump and for the Constitution. You have to choose. DICKERSON: It’s a lot of people who are choosing Donald Trump. CHENEY: Yeah, it is. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Usually, to earn such a laudatory CBS News segment for your book, it must be published by CBS-owned Simon & Schuster. But Dickerson and CBS are so enthralled with her quest to destroy Trump and anyone Trump-adjacent that despite having Little, Brown and Company as her publisher, they went into full promotion mode, cuing up her talking points with no pushback.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ November 27: Liberal Media Scream: Post reporter says ‘sources’ fret public’s lack of credit for Biden ‘successes’ (Washington Examiner post) For this week’s Liberal Media Scream, we have the latest example of a journalist inside the Beltway concerned that President Joe Biden just isn’t getting the credit he deserves for "Bidenomics," the Middle East crisis, or pretty much anything else. Despite two years of polling that shows the public doesn’t buy the White House spin that their life is better under the Democratic administration, the Washington Post’s Leigh Ann Caldwell on Sunday’s Meet the Press cited “my sources” complaining that Biden is getting treated like the no-respect funnyman Rodney Dangerfield. “My sources are saying President Biden doesn’t get a lot of credit, not only on this, but on a whole host of things,” she said in addressing the hostage releases over the weekend. But maybe there's hope, she added, that Biden will get the credit she says he deserves if his team just sells it better. "They have a lot of work to do to once again, like I said, try to get credit for the successes that he’s had over the past two years which he keeps on getting blamed for everything bad that’s happened." From Sunday’s Meet the Press: KRISTEN WELKER: Leigh Ann, I want to start with you. This is a huge test for President Biden. And obviously now, the pressure’s on to release the Americans. How is this playing for him politically, do you think? LEIGH ANN CALDWELL: Well, obviously it’ll be great if Americans are released with those hostages. But my sources are saying that President Biden also doesn’t get a lot of credit for his successes, not only on this, but on a whole host of things. So that does concern Democrats on Capitol Hill.... Yeah, Bidenomics has really been, become a negative word, especially among Democrats, because it’s not working. I was texting with some Democratic members of Congress last night just trying to get a read over the holiday weekend, what they’re hearing at home and what people are saying, and these members said that it is just not looking good for President Biden politically out there, that he would probably lose some swing states if the election were held today. So they have a lot of work to do to once again, like I said, try to get credit for the successes that he’s had over the past two years which he keeps on getting blamed for everything bad that’s happened. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Caldwell maintained Democrats ‘have a lot of work to do to once again, like I said, try to get credit for the successes’ President Biden has ‘had over the past two years,’ but she’s clearly just as invested as any liberal Democrat in advancing that narrative to help Biden. And in that interest, she reflects much of the press corps which want to influence the outcome, as proven by how complaints that Biden isn’t getting the credit he supposedly deserves have become a common media theme.” Rating: THREE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ November 20: Liberal Media Scream: ABC’s Jonathan Karl says he wrote book to warn voters away from Trump (Washington Examiner post) For this week’s Liberal Media Scream, we feature the latest example of the legacy media going from self-appointed instant fact-checkers on former President Donald Trump to out-and-out enemies. The choice is ABC’s Jonathan Karl, who admitted that he wrote his latest book on Trump to warn America about him. Asked on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS why Trump is leading the Republican nomination contest, Karl said that “superficially” there’s “a sense” that things were better during the Trump presidency. And, he added of his just-released Tired of Winning: Donald Trump and the End of the Grand Old Party, “that’s why I wrote this book.” He explained that “if people are going to go into this next election thinking about that, they also need to be thinking, not just about what Trump was, but what he is now and what he is proposing and planning to do, what a second Trump administration would look like. And I don’t think people have come to terms with that at all.” Karl on Thursday’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS: “I think part of what’s happened is people look back. There’s anxiety in the country. People have economic anxiety. There’s discontent with Joe Biden and I think there’s some superficially a sense like ‘Look, if we could only go back to four years ago, the world was relatively at peace, inflation was low, everything was —’ I think there is some of that and that’s why I wrote this book because if people are going to go into this next election thinking about that, they also need to be thinking, not just about what Trump was, but what he is now and what he is proposing and planning to do, what a second Trump administration would look like. And I don’t think people have come to terms with that at all.” Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Karl’s quest is the very definition of improper political advocacy by a journalist. His job is to report the news in an impartial manner, not jump into the fray when a candidate he hates gets popular, and write a book to convince voters they are making a bad choice. How could any Trump supporter, or any Republican, ever trust his reporting when they know he has a personal interest in directing the outcome?” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ November 13: Liberal Media Scream: CNN’s Hunt says no room for ‘happy and sunny’ in GOP (Washington Examiner post) For this week’s Liberal Media Scream, we feature the latest CNN absurdity, a blanket declaration that there is no place for happiness in the Republican Party. The claim came today from CNN’s Kasie Hunt, who was giving her early morning assessment on the decision by Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) to drop out of the 2024 presidential race, joining former Vice President Mike Pence on the sidelines. “There’s just no appetite in the Republican base right now for someone who’s happy and sunny,” she said, citing her election night sources. Of course, many pollsters would suggest that there is just no appetite in the Republican base for anybody other than former President Donald Trump, and GOP voters seem to be pretty happy with that. Hunt, CNN’s chief national affairs analyst, on Monday’s CNN This Morning: “The noteworthy thing to me about this — I mean, look, I think it was pretty clear that Tim Scott’s campaign never took off the way, frankly, a lot of people in Washington thought that it might. He had, you know, all the ingredients to be really successful in the traditional Republican Party. He had a lot of backing. Honestly, he wasn’t public about it, but a lot of the people who have been working against Donald Trump for more traditional candidates like Mitt Romney were working on his operation trying to figure out how they could make that happen. “But when I talked to sources, and I did a lot of this on election night last week, they keep saying to me that there’s just no appetite in the Republican base right now for someone who’s happy and sunny. They’re angry. The base is angry. And that’s a big part of why Donald Trump has had such a durable lead in this race because he campaigns in a much different way. Tim Scott tried to be the kind of ‘Morning in America’ Republican candidate, and it’s just not what people are into. So, you know, it does make sense. He saw the writing on the wall, especially about the fourth debate, and here we are.” Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “None of the GOP presidential candidates are coming close to Trump, so why the particular argument Tim Scott failed because he’s a ‘happy warrior’ and the electorate is motivated by anger? Trump fans would contend his rallies are peppered with funny lines and upbeat messaging about the basis for his movement, Make America Great Again, which in itself is a happy and aspirational quest for a return to the best of America.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ November 6: Liberal Media Scream: CNN’s Zakaria says Biden better on border than Trump (Washington Examiner post) For this week’s Liberal Media Scream we feature the zaniest pro-White House spin yet on the historic border crisis caused by President Joe Biden’s policies. While big city “sanctuary” mayors are crying uncle because the president’s policies are dumping in thousands of illegal immigrants without providing any money or help with housing, CNN’s Fareed Zakaria somehow thinks that the White House is handling the crisis well. Biden is “actually not doing a bad job,” he said on Friday’s Real Time with Bill Maher. For proof, he cited the deportation of illegal immigrants, ignoring the enormous crowds of migrants waved into the U.S. every day and the high number of those who slip in undetected. Zakaria on Friday’s Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO: “Biden’s actually not doing a bad job, they have deported more people — if you think that’s right and I do because you want a system of laws, right? They have deported more people under the Biden administration than Trump did. They’ve been harder line. The problem for Biden is, and this is a problem for Democrats, you can’t take credit for it because then you’re going to outrage, the progressive wing is going to go nuts. And so, even the things he does, it’s like stealth enforcement. You can’t talk about it.” Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Talk about missing the forest for the trees. The only reason the Biden administration deported anyone was because of the Trump-imposed Title 42 to deal with COVID, which stayed in place for more than two years of his administration until he ended it in May. In the fiscal year that ended September 30, 2.4 million people crossed the southern border, the highest number since records started being kept in 1960, and that was the third straight record year, all under Biden.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ October 30: Liberal Media Scream: Speaker Johnson takes compare him to KKK and mass shooter (Washington Examiner post) We could see this coming from miles away. For this week’s Liberal Media Scream, we feature the predictably sad reaction of the press to the unanimous Republican vote to confirm soft-spoken Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) as the 56th House speaker last week. Outlet after outlet tried to portray the Bible-toting Johnson as out of touch with America, instead comparing him to a KKK leader. It’s surprising liberal media outlets didn’t identify him with his middle name, James Michael Johnson, like mass killers. Even on CNN, analyst Gloria Borger conceded that the media was trying too hard to demonize the little-known lawmaker. It is “hard to demonize” him, she said, explaining, “He’s not the devil incarnate.” But Bill Maher and his crew didn’t get the memo. First, on his Friday show, Scott Galloway, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, said to audience applause, “The reason this guy is speaker is none of us have the time to read his resume and realize he’s David Duke-lite.” Maher pushed back on that characterization, but he offered his own invective, calling Johnson “a religious nut” before raising last week’s mass shooter of 18 in Maine: “Apparently he heard voices, and I thought, ‘Is he that different than Mike Johnson?’” From Friday’s Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO and Max: SCOTT GALLOWAY: The whole point here is that we separate church and state, that we believe in the peaceful transfer of power, and the reason this guy is speaker is none of us have the time to read his resume and realize he’s David Duke-lite. BILL MAHER: Well, we do now. I don’t know if he’s David Duke-lite — I read today he has an adopted black son. I don’t think David Duke would do that, but he is a religious nut. .... MAHER: When you’re this much of a religious fanatic, there is no room for real democracy. That’s not what you believe in. He said it today: Look in the Bible — that’s my worldview. I was reading about this horrible shooting in Maine. We don’t know much about the guy yet, but apparently he heard voices, and I thought, ‘Is he that different than Mike Johnson?’ I mean, degree, yes, but it’s thinner than you think. Brent Baker, the vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “What hypocrisy. You can’t decry how Donald Trump and MAGA have lowered discourse in America and undermined respect for democracy and then smear the incoming speaker of the House as no different than a racist Klan leader or a mass murderer. The comparisons are ridiculous and should be beneath anyone who considers themselves a serious political analyst.” Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ October 23: Liberal Media Scream: Morning Joe warns of Trump retaliation just short of firing squads (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features MSNBC host Joe Scarborough speculating on a second Trump White House, ranting that it will be one retaliation after another for slights he’s felt over the past eight years, starting with the media and courts. On his show this morning, Scarborough compared Trump to hard-line Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. “He’s wiped out the judiciary, he’s wiped out the free press,” Scarborough charged. There was no mention, of course, of how Trump made history as president with his appointments to federal courts, including three of the current U.S. Supreme Court justices, or that he was among the most accessible presidents in recent memory despite his verbal hits on the press. But at least he offered that Trump won’t line up his enemies and shoot them. Scarborough’s ruminations came during an interview with the Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum, who just wrote an article titled “Netanyahu’s Attack on Democracy Left Israel Unprepared.” Joe Scarborough on Monday’s Morning Joe on MSNBC: “I always tell people, if you want to see what Donald Trump is going to do if he gets reelected, don’t think about him lining up people against the wall and having them shot." “Just see what [Viktor] Orban has done in Hungary where he’s bragged about having illiberal democracy, and he’s wiped out the judiciary, he’s wiped out the free press. And Anne [Applebaum], I suppose, that’s probably what Donald Trump will look for as a blueprint if he gets elected again.” Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Left-wing paranoia perfectly encapsulated by Joe Scarborough. No matter how bad you think a second Trump presidency would be for the nation, the idea that just because he makes derogatory remarks about judges, prosecutors, and journalists means he wants to ‘wipe out’ the judiciary and free press, is ridiculous. And even if he were so inclined, the U.S. political system would never allow it, leaving Scarborough’s warning as little more than baseless scaremongering.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ October 16: Liberal Media Scream: CBS anchor scoffs, ‘Indictment’ of Biden? (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the hypocrisy and bewildering ignorance of the media’s coverage of the classified documents cases both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump face. On the hypocrisy front, consider all the hours of TV coverage Trump received for his handling of documents compared to Biden. Also, consider how much time the networks gave the extraordinary two days of questions Biden faced last weekend from the prosecutor: just 48 seconds. Then watch as CBS Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan appears astonished that Biden’s case and charges are similar to Trump’s and that a House Republican chairman would even suggest that they should be handled the same way. “Indictment?” she interjected when her guest, Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said, “President Biden needs the same consequence that they pursue with President Trump.” From Sunday’s Face the Nation on CBS: MARGARET BRENNAN: You were talking about classified documents mishandled by the current president, and you said that when it came to Biden and Trump, they’re both equally egregious with equal classification issues. This past week, President Biden was interviewed by special counsel Robert Hur. Will there be legal consequences? Will your committee do anything to act on this? I mean, what exactly do you mean equally egregious? REP. MIKE TURNER: Well, when you look at the documents, both the classification level and the subject matter, both sides, Trump and Biden's documents, if they had been released in the public or gotten into the hands of nefarious parties, would be damaging to the United States national security. When I look at those documents, there are documents on both sides, equally egregious, that would have negative consequences to our means, methods, techniques, and our allies. Now, in this instance, I think President Biden needs the same consequence that they pursue with President Trump. The actions are the same. And in this instance, if you notice— BRENNAN: Indictment? TURNER: You’re getting leak after leak after leak on the Trump documents. You’re hearing nothing on the Biden documents. So you’re continuing to see the inequality that comes out of the Justice Department as there’s silence on the other side with respect to Biden’s. And by the way, he was a serial classified document hoarder. I reviewed documents that were from all the time that he’s been in government. This really is a very serious breach by President Biden. BRENNAN: Just to be clear here, though, are you saying that President Biden had top secret and TS/SCI classification level documents in his personal home? TURNER: That’s public already, Margaret, so I’m not confirming something that people don’t already know. That is correct. BRENNAN: OK. So I think you’re saying that he should be indicted when you say treated the same? TURNER: I think they need to be treated exactly the same. Now, they’re continuing their investigation with President Biden. I don’t think if President Biden in the end has been found to violate the law, and I believe from what I’ve seen that he has, that he should be treated any differently than Donald Trump. Why would he? Just because he’s president or because he’s a Democrat? And that’s how the Department of Justice has been acting. They need to be treated the same. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Brennan’s naivete about President Biden’s potential very serious misdeeds and seeming surprise that a veteran congressman would suggest he deserves to get treated just as harshly as former President Trump, reflects the larger disinterest in Biden’s behavior by the Trump-obsessed press corps. Indeed, special counsel Robert Hur interviewed Biden over two days last week, yet the ABC, CBS, and NBC evening newscasts offered a measly 48 seconds of coverage in total.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ October 9: Liberal Media Scream: CBS touts waitress jobs as sign Bidenomics works (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the transparent effort by the media to prop up Bidenomics at a time when most people believe costs and expenses under President Joe Biden are way too high. CBS led the way over the weekend when Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan said that a jobs report showing restaurant jobs up was proof Biden’s claims are right. She cited it to counter claims from 2024 Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) that the economy is not doing enough for people. “That seems to undercut your argument that the economy’s broken,” Brennan said. Scott slapped down that logic. He said, “Well, all you have to do is talk to the average American family and ask them what they feel — how they feel about Bidenomics. The answer is very simple. We’ve lost over $5,000 of spending power since January of 2021. We should always celebrate the creation of jobs, but we should never forget that we went 52 consecutive paychecks — 52 consecutive paychecks — with a loss of spending power.” From Sunday’s Face the Nation on CBS: MARGARET BRENNAN: On Friday, we spoke with Republican senator and presidential candidate Tim Scott from his home state of South Carolina. Our conversation began on the economy and the surprisingly robust September jobs report. BRENNAN TO SEN. TIM SCOTT: Friday's jobs numbers shattered expectations. It showed some economic momentum. In fact, restaurant hospitality hiring is back to pre-pandemic levels. That seems to undercut your argument that the economy’s broken. SCOTT: Well, all you have to do is talk to the average American family and ask them what they feel — how they feel about Bidenomics. The answer is very simple. We’ve lost over $5,000 of spending power since January of 2021. We should always celebrate the creation of jobs, but we should never forget that we went 52 consecutive paychecks — 52 consecutive paychecks — with a loss of spending power. BRENNAN: And you blame political leadership, not the Federal Reserve? SCOTT: Well, if you think about the fact that over the last, I guess, year and a half, we’ve seen 16% inflation since Joe Biden’s taken office, which led to 11 consecutive rate increases, that downward pressure on our economy certainly created cracks and fissures throughout the economy. That was caused by Joe Biden’s lack of leadership and understanding of how to create jobs in America. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Brennan put Democratic talking point spin ahead of reality in getting so excited about a jobs report largely built on gains in part-time employment and government jobs. Her priority was to undermine Scott’s very persuasive argument that Bidenomics is a disaster, something recognized by the vast majority of people outside of the media elite.” Rating: THREE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ October 2: Liberal Media Scream: MAGA just racists, says MSNBC regular (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the continued smearing of MAGA by MSNBC, this time including the broken-record claim that supporters of former President Donald Trump are racists. Ignoring Trump’s support among black people, his friendships with notable African Americans, and his appointments of black people to top jobs during his administration, MSNBC let legal correspondent Elie Mystal rant that Trump is running for president again “on white grievance” and adding that “without racism, Trump is just dumber Chris Christie, all right?” From Sunday night’s The Mehdi Hasan Show on MSNBC: MEHDI HASAN: When you watch Donald Trump talking about “dampening the forest floor,” and then you look at polls that show him neck and neck with Biden or maybe in the lead by 10 points or 5 points over Biden, do you put your head in your hair in your hands? ELIE MYSTAL: Look, Mehdi, not really. There is a recent poll, a study out of the University of Chicago that said the biggest indicator of whether or not you support Trump is whether or not you believe racism has been defeated, right? Whether or not you believe systemic racism doesn’t exist, whether or not you believe that what white people face more racism than people of color. Trump’s running on white grievance. It’s how he’s always been. It’s what he’s always done. And I feel like reducing it to racism always makes certain kinds of Democrats squeamish. We want there to be a bigger answer. We want to believe maybe Republicans actually think you should “dampen the forests.” We want to believe there is a reason. There’s nothing there there. All it is is white grievance. Without racism, Trump is just dumber Chris Christie, all right? And so, that is why he is where he is because he plays into the racism of his fans. Brent Baker, the vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “How convenient it must be to be so comfortable dismissing the political choice of a large portion of the public by tarring them all as a bunch of racists. Saves time on having to actually address what failures of your side the top candidate on the other side is fulfilling. But stay in your bubble, Mr. Mystal, and you may very well be surprised when those polls, showing Trump beating Biden, come true.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ September 25: No Liberal Media Scream this week.   ■ September 18: Liberal Media Scream: Meet the Press’s Kristen Welker debuts as Chuck Todd clone (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the debut of Kristen Welker as host of NBC’s Meet the Press. But other than a new face, there was no change from the lefty bias of the declining show’s MC. To help Welker's first episode, former President Donald Trump agreed to appear. In return, he faced the usual liberal fact-checking interruptions, especially when answering questions about abortion. Several times, Welker tried to quiet Trump’s charge that Democrats favor abortion right up to birth. “Democrats aren't saying that. Democrats are not saying that,” she said. Her performance won failing grades from conservatives, who weren’t expecting a big shift from the bias of former host Chuck Todd. Federalist Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway was first out with an analysis headlined, "NBC’s Kristen Welker Lied Repeatedly About Democrats’ Extreme Abortion Position." “Kristen Welker brazenly and repeatedly lied in a bizarre, conspiracy-laden debate with former President Donald Trump on Sunday,” she wrote, adding, “Welker interrupted her own pre-taped debate with the president to insert her own ‘fact checks’ that were false or were not responsive to actual claims Trump made.” From Sunday’s Meet the Press on NBC: DONALD TRUMP: Roe v. Wade. For 52 years, people, including Democrats, wanted it to go back to states so that states could make it right. Roe v. Wade, I did something that nobody thought was possible, and Roe v. Wade was terminated and put back to the states. Now, people, pro-lifers, have the right to negotiate for the first time. They had no rights at all because the radical people on this are really the Democrats that say after five months, six months, seven months, eight months, and even after birth, you’re allowed to terminate the baby. KRISTEN WELKER: Democrats aren't saying that. Democrats are not saying that. Does it bother you, though, that women say their lives are being put at risk? Do you feel you bear any responsibility because, as you say, you are responsible for having Roe v. Wade overturned? TRUMP: What’s going to happen? It’s an issue that’s been going on for a long time. It’s a very polarizing issue. Because of what's been done and because of the fact we brought it back to the states, we're going to have people come together on this issue. They're gonna determine the time because nobody wants to see five, six, seven, eight, nine months. Nobody wants to see abortions when you have a baby in the womb. I said with Hillary Clinton when we had the debate, I made a statement: Rip the baby out of the womb in the ninth month, you're allowed to do that, and you shouldn't be allowed to do that. WELKER: Again, no one is arguing for that, that's not a part of anyone's platform, Mr. President. TRUMP: The Democrats are able to kill the baby after birth, and nobody wants that. WELKER: Democrats don’t want that, either. Kevin Tober, news analyst for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Kristen Welker either never read the 2020 Democratic platform or she's purposefully trying to gaslight her viewers in the guise of a ‘fact check’ of Trump. The current platform of the Democratic Party poses no limits on abortions. Instead of pointing this fact out, Welker decided to scold Trump for telling the truth, which apparently isn't allowed on NBC. If this is what we can expect from Welker as the new moderator of Meet the Press, Chuck Todd might as well have stayed on as the moderator. Different anchor, same liberal media bias.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ September 11: Liberal Media Scream: Chuck Todd puts self among the greats (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the departure of one of our favorite representatives of bias, Chuck Todd, the outgoing host of NBC’s Meet the Press. Signing off from his daily and Sunday shows, Todd said he hoped he helped educate viewers on the issues of the day and that he would now turn more to nuance and bridging divides. As he looks to his future as the network’s political analyst, he said he would follow the paths of two of the network’s past greats, David Brinkley and Tim Russert. “I will continue, of course, to be a big part of NBC’s political coverage because, as Tom Brokaw said to me, ‘Look, some networks do some things well, but nobody does politics like NBC.’ And he was referring back all the way to David Brinkley. And that is sort of the tradition I’ve always said, from Brinkley to Russert, and that’s the stuff I want to carry on,” Todd said. His final comments on both shows are in this clip: Todd, at the end of Friday’s daily Meet the Press NOW on the NBC News NOW streaming channel: “On my first day on the job on Meet the Press, I was handed an audience survey of Sunday show viewers. The No. 1 reason why folks decided to tune into any Sunday show, the No. 1 reason: to get educated. It wasn’t to find out if their side was winning or losing. They just wanted to know.” “It’s that education piece I’m hanging my hat on for the rest of my professional life because one thing we all lament lately is the lack of knowledge and nuance in our politics. That’s a vacuum I hope to continue to fill, whether in a traditional news platform or other venues —documentaries, docudramas, or even too-close-to-the-truth fiction.” “I’ll continue to be a big part of NBC News political coverage because no one in this business covers politics as well as NBC. Thanks for watching. I’ll see you down the road.” Todd, wrapping up Meet the Press on NBC on Sunday morning: “So, for nearly a decade, I’ve had the honor of helping to explain America to Washington and Washington to America, as Kristen [Welker] just quoted me about. And it’s that education piece that I’m hanging my hat on for the rest of my professional life. One thing we will lament — we all lament lately — is the lack of knowledge and nuance in our politics and citizenship. That’s a vacuum I hope to continue to fill, whether in our continued news coverage here at NBC or via other venues, like docuseries and docudramas, focused on bridging our divides, piercing these political bubbles. And I will continue, of course, to be a big part of NBC’s political coverage because, as Tom Brokaw said to me, ‘Look, some networks do some things well, but nobody does politics like NBC.’ And he was referring back all the way to David Brinkley. And that is sort of the tradition I’ve always said, from Brinkley to Russert, and that’s the stuff I want to carry on.” “So that’s all for today. Thanks for watching and for so many years of loyalty to me and to this show. I’m happy to say my colleague, Kristen Welker, is going to be here next week because it doesn’t matter who sits in this chair. If it’s Sunday, it’s Meet the Press.” Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Todd, pretentious to the end. In all his years hosting Meet the Press, he never showed much interest in bringing ‘nuance’ to his liberal agenda or ‘bridging’ divides or ‘piercing ... political bubbles,’ to say nothing of never matching the journalism of David Brinkley or Tim Russert. I watched David Brinkley and Tim Russert. Chuck Todd is no David Brinkley or Tim Russert.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ September 4: Liberal Media Scream: Biden’s coverage ‘tougher than he deserves’ (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the classic attitude of the Washington press corps toward Democratic presidents that originally got us working with the Media Research Center to highlight out-of-touch newsies. It is the complaint that the press is too tough when, in fact, they have barely scratched the surface of what some critics believe to be a corrupt presidential operation dating back to President Joe Biden’s days as vice president under former President Barack Obama. NBC’s Meet the Press featured Franklin Foer, an Atlantic writer who just released a bestselling book on the president titled The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden’s White House and the Struggle for America’s Future. Foer told moderator Chuck Todd that “Trump caused the media to become so emotional, to get so engaged in covering all the high drama.” And with Biden, he said, there has been a "desire on the part of the press to reassert its standards of objectivity.” But, he added, Biden has continued to complain about his press, just like every other president. “He has been covered probably tougher than he deserves,” Foer said. That line prompted our partner Brent Baker, the Media Research Center's vice president of research and publications, to grade it five out of five screams. From Sunday’s Meet the Press on NBC: CHUCK TODD: You write: “Biden considered his poor approval rating a failure of the media, which someone neglected to note all the ways in which his administration was superior to Trump’s. It was also a failure of his own White House to effectively communicate. He complained that there weren’t enough surrogates on television defending him.” I’m shocked to find out that a White House believes they have a communications problem, not a substance problem. FRANKLIN FOER: Right. So I think that Biden has — of course, every president who suffers an upside-down approval rating is going to moan about the media, and I think that there is some truth to it in his case where Trump caused the media to become so emotional, to get so engaged in covering all of the high drama. And I think, with the Biden administration, there’s been this desire on the part of the press to reassert its standards of objectivity. So I think, on certain measures, he’s probably right. He has been covered probably tougher than he deserves. But it also — TODD: There’s no curve? He’s not being graded on a curve? FOER: No. TODD: No. Baker explains our weekly pick: “To channel what President Biden would say, ‘not a joke.’ Foer was seemingly quite serious. But it’s a ludicrous assessment to anyone but the most enthused Biden sycophants or Democratic partisans. To contend that Biden is the subject of media ‘objectivity’ and has received ‘tougher’ coverage than he ‘deserves,’ does not pass the laugh test.” Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ August 28: Liberal Media Scream: Dour Dana bashes Ramaswamy over KKK reference (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features CNN anchor Dana Bash repeatedly beating GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s comparison of liberal "Squad" member Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) to "a modern grand wizard of the KKK." Over more than five minutes, the anchor harangued Ramaswamy, who said he made the comparison to spark a debate over the lawmaker’s suggestion that candidates of color should be in lockstep with liberals. After four minutes of her bashing, an exasperated Ramaswamy said: “Dana, I think you’re doing, with due respect, what many in the media do, picking on some fringe comment in the context of a broader context that I was offering in a speech, avoiding the meat of the issue.” Here’s a sampling from CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday: DANA BASH: You took issue with comments from Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-MA). She reportedly said, quote, “we don’t need any more brown faces that don’t want to be a brown voice.” About that, you said, “These are the words of the modern grand wizards of the modern KKK.” You know, I’m sure, the KKK was responsible for more than a century’s worth of horrific lynchings, rapes, murders of black people. How in any way are the views you’re talking about comparable to the views and atrocities committed by the KKK?” VIVEK RAMASWAMY: What I said is: The grand wizards of the KKK would be proud of what they would hear her say, because there’s nothing more racist than saying that your skin color predicts something about the content of your viewpoints or your ideas. BASH: No, you didn’t just say that. You didn’t just say that they would be proud. You said, “These are the words of the modern grand wizards of the modern KKK.” RAMASWAMY: It is the same spirit. You’re right about that, Dana. I think it is the same spirit to say that I can look at you and, based on just your skin color, that I know something about the content of your character, that I know something about the content of the viewpoints you’re allowed to express. .... BASH: But can you have an intellectually honest conversation when you accuse her of being a grand wizard of the KKK? Can you have that intellectually honest discussion with that kind of rhetoric? .... BASH: If you want to have an intellectual question, do you think that maybe comparing her to the grand wizard and the notion of what she said to being a modern leader of the KKK was maybe a step too far, or you stand by what you said? .... BASH: What I did was explain to our viewers that you were asked a question and you took it to a point where you called a sitting member of Congress who is black, who was having discussions about race, calling her the modern grand wizard of the KKK. And I’m just not sure how that’s open and honest discussion.         Brent Baker, the vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Bash’s constant harping was not good television. Ramaswamy explained his point and she should have moved on. But she so vehemently disagreed with him that she wouldn’t let go. In doing so, she helped prove Ramaswamy’s point about the elite who won’t countenance any contrary views on race relations, not even from the target of a racist attack.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ August 21: No Liberal Media Scream this week   ■ August 14: Liberal Media Scream: Media rage at MAGA ‘alternative reality’ (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the latest example of the sputtering anger Washington journalists have at the support former President Donald Trump has from his MAGA millions. Appearing Sunday on ABC’s This Week, Susan Glasser, Washington reporter for the New Yorker and a veteran of the Washington Post and Politico, coughed up a word salad to the storyline that a growing list of indictments is good for Trump while the building criminal focus on first son Hunter Biden is bad for President Joe Biden. From the roundtable on Sunday’s This Week on ABC: Susan Glasser: “Part of this is the incredible distortion field where we are all somehow living in Donald Trump’s alternate reality, right? We are talking about, ‘Well, it’s a great benefit to him,’ according to, you know, the big story in the New York Times today that he’s been indicted criminally, what, three times — and it looks like a fourth coming up this week — because we’re living in this warped distortion field of a Republican primary in which Donald Trump is stampeding? It’s a minority of a minority in the country, and so then, you have something like these series of abortion rights referenda in the wake of the Roe v. Wade decision. “And you realize that in this country, even in deep-red states, there are solid majorities that don’t think, you know, Donald Trump should be the president again, who defeated him in the popular vote in 2016 and in 2020, who support, by actually record numbers, abortion rights, and yet we live in this world where it’s somehow good that Donald Trump is a criminal defendant but somehow bad electorally for the president that his son is being investigated for something, that as far as we know, does not directly concern Joe Biden.” Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “What an incredible lack of inquisitiveness for a journalist. Glasser is living in her own ‘alternate reality,’ one inhabited by virtually all of her Washington press corps colleagues who are enraged by everything Trump but have put on blinders when it comes to President Joe Biden. They don’t want to give legitimacy to anything which could harm Biden’s reelection fortunes.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ August 7: Liberal Media Scream: Joy Behar would exile Trump to Saudi Arabia (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the ladies of The View jumping to a whole new level of "Trump derangement syndrome" following the third criminal indictment of former President Donald Trump. Led by Trump Hater in Chief Joy Behar, they talked up a plea deal that prosecutor Jack Smith could offer that sends the former president away for good — but not jail. Instead, and due to concerns that the Secret Service might not allow a former president to live in a jail cell if he’s convicted, Behar suggested exile in Saudi Arabia. “Wouldn’t that be good?” she said to some audience laughter. “I don’t even care if he goes to jail. I don’t have it in my heart to punish the guy. I just want him to go away and stop ruining my country." From Thursday’s The View on ABC: JOY BEHAR: "Well, what about making a deal? What about, Sunny, if he makes a deal with [special counsel Jack] Smith?" SUNNY HOSTIN: "Without jail time?" BEHAR: "Without jail, and he says, “I’m going away and moving to Saudi Arabia”? Wouldn’t that be good? Just go away. We don’t — I don’t even care if he goes to jail. I don’t have it in my heart to punish the guy. I just want him to go away and stop ruining my country." HOSTIN: "I think there are certain prosecutors that would offer him a plea agreement without time if he would agree to never run for public office again anywhere." BEHAR: "And go away. I don’t want to even see him in the Enquirer." Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Presumably, The View does not air in Saudi Arabia, so this idea might have some appeal to Trump — and many of us — who wouldn’t mind never again hearing Joy Behar’s voice, but I’d recommend flipping this and exiling the entire crew of The View to Saudi Arabia so none of us have to hear their discombobulated daily rantings.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ July 31: Liberal Media Scream: Chuck Todd still trying to downplay Hunter Biden scandals (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features a Sunday network public affairs show host that President Joe Biden and his cronies are really going to miss when he finally leaves his perch. It’s NBC Meet the Press host Chuck Todd, of course, playing “D” on the Hunter Biden scandals exploding in the news today. On his Sunday show and while interviewing yet another Democratic politician, he sounded almost apologetic for having to address the first son who is facing tax and gun charges and has been linked to bribery allegations along with his father. Said Todd to his guest, Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Biden’s home state of Delaware, “Republicans are gonna accuse” the president of misdeeds, “they’re going to make the accusation, whether they have the evidence or not,” because they “have an information ecosystem that helps amplify it.” Todd recently announced that he was leaving his show in September to become the network's "long form" political analyst. From Sunday’s Meet the Press on NBC: CHUCK TODD: Let me start with the Hunter Biden situation and I understand that, you know, you believe this is all being emphasized due to politics, the Republican — the House Republicans are doing. Let me ask you this, do you think it would behoove the president for him to come out and say, “Hey, I had no business dealings with my son. My son’s issues are my son’s issues”? Do you think he needs to say that more directly because there’s a lot of people that believe something else happened here? SEN. CHRIS COONS: Let’s be clear about that point, Chuck. There’s been a five-year investigation. Five years by a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney. This investigation started during the Trump administration and they’ve come forward with not one shred of evidence tying President Biden to any of this. I am encouraged that, in sharp contrast to President Trump, you’ve just detailed his mountain of legal problems where President Trump is fighting, and pushing back and obstructing, Hunter Biden’s come forward, taken responsibility, paid his late taxes. As you just discussed with Chuck Rosenberg, I think the hiccup in the Delaware District Courthouse will get ironed out pretty quickly and I don’t think President Biden needs to say anything more than he has. TODD: House Republicans are gonna accuse him. They’re going to make the accusation — COONS: They’re going [to] accuse him of all sorts of stuff. TODD: — whether they have the evidence or not. COONS: Correct. TODD: The question — and they may have an information ecosystem that helps amplify it to a point where you don’t think he needs to just — “Hey, despite what you hear, just so you know, I don’t do business with my son or my brother"? COONS: I think he’s been perfectly clear. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “If only Chuck Todd had shown such reluctance to promote accusations against President Trump about ‘Russian collusion’ made by Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff and others, which turned out to be baseless, when they were on his program. We’d be in a whole different political-media environment. But no, Todd is only upset by publicity for revelations that may hurt the Democratic president, not the Republican one. And he wonders why so many see him as more of a liberal political operative than any kind of respectable journalist.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ July 24: Liberal Media Scream: CBS pushes for Hunter Biden media cover-up (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the latest example of how the networks are covering up the escalating Hunter Biden sex, gun, drugs, and taxes scandal. Not only have most ignored the scandal going all the way back to dissing reports on the first son’s laptop full of dirty deeds, but now some in the media are urging the GOP to “move on.” Exhibit A is CBS Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan, who this weekend said the plea deal Hunter Biden has cut should be the trigger for Republicans to end their investigation into the president’s son. Her guest, former federal prosecutor and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, dismissed her question. “No, I wouldn’t, Margaret, and here’s why. The conduct here by the U.S. attorney in Delaware and by the Justice Department just can’t be justified,” he said. She also rolled out the standard Democratic talking point to make her case: “You know that the U.S. attorney in Delaware was appointed by former President Trump.” It’s typical for senators to suggest prosecutors in their state and U.S. Attorney David Weiss was endorsed by Delaware’s two Democratic senators at the time. From Sunday’s Face the Nation on CBS: MARGARET BRENNAN: There are so many legal issues in this campaign, and I want to ask you about one involving the president’s son Hunter Biden who’s going to appear in court this week to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and will enter into an agreement that could avert conviction on a gun-related charge. The deal has infuriated many congressional Republicans, who were holding their own hearings, and I wonder after this plea happens if you would advise your party to move on? CHRIS CHRISTIE: No, I wouldn’t, Margaret, and here’s why. The conduct here by the U.S. attorney in Delaware and by the Justice Department just can’t be justified. It doesn’t take five years, Margaret. As you mentioned, I was the U.S. attorney in the fifth-largest office in the country for seven years during the Bush administration. It does not take five years to investigate two misdemeanor tax counts and to dismiss a gun charge, and we need to know what they were investigating and why these are the charges they concluded to. This is not just any person. This is the son of the president of the United States. And while justice needs to be equal, it needs to be equal, and it doesn’t appear to me that this is the way to do it. And I would say one thing on the gun charge. I mean, this is a case where Democrats yell and scream for more new gun laws in the country, and yet you hear no Democrat yelling about the fact that Hunter Biden intentionally lied on his gun permit application, mishandled the gun after he received it with a false permit application, and faces absolutely no penalty. Guess what? The guy who sponsored that law was his father, Sen. Joe Biden, and that charge carries a 10-year sentence, Margaret. We need to explain — they need to explain to the public why that was done. So no, I don't think it’s time to move on. BRENNAN: And you know that the U.S. attorney in Delaware was appointed by former President Trump. CHRISTIE: Incompetent, Margaret. It doesn’t matter, Margaret. It doesn’t matter whether you’re appointed by a Republican or a Democrat, if your work appears to be incompetent and inexplicable, you need to explain it so we can have confidence in our justice system, and I don’t care whether Mr. Weiss is a Republican or a Democrat. He owes the American people an explanation. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “It takes a lot of chutzpah for Brennan to suggest Republicans ‘move on’ from a topic the broadcast news networks and much of the rest of the news media have done all they can to avoid in their quest to protect President Biden. Numerous revelations about Hunter and his dad have gone unreported, or get one story on one night, and then nothing more. What kind of ‘journalist’ pushes for cover-up and suppression over pressing for more coverage three days after two IRS whistleblowers detailed federal efforts to benefit Hunter and not pursue leads which could hurt the president?” Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ July 17: No Liberal Media Scream this week   ■ July 10: Liberal Media Scream: CNN’s Zakaria tells Biden, 'You've been a great president' (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features a rare one-on-one interview of President Joe Biden and a hint of what it takes to get a sit-down with him. In the case of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, the payback came in a phrase of praise: “You've been a great president.” The line was part of a long setup on his Sunday show to a question about some Democrats calling for Biden to step aside. From Fareed Zakaria GPS: Zakaria to Biden: “You've often said when people ask you about your age, just watch me. And I think a lot of people do watch you and are impressed, and they think you've been a great president. You've brought the economy back. You've restored relations with the world. But many of these people do say, and these are hardened supporters of yours, the next thing he should do is step aside and let another generation of Democrats take the baton.” Kevin Tober, a news analyst & staff writer at the Media Research Center’s NewsBusters, explains our weekly pick: “Zakaria displayed a masterclass in professional gaslighting Sunday when he told Biden that ‘a lot of people’ watch him and are ‘impressed.’ In reality, even many Democrats have expressed their concern about Biden's age and cognitive decline. Kissing Biden's ring is not ‘facts first’ despite what CNN wants you to think.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ July 3: No Liberal Media Scream this week   ■ June 26: Liberal Media Scream: MSNBC historian declares GOP hopefuls insurrectionists (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream highlights the latest example of the conventional liberal media’s view that all Republicans are deplorable and, thus, dismissible. MSNBC “historian” Jon Meacham, an author and former Newsweek Washington bureau chief, wrote off the large and historically diverse collection of Republican presidential candidates as insurrectionists and seditionists because all have been supportive at times of former President Donald Trump. “We have a pretty clear choice in this political season. We can choose a constitutionalist, a party that has been pretty faithful to the Constitution, which is the party of the incumbent president, or we can favor a party that has been shockingly but persistently supportive of an insurrectionist or a seditionist,” he said on Friday’s Morning Joe show. “It’s not simple, but it is straightforward. That’s the choice before the country,” said Meacham, who punctuated his analysis with declarations of “right?!” From Friday’s Morning Joe on MSNBC: JOE SCARBOROUGH: We were talking about the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court who, again, out of control, running roughshod over the will of the overwhelming majority of Americans. And now, we have this president, again, unprecedented, but here we are moving towards, I believe, I think, the most serious charges and the one that I think historians are going to be grappling with long after we are all gone. That is a president charged with conspiracy to commit sedition against the United States of America. JON MEACHAM: You’re right, historians will be wrestling with it as we all do all the time. I think citizens have to wrestle with it now, right? This is, it’s so central, and I just really believe that we have a pretty clear choice in this political season. We can choose a constitutionalist, a party that has been pretty faithful to the Constitution, which is the party of the incumbent president, or we can favor a party that has been shockingly but persistently supportive of an insurrectionist or a seditionist. That’s not a sentence we would have said about Eisenhower and Stevenson, right? That was not something that a lot of people grew up with. But it’s pretty vital. And yet that's the question: Is any policy so important that you would want to favor someone that you think is a vehicle for that policy, even if they don’t and have self-evidently tried to trash the Constitution of the United States? And we could go on, but that’s really kind of it. You know, it’s pretty basic. Do you want a constitutionalist or an insurrectionist? Then we get into the, ‘But, but, but, taxes and judges.’ If we don’t have a Constitution, taxes and judges aren’t going to matter at all. That’s where we are, remarkably, right now. Again, we could go on, but I think it’s a fundamental question. People often say, you know, it’s simple. It’s not simple, but it is straightforward. That’s the choice before the country. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Meacham, in all his haughty glory, sees it as his role to declare every candidate in one party illegitimate presidential contenders because most of them refrain from denouncing the one candidate he really hates. Yet Meacham and Scarborough wonder why conservatives don’t heed their advice when they show such disdain for the choices made by those who don’t share their left-wing worldview.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ June 19: Liberal Media Scream: CNN begs ‘older’ white people to step aside, give values up (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features one of CNN’s liberal big shots decrying “older” white people in Southern states for trying to maintain values and traditions instead of giving up to the “new demography.” Ron Brownstein, a CNN political analyst and Atlantic editor, argued it is longtime residents who are trying to impose their values in states such as Texas, not the other way around. The discussion came Monday when CNN This Morning devoted a segment to how those in red states are “imposing” their values on the rest of the nation. Not considered by the panel: how those in red states see themselves as simply pushing back at the imposition of left-wing LGBT Pride values that CNN euphemistically described as “inclusion.” From CNN This Morning: RON BROWNSTEIN: The attempt to kind of impose the values, and to force companies to toe the line of the values of one segment of society, really puts them in a hard place and, ultimately, they have to decide whether they’re going to embrace this changing, inclusive America, or whether they’re going to back down in the face of this kind of pressure. CO-HOST ERICA HILL: This is going to feel like a rhetorical question, but I mean it very seriously, as from both a political and a business standpoint, as you’re looking at this, right, inclusion is good for business. How and where is exclusion good for business or for politics when you’re narrowing your pool? BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, it’s very different between the red states and the blue and purple states. In the red states, you have Republican coalitions that are running state government with an electoral coalition that is fundamentally rooted in the parts of the state that are not changing, that are basically nonurban, older white voters. And they are using that to impose the values of that coalition on changing places before the new demography maybe changes the political balance in a place like Texas. So you see half the country moving in this direction. And these boycotts are kind of the business flank of that same effort that in many ways is attempting to reverse what has been six decades of nationalizing more rights and creating common rights that are available in every state. I mean, we are moving back toward a pre-1960s world where your basic civil liberties depended much more on your ZIP code. And I think, look, that in some places, like the period before the Civil War, no institution was equally credible on both sides of the sectional divide. And these companies, much as they want to stay out of it, ultimately have to decide: Are they going to embrace the changing America, or are they going to embrace this effort to, in effect, “Make America Great Again” by going back to older rules and older values? Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “In being so concerned about conservatives ‘imposing’ their values on blue America, Brownstein is oblivious to how red-state America sees itself just pushing back against the Left’s values being pushed on them. But to Brownstein and CNN, the liberal blue America world is all that matters.” Rating: THREE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ June 12: Liberal Media Scream: New host Charles Barkley calls CNN ‘the Titanic’ (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features something we don’t hear often — a CNN host who admits the cable network is in serious trouble. In this case, it is an incoming host and former NBA great Charles Barkley who is teaming up with CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King for a CNN prime-time show. The show was mapped out by fired CNN chief Chris Licht, who said at the time that the show would begin in the fall. Barkley is apparently a bit concerned about what he’s getting into. Talking hockey with NHL Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky, Barkley said, “Apparently, with this new talk show, I’m jumping on the Titanic.” From the Saturday night NHL on TNT pregame Face Off show: WAYNE GRETZKY: You don’t need to go take that news job. You can come on our show. You know more about hockey than we do. You don’t have to travel out of Atlanta. CHARLES BARKLEY: Apparently, with this new talk show, I’m jumping on the Titanic. So it’s not — everybody keeps saying “abort,” “abort,” “abort!” So, you know what, I’m looking forward to it. Gayle is awesome. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “The truth stumbles out spontaneously in the oddest of places. Barkley didn’t see that comment coming from Gretzky, so he blurted out the first thing he thought, which is the truth about the decline of CNN, before recovering with the more acceptable public stance of looking forward to the show. One suspects he’s having some second thoughts about agreeing to join CNN programming.” Rating for telling the truth: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ June 5: Liberal Media Scream: Chuck Todd says he’s a ‘real political journalist’ (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream turns the spotlight to NBC’s Chuck Todd, who portrayed himself as a journalistic martyr in announcing that he will step down as host of Meet the Press later this year. “Being a real political journalist isn’t about building a brand. It's about reporting what’s happening and explaining why it’s happening and letting the public absorb the facts,” he bragged Sunday. “I take the attacks from partisans as compliments, and I take the compliments from partisans with a grain of salt,” said Todd, a favorite target of the Secrets' weekly Liberal Media Scream. NBC said that Kristen Welker, NBC News's co-chief White House correspondent, will succeed him in what is a well-worn path to hosting Sunday public affairs shows. Todd, on Sunday’s Meet the Press: “I’ll be honest, though. I leave feeling concerned about this moment in history but reassured by the standards we've set here. We didn’t tolerate propagandists, and this network and program never will. But it doesn't mean sticking your head in the sand either. If you ignore reality, you’ll miss the big story. Being a real political journalist isn’t about building a brand. It's about reporting what’s happening and explaining why it’s happening and letting the public absorb the facts. If you do this job seeking popularity, you are doing this job incorrectly. “I take the attacks from partisans as compliments, and I take the compliments from partisans with a grain of salt. The goal of this and every Meet the Press episode is to do all of the following in one informative hour: Make you mad, make you think, shake your head in disapproval, and nod your head in approval. If you do all of that in one hour of this show, we’ve done our jobs. So, again, this isn’t goodbye. But know this: No matter who sits in this chair, if it’s Sunday, it’s Meet the Press.” Brent Baker, the vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Arrogant until the end. No acknowledgment from Todd that he just might be biased in favor of the Left and against conservatives. Instead, he played the martyr card, portraying himself as the target of misguided criticism which only proves his integrity.” Rating: THREE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   May 29: No Liberal Media Scream this week.   May 22: Liberal Media Scream: NBC’s Chuck Todd says only tax cheats oppose more IRS agents (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream shows exactly the difference between small-government conservatives and big-government liberals. Imagine wanting 87,000 more Internal Revenue Service agents. Well, that’s not only what NBC Meet the Press host Chuck Todd said, but he sneered at those who don’t want them as likely tax cheats. On his Sunday show, he took on the GOP plan to roll back the Biden administration’s request and said, “I have never understood the resistance of extra IRA agents — unless you knowingly cheat on your taxes.” His guest, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), replied, “That’s salacious and you know that.” Donalds said that “when you have that many more agents, it’s not to go after the rich. It’s to go after the middle class.” Todd stood by his view that the honest have nothing to fear from more enforcement. “So if you’re paying what you are supposed to pay, then you should have nothing to fear,” he said. The exchange on Sunday’s Meet the Press: CHUCK TODD: But there’s one more thing House Republicans are asking for, which is they want fewer IRS agents. They want fewer attempts to try to properly get tax receipts into the federal government’s coffers. I have never understood the resistance of extra IRS agents — unless you knowingly cheat on your taxes. REP. BYRON DONALDS: First of all, that’s salacious and you know that. Most Americans, by far, pay their taxes, and they do it honorably. What House Republicans, and frankly the Republican Party, is concerned about is having IRS agents go after middle-class families and small business owners. When you have that many more agents, it’s not to go after the rich. It’s to go after the middle class. That’s what it's for. TODD: So if you’re paying what you are supposed to pay, then you should have nothing to fear. DONALDS: You would make the assumption that IRS audits are up, that they’re putting out more liens on the American people. That’s not true. That data is not there. All Joe Biden is trying to do is find every possible nickel out of every couch from every American to pay for his radical spending. Why would we do that? Brent Baker, the vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “How ridiculous. More people in any job that involves tracking the activities of others means at least some of those in their purview will get harassed. After all, the additional staff has to justify their existence. By Todd’s logic, minority communities have nothing to fear from dozens more police officers on patrol since only criminals have any reason to ‘fear’ more cops. But that’s not the view of Black Lives Matter activists. Yet, Todd and the media would never take on that premise.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   May 15: No Liberal Media Scream this week.   ■ May 8: Liberal Media Scream: Even if Trump loses, Washington Post editor sees America’s ‘dissolution’ (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream demonstrates that anti-Trumpers have jumped off the deep end eight months before the first primary and caucus vote is cast in the 2024 race. We feature Washington Post columnist and editor-at-large Robert Kagan, who has long criticized former President Donald Trump, once dubbing him a “Frankenstein monster.” In his latest expression of "Trump derangement syndrome," he talked about Trump running again and how it will ruin the nation. But in this case, Trump doesn’t win but loses and claims fraud. The result: America ends. “At that point, I think we face a very serious possibility of dissolution of the United States and secession,” the neoconservative Never Trumper said on the First Look podcast hosted by the Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart. It even seemed too much for the host, who called Kagan’s take “a pretty apocalyptic view, and I’m laughing to keep from crying.” From Friday’s First Look on Washington Post Live: ROBERT KAGAN: If you look ahead a year, I think it’s very hard. I really don’t think most Americans — even attentive Americans — have really focused on the fact that a year from now, Donald Trump is going to be the strongest person in the country in some respects. Certainly, he’s going to dominate the Republican Party. At that point, he will be accumulating votes, which in this country is the ultimate certification of legitimacy. And so I think he’s going to be in an incredibly powerful position. He’s going to make it clear to his supporters that if he loses, it can only be as a result of fraud. And therefore, I think the entire Republican Party is going to, if Trump loses, say that the election was fraudulent. And at that point, I think we face a very serious possibility of dissolution of the United States and secession. I know that that sounds extreme, but secession has been pretty common, what used to be a very common activity or at least, you know, in the first hundred years of our republic, and our country hasn’t changed that much. So, I think that’s what we’re looking at in the 2024 scenario right now. JONATHAN CAPEHART: Danielle [Allen], do you share? I mean, that’s a pretty apocalyptic view, and I’m laughing to keep from crying, Bob, but— KAGAN: For the first thing in the morning. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “The ultimate in 'Trump derangement syndrome' scaremongering. It’s not good enough for former President Donald Trump to lose. Per Kagan, even if Trump loses, we’ll get an apocalyptic outcome. So, the only way for the U.S. to survive as a nation is for Trump to not even run. For someone who sees Trump as a destroyer of democracy, Kagan isn’t very confident in the strength of our democratic institutions.” Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ May 1: Liberal Media Scream: Todd cues up Mayorkas to tout Biden as ‘incredibly sharp’ (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream shows how the Washington political/media machine works when it comes to a matter both sides just don’t want to address fully, such as reports President Joe Biden doesn’t have the mental capacity or stamina to run for reelection or serve out a second term. On Sunday’s Meet the Press, moderator Chuck Todd cued up Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to champion Biden as fully fit for reelection. Todd: “Is he up for a second term?” Mayorkas: “100%. Incredibly sharp, incredibly probing, incredible command of the details, probing on the details.” Todd’s follow-up: “You have full confidence he can serve a second term?” Mayorkas repeated his 100% line, and then Todd wrapped up the segment without ever challenging the upbeat assurances from Mayorkas. From Sunday’s Meet the Press on NBC: CHUCK TODD: You’re in Cabinet meetings. There’s a lot of questions about President Biden and his ability to serve in a second term. You see him up close, face-to-face. What say you? Is he up, is he up for a second term? ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS: Oh, Chuck, 100%. Incredibly sharp, incredibly probing, incredible command of the details, probing on the details, asking tough questions. Absolutely. I’m incredibly proud to serve in his administration. I am incredibly proud of the work that we have done across the board — TODD: You have full confidence he can serve a second term? MAYORKAS: 100%. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “It’s the obtuse leading the blind. Everyone knows Joe Biden is as ‘incredibly smart’ as the border is secure, as Mayorkas has repeatedly assured. All but a few Biden sycophants know neither is true, yet Todd let Mayorkas get away with the laugh line.” Rating: THREE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ April 24: Liberal Media Scream: Government-funded PBS has Biden scandal, gaffe-free (Washington Examiner post) If ever there was an example that Twitter had it right when the social media giant slapped “government-funded” and “state-affiliated” on PBS and NPR, consider our Mainstream Media Scream example this week featuring politically delusional contributors David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart. Imagine a conservative calling President Joe Biden a strong speaker who is gaffe- and scandal-free, ignoring his refusal to meet with the media, his weekly mistaken mumbles, and the investigations into the family finances or the historic crisis on the border. Well, roll the tape from the Friday PBS NewsHour. There you will see Brooks cheering Biden’s reelection plans and saying that the president “gave a strong State of the Union,” and adding that “there hasn’t been any obvious gaffes, big scandals or anything like that.” From Friday’s PBS NewsHour: GEOFF BENNETT, ANCHOR: President Biden’s allies say the fact that he’s facing only token primary opposition from author Marianne Williamson and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. really is a show of strength for him. DAVID BROOKS: Oh, for sure. I mean, there’s — in the polling, there’s still a lot of Democrats who think he should not run, but that’s mostly an age issue, not an ideology issue. But the midterm election sort of silenced all that. And he’s been looking strong. He gave a strong State of the Union. There hasn’t been any obvious gaffes, big scandals or anything like that. And so there’s nothing — or, even ideologically, I’d say, over the two years so far, two and a bit, that he’s pretty well massaged the center-left fights that happen in the Democratic Party by doing things that some people, the centrists like, and some things that people on the Left like. And so there’s no natural home for an opposition candidate, and everyone’s united by Donald Trump. And so, you know, I think what’s interesting about him, he’s been sounding pretty candidate-y for six months now. He’s been talking like, 'I really want to go after Trump.' And he’s been doing it. You know, I think what has to concern the White House a little is they’ve had improving inflation, a lot of good domestic policy achievements, Republicans have staked out some pretty extreme ground on a lot of issues. And if you look at the polls, it’s still reasonably close. His approvals are still in 46s. And it could be that we’re just in an extremely partisan, divided country, an extremely cynical country, where, on the national level, nobody — and this is global — no national leader gets popular anymore. No national leader gets to 55, because there’s so much cynicism across the Western world. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “How surreal to visit the world of PBS News, where Joe Biden is ‘strong,’ has had ‘a lot of good domestic policy achievements’ and hasn’t had any ‘obvious gaffes’ or scandals. Biden is a ‘gaffe’ machine! As for scandals, hello Hunter Biden and Chinese money going to the Biden family, to say nothing of the ongoing scandal of the out-of-control border. Just because PBS ignores Biden’s confusion and malfeasance doesn’t mean he’s good at his job. But to PBS, this is analysis from the ‘conservative’ house analyst. No wonder conservative taxpayers are so annoyed about having to fund PBS.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ April 17: Liberal Media Scream: ABC pundit says Republicans are the bossy ones (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features an ABC News pundit ripping Republicans for pushing people around. Jane Coaston, once with the New York Times, cited abortion in claiming Republicans are America’s busybodies, ignoring how the Democrats are engaged in a wide-ranging effort to force the country to accept electric cars, gas stoves, and kiddie transgender operations. “I think the most important political priority for any political party is to not be the people telling people what to do,” she said. Thankfully, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was sitting next to her on ABC’s This Week. He countered, “Democrats are going to have a hard time making that case when you look at public education and what their position is, which is, us and the teachers’ unions know what to tell your children and where they should go to school and how they should be taught.” From the roundtable on Sunday’s This Week on ABC: JANE COASTON: I think the most important political priority for any political party is to not be the people telling people what to do. For the last five years, we’ve heard from Republicans, especially even during COVID, about how freedom was going to reign and that they were just going to let people make decisions for themselves. They want to be the cool mom of politics. Well, that era has ended. And I think that there’s a specific type of libertarianism that is very popular in America. Unlike the Libertarian Party. But there’s a specific type of, don’t tell me what to do, let me make my decisions. Let me make my decisions for my family, that is very politically profitable. And I think that if Democrats are able to say that we are the party that says you can make these decisions, you can make decisions for your family, your family can make decisions for themselves, I think that that will be politically profitable. And I think that for Republicans, it’s going to be challenging to try to sound simultaneously like cool mom and the Moral Majority that so many of us grew up with. CHRIS CHRISTIE: Well, the Democratic Party is all for that on abortion, but they are against it when it comes to public education. When it comes to public education, people shouldn’t be able to make their own decisions, you shouldn't be able to have the ability to have your child go to parochial school if you can’t afford it, or to go to a charter school if they’re not available in your town. Or to be able to decide what your children should be able to learn about sexuality and at what age they should learn that. So the Democrats are going to have a hard time making that case when you look at public education and what their position is, which is us and the teachers’ unions know what to tell your children and where they should go to school and how they should be taught. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “What a total lack of self-awareness. If you really think ‘the most important political priority for any political party is to not be the people telling people what to do,’ how can you be a Democrat, as Coaston obviously is, since telling people what to do is the fundamental passion of modern Democrats on everything from the kind of car you can drive to the type of stove you can put in your kitchen? As the famous line goes, where Democrats can be substituted for liberals, liberals don’t care what you do as long as it’s mandatory.’” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ April 10: Liberal Media Scream: Liberals can’t handle the truth (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the news industry’s knee-jerk reaction to the expulsion of two Tennessee Democrats from the legislature for violating floor rules in aggressively demanding gun control. MSNBC political pundit Jon Meacham gets our spotlight for his rambling tie-in of abortion, gender, guns, and, of course, former President Donald Trump to the ouster of state Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson last week. “These things are connected,” Meacham said in dismissing Republicans and blaming Trump in the latest example of the media’s Trump derangement syndrome. “It’s a reminder that what Trump has represented, which is this showmanship, this, ‘We’re going to own the libs,’ is actually of enormous real-world consequence, right? His reality show, which is about his attention and his fundraising and his ego and his narcissism, has an impact on how people live and how the vulnerable live.” Our curator, Media Research Center’s Vice President Brent Baker, gave a rare five out of five “scream” rating and said the meandering performance showed that liberals can’t handle the truth. “The Republicans in control of the Tennessee legislature were following the very rules of the state constitution in expelling the two Democrats, the kind of orderly process Meacham advocated but can’t accept when it reminds him of Trump-like wrath,” Baker said in his analysis. Meacham on Monday’s Morning Joe on MSNBC: I can’t help, just because of where I’m sitting in Nashville, to bring this up as well. You know, 14 days ago, the children, the teachers, the adults who were murdered at the Covenant School were getting ready for school at this hour. And I bring it up because there are — there’s the issue of reproductive health, there’s the issue of a wildly and, if I may, weirdly expansive view of the Second Amendment, there’s an anti-democratic, lowercase “D” movement because we have a supermajority here. Because Republicans can expel two members, they did. And these things are connected. It’s a reminder — and imagine a world where we haven’t even mentioned the indictment of a former president and the potential indictments coming — it’s a reminder that what Trump has represented, which is this showmanship, this, “We’re going to own the libs,” is actually of enormous real-world consequence, right? His reality show, which is about his attention and his fundraising and his ego and his narcissism, has an impact on how people live and how the vulnerable live. And people who are vulnerable who don’t even know they’re vulnerable because they’re 9 years old and they’re going to school. And so, the right wing — and, Joe, you alluded to it, you grew up around this, you were elected — the right wing needs to be a fully functioning part of a two-party constitutional system. And they can believe what they want to believe about reproduction and about guns, and that’s all what they’re supposed to do. Then you take it to the people. And when you take it to the people, you then obey the result because that’s what we do. That’s what separates us from chaos. Think about what the Right is doing here. They’re doing two things: They’re pushing, arguably, too far on these important issues, and then if they get a result they don’t like, they storm a capital, or they throw people out of a legislature. Seems to me you can have the first, but you can’t have the second, and if you insist on having both, then you are not part of this conversation, and we need a conversation that has people of good faith, whether you agree with them or not. These are difficult issues, right? I mean, the definition of life and the Roe system. This isn’t easy. There are people of enormous goodwill, enormous goodwill, who differ from lots of folks that we’re talking to and about. But you take it to the system, you take it to the Constitution, and if there’s a decision, you respect it, and if the decision goes the other way, you work within channels. You don’t throw people out of legislative bodies. Baker explains our weekly pick: “A classic example of Trump derangement syndrome, though this time in a droll and low-key manner, yet still an instance of how liberals in the media see everything through a Trump prism. The Republicans in control of the Tennessee legislature were following the very rules of the state constitution in expelling the two Democrats, the kind of orderly process Meacham advocated but can’t accept when it reminds him of Trump-like wrath.” Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ April 3: Liberal Media Scream: 60 Minutes’ hate list against Marjorie Taylor Greene (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the acid 60 Minutes interview of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene by Lesley Stahl. In it, the Georgia Republican pushed back hard against Stahl’s trolling interview that included a hater’s list of nasty comments thrown at the lawmaker ever since she first ran for the North Georgia House seat. For her reporting project, Stahl went on social media to “look up” some of the comments. She read them to Greene, who shrugged, “Looks like the average troll in my Twitter feed, so I don’t really care.” There was no mention in the televised story of the times Greene has been swatted in several cases where she was worried about becoming a so-called “death by police” victim. Stahl also couldn’t resist the standard liberal media mantra on the necessity of raising taxes. On the debt ceiling, Stahl asked, “Would you be willing to vote for compromise? In other words, raise some taxes?” Greene replied: “I don’t think we have a revenue problem in Washington. We have a spending problem.” Stahl sneered, “That’s glib. That’s glib.” From Sunday’s 60 Minutes on CBS: LESLEY STAHL: We looked up some words that have been said about you. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: OK. STAHL: “Crazy,” “Q-clown,” “Looney Tune,” “unhinged,” “moron.” Pretty ugly stuff. GREENE: Looks like the average troll in my Twitter feed, so I don’t really care. STAHL: You’re used to it? GREENE: I don’t let name-calling bother me or offend me. I just don’t. ..... STAHL: Would you be willing to vote for compromise? In other words, raise some taxes? GREENE: I don’t think we have a revenue problem in Washington. We have a spending problem. STAHL: You know something? That’s glib. That’s glib. That, what does that mean? The two sides have to come together and hammer it out. GREENE: Cut spending. STAHL: Both sides. GREENE: Both sides need to cut spending. STAHL: Where do you want to cut it? GREENE: COVID bailout money and a lot of green energy spending. STAHL: But are you willing to let us go into default? GREENE: No. I’ve always said I wouldn’t do that. STAHL: So, would you compromise? GREENE: It depends. STAHL: On taxes? You won’t. GREENE: No, I’m not raising taxes. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “The 60 Minutes story was unremarkable in many ways as Stahl painted, as you’d expect from the establishment media, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as a crazy far-right extremist. But Stahl showed how she and CBS News consider the congresswoman first and foremost to be an impediment to their consistent demand that taxes must be raised. In that respect, to CBS she’s just as awful as any conservative who prefers cutting spending to raising taxes.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ March 27: Liberal Media Scream: Jon Stewart says America all talk on ending discrimination (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features liberal activist Jon Stewart claiming that efforts in America to embrace the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement are just an inch deep, a “salve” to make people feel good. On CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS, the former host of the Daily Show on Comedy Central lumped critical race theory in with DEI and said that despite all the hand-wringing by many to change society’s views on discrimination, it’s mostly just talk. He pointed to the National Football League as an example. The NFL has the so-called Rooney Rule, which requests that teams interview minorities when a top job comes open, nothing more. “So here’s what we are going to do,” Stewart said. “We’re going to have to talk to one black guy. ‘Are we good? I think we’re good.’” Jon Stewart on Sunday’s Fareed Zakaria GPS on CNN: By the way, all these diversity initiatives and CRT and all those other things are only there because we refuse to actually fix the real problem. The diversity and equity initiatives are a salve. They are to pacify and mollify because we won’t actually do the real thing. We won’t actually dismantle the vestiges of all the systemic racism and all the systemic classism and all the systemic gender issues. We won’t actually dismantle that. But what we will do is you can have an office in the building. And every few months, we’re going to have to sit and listen to you talk for, like, an hour. “And so we’re good, right?” Like, it’s a country that won’t face — I’ll explain it like, OK, the NFL, right? You know the Rooney Rule? The Rooney Rule in the NFL is because there are so few African American coaches, you have to at least interview, like, one of them. So that’s the rule now, instead of it’s the thing you put in place instead of looking at the owner’s box, and realizing, oh, right, that’s just the legacy of the economic segregation that’s been in our country since its founding. So we’re never going to deal with that. So here’s what we are going to do. A diversity and equity initiative, we’re going to have to talk to one black guy. “Are we good? I think we’re good.” But that’s what I’m, what I’m trying to say is we don’t — the thing that they’re pointing at is the thing that’s in place because we won’t do the actual thing. Brent Baker, the vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “To conservatives, DEI is undermining the American ideal of equal opportunity and replacing it with forced equal outcomes that exacerbate racial tensions. Stewart put himself clearly on the Left, contending DEI doesn’t go far enough but complaining it’s ‘in place because we won’t do the actual thing.’ Yet he never explains what that ‘actual thing’ would entail.” Rating: THREE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ March 20: Liberal Media Scream: Joy Reid coddles reporter fired for hostility to DeSantis (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream turns to the case of an Axios reporter who was fired for describing as “propaganda” a news release dished out by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Instead of backing Axios in her interview with the reporter, MSNBC’s liberal host Joy Reid blamed DeSantis and gave the reporter a chance to blast Axios and claim that the likely Republican presidential candidate bullied Axios into action. Reid said, “There is a bullying aspect and a lot of trolling" of those who work for DeSantis. The Tampa-based journalist Ben Montgomery said on Reid’s show, “I feel like what Axios did to me has a chilling effect on the entire news media.” Here’s what happened, according to the New York Post: “Journalist Ben Montgomery was fired from the news outlet [Axios] after a staffer in the state Department of Education tweeted out a screenshot of him telling the department’s press office over email, ‘This is propaganda, not a press release’ in reply to a release that highlighted the GOP governor hosting a roundtable on ‘Exposing the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Scam in Higher Education.’” Oh, and of course, he's thinking of cashing in with a book. From the March 16 episode of The ReidOut on MSNBC: BEN MONTGOMERY: So we have the Florida Department of Education, that’s kind of engaged in, in my view, campaigning for DeSantis for 2024 presidential campaign. So what they are doing is weaponizing these emails that we sometimes send and trying to make us look like lefty activists when really we’re just interested in them serving the people and being true public service and doing the right kind of work that the taxpayers are paying them for. JOY REID: There is a bullying aspect and a lot of trolling. They do a lot of Twitter trolling. They tried to bully my dear friend and colleague Andrea Mitchell for asking a question not even to DeSantis, to the vice president, Kamala Harris. Did you experience, before this, any kind of bullying behavior from the DeSantis camp? BEN MONTGOMERY: Look, I mostly write about fluffy kind of things. I cover the news, of course. I’ve been an investigative reporter for a long time but not with this administration. By and large I have not had the opportunity to really do any kind of depth, in-depth reporting on a DeSantis administration. I’m not a person that they should be afraid of, I don’t think. I’m not writing about them every day. I’m not digging deep, in other words. So yeah, but this was propaganda and it was a waste of my time. That’s ultimately what I was saying to them. It’s wasting my time and it’s done in a clear vein of propaganda. This is objectionably propaganda. And I read the whole thing because I give them the benefit of the doubt because they work for the people of Florida. And I want to do right by my readers. And so when this wastes my time and it’s just propaganda, I feel like I have a right to say so. And I feel like what Axios did to me has a chilling effect on the entire news media. It’s a very sad thing. REID: Oh, it 100% does! It does show that bullying works. And that sends a message to every other journalist. You put up a sort of fun tweet after this all happened saying that you made a quiche. What are your next plans? MONTGOMERY: I was talking to my agent today about whether there was a book in this, and maybe there is. Maybe it’s time that somebody isn’t afraid to stand up to DeSantis, write a true biography of him. So I might be the guy to do that. We’ll see. REID: Yeah, good luck, he has his military records, people have lots and lots of questions. Maybe you can pull it off. Ben Montgomery, thank you man. Really appreciate you being here, and best of luck in whatever you do next. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Montgomery’s attitude betrayed as true what the DeSantis staff saw; he is, despite his denial, a ‘lefty activist,’ just one that a media outlet, in a rarity, held accountable. Reid, of course, saw it all through the prism of her hatred for all things DeSantis and thus treated him as the victim instead of as the one who violated the trust of his readers.” Rating: THREE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ March 13: Liberal Media Scream: MSNBC wants baseball out of Florida over DeSantis (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features a new call from an MSNBC anchor for baseball to pull spring training out of Florida over some of the recent social policy moves by likely 2024 presidential candidate and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. Anchor Lindsey Reiser compared Florida under DeSantis to the days of Jim Crow as she featured Washington Post sports writer Kevin Blackistone, who had just published a column urging Major League Baseball to respond to “Ron DeSantis’s culture wars.” She said: “You outlined Major League Baseball’s move out of Florida for spring training in yesteryear — late ‘40s, a state with some of the harshest Jim Crow laws as the league was introducing black players to the league.” He responded that MLB has already shown a hand, moving the 2021 All-Star Game out of Georgia over voting reform laws that turned out to be a nonfactor in last year’s elections that saw record numbers of people at the polls. Baseball, he said, “should express if it has some uncomfortableness with the things that are going on in the DeSantis campaign, in the way that he’s run the state of Florida, and in some of the other legislation that has been passed there that they should speak out.” From MSNBC Reports in the 10 a.m. ET hour, on Friday: LINDSEY REISER: Back in DeSantis’s home state, his fellow Republicans are pretty busy this week with lawmakers introducing three new bills that would expand on legislation that critics call the "Don’t Say Gay Law," another that would ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, and a proposal to require bloggers who write about Florida politics to register with the state. This all comes just over a month after Gov. DeSantis's decision to block AP African American Studies from Florida schools, but as Florida sees all kinds of controversy over those proposals, it’s also in the middle of a spring tradition with 15 Major League Baseball teams currently holding spring training and the league and players facing growing calls to speak out against those bills. Joining me right now, ESPN panelist and sports commentary writer for the Washington Post, Kevin Blackistone. He’s out with a new piece called “Baseball can no longer ignore Ron DeSantis’s culture wars.” Kevin, thanks for being with us. I want to talk to you about the piece. You outlined Major League Baseball’s move out of Florida for spring training in yesteryear — late ‘40s, a state with some of the harshest Jim Crow laws as the league was introducing black players to the league. In 1947, again, Jackie Robinson joining the Brooklyn Dodgers, his team moving spring training to Havana, Cuba. That same year, the Cleveland Indians, the New York Giants moved spring training to Tucson. KEVIN BLACKISTONE: So baseball reacted, right, and they started to depart from, or certain teams did, from Florida. And that really began the tradition of the Cactus League in Arizona. So that is the through line to what is going on now. And baseball has in the very recent past, right, in 2021, they moved the All-Star Game out of the state of Georgia in protest to some of the election laws that a lot of people in the state of Georgia felt were burdensome on black voters in particular and other people of color and people who were marginalized in that state. So I just think that, you know, baseball has spoken out on these issues before, and I think it should express if it has some uncomfortableness with the things that are going on in the DeSantis campaign, in the way that he’s run the state of Florida, and in some of the other legislation that has been passed there that they should speak out. You know, we talked about — and I know this network has — about the review of books for youth in the public schools in the state of Florida and some of those that have not yet been allowed back on the shelves. One of those books happens to be a book about Jackie Robinson, so think about the irony of that. They also temporarily suspended the distribution of books about Roberto Clemente and Hank Aaron, two of the great black stars of baseball. Brent Baker, the vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “What an incredibly insidious historic precedent to cite, the Democratic Party’s century of enforcing segregation, as a rationale now for punishing the people of Florida over a disagreement with policies pushed by the Republican DeSantis. Nothing DeSantis has ever advocated comes close to the kind of racist, inhumane policies Florida enforced in the 1940s.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ March 6: Liberal Media Scream: Whoopi cheers erasing history she’s ‘not in tune with’ (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features a feud on the Left about “woke” history rewriting between Bill Maher and Whoopi Goldberg. The initial focus is Maher’s defense on CNN of former President Abraham Lincoln, who ended slavery, and an apparent reference to the Washington, D.C., Emancipation Memorial that featured what many believe is a thankful former slave at his feet. “Abraham Lincoln was not a controversial figure among liberals. We liked him. Now they take his name off schools and tear down his statues. Really, Lincoln isn't good enough for you?” said Maher on CNN. Enter Goldberg, a critic of the statue, who slammed the woke movement, claiming she and other black people have always been “woke” to undercurrents of racism. “And this idea of woke, I'll say it again: Most of y'all were asleep,” she said on The View, drawing a look from co-host Joy Behar. From ABC’s The View on Thursday: WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Maher also had some criticism for the other side of the aisle, claiming the Left lost the definition of the term "woke." Huh? OK. Take a look. BILL MAHER: Democrats sometimes can take it too far. You know, I would categorize liberal as different than woke. Woke, which started out as a good thing, alert to injustice — who could be against that? But it became sort of an eye roll because they love diversity except of ideas. Abraham Lincoln was not a controversial figure among liberals. We liked him. Now they take his name off schools and tear down his statues. Really, Lincoln isn’t good enough for you? WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Well, that statue was not good enough. Because it showed a slave down at Lincoln’s feet. And if we’re tearing down statues that are really not in tune with where we are as a nation, or at least where we were a couple of months ago, yeah, you got to take it down. That’s why they removed stuff. That’s why people are moving stuff around. And this idea of woke, I’m going to say it again: Most of y’all were asleep. JOY BEHAR: Who are you speaking to? GOLDBERG: I’m talking to all those folks that use that word “woke” all the time. Y’all were asleep. We were never asleep. We had to stay awake watching you. So, you woke up and you thought, “Oh, my God, there’s lots of women running amok doing things they’re not supposed to be doing and drag queens everywhere and oh, my God, people of color!” You know, you always talk about the snowflakes — look in the mirror. Y’all can’t seem to handle anything. You can’t seem to handle competition from Democrats to Republicans. You can’t seem to handle the discussions of why people feel the way they do. Your idea is to get rid of everything. So, stop calling us snowflakes. Brent Baker, the vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “One wonders if Goldberg will be so pleased when the calls come to take down statues of Martin Luther King and remove his name from roads and schools. After all, like her argument with Lincoln, ‘he’s really not in tune with where we are as a nation’ since, by 2023 standards, he was homophobic and transphobic.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ February 27: Liberal Media Scream: Hollywood says banning filming plastic bottles will save the world (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream is going a little off beat to highlight a new Hollywood claim that movie studios and actors are saving the world and the environment with an honor system to ban plastic bottles “on camera.” It came from Fran Drescher, the president of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the star of The Nanny, a hit sitcom in the 1990s, as she addressed the SAG Awards show last night. To a smattering of applause, Drescher said that Hollywood’s effort to stop showing plastic on camera was the industry’s biggest effort “to save the planet since World War II.” Drescher, during the SAG Awards carried live Sunday night on Netflix’s channel on YouTube, said: “I am very proud to say that SAG-AFTRA and MPAA has forged Green Council, the biggest joint effort of stars and studios to save the planet since World War II. Mission No. 1: an honor system to eliminate single-use plastic on camera, behind the scenes, and leverage star power to challenge audiences around the world to do the same. You may notice this year on your tables, they’re all glass bottles.” Brent Baker, the vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Nothing better encapsulates out-of-touch Hollywood celebrities than the hubris displayed by Drescher to describe actors not using single-use plastic on camera as key to the greatest effort ‘to save the planet since World War II.’ That’s ludicrous, and even her own union members realized that, hence the very minimal applause in the room. Many viewers watching at home were likely laughing at her absurdity. Perhaps she should be a little more concerned about her members demanding on-set trailers and private jets.” Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ February 20: Liberal Media Scream: The View hits ‘Ron DeSaster,’ would ‘ban the alphabet’ (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the hosts of ABC’s The View and their escalating screeching about Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and his efforts to have public school lessons conform with state law and what Sunshine State parents want. Instead of a level-headed discussion about his efforts, the hosts attacked DeSantis as a right-wing social warrior who liberal Republican and never-Trumper Ana Navarro dubbed “Ron DeSaster.” The name-calling included unhinged charges that the governor is so anti-education that he would “ban the alphabet.” The ranting followed moves by DeSantis to question a new College Board Advanced Placement class on black history. He and some other governors are concerned the liberal class plan teaches critical race theory and other lessons banned in the state. “I think he’s going to ban the alphabet. Holy hell,” said Navarro. From ABC’s The View on Thursday, Feb. 16: ANA NAVARRO: What this is all about getting on Fox News. What this is all about is fanning the flames of grievance, of white grievance. What this is all about is manufacturing culture wars that do not exist so that he can come out like William Wallace, the guy in Braveheart — “Freedom!” Listen, I live in Florida. I live under Gov. Ron DeSaster! SUNNY HOSTIN: You got to move, Ana. NAVARRO: Every day, I wake up and wonder what he’s going to be. What’s the flavor du jour today? What’s he going to be against today? He’s against AP He’s against DEI — diversity, equity, and inclusion. He’s against [environmental, social, and governance] this week. He’s against electric stoves. HOSTIN: Don’t say gay. NAVARRO: He’s against LGBTQ. I think he’s going to ban the alphabet. Holy hell. JOY BEHAR: These people, these fascists out there like DeSantis, they think that we’re just going to sit back and let them do whatever they want. No, we’re not. We’ve seen this movie before. OK? Those of us who lived in the '60s and '70s, we saw this movie. There were many, many fascist tactics coming down the pike from Nixon and the rest of these fascists; that’s what they are. And we protested and we protested, and we ended a war that was illegal. And we did stuff. And it’s happening again. That’s the good news. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “The unhinged reaction to Ron DeSantis says something about who the left is most afraid of running for president. The stars of The View can’t have an honest discussion about his policies and ideas, so they rant and rave and call him a ‘fascist’ and make other ridiculous accusations. It may entertain liberal viewers, but it should be embarrassing to ABC News, which produces the daily gabfest.” Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ February 13: Liberal Media Scream: Stephanopoulos demands GOP investigate Trump family (Washington Examiner post) Armed only with a Washington Post story about Saudi links to Kushner and Trump, Stephanopoulos asked Rep. James Comer (R-KY), chairman of the panel, “Will you be investigating that as well?” Comer called for strict ethics disclosure laws, which Democrats have resisted, but that wasn’t good enough for the media star and former Clinton White House aide. “To be clear,” he said, “you believe that this should apply to Kushner and Trump as well as the Bidens at this point?” The exchange on Sunday’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos on ABC: GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me ask you more about your oversight responsibilities. You made it clear you are going to be looking at Hunter Biden and his financial entanglements with foreign countries including China. I want to put up a front-page story from the Washington Post this morning detailing Jared Kushner’s ties to the Saudis. “After helping the prince's rise, Trump and Kushner benefit from Saudi funds.” A $2 billion investment in Kushner’s funds from the Saudis. We know the president, former President Trump, has also received funds related to the Saudi golf tour. Sen. Ron Wyden says these entanglements deserve investigation. Will you be investigating that as well? REP. JAMES COMER: I think everything’s on the table. Look, we’re investigating Joe Biden. We know that Joe Biden said during the presidential campaign that he had no knowledge of his son’s business interests. He wasn’t involved. He didn’t benefit from them. We have evidence that would suggest otherwise, and this is very concerning. ... The Democrats complained about Kushner’s foreign dealings. Republicans are certainly complaining about the entire Biden family’s foreign business dealings. We need to know what is allowable and what isn’t allowable. We need to have strict ethics laws, and we need to significantly increase the disclosure laws in America. So I think this investigation is going to be very important to fix a problem before it gets out of hand. STEPHANOPOULOS: But to be clear, you believe that this should apply to Kushner and Trump as well as the Bidens at this point? COMER: I believe that when we talk about passing legislation to set a line as to where you can be with relatives of high-ranking government officials with respect to doing business with adversaries overseas, then it would apply to everyone. We need to fix this before it gets worse in the next administration. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “If only the Washington press corps were as eager over the years to jump on stories about Hunter and Joe Biden getting money out of China as they have consistently been to promote every new allegation against anyone in Donald Trump’s orbit. It’s almost as if Stephanopoulos is trying to deflect from Joe Biden, to apply his own version of ‘both-siderism’ to undermine the impact of Congressman Comer’s upcoming hearings on the Bidens.” Rating: THREE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ February 6: Liberal Media Scream: Reporters beg for Biden to get ‘credit’ (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream shows how desperate some in the media are for President Joe Biden to get “credit” for his efforts at a time when polls show that 62% do not believe the Democrat has accomplished much. The top cheerleader is NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell who said on Meet the Press that the president isn’t getting the thanks he deserves. “He’s not getting credit for the economy, and should be,” she told host Chuck Todd. From Sunday’s Meet the Press on NBC: ANDREA MITCHELL: And he’s not getting credit for the economy, and should be. Look at it, you know, I think the danger of recession is receding. It’s not altogether gone. We see a big jobs market. It’s a problem for Jay Powell [chairman of the Federal Reserve] because now they do have to keep tightening. But, you know, wage growth is moderating. CHUCK TODD: I tell you, people don’t– MITCHELL: Layoffs are only in a few sectors, they’re not universal. TODD: There's no doubt– AMY WALTER: Manufacturing is building. TODD: –but people still feel like this economy’s just not– MITCHELL: That’s right, because inflation’s stable. TODD: It still feels wobbly. CORNELL BELCHER: Mid-summer, mid-summer – let’s, let’s check in on that. TODD: That’s fair. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “How nice it must be to be a Democratic president so you have leading members of the Washington press corps spinning talking points in your favor, days before your big speech, about how you ‘should be’ getting more credit. Mitchell’s contentions about Biden’s record are better suited for someone from the White House press office than someone who is supposed to be a dispassionate journalist.” Rating: THREE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ January 30: Liberal Media Scream: Hammer time: Speaker McCarthy pounds media bias and double standards (Washington Examiner post) Last week, for example, when a reporter didn’t like McCarthy’s answer to a question, the speaker said: “Let me be very clear and respectful to you. You asked me a question. When I answer it, it's the answer to your question. You don't get to determine whether I answer your question or not, OK?” Then, on Face the Nation, he bristled when host Margaret Brennan criticized his appointment of “election deniers” to committee posts. Noting that she didn’t complain when Democratic deniers of former President Donald Trump’s election got good committee seats, he said, “If you want to hold Republicans to that equation, why don’t you also hold Democrats?” From Sunday’s interview on CBS’s Face the Nation: Margaret Brennan: I want to ask you about some of the makeup of your caucus. Speaker Kevin McCarthy: Yes. Brennan: According to CBS records, 70% of the House GOP members denied the results of the 2020 election. You put many of them on very key committees: Intelligence, Homeland Security, Oversight. Why are you elevating people who are denying reality like that? McCarthy: Well, if you look to the Democrats, their ranking member [Jamie] Raskin had the same thing, denied Trump or Bush was in there. Bennie Thompson — Brennan: Did you see those numbers we just put up there? Seventy percent! McCarthy: Did you also be fair and equal where you looked at Raskin did the same thing, Bennie Thompson, whose a ranking member and was a chair? These individuals were chair of the Democratic Party. Brennan: I’m asking you, as leader of Kevin McCarthy’s House, why you made these choices? These were your choices. McCarthy: Yeah, they're my choices, but they’re the conference choices. But I’m also asking you when you look to see just Republicans — Democrats have done the same thing. So maybe it’s not denying. Maybe it’s the only opportunity they have to have a question about what went on during the election. So if you want to hold Republicans to that equation, why don’t you also hold Democrats? Why don’t you hold Jamie Raskin? Why don’t you hold Bennie Thompson? When Democrats had appointed them to be chair, I never once heard you ask Nancy Pelosi or any Democrat that question when they were in power, in the majority. When they questioned — Brennan: You’re talking about things going back to 2000, which was a time, I didn’t have this show back then, which is why I’m asking you now about your leadership. McCarthy: No, no! They were in power last Congress. So why — Brennan: You’re talking about questions from the 2000 election. McCarthy: You’re asking me about questions that happened to another Congress. Brennan: About these choices you just made, just made. This is your Congress. McCarthy: These are members who just got elected by their constituents, and we put them into committees. And I’m proud to do it. Brent Baker, the vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “It’s always refreshing to see a politician push back against a liberal media storyline the journalist presumes is beyond questioning, especially when the journalist is someone so oblivious as Brennan is to her bias.” Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS (CHEERS).   ■ January 23: Liberal Media Scream: MSNBC’s Joy Reid says DeSantis likes only ‘happy slaves’ (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream highlights the latest cable TV attack on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s war on woke policies in what is likely to become a regular media pattern as the top Republican rival of former President Donald Trump steps closer to a 2024 bid. The attack came from MSNBC’s Joy Reid, enraged that DeSantis scuttled a pilot AP black course in state schools. But it’s not that simple, despite her spin. According to the DeSantis administration, the new course offered by College Board violates Florida's new anti-"woke" law because it is favorable to critical race theory. “As submitted, the course is a vehicle for a political agenda and leaves large, ambiguous gaps that can be filled with additional ideological material, which we will not allow,” said Bryan Griffin, the governor’s press secretary. “As Governor DeSantis has stated, our classrooms will be a place for education, not indoctrination." Reid, however, smeared DeSantis as a racist for his administration’s actions. “I’m not saying Ron DeSantis is racist, but to quote [former Tallahassee Mayor] Andrew Gillum, I think the racists might think he’s racist.” She added that DeSantis wants only happy history taught in schools, “the history of slavery as happy slaves, good slave masters.” Plus, watch as she twists the other AP history classes taught in Florida as she bashes the “book-banning wannabe president.” From Thursday’s The ReidOut on MSNBC: Joy Reid: The [Stop Woke Act] is aimed at eradicating the teaching of history, gender identity, and sexual orientation in favor of curriculum that centers and lionizes people who look like Ron DeSantis. Just take a look at what AP courses are deemed educationally valuable in the state of Florida per the book-banning wannabe president. European history, of course. Along with courses on the history and language of Italy, where DeSantis’s family hails from, Germany, and Japan, which happened to be the Axis countries the U.S. fought during World War II. Now, whether Ron would consider fascist Italy to have been a bad guy in that war, well, that’s up for debate. ... So, what DeSantis is essentially saying is that the only valuable Advanced Placement class for a Florida student are classes that are about Europe or the other Axis countries. That’s it. African-American studies is not deemed valuable, and it’s not that he’s saying you can’t teach black history, but here’s the evidence. It’s how you teach black history that he’s got a problem with. DeSantis, when he was a high school history teacher — this is the quote from one of his former students. He was a high school history teacher at a private school in Georgia. ‘Mr. DeSantis was mean to me and hostile toward me,’ said Miss Pompey, who graduated in 2003. ‘Not aggressively but passively because I was black.’ She recalled DeSantis teaching, this is the important part, Civil War history in a way that sounded to her like an attempt to justify slavery. So, when I add that to the fact he’s going after the National Hockey League because they dare to recruit nonblack people, essentially saying you may recruit white people and continue to keep a very white league white, but you may not try to recruit minorities. You know, I’m not saying Ron DeSantis is racist, but to quote Andrew Gillum, I think the racists might think he’s racist. ... It’s the Daughters of the American Revolution, the pro-Confederate groups who insisted that we can only teach the history of slavery as happy slaves, good slave masters. If you’re doing that, I promise you an AP class that taught that, that slavery was good, because it seemed at least per his former students, Dr. [Steve] Gallon [member of the Miami-Dale school board] that he wanted to teach history of slavery as sort of gallant slave owners who were kind to their happy slaves. He’s cool with that. And if the AP course said that, he’d be fine with it. I also think that you’ve seen the revelation of what this is really about. A guy named Stanley Kurtz claims he read the story, that he read the curriculum, and he said, ‘The larger danger here is that these courses, if they’re approved, will see the college board devise AP courses in women's studies, gender studies, transgender studies, Latino studies, environmental studies, a full panoply of polarized studies that have Balkanized and politicized higher education.’ Dr. Gallon, in your view, is this an attempt to shut down the teaching of not just black history but any history but the Hallmark card of white and European history? Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Reid’s vitriol shows DeSantis must be succeeding in making inroads to undercut institutions, such as the education establishment, as vehicles for liberal indoctrination of students. So, DeSantis must be discredited with over-the-top invective before he gains any traction in a presidential race. But Reid’s hatred toward him will only elevate the admiration for him amongst conservatives and many independent voters.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ January 16, 2023: Liberal Media Scream: In Chuck Todd’s ‘facts,’ Sen. Ron Johnson sees bias (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream raises an interesting question in today’s partisan Washington. Why do Republicans talk to liberal journalists if they know that they are going to be insulted? That was the case Sunday on Chuck Todd’s Meet the Press when Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WY) appeared, knowing he was holding the short end of the stick no matter what he said. Johnson even said so: “This is pretty obvious to anybody watching this, is you don’t invite me on to interview me. You invite me on to argue with me.” The host, of course, was having none of it. In between his favorite authority openings of “Look” and “So,” he got the last insult in when he said, “You can go back on your partisan cable cocoon and talk about media bias all you want. I understand it’s part of your identity.” From Sunday’s Meet the Press: CHUCK TODD: I’ll take it at your word that you’re ethically bothered by Hunter Biden. I’m curious, though. You seem to have a pattern. SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): Are you not? Are you not? TODD: I’m a journalist. I have to deal in facts. I deal in facts, so senator, my question to you is, I have skepticism of both parties. I sit here with skepticism of a lot of people’s work. JOHNSON: So do I. TODD: And I’m curious, are you — were you at all concerned — your Senate Democrats want to investigate Jared Kushner’s loan from the Qatari government when he was working in the government, negotiating many things in the Middle East? Are you not concerned about that? I say that because it seems to me if you’re concerned about what Hunter Biden did, you should be equally outraged about what Jared Kushner did. JOHNSON: I’m concerned about getting the truth. I don’t target individuals — TODD: You don’t? You’re targeting Hunter Biden multiple times on this show, senator. You’re targeting an individual. JOHNSON: Chuck, you know, part of the problem, and this is pretty obvious to anybody watching this is, you don’t invite me on to interview me. You invite me on to argue with me. I’m just trying to lay out the facts that certainly Sen. Grassley and I uncovered. They were suppressed. They were censored. They interfered in the 2020 election. Conservatives understand that. Unfortunately, liberals in the media don’t. And that’s part of the reasons our politics are inflamed is we do not have an unbiased media. We don’t. It’s unfortunate. I’m all for a free press, and it needs to be more unbiased. TODD: Senator, look — go to partisan — Senator, look, we’re trying to do issues here and facts. Look, you can go back on your partisan cable cocoon and talk about media bias all you want. I understand it’s part of your identity. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Chuck Todd, in all his obnoxious glory. Kudos to Sen. Ron Johnson for taking on Todd’s obvious bias and hostility to the concerns of conservatives, even if he is obvious to his own ‘cocoon.’ Pot meet kettle.” Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.   ■ January 9, 2023: Liberal Media Scream: James Comer nails Chuck Todd’s biased views (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream is the first proof that there is a new sheriff in town, a House GOP majority that is eager to point out the biased and often hypocritical views in the media. In our spotlight is Rep. James Comer (R-KY), incoming chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, invited on to Chuck Todd’s NBC Sunday show, Meet the Press. He faced the typically biased questions and views of the host, such as when Todd suggested the GOP would be holding votes on legislation it knows President Joe Biden won’t sign, as if Democrats never held “show” votes. Todd also sneered at Comer’s investigation agenda, suggesting it was just political theater. But instead of taking it, the lawmaker pushed right back, calling out the biased media. When Todd dismissed Republican plans to hold votes on term limits and a balanced budget as “show votes,” Comer countered, “A lot of times, as you know, Chuck, you have to take bills through numerous sessions of Congress before they finally become law.” And when Todd hit GOP plans to probe the Biden administration as “more partisan than professional,” Comer said, “I think the only people that see this as a partisan investigation are the media and the hardcore Democrats.” And for good measure, he added, “Are you kidding me!” Two of the exchanges from Sunday’s Meet the Press on NBC: CHUCK TODD: I‘m curious, those two things you mention, those are show votes. They’re not going to pass. They have no chance of passing. Some of them might need to be constitutional amendments, and you know how arduous that process is. What’s the point of passing a bill that basically, you get to put a press release out on, but it doesn’t get enacted? REP. JAMES COMER: A lot of times, as you know, Chuck, you have to take bills through numerous sessions of Congress before they finally become law. TODD: Let me ask you this. You’re going to do a lot of oversight. You’re going to have a lot of subpoenas. Many people look at what you’re doing, and they see that it looks more partisan than professional. Tell me how you’re going to try to departisanize an investigation? Or do you expect it to be partisan? COMER: Well, with all due respect, Chuck, I disagree with that. I think the only people that see this as a partisan investigation are the media and the hardcore Democrats. Look, at the same moment that the Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee released Donald Trump’s taxes, they then moments later turned around and said, “Comer’s investigation of the Biden family influence peddling is a revenge hearing.” I mean, are you kidding me? Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Comer is off to a great start, recognizing the news media are his enemy just as much as Democrats. It was refreshing to hear an elevated Republican leader take on Todd for his multiple hypocrisies, suddenly concerned, now that Republicans are in charge in the House, about the partisanship of an investigation and the futility of votes on two conservative agenda items that will embarrass Democrats. As if Democrats have never had ‘show votes,’ to put Republicans in a bad light, which most journalists found admirable.” Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS (CHEERS.)   ■ January 2, 2023: Liberal Media Scream: MSNBC calls GOP the party of il Duce (Washington Examiner post) This week’s Liberal Media Scream features MSNBC doing its best to become the network of the crackpot Left, talking itself into irrelevance for just about everyone else. Not satisfied with its record of attacking Republicans and conservatives as MAGA crazies, the cable channel rolled out a host and guest who dismissed the party as fascists. And not just simple fascists such as World War II-era Italian leader Benito Mussolini. How about “neo-fascist,” “proto-fascist,” and “semi-fascist?” Now that’s got to hurt. The name-calling came Saturday when Mehdi Hasan hosted Yale University philosophy professor Jason Stanley on Velshi on MSNBC. Stanley, who authored a book titled How Fascism Works, warned, “I think ‘semi-fascism,’ ‘fascism,’ ‘neo-fascism,’ these are accurate descriptions. We need to drop talk of populism, drop these misleading descriptions that hide what we’re actually facing.” From Saturday’s Velshi: MEHDI HASAN: Jason, the GOP is back in power again, at least in the House of Representatives, which means there will be a fair bit of normalizing of them again by the media. In your view, is it fair to describe the modern GOP as ‘neo-fascist’ or ‘proto-fascist’ or, to quote Joe Biden on the MAGA movement, ‘semi-fascist?’ JASON STANLEY, Yale University: There’s certainly within the modern GOP, as the scapegoating of LGBT citizens demonstrates, a fascist movement rising. We — and, to talk about this as some kind of European thing is a confusion since fascism is Jim Crow with a foreign accent. So we have a native, we have multiple native far-right extremist movements: Christian Nationalism, we’ve got, sort of, heritage of Jim Crow. We’ve got an anti-democratic business establishment. And this is a structure, a grouping, that’s going to bring people to vote for an authoritarian party. And that’s what we have, that’s what the modern GOP is increasingly looking like — as Ruth [NYU history professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat] said, an anti-democratic party. I think ‘semi-fascism,’ ‘fascism,’ ‘neo-fascism,’ these are accurate descriptions. We need to drop talk of populism, drop these misleading descriptions that hide what we’re actually facing. Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Quite the multiple-choice, a range which says more about the narrow thinking of MSNBC hosts and guests trying to discredit Republicans than it does about anything to fear from Republicans. Hasan dreads ‘normalizing’ Republicans because it’s a lot easier to demonize them than to take on and seriously address views with which you disagree.” Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.   > Liberal Media Screams for 2021 and 2022 > For all of 2020. > For all of 2019. > For all of 2018. > For July through December 2017. > For January through June 2017. > For July through December 2016. > For January through June 2016. > For July to December 2015.   August 5th, 2024 6:16 PM Brent Baker 276694 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/free-speech/catherine-salgado/2024/08/05/worst-censorship-july-election-censorship-heats In the run up to what has already been a tumultuous election season, Big Tech is still censoring free speech online, interfering in the 2024 election. July was a month of major historic news, particularly surrounding the 2024 election. But Big Tech platforms were up to their usual censorship tricks. Meta censored an iconic image of Donald Trump pumping his fist after being shot, and Google Search suppressed information about the attempted assassination. X (formerly Twitter) censored journalists and Republican lawmakers, YouTube fact checked an independent political candidate and Facebook applied a fact-check label to a photo of a joke shirt about Joe Biden. Below are the worst cases of Big Tech censorship for the month of July from MRC’s exclusive CensorTrack database. Google Search suppresses content related to the attempted assassination of Trump. The Daily Mail reported on July 28 that users who typed the prompt “assassination attempt on” were given search suggestions that did not include former President Trump, even though the attempt on his life was the most recent. Google’s search suggestions for completing the query included “truman,” “reagan,” “lenin,” “gerald ford,” and “bob marley.” Google Trendsshowed that the number of searches for “assassination attempt on trump” was considerably higher than for “assassination attempt on truman” and “assassination attempt on reagan.” Therefore, by Google’s own standards for search suggestions, Trump ought to have been included. An MRC researcher ran the search “trump assassination attempt” as well, but Google at that time provided no search suggestions at all. The Daily Mail reported that doing similar search prompts for John F. Kennedy or Ronald Reagan did cause autocomplete suggestions to appear. In response to a video explaining the search suppression posted on X/Twitter, Google Communications claimed, “There was no manual action taken. Our systems have protections against Autocomplete predictions associated with political violence, which were working as intended prior to this horrific event. We’re working on improvements to ensure our systems are more up to date. Of course, Autocomplete is just a tool to help people save time, and they can still search for anything they want to. Following this terrible act, people turned to Google to find high-quality information – we connected them with helpful results, and will continue to do so.” Meta censors, then later issues mea culpa for censoring iconic Trump fist pump image. Facebook and Instagram censored images of Trump immediately after the shooting, imposing filters and labeling them “Altered photo/video,” as MRC’s CensorTrack recorded. Meta spokesperson Dani Lever confessed to the problem in an X post. “This fact check was initially applied to a doctored photo showing the secret service agents smiling, and in some cases, our systems incorrectly applied that fact check to the real photo,” she stated. Trump himself told Fox News that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg called to apologize for Meta’s censorship. The New York Post also claimed on July 29 that it asked Meta AI, “Was the Trump assassination fictional?” and received the response, “There was no real assassination attempt on Donald Trump. I strive to provide accurate and reliable information, but sometimes mistakes can occur.” A Meta spokesperson has since admitted a mistake and asserted that the chatbot does not have the most up-to-date information. The Post reported, however, that MetaAI did have updated information about VP and presidential nominee Kamala Harris’s campaign. X is boosting congressional Dems and deboosting Republicans. X is also propping up Harris, and deboosting vice presidential candidate JD Vance. MRC released reportsutilizing research conducted by X user @The1Parzival and X AI Grok, which show that X’s algorithm uses four core metrics to suppress or promote certain users including members of Congress and former President Trump's then-potential vice president picks.. A user’s visibility depends on the person’s scores ranging numerically from 0 to 100 for “Mass Appeal” (diversity of followers), “Reputation” (purported reliability or "Tweepcred"), “Toxicity” (potentially offensive content or perceived harmfulness) and “Follower” (the account’s follower retention). X, on average, rated Democrat congressmen higher than their GOP counterparts. Sen. Vance, who is now Trump’s running mate, for example, had a Mass Appeal score of 60, a Reputation score of  50, a Toxicity score of 70 and an overall score of 58.125. This means Vance’s content is rarely promoted by X. MRC prompted Grok to determine which accounts were boosted and which were not. Grok’s reply indicated that any account that receives a score lower than 65 is de-amplified and suppressed by X’s algorithm. YouTube ridiculously fact checks Independent vice presidential candidate. Nicole Shanahan, who is independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s 2024 running mate, posted a video titled "Mountain Valley Ranchers: The Story of Reminisce Angus.” The video featured Shanahan's interview with Montana cattle ranchers. YouTube inexplicably placed a “Climate change” context label on Shanahan’s July 12 video, including a link to the United Nations (UN). The label claimed, “Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. Human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas.” Kamala Harris account was temporarily suppressed. The Biden-Harris administration has become infamous for urging increased online censorship, but it sometimes backfires. Soon after the vice president made her bid to replace Joe Biden and claim the official Democratic Presidential nomination, Kamala Harris's new rapid response account on X was temporarily censored. On July 21, multiple reports were made of users trying to follow @KamalaHQ and receiving the message, “Limit Reached” and “You are unable to follow more people at this time.” The apparent censorship was soon reversed. August 5th, 2024 5:32 PM Catherine Salgado 285344 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2024/08/05/just-say-its-because-hes-jew-abc-says-shapiros-views-are-concern On Monday’s Good Morning America, ABC senior White House correspondent Selina Wang not-so-subtly refused to acknowledge the anti-Semitism behind the far-left meltdowns over Vice President Kamala Harris having Governor Josh Shapiro (D-PA) as one of her nominees for a 2024 presidential running mate, instead chalking up opposition to coming from pro-Palestinian Arabs hating Jews. The framing below from Wang in her segment on the 2024 election was almost certainly on purpose and wildly obtuse: ABC's Selina Wang describes opposition to Kamala Harris picking Josh Shapiro as her running mate as "concern" by "Arab Americans" because of "his views". Unreal. Come on, Selina. Just say it. It's because he's Jewish. pic.twitter.com/yMdmxtVId4 — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 5, 2024 Wang kept up the farce by pivoting to former President Donald Trump, kvetching that his criticisms of Harris consist of “hurling personal insults at” her. “But many Republicans say they want Trump to tone down the attacks, including questioning Harris’s race,” she added, conflating Trump’s comments about Harris’s racial identity with calling her a radical liberal with low I.Q. Over on CBS Mornings, their own senior White House correspondent in Weijia Jiang deployed the proverbial conservative drinking game word to knock Trump for focusing on the number one issue among voters in this election: CBS's Weijia Jiang: Donald Trump "seized on last month's spike in unemployment" during his Saturday night rally in Georgia pic.twitter.com/3fPQVDhYgr — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 5, 2024 The horror! Earth to journalists: If Republicans are “seizing” now, what would you describe as what Democrats did in the 2020 election in the height of the pandemic? Not to be left out, NBC’s Today had chief White House correspondent Peter Alexander singing from identical sheet music, but seeming to also be aggrieved by Trump using an accurate ideological label for Harris: NBC's Peter Alexander seemed to be vexed that Trump would say that Kamala Harris is -- wait for it -- "a liberal", adding his criticisms are "personal attacks". pic.twitter.com/RSxCbexofu — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 5, 2024 To see the relevant transcripts from August 5, click here (for ABC) and here (for CBS). August 5th, 2024 5:01 PM Curtis Houck 285341 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/business/tom-olohan/2024/08/05/bloomberg-op-ed-haunts-bidenomics-apologist-doing-damage Former Federal Reserve economist Claudia Sahm passionately defended the Biden-Harris administration’s disastrous management of the economy in a Bloomberg op-ed. Now, she is desperately trying to soften the blow after her “Sahm Rule” embarrassed President Joe Biden.  Devised in 2019, the “Sahm Rule” is used as a recession indicator. It stipulates that recession begins when the three-month moving average of unemployment "rises by 0.50 percentage points or more relative to the minimum of the three-month averages from the previous 12 months." In July, Biden’s unemployment rate rose to 4.3%, triggering the so-called rule.  Months earlier, Sahm wholeheartedly defended the Biden-Harris economic record in a February 2024 Bloomberg column headlined, “Bidenomics Is an Easy Sell If Presented Broadly Enough.” Now that her own rule threatens the reputation of the Biden administration months before a presidential election, Sahm wants the press to know that the Sahm Rule is just “not working like it usually does.” Sahm now wants Americans to believe that this time just doesn’t count for some reason and no recession is coming. This about-face has been used to soften the blow for Democrats by media sources such as PBS, Axios and Politico. Bloomberg News, on the other hand, noted that the Sahm Rule “has a perfect track record over the past half-century.”  In her Bloomberg column, Sahm defended Biden, predicting a very different future than the one Americans are currently facing. “The reality is that Bidenomics has brought groundbreaking policies that have already benefited the economy and will continue to do so well into the future.” Sahm had no harsh words for how Biden’s massive spending has fueled inflation. Instead, she praised his Inflation Reduction Act and other examples of expensive legislation. She followed this by ludicrously referring to Biden’s “wins on inflation.”  To do so, Sahm credited Biden, who has hampered future energy production at every turn, for American crude oil production and praised him for massively draining the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.   Sahm went on to barely (and dismissively) address the national debt, which would surpass $35 trillion only a few months later. Despite specifically mentioning expensive legislation signed by Biden, Sahm wrote in the article, “One can debate whether the federal debt is on an ‘unsustainable path,’ but claims that Bidenomics made it worse are incorrect.” She ended her article with a cheerleading line that would age like milk: “The bottom line is that Bidenomics deserves much credit for getting us to the other side of the pandemic in a better place and with a vision for more progress. It’s time to fight for it.” Conservatives are under attack! Contact ABC News (818) 460-7477, CBS News (212) 975-3247 and NBC News (212) 664-6192 and demand they report fairly on how Bidenomics is crippling the American economy. August 5th, 2024 4:51 PM Tom Olohan 285342 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-fondacaro/2024/08/05/cuomo-ive-never-heard-kamala-harris-was-gaffe-machine There has been a passage of time since Vice President Kamala Harris had become the presumptive Democratic Party nominee by inter-party fiat. And we can see the significance of the passage of time during Friday’s Cuomo on NewsNation, when host Chris Cuomo clownishly suggested that he was unware that the Vice President was a “gaffe machine.” Perhaps with another passage of time, he’ll learn. He also questioned if America was too bigoted for a black woman to be president with a Jewish vice president. Ignoring all the work the liberal media had been going to help float Harris’s anti-democratic rise to presumptive nominee without getting support of the primary voters, and the media’s utter refusal to offer any withering criticism, Cuomo marveled at how well received Harris was: I'll tell you what, you can't say that it hasn't gone better than some people like me thought it would. Okay? I thought that without process, this was going to be a lead balloon. And all the polls have moved in the right direction. They’re just snapshots of a moment in time. We're in the honeymoon phase. The media is going to go sideways on Harris. You know, that's what we do. It's just a question of when.     He went on to suggest that he had “never” heard the “new” suggestion that Harris was prone to political gaffes. “But Scottie [Nell Hughes], this new – this angle that I keep hearing that ‘wait till you hear this, Harris talk more and more. Man, she's a gaffe machine.’ I've never heard that about her before,” he rhetorically scoffed, suggesting Trump was worse, “And I don't know that that's the best matchup with Trump. I mean, he's not exactly known for being very good with the words. Hughes quickly countered by noting that Harris was known for doing “things like mix world leaders. She does things like make comments and insult, you know, the Hispanic communities and communities that he's addressing. She does the word salads just like Donald Trump does.” Cuomo should check out arguably Harris’s most infamous of word salads (hinting in the opening paragraph) about the “great significance to the passage of time.” “The Governor and I and we were all doing a tour of the library here and talking about the significance of the passage of time. Right. The significance of the passage of time. So when you think about it, there is great significance to the passage of time...” she rambled back in 2022.     There was also her more recent word salad last week when Americans held hostage in Russia were brought home: “This is just extraordinary testament to the importance of having a president who understands the power of diplomacy, and understands the strength that rests in understanding the significance of diplomacy and strengthening alliances.” Further in the show, Cuomo seeming went back in time to 2008 to regurgitate anti-American smears, suggesting America was a bigoted nation if they didn’t elect Harris and Governor Josh Shapiro (D-PA), a possible veep pick. “[A] black woman and a Jewish guy, man that's putting a lot on America. And it really bothers me. I almost wish that the Democrats would pick Shapiro to make the point that, ‘No, we're not afraid of putting diversity out there. We don't believe that the country has that kind of prejudice,’” he proclaimed. Wondering: “But would that be, you know, just wishful thinking and they be setting themselves up for to lose by playing that too many things that people may quietly opposed?” Cuomo accusation essentially boiled down any possible loss by that hypothetical ticket to Americans being bigots, rather than the more likely possibility that they didn’t like their policies. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read: NewsNation’s Cuomo August 2, 2024 8:12:48 p.m. Eastern (…) CHRIS CUOMO: I'll tell you what, you can't say that it hasn't gone better than some people like me thought it would. Okay? I thought that without process, this was going to be a lead balloon. And all the polls have moved in the right direction. They’re just snapshots of a moment in time. We're in the honeymoon phase. The media is going to go sideways on Harris. You know, that's what we do. It's just a question of when. But Scottie, this new – this angle that I keep hearing that “wait till you hear this, Harris talk more and more. Man, she's a gaffe machine.” I've never heard that about her before. And I don't know that that's the best matchup with Trump. I mean, he's not exactly known for being very good with the words. SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES: Let’s just point out. This isn't Kamala Harris, this is the Democrats’ version of Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris, herself, when she’s on her own, she does things like mix world leaders. She does things like make comments and insult, you know, the Hispanic communities and communities that he's addressing. She does the word salads just like Donald Trump does. At the same time, this is, right now, the Democrats putting out the best version of her. They’re micromanaging her, which is real interesting considering you have a political party that is directing every single thing about a candidate like Kamala Harris. The Republicans, they trust American voters enough to make sure that Donald Trump, himself is the one that is presenting and they're not micromanaging that message. Maybe they should a little bit better but they trust the voters to see exactly what's in front of their eyes and actually vote. Unlike the Manchurian candidate that has to read the 30-minute script in her car before he gets out. (…) 8:18:43 p.m. Eastern CUOMO: You know, so talking with a buddy of mine the other day and he's Jewish. We were talking about Shapiro. Shapiro checks, a lot of boxes. You know, I talked to him a lot coming out of the last election as AG, very competent guy. And, you know, we both just assumed a black woman and a Jewish guy, man that's putting a lot on America. And it really bothers me. I almost wish that the Democrats would pick Shapiro to make the point that, “No, we're not afraid of putting diversity out there. We don't believe that the country has that kind of prejudice.” But would that be, you know, just wishful thinking and they be setting themselves up for to lose by playing that too many things that people may quietly opposed? (…) August 5th, 2024 4:12 PM Nicholas Fondacaro 285339 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/larry-elder/2024/08/05/jd-vance-and-childless-cat-ladies-cue-outrage When I ran for governor, a reporter accused me of believing “men are smarter than women.” Research shows, I wrote in a 20-year-old column, women know and care more about social security, health care and education. When asked, however, about 25 political questions, men were more likely to answer correctly in 15, men and women answered the same in nine, and women answered more correctly than men in only one. I quoted a left-wing journalism professor who said the reason women knew less than men about those questions is that they are more likely than men to watch local news. She said, “Watching local news makes you dumber.” This became translated to: “Elder thinks women are dumber than men.” This brings us to Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, former President Donald Trump’s running mate. The AP wrote: “During Vance’s bid for the Senate in Ohio, he said in a Fox News interview that ‘we are effectively run in this country via the Democrats,’ and referred to them as ‘a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too. ... How does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?’” The outrage was as intense as it was predictable. His comment became translated to: Vance has disdain for women without children; Vance believes childless women ought not hold office; and the only woman the “sexist” Vance does not hate is the one he married. I do not have children, had a beloved cat named Cream Puff, and ran for governor and president. That people with children have more skin in the game is a common point of view held by my mother, my father, my two brothers and my pastor. MSNBC political analyst Molly Jong-Fast said: “What’s interesting is that this is this natalism that comes from an authoritarian playbook, right? That there need to be more ‘white children,’ right? That’s the idea. This is about great replacement theory racism, right? This is what this is. So don’t misunderstand it for him wanting more children. He wants a certain kind of racist thing.” Never mind Vance has three children with his wife, the daughter of Indian Hindu immigrants. In a response, Vance did not back down: “The left has increasingly become explicitly antichild and antifamily. They’ve encouraged young families not to have children at all, because of concerns over climate change.” Here’s the game. Every news cycle spent on castigating Vance for his “childless cat ladies” comment is one less news cycle spent on the outrageous radical beliefs of Vice President Kamala Harris. Among them are: open border policies that have allowed more than 8 million illegal aliens to enter the country since the beginning of the Biden-Harris administration; a more left-wing Senate voting record than Sen. Bernie Sanders; a desire to “reimagine the police”; saying there is a “perception” that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is akin to the KKK; advocating the abolishment of private health care insurance; taxpayer-funded health care insurance for illegal aliens; single-payer national health care insurance; taxpayer-paid family and medical leave; national rent control; a national minimum income; a commission to study “reparations;” banning fracking and offshore drilling; a transition to 100% electric vehicles by 2035; asserting it is “not a crime” to be in the country illegally; and according to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, one of Harris’ more vocal surrogates, a support for amnesty with a path to citizenship for the illegal aliens in the country before and under Biden-Harris. Democrat politicians and the Trump-hating media do not want an apology. If Vance did apologize, the next news cycle would become: “What took so long?” “It was too little too late.” “The apology does not undo the insult.” The goal is simple. Democrat politicians and their media sympathizers do not want you to ask whether you are better off now than three and a half years ago. They do not want you to ask whether Harris’ radical, redistribution-of-income beliefs will make you better off. They want you to ask whether you are a “childless cat lady.” Larry Elder is a bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an “Elderado,” visit www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry on Twitter @larryelder. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com. August 5th, 2024 4:06 PM Larry Elder 285338 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tim-graham/2024/08/05/smerconish-shows-blacks-questioning-kamalas-race-low-information On his Saturday show, CNN host Michael Smerconish displayed video from a CBS reporter in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, who went to a black barbershop and discovered there were black men there who questioned if Kamala Harris was authentically black.Oh no, they sound like Trump voters!  It was never this controversial when Biden said in 2020 "You ain't black" if you wouldn't vote for him.  Smerconish underlined Trump's inaccurate trolling comments before the National Association of Black Journalists convention about how Harris decided late in her career to identify as black. Smerconish wondered if Trump did this because "Harris's rollout has gone so well that he wanted to take control of the news cycle, even if he had to do so with a negative story." You could have just as easily suggested he did this to get out of the seemingly endless "Vance said childless cat lady" cycle.  His second theory was Trump was "narrowcasting in the black community" about Harris's "code switching" of racial identities. She's black sometimes, and Indian sometimes, even if she's both.  Next, Smerconish explained: "A Harrisburg Pennsylvania CBS network anchor went to a central Pennsylvania barbershop seeking some candid conversation among the revelations that some of the black men that he interviewed did not regard Harris as black." It turned out disappointing for Team Harris.   CBS REPORTER: Is Kamala going to make you a little more likely or less likely to vote Democrat? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold on. Wait. Is Kamala black, yes or no? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to let her speak on it. But to me, no. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, is Kamala black, yes or no? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I share that same view. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is Kamala blac, yes or no? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard she was. I heard she's half black and half Asian. Smerconish: "When I played that audio on my SiriusXM radio program on Thursday, many callers who self-identified as African American were quick to tell me that those men were the exception, not the rule. Some describe them as low-information voters no different than you'd find among whites." The CNN host pointed out Trump is outperforming other Republican presidential candidates for the black vote. Recent polling by the New York Times and Siena College shows him "capturing" 23 percent of the black vote, compared to just six percent for Mitt Romney in 2012, back when Joe Biden said Romney would "put y'all back in chains." When he turned to pundits, Tara Setmayer sounded her usual note: "Donald Trump has been a bigot and has an issue with people of race his entire career. So that's why he didn't go into that audience. He felt that he was in a hostile environment once they got aggressive questioning....that's why he went there. So I just wanted to make that very clear." August 5th, 2024 1:32 PM Tim Graham 285334 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2024/08/05/gorsuch-calmly-schools-cbs-when-hit-smears-against-conservatives Supreme Court justices rarely sit for news interviews....unless it’s to promote a book. Such was the case on Monday’s CBS Mornings with Justice Neil Gorsuch set to release one on Tuesday about how overregulation has harmed ordinary Americans.  Naturally, Gorusch was hit with the usual smears that come with being a conservative jurist, such as being too grounded in “ideology” as opposed to being “fair and impartial,” the reason why Americans of differing views hate each other, and refusing to rule so as to confer with “public perception” to avoid “real-world ramifications” (e.g. on abortion and affirmative action).     Co-host Gayle King even started the labeling before going to chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett’s interview: “Gorsuch was the first of three justices nominated by President Donald Trump that have established a solid conservative majority on the Court. Now, that conservative majority has ushered in monumental decisions on issues like abortion rights and presidential immunity.” Garrett started with the book and how Gorsuch “throws the book at the law.” The justice explained the book came about as he’s witnessed for nearly two decades how “ordinary Americans — decent, hard-working Americans” have been “caught up in the legal system”. He explained not only have “[f]ederal crimes have maybe doubled in our lifetime” and there are “more people serving life sentences today than we had serving any sentence in 1970 or thereabouts,” but “it would take years just to read” aloud the number of possible federal crimes. The justice argued this could have to do with the lack of “trust” between Americans, adding he’s “worr[ied]” that “more and more Americans think that people in the other political party are not just wrong — fine — but are evil. I worry when we are unable to speak to one another and listen to one another.” Instead of agreeing, Garrett implied right-leaning individuals are to blame: “But in a recent poll, 70 percent say Gorsuch and the other current justices contribute to that problem, deciding cases on ideology rather than being fair and impartial. On that, Gorsuch dissents respectfully.” Gorsuch pointed out a reality that goes far too often unacknowledged that he agreed in the last term with the liberal justices “something like 45 percent of the time.”  Garrett hit back by invoking abortion: But there are people who watch this right now and say I thought I understood what Roe v. Wade meant in our country. I thought I understand what affirmative action in college admission meant, and this court told me I didn’t understand what that meant and I wrongly relied on things that I thought were settled. What would you say to those? Gorsuch went back and forth with Garrett on both abortion and affirmative action, showing conservatives how to calmly demolish claims of the conservative thought being a scourge on America (click “expand”): GORSUCH: I would say those are deeply complex legal questions on which reasonable minds can, of course, and do disagree. And that when it comes to Roe v. Wade, for example, what did the court decide? Decided that we the people should answer that question, not nine people sitting in Washington, D.C. GARRETT: How about affirmative action? GORSUCH: Much the same thing. What did we decide? We decided that all people are created equal, that it’s not acceptable in this country to discriminate on the basis of race. GARRETT: And, for those who would say but I feel something’s been ripped away from me, you would say? GORSUCH: I would say that we’re taking it back to you. In a democracy, you’re in the driver’s seat. You’re the sovereign. Those famous three first words of the Constitution empower you. Do you really want me deciding everything for you? GARRETT: And for a woman in a state where she no longer has the rights she once relied on, is that cold comfort? GORSUCH: Major, all I can say is I don’t know better than you do on these questions. And that most major western democracies have decided these questions through the ballot box. As part of a brief aside on the left’s push to implement control of the court under the guise of an ethics code “in response in part to pricey travel paid for by Republican donors” (but nothing liberal justices have done), Garrett asked if Gorsuch and his colleagues to act more “to understand and care about its public perception.” Gorsuch gave a fascinating answer: You raise a really interesting question about the place that unelected judges have in a democracy. An independent judiciary, our founders fought a revolution for it because they knew what it was like to have a judiciary that was responsive to the crown, to a whimsical king. They didn’t want that for this country. And the truth is, when you’re the man on the dock, you don’t want it either. A few minutes later and back live, Garrett huffed to the co-hosts that the justice didn’t “appear at all troubled by the decline in public confidence in the Supreme Court or the real-world ramifications of overturning decades of legal precedent.” Signaling his support for the packing the court crowd, Garrett huffed that such “[c]omfort with such contradictions, of course, is one of the things that comes with a lifetime”.     “Yeah, many people are questioning whether it should be a lifetime appointment,” King replied. Featured co-host Vladimir Duthiers flashed his progressive stripes (and given he’s married to a lead producer for far-left, Clarence Thomas-hating HBO host, John Oliver) (click “expand”): DUTHIERS: Yeah, Major, I appreciate you pushing back on those issues because I thought it was sort of telling that the associate justice said, do you want me deciding everything for you? If you’re a woman, you will say — but you have decided. Even though you’re suggesting that you’re sending it back to the people, the Court made those decisions that had been precedents for over 50 years, Major. GARRETT: And what was once relied upon can no longer be. That’s the change. DUTHIERS: That’s right.  DUNCAN: Mmmmm. DUTHIERS: All right — DUNCAN: Prescient. DUTHIERS: — Major Garrett for us. DUNCAN: Great interview. To see the relevant CBS transcript from August 5, click here. August 5th, 2024 1:29 PM Curtis Houck 285336 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/bill-dagostino/2024/08/05/indignant-cnn-and-msnbc-still-obsessed-vances-cat-ladies-remark Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance appears to have touched a nerve in the news media, because the talking heads on CNN and MSNBC are still obsessing over his 2021 comments about “childless cat ladies” with thinly-veiled rage. Corporate journalists have a habit of discussing their own reporting as though they’re talking about the weather. Back during the Stormy Daniels saga in 2018, for example, hosts on CNN and MSNBC would routinely remark how, for some reason, the story just wouldn’t go away. The same phenomenon is very much at play here. It’s been weeks now, and journalists still aren’t finished shrieking about the phrase “cat ladies.” On August 2, for example, MSNBC host Joy Reid laughed that Vance was “trying to squirm out of the cat ladies thing.” And just this Monday, longtime Washington Post writer Eugene Robinson called Vance’s remarks “the gift that keeps on giving” for the Harris campaign. Here’s a sampling of the media’s ongoing fixation on Vance’s remarks:   August 5th, 2024 1:08 PM Bill D'Agostino 285335 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/clay-waters/2024/08/05/harris-hits-trail-name-calling-pbss-barron-lopez-adds-own-creepy When Laura Barron-Lopez appears on PBS, the question is: Reporter or Taxpayer-Funded White House Press Secretary?  On Friday’s PBS News Hour, it sounded like Karine Barron-Lopez, touting how Democrats have a new line of personal attack: Branding Republicans as “weird” and “creepy.” The PBS White House correspondent dropped her previous sensitivity to personal attacks and seemed to approve of the new tactic. Anchor Geoff Bennett set things up. "While on the campaign trail, the vice president is trying some new language on for size, like calling her opponent Donald Trump weird." The story opened with the weird inference that Kamala was trying something new: Authenticity.  Laura Barron-Lopez: On a fast-track campaign for the White House, Vice President Harris is trying something new, to call it as she sees it. Kamala Harris: He and his running mate sure seem to have a lot to say about me. And, by the way, don't you find some of their stuff to just be plain weird? She didn’t mind that the vice president and her team sounded like bullies lording it over “weirdos” in a 1980s high school comedy. Barron-Lopez: Now, campaign press releases call Trump old and quite weird, and Democrats across the board are leaning into Harris's blunt approach, from possible vice presidential picks commenting on Trump's behavior… Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN): Have you ever seen the guy laugh? If he has laughed, it's at someone, not with someone. That is weird behavior. Barron-Lopez: … to leaders of the party addressing resurfaced clips of J.D. Vance. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY): Every day, Vance -- it comes out Vance has done something more extreme, more weird, more erratic. The reporter brought her own adjective to the party, “creepy," as the taxpayer-funded network played for free a nasty ad mocking cartoonish white conservative Christian men: Barron-Lopez: Branding the Republicans as creepy has caught on fast. In an ad released by a PAC focused on young voters, the conservative playbook Project 2025 is personified as people desperate to control your personal life. ….[Ad airs for 22 seconds] Barron-Lopez: This shift in language is a strategy that could prove effective as Harris rushes to define her opponent in a new way, according to David Karp of George Washington University. David Karpf, George Washington University: The serious messaging around Donald Trump that this is a threat to democracy if we take him both seriously and literally this time, that's important, but it's also a bummer. And what we're seeing here is a way to talk about this that is still on message. It's still on the theme. But there's some joy, there's some mirth, and there's some verve to it. Undisclosed fun fact! Professor Karpf donated $250 to the Biden-Harris campaign in 2020.  This was a total press release, except when PBS offered one 26-second soundbite to a Republican strategist, Joshua Novotney, who said Trump shouldn't bite on the "weird" attacks and focus on the Biden-Harris record. Then the PBS reporter noted accurately that “Donald Trump is no stranger to name-calling,” then validated Harris’s own brand of personal name-calling at the end. Barron-Lopez: Michelle Obama's "When they go low, we go high," may no longer be Democrats' North Star, but it's a choice that could end up boosting Harris' self-described underdog campaign. For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Laura Barron-Lopez. Has taking the high road really been the “Democrat’s North Star,” as Barron-Lopez insisted? Does she not recall the nine years of vituperation against Donald Trump and MAGA in general from both Democrats and the press? This "creepy" segment was brought to you in part by Raymond James financial services, and taxpayers like you. A transcript is available, click “Expand.” PBS News Hour 8/2/24 7:23:51 p.m. (ET) Geoff Bennett: The Democratic National Committee announced today that Vice President Kamala Harris has secured the number of delegates in a virtual roll call to win the party's nomination, which will be made official after voting ends on Monday. While on the campaign trail, the vice president is trying some new language on for size, like calling her opponent Donald Trump weird. Our White House correspondent, Laura Barron-Lopez, has more. Laura Barron-Lopez: On a fast-track campaign for the White House, Vice President Harris is trying something new, to call it as she sees it. Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States (D) and U.S. Presidential Candidate: He and his running mate sure seem to have a lot to say about me. And, by the way, don't you find some of their stuff to just be plain weird? Laura Barron-Lopez: It's a notable change from when President Biden was in the race. Joe Biden, President of the United States: Do you really want to go back to the chaos of Donald Trump as president? Audience: No! Laura Barron-Lopez: Much of his language focused on Donald Trump as an existential threat to the country. Joe Biden: It's about your freedom. It's about democracy. Laura Barron-Lopez: Now, campaign press releases call Trump old and quite weird, and Democrats across the board are leaning into Harris' blunt approach, from possible vice presidential picks commenting on Trump's behavior… Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN): Have you ever seen the guy laugh? If he has laughed, it's at someone, not with someone. That is weird behavior. Laura Barron-Lopez: … to leaders of the party addressing resurfaced clips of J.D. Vance. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY): Every day, Vance — it comes out Vance has done something more extreme, more weird, more erratic. Laura Barron-Lopez: Branding the Republicans as creepy has caught on fast. [Man in Commercial: That's just the start.] Laura Barron-Lopez: In an ad released by a PAC focused on young voters, the conservative playbook Project 2025 is personified as people desperate to control your personal life. Man: Your genitals are reserved for procreation. Man: If you freeze 12 eggs, you should be required to have 12 babies. Man: Or else you're a serial killer. And I'm definitely not a serial killer. Are you? Laura Barron-Lopez: This shift in language is a strategy that could prove effective as Harris rushes to define her opponent in a new way, according to David Karp of George Washington University. David Karpf, George Washington University: The serious messaging around Donald Trump that this is a threat to democracy if we take him both seriously and literally this time, that's important, but it's also a bummer. And what we're seeing here is a way to talk about this that is still on message. It's still on the theme. But there's some joy, there's some mirth, and there's some verve to it. Laura Barron-Lopez: Since Democrats have changed their tune rhetorically, Republicans have tried to find a response. Former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said Democrats are being dumb and juvenile, while Donald Trump tried to use Harris' words against her in a recent interview with FOX News. Donald Trump, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: You know who's plain weird? She's plain weird. She's a weird person. Look at her past. Laura Barron-Lopez: But for Republican strategist Joshua Novotney, based in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania, Donald Trump should stay focused on attacking Harris' record. Joshua Novotney, Republican Strategist: Stay off the personal stuff and talk about how she mismanaged the border crisis, talk about the inflation and the economy. I don't think anyone is sitting there saying we enjoy paying twice as much for our groceries than we did a couple years ago. Those are winning issues here. I would ignore the weird comments and all of that. I think that will backfire on Democrats as being a little too mocking and childish and kind of beneath them. Laura Barron-Lopez: Donald Trump is no stranger to name-calling, recently saying Harris is dumb as a rock, demonizing her on the campaign trail… Donald Trump: She has no clue. She's evil. Laura Barron-Lopez: … and even mocking her biracial heritage. Donald Trump: She was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden she made a turn, and she went. She became a Black person. Laura Barron-Lopez: Trump's reactions are another sign the weird attack is landing, Karpf said. David Karpf: Part of the reason we know this is working well isn't just that it's going viral online, but that it has her opponents stuttering in response and saying it's not fair. When you have your opponents reacting in ways that amplify your message and make them uncomfortable, you keep on doing that. Kamala Harris: When we fight, we win! Laura Barron-Lopez: Michelle Obama's, "When they go low, we go high," may no longer be Democrats' North Star, but it's a choice that could end up boosting Harris' self-described underdog campaign. For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Laura Barron-Lopez. August 5th, 2024 12:32 PM Clay Waters 285333 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/mark-finkelstein/2024/08/05/cnns-kasie-hunt-trump-calling-kamala-low-iq-definitely-race Check the look of dismay/disdain on Kasie Hunt's face as she decried Donald Trump having called Kamala Harris, during his Atlanta rally on Sunday, a "low-IQ individual." On today's CNN This Morning, Hunt claimed that Trump's statement was "definitely race-related." Really? Shall we take a stroll down the list of people of pallor whose intellect Trump has disparaged? Let's begin with the infamous tweet in which Trump used the very same term regarding the very white Mika Brzezinski: "low-I.Q. Crazy Mika." Other examples of white people whose intellect Trump has derided: Jeff Sessions: A "dumb Southerner" Karl Rove: "Stupid" [five times] Glenn Beck: "Stupid" "dumb as a rock" Lindsey Graham: "Dumb mouthpiece" John McCain: "dummy," "graduated last in his class" Arianna Huffington: "dummy" Brit Hume: "dope, know nothing" There are others, but you get the picture. When it comes to insulting people's intelligence, Trump is the Don Rickles of politicians.   Hunt put it to former Biden aide Meghan Hays that Trump's "low-IQ" attack on Harris could actually backfire. Hays was only too happy to agree, saying that the kind of people that Trump needs to persuade in the swing states tend to be non-Trump, Nikki Haley-type women voters who won't look kindly at a women being disparaged as "low-IQ." We must be in deep in the thousdands of occasions where CNN has predicted "backlash" or "backfires" for Trump since 2015. But let's ask this: Hasn't CNN called people they don't agree with "stupid"? Like CNN analyst Ana Navarro said Latinos backing Trump have a "very stupid attitude" -- is that racist?  Trump could certainly focus, as we have previously noted, on the treasure trove of of far-left policy positions that Harris has taken. But in saying it's "race-related" for Trump to call Harris "low-IQ," Hunt chose to ignore his long history of questioning the smarts of his opponents--of all races. Here's the transcript. CNN This Morning 8/5/24 6:18 am EDT DONALD TRUMP: CNN we're going to defeat Crazy Kamala, Ka-ma-la, you know, there's about 19 different ways of saying it. She only likes three. She was here a week ago, lots of empty seats. But the crowd she got was because she had entertainers. She refuses to even say the words illegal alien, or radical Islamic terrorists. She is considered more left-wing than Crazy Bernie Sanders, look at her, she's worse than Bernie.And she happens to be, really, a low-IQ individual. KASIE HUNT: A low-IQ individual. That was a selection of the various ways in which Donald Trump is going on offense against his new rival. . . .  I mean, Meghan Hays, this low-IQ stuff, I mean, it's definitely race-related, right? And this is a thing that, when when it was clear that Joe Biden was leaving the race, one of the notes I got from a Republican in Trump's orbit was that this is going to mean that he is not going to be able to resist going to these places. What do you think? I mean, if you're the Democrats, are these the kinds of attacks, in some ways you would say, well, that's going to actually backfire? It's going to help us. How do you look at it?  MEGHAN HAYS: No, I definitely think it helps the Democrats, I think going back to this in five or six states, with 10,000 people in each state that are going to determine this election. And most of these people are independent women and they're like the non-Trump people, the Nikki Haley voters that we were calling them earlier in the cycle.  These are not people who are going to take kindly to calling a woman having low-IQ, calling out her race, making personal attacks against her. That's not going to win you voters. That energizes your base, and it might be great it for fundraising, but it is not what's going to win you the election. August 5th, 2024 11:35 AM Mark Finkelstein 285332 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-fondacaro/2024/08/05/cnn-cites-talibans-sharia-law-their-innocence-1-billion In their motion for summary judgment filed last week regarding the $1 billion defamation suit against them, CNN argued that their allegedly defamatory reporting accusing Plaintiff and Navy veteran Zachary Young of a crime was factually true because his efforts to get women and children out Afghanistan were illegal under Taliban law; or as it’s more infamously known: Sharia law. All as the U.S. approaches the three-year anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. CNN’s opening paragraphs noted that Young had worked “to have women smuggled out of Afghanistan,” and argued “discovery has indicated that those activities he orchestrated and funded, which involved moving women out of Afghanistan, almost certainly were illegal under Taliban rule” (bold added to highlight).     The lead counsel for CNN’s defense, Deanna K. Shullman, wrote the motion and seemed enthusiastic about their line of argument. “Young cannot point to a single shred of evidence indicating otherwise that could somehow create a dispute of material fact as to that issue,” she wrote. Throughout the document, CNN made it clear they intended to defend themselves with the laws they admit were oppressive of women. They repeatedly noted that Sharia law - as implemented by the Taliban - made it illegal for women to leave the country, which Young was helping them to do: All of the journalism at issue in this case arose out of the events of August 2021, when the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan, leading the Taliban to take control of the country and ban women from leaving. Because thousands of women faced possible execution or enslavement at the hands of the new government (…) The new government had also implemented Sharia law, banning women from leaving the country and threatening execution or enslavement for anyone who had collaborated with the U.S. government (…) CNN was so desperate to get the defamation suit dropped that they decried the efforts of everyone, not just Young, who diligently worked to get people out of the country. “To get women out, the operators on the ground were required either to break the law directly or to find someone to break the law for them,” they wrote to the court. As if escaping the a murderous band of terrorists was a bad thing, CNN listed off a series of illegal activities Young, the other operatives, and the people fleeing were allegedly guilty of, including “avoiding the Taliban,” “mak[ing] it past the Taliban checkpoints,” and keeping “people hidden from the Taliban”—i.e., all activities that were illegal in Afghanistan at the time.” A possible flaw in the plan to cite Sharia law in their defense is the fact that it's not a set of codified laws and can change based on an individual's interpretation. That's not to mention that the Taliban are not the internationally recognized government of the country. This was something CNN seeming admitting back in a filing back in May when they said: "it was that the market was operating in the absence of a functioning legal system..." The legal defense seemed to have something of an identity crisis, because while Shullman put all that work into defending CNN’s framing of Young’s activities as illegal under Sharia law, she also suggested CNN’s original offending reporting had “no intent to accuse Young of illegal conduct.” The filing insisted “the focus of CNN’s journalism was never on whether what Young and other private operators were doing was illegal under Taliban law,” but instead was meant to expose “war profiteers such as Young.” A quick Google search of the word “profiteering” turns up an Oxford definition that explains the noun usage as “the practice of making or seeking to make an excessive or unfair profit, especially illegally or in a black market.” And the “profiteer” verb explanation says: “make or seek to make an excessive or unfair profit, especially illegally or in a black market.” CNN essentially blamed Young’s insistence that they accused him of a crime for their choice to cite Sharia law to prove their innocence: But, even if Young is right that CNN accused him of illegal conduct—which CNN vigorously disputes—he still cannot prevail on his claims (…) discovery has indicated that the activities Young directed and funded almost certainly were illegal under Taliban law, as the Taliban prohibited Afghans (especially woman) from exiting the country without permission and vastly restricted their movement inside the country. The filing also says “CNN vigorously disputes” the claim that they were accusing Young of a crime – while they were actively citing Sharia law as evidence of Young committing crimes. They further suggest that the use of the term “black market” was mean “to convey that the private market for evacuation services was unregulated,” which by common understanding was a gray market.     Back in June, Florida’s First District Court of Appeal found that CNN did accuse Young of a crime when host Jake Tapper opened the report, which singled out Young, with the words “black market,” which was accompanied with a matching chyron (pictured above). “So, these are lawyers and professional writers that, you know, are used to dealing with words and have dictionaries and know how precise – what words mean?” Judge L. Clayton Roberts pressed. In an unredacted partial transcript of CNN reporter Alex Marquardt’s deposition in the case, he admitted that they didn’t find any evidence of Young committing a crime. But while CNN made references to other operatives on the ground who broke Sharia law and were “taking advantage of the chaos and desperation,” again, Young was the only one singled out by name and by having his face shown on-air. Still, CNN argued that the “gist” and “overall message” of their reporting were “true” and that there was no evidence of “actual malice” on their part. But that’s not accurate. Two courts and four judges (three at the appellate level) had ruled that “Young sufficiently proffered evidence of actual malice, express malice, and a level of conduct outrageous enough to open the door for him to seek punitive damages.” Linked here is CNN’s motion for summary judgment. It should be noted that it was written in a desperate attempt to get the news organization out of a defamation suit that had the strong possibility of being very damaging to both CNN’s reputation and their finances. And as such, it goes after Young pretty ruthlessly; as evidenced by their reliance on Sharia law. And while the filing portrayed CNN's reporting as rock solid and whole, Judge Roberts did note in his punitive damages ruling that the network's own internal communication showed concern about it not being ready for public viewing. "Young proffered CNN messages and emails that showed internal concern about the completeness and veracity of the reporting—the story is ‘a mess,’ ‘incomplete,’ not ‘fleshed out for digital,’ ‘the story is 80% emotion, 20% obscured fact,’ and ‘full of holes like Swiss cheese,’” he wrote. In response to NewsBusters' questions about why they were citing Sharia law, given it was so oppressive of women, and if they didn't think what Young was doing, in terms of saving women from that situation, was a good thing, a CNN spokesperson said: “Young takes issue with CNN referring to the conditions on the ground as a black market. Acknowledging the state of local law is a necessary part of the legal analysis. There is no good faith reading of CNN’s filing that supports such a false, reckless, and malicious characterization.” August 5th, 2024 7:30 AM Nicholas Fondacaro 285323 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tim-graham/2024/08/05/enablers-cbs-cues-nancy-pelosi-put-joe-biden-mt-rushmore Lesley Stahl can’t just embarrass herself with fawning Democrat interviews on 60 Minutes. Now they’ve put her on Sunday Morning with her hero Nancy Pelosi. Substitute host Tracy Smith introduced the gush with gush: “Her interview with the House Speaker Emerita that has a new book out, The Art of Power, an art which Nancy Pelosi is something of a master.” Pelosi started with the implausible claim that she and her husband Paul Pelosi have never discussed the traumatic hammer attack on him in their San Francisco home. Naturally, she noted her family blamed Republicans for casting her as a devil with cloven hoofs and horns on her head. She blamed Trump, as CBS helpfully played a clip of Donald Trump mocking him at a rally. Then she added that she didn’t really run a pressure campaign to force out President Biden. She insisted she never made one phone call about it. (Okay, she told everyone he had to go, face to face. That makes a difference?) STAHL: She mentioned his many accomplishments, including his forceful leadership of the NATO summit with other Western heads of state. PELOSI: He was in a good place to make whatever decision, top of his game. Such a consequential president of the United States, a Mount Rushmore kind of president of the United States. Want to know what comes next. STAHL: Are you really saying that he belongs up there on Mount Rushmore? Lincoln and Joe Biden? PELOSI: But you got Teddy Roosevelt up there, and he’s wonderful. I don’t say take him down, but you can add Biden. Stahl just had to follow up that comedy with flattery: “If there were a Mount Rushmore for Speakers of the House, Nancy Pelosi would certainly be up there, commemorating her 20 years as a commanding leader in Congress.” After listing "accomplishments" like Obamacare and Covid policy, Stahl then predictably turned to January 6, and once again, Pelosi was only a target and not to be held accountable for anything, especially the Capitol Police shooting rioter Ashli Babbitt to death. That never comes up. STAHL: And the dark day of January 6th. You, in the book, talk about hearing the crowd saying, Nancy, Nancy! "We're coming for you, bitch," is what they said. You knew what was happening that day was directed at you. PELOSI: And the vice president. It was an insurrection instigated by the president of the United States. He now tries to disassociate himself from it, blaming it it on me and everybody else, but that's the way he is. This was instigated by him. Then she followed up with the Pelosi family propaganda, as filmed by her daughter Alexandra for HBO, in which she said she would punch out Trump if he came to the Hill, and gladly go to jail. But CBS enabled Pelosi by not discussing the newly emerging clip from those family sessions, where on that day, the Speaker took "responsibility" for the unreadiness of law enforcement. Democrats and their media allies can't let the Republicans change the narrative. August 5th, 2024 6:48 AM Tim Graham 285331 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jorge-bonilla/2024/08/05/stephanopoulos-accuses-rep-donalds-unspecified-slur-vp-harris In a contentious interview, former Clinton White House operative and current ABC host George Stephanopoulos accused U.S. Representative Byron Donalds (R-FL) of repeatedly slurring Vice President Kamala Harris. But the “slur” is nonspecific, and not really a slur at all. Watch Stephanopoulos work arduously towards his next defamation lawsuit (click “expand”): “George, now that you’re done yelling at me, let me answer” – @ByronDonalds to ABC’s @GStephanopoulos in contentious “interview” in which Stephanopoulos repeatedly accused Donalds of repeating a “slur” Stephanopoulos kept bring up. #ThisWeek pic.twitter.com/TocOy8thMW — Brent Baker 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@BrentHBaker) August 4, 2024 ABC THIS WEEK 8/4/24 9:08 AM GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And you just repeated the slur again. If it doesn't matter, why do you all keep questioning her identity? She's always identified as a black woman. She is biracial. She has a Jamaican father and Indian mother. She's always identified as both. Why are you questioning that? BYRON DONALDS: Well, George, first of all, this is something that's actually a conversation throughout social media right now. There are a lot of people who are trying to figure this out, but again, that's a side issue, not the main issue. The main issue is the terrible, terrible job… STEPHANOPOULOS: Sir, one second. You just did it- you just did it again. DONALDS: …of Kamala Harris as Vice President of the United States. STEPHANOPOULOS: Why- why do you cont- why do you insist on questioning her racial identity? (CROSSTALK) DONALDS: George…do you want to talk or do you want me to talk? STEPHANOPOULOS: I want you to answer my question. (CROSSTALK) DONALDS: George. George, now that you're done yelling at me, let me answer. He talked about it on the stage yesterday in Atlanta for, what? Two minutes? He spent more than 35, 40 minutes going after her record, talking about how radical of a senator that she was. She was the most liberal senator in the United States- in the United States Senate. That is a fact. He talked about the job that she did as Vice President of the United States, a job I will add, which has been a failure for the American people. I know you guys like to glom onto this that he talked about in jest or in a serious manner for about a minute or so, but what you do not cover is the litany of failures of Kamala Harris. That's what you're not covering, George. STEPHANOPOULOS: So questioning somebody's racial identity for a couple of minutes is okay? DONALDS: George, I'm going to tell you again. He brought it up. AP is the one that wrote the headline when she first came into the United States Senate. Didn't talk about her being black. Talked about her being the first Indian-American senator. AP brought that up. I mean, George, we could have this conversation for the entire segment. But none of this matters to the American people. What matters to the American people is are we going to have the same policies of the Biden-Harris administration that has been destructive of the American people, or are we going to have the policies of the Trump administration which put America first, had low inflation, prosperous Americans, no matter your race, no matter your color, no matter your creed, and a foreign policy  that kept America safe? Those are the facts that truly matter. Because this issue’s going to come and go. The lives of the American people is what's going to remain and that's what matters more than anything else. STEPHANOPOULOS If it doesn't matter, I don't understand why you keep on repeating it, why the president keeps on repeating it, why those introducing the president yesterday keep on repeating it. DONALDS: George, actually, I'm not the one who keeps repeating it. George, you're the one that’s bringing it up now. That’s you. And I understand why you want to bring it up.  STEPHANOPOULOS: Sir, you've done it- you’ve three times. Every single answer you gave me -- now let me finish, sir. Every single answer you gave me repeated the slur. DONALDS: George, you’ve asked me. You’ve asked me, George. That's why I'm pushing back on you now. George, you’ve asked me the question three times, I responded, but I’m talking about what truly matters in this election.  STEPHANOPOULOS: And every single time you repeat the slur. That's exactly my point. You simply can't say that it's wrong. DONALDS: George. So then what you're saying, so then what- and I want to get off this topic because it's not the only thing going on, but George, now you're saying that AP is the one that slurred Kamala Harris? Because those are the facts. You can go to the internet and look at the clips, George, if you want to or we can talk about this now. I prefer to talk about the future of our country because the American people are struggling. The American people do need serious policy decisions to be made, and they need serious leadership on the world stage. Kamala Harris has not proven she can do that. Donald J. Trump has proven that he can do that. STEPHANOPOULOS: AP did not say that Kamala Harris is not black. She is biracial. She is Indian. She is black. You continue to repeat the fact- you continue to repeat the slur. I don't understand why you and the president do it, but it’s clear you’re not going to say that it’s wrong. You’ve now established that for our audience.  The “slur” narrative serves the purpose of shielding Harris from any questions about her identity by deeming them to be inherently racist. But, in fact, Donalds uttered no slue of Harris, or did anything else other than highlight the inconsistencies in how the media reported on Harris’s race and ethnicity. Reasonable people may determine that time is better spent explaining to voters how Harris is a dangerous authoritarian who weaponized California’s state government against a political opponent at the behest of a preferred client organization (Planned Parenthood). But the media want no part of that discourse, which is how we get endless cycles of “Kamala is brat” and how questioning any part of her life story is off limits. When you come to think about it, it’s really a basement-plus strategy. Not only does Harris not have to answer questions from the media, but questioning anything related to her  is also off-limits. This is how we get Stephanopoulos yelling at Donalds for minutes on end, whether about Harris’s identity or about Trump potentially pardoning J6 defendants. Despite a defamation lawsuit against him being allowed to proceed, Stephanopoulos shows no signs of moderating his political hackery in service of the Regime. Here again, we see a Regime Media effort to shape the election via truth-optional narrative. And, as in most cases, the most Biden/Harris sycophantic network is at the heart of it.   August 5th, 2024 12:36 AM Jorge Bonilla 285330 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jorge-bonilla/2024/08/04/quiet-part-out-loud-cbss-weijia-jiang-admits-regime-media-drove One of the main purposes of the Regime Media, formerly known as “mainstream”, is to further partisan Democrat narratives and do everything possible so as to push them out to the general public. The most recent example of this partisan message echoing disguised as news is the ceaseless promotion of negative narratives intended to adversely shape the electorate’s opinion of Senator JD Vance (R-OH), the 2024 GOP vice presidential candidate. Watch as CBS White House Correspondent Weijia Jiang admits as much on Face the Nation: CBS FACE THE NATION 8/4/24 11:23 AM ED O’KEEFE: Let's play what he had to say about JD Vance. DONALD TRUMP: Historically, the vice president in terms of the election does not have any impact. I mean, virtually no impact. You have two or three days where there's a lot of commotion as to who, like you're having it on the Democrat side who it's going to be, and then that dies down and it's all about the presidential pick. Virtually never has it mattered. O’KEEFE: Not exactly singing Vance's praises there. KADIA GOBA: No. It wasn't. And, you know, leading up to the pick before he was announced, Republicans were kind of split on this. I heard a lot of them saying, “well, JD Vance, as long as it's not JD Vance because he brings nothing to the ticket.” On the other side people said, well, they like his background, they like this guy, came from nothing, now he's a senator. But also, I mean, either way, for a presidential nominee to say that about his running mate, is pretty detrimental, whether it's -- he might very well be, you know, accurate, but it's kind of like, interesting to say that. WEIJIA JIANG: Especially because all you have to look at is what we've been talking about with regard to the Republican ticket since Vance was named, which is his comments from a few years ago about single cat ladies, which is how weird he is. So it’s taking away from Trump and that is an impact in and of itself.   Jiang’s uncoerced admission came at the back end of “analysis” about former President Donald Trump’s candid remarks on vice presidential candidacies during his forum at the National Association of Black Journalists’ convention. In this context, it is interesting to see Semafor’s Kadia Goba admit that Trump might be accurate in his assessment of the politics of a vice presidential pick- even though everyone took turns saying it was “detrimental”, or adverse in some way. And this is when Jiang pipes in. Her confession is twofold: not only did she admit that the Regime Media chose the “cat lady” and “weird” talking points as a focal point of coverage, but that they do so because it detracts from any Trump messaging. “So it’s taking away from Trump and that is an impact in and of itself”. Election interference, when performed by the Regime Media, can take multiple forms. Sometimes a story is suppressed, as in the case of Hunter Biden’s laptop. And sometimes, that election interference comes in the incessant pushing of narrative- as in the cases of “cat ladies” and “weird”, respectively. Different means, but the intended outcome is the same- to tilt the balance of public opinion in support of the Democratic ticket. If it weren’t for Regime Media, we’d have no media at all.   August 4th, 2024 10:07 PM Jorge Bonilla 285329 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jorge-bonilla/2024/08/04/abcs-rachel-scott-swoons-over-idea-prosecutor-harris-debate The Regime Media continue to do their level best to boost Kamalamania into the atmosphere. On ABC This Week, senior campaign correspondent Rachel Scott openly salivated over the prospects of a Harris-Trump debate. Watch as Scott rehashes the campaign’s “prosecutor vs. felon” narrative, and speculates over whether Trump will even debate Harris: ABC THIS WEEK 8/4/2024 9:46 AM SUSAN PAGE: I moderated the last debate she did in 2020. The vice presidential debate. She is a good debater. She is confident. She uses a little humor. She made Mike Pence be quiet, which was something I really struggled to do, and she comes across in that debate as a prosecutor, and that is a good message for her. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: That seems to be her sweet spot. RACHEL SCOTT: Yeah, and imagine that on the debate stage where you have a prosecutor possibly facing off against someone who has just been convicted, right? And that's the sort of image that of course, Democrats are hoping that they can actually have on the debate stage, but yes, and thinking back to her taking on President Biden when they were running against each other in the Democratic primary. Democrats see her as someone who can thrive potentially on the debate stage. The question is, does it actually happen? STEPHANOPOULOS: We will see, Thank you all for coming in. We’ll be right back. “Imagine that”, Scott says. One imagines the Regime Media cohort feeling onanistic pleasure at the idea of Harris taking down Trump in a debate like it’s the last minute of a Law & Order episode. A political debate is a wholly different proposition from a criminal prosecution, where defendants don’t often directly rebut their prosecutors. Here, Scott openly indulges her imaginations.  Recall that it was Scott that launched into a tirade to open former President Donald Trump’s forum at the National Association of Black Journalists’ convention in Chicago. As our colleague Alex Christy noted during his recap of the event, Scott kicked off the event by asking: “You have told four congresswomen of color, who are American citizens, to go back to where they came from. You have used words like 'animal' and 'rabid' to describe black attorneys. You attack black journalists, calling them 'a loser' saying the questions that they asked are, quote, “stupid and racist.” You've had dinner with a white supremacist at your Mar-a-Lago resort. So, my question, sir, now that you are asking black supporters to vote for you, why should black voters trust you after you have used language like that?” This is clearly the advancement of narrative, as was Scott’s gross swooning over Prosecutor Harris. This wasn’t the only time during the panel segment that Scott did that, either.  Earlier, @RachelVScott praised the “nuance” of Kamala Harris: “It has been really notable for us reporters who have picked up on the nuance about how she has responded to some of these attacks, questioning her racial identity....putting it back on Donald Trump...” #ThisWeek pic.twitter.com/MMXwH5ZvwG — Brent Baker 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@BrentHBaker) August 4, 2024 Never mind all the swooning over “nuance” and Harris’ response: what pivot to the issues is Scott even talking about here, other than abortion and maybe price controls?  As is Mary Bruce to Joe Biden, so is Rachel Scott to Kamala Harris. The most Democrat-sycophantic network has a new chief apple polisher in town.   August 4th, 2024 7:05 PM Jorge Bonilla 285328 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/rich-noyes/2024/08/04/flashback-decades-lib-media-fawning-over-democratic-veeps Any day now, we’ll learn who Vice President Kamala Harris has chosen as her 2024 running mate. But there’s no suspense about how the media will react, since liberal journalists have consistently praised and promoted every Democratic vice presidential nominee since the early 1990s. One constant feature of the media’s fawning coverage has been to insist that all of these candidates — even the most left-wing nominees — are actually “moderate,” or even “conservative.” CBS’s Richard Threlkeld, for example, claimed after Senator Al Gore’s selection in 1992 that “both Gore and [Bill] Clinton are centrist, some would say conservative, Democrats...” Yet in the last full legislative year before Gore was selected (1991), he received an approval rating of just 14% from the American Conservative Union (ACU); that fell to zero in 1992. CNN’s Candy Crowley sang the same song in 2004, when Senator John Kerry tapped North Carolina Senator John Edwards to join his ticket: “It is good old-fashioned ticket balance: a Northeastern Democrat on the liberal side, a Southern Democrat on the moderate side.” Yet, similar to Gore 12 years earlier, Edwards’s ACU rating in 2003 was just 13%, and it dropped to zero in 2004. And just four years ago, CBS’s Anthony Mason attempted to brand the ultra-liberal Kamala Harris as a “conservative choice” for VP. Mason tossed this softball to Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett: “What does it say to you about the state of the Democratic Party that the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and from India was kind of the conservative choice here?” The ACU assigned Harris a score of zero in 2019, and just 9% in 2020. It’s not just lying about their liberalism. In the media’s telling of the story, Democratic nominees are “smart,” “sexy,” super-popular, regular guys, who will mop the floor with their GOP counterparts. (Earlier, we detailed how Republican VP candidates are routinely derided as too conservative, too mean-spirited, too unqualified, too religious, too extreme, and/or too dumb.) It’s an in-kind contribution that the media elite faithfully offer up each and every election year. Here’s a sample of how the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nominees were covered by the press after they were selected: AL GORE, 1992 & 1996 ■ “Even liberal Democrats now...think that Al Gore and Bill Clinton could be a winning ticket. They’re willing to swallow the problems that they have with such a conservative pair in hopes of winning.”— CBS reporter Susan Spencer, July 13, 1992 convention coverage. ■ “One of the biggest advantages in choosing Gore as a political partner is the Senator’s track record on the environment. He is a best-selling author on the subject. It’s a track record the White House tries to paint as extremist. But Gore has already received the endorsement as an outstanding choice by the Sierra Club and other powerful conservation groups.”— ABC reporter Jim Hickey, July 10, 1992 Good Morning America. ■ “I was struck by the expanse of their chests. They may have to put out their stats.”— Newsweek reporter Eleanor Clift on Clinton and Gore, CNN’s Inside Politics, July 10, 1992. ■ “Though Al Gore relishes politics almost as much as his boss does, tonight he is next door in the Old Executive Office Building, doing what he really loves: thinking about complexity theory, open systems, Goethe and the absence of scientific metaphors in modern society. He’s writing a speech, and the elegant Ceremonial Office is strewn with pizza cartons and Diet Coke cans...Clinton may lead the country into the millennium, but it is Gore who truly embodies the new century’s possibilities and anxieties.”— Newsweek reporter Bill Turque, September 2, 1996. JOE LIEBERMAN, 2000 ■ “Lieberman is noted for his moderate voting record and high moral standards.”— CBS Evening News fill-in anchor Steve Kroft, August 7, 2000. ■ “Lieberman is a true centrist, a moderate who can build coalitions. You know how the Republicans in Philadelphia kept trying to show how moderate they were? Well, this trumps anything the Republicans had to say.”—  CNN analyst Bill Schneider, August 7, 2000 Inside Politics. ■ “He’s known as a moderate Democrat, who had demonstrated fiscal conservatism in the Senate and a kind of hawkishness in foreign policy.”— ABC correspondent Terry Moran on the August 7, 2000 Good Morning America. ■ “This is the most conservative Democratic ticket in at least 50 years.”—  CNN political analyst William Schneider, August 15, 2000. Reality Check: Americans for Democratic Action had assigned Lieberman a near-perfect 95% liberal rating for the previous year (1999), while the American Conservative Union gave him a zero percent conservative score. JOHN EDWARDS, 2004 ■ “Edwards’s ingratiating incandescence has already brightened Kerry. The two became a buddy-buddy act, hugging and whispering like Starsky and Hutch after consuming the evidence.”— Newsweek’s Howard Fineman and Richard Wolffe as part of a July 19, 2004 cover package on Kerry and Edwards headlined “The Sunshine Boys?” ■ “A passionate speaker and a prolific fund-raiser, the campaign hopes the 51-year-old North Carolinian’s ‘I’m the son of a mill worker’ message will connect with working class voters in battleground states. With a style as syrupy as Carolina sweet tea, Edwards could also help in the South. He’s a proven vote-getter in South Carolina, the state where he was born and won the February primary.”— Byron Pitts on the July 6, 2004 CBS Evening News. ■ “Somewhere along the way, the redneck son of a mill worker from rural North Carolina morphed into an almost-perfect candidate....The America that Edwards dreams of is a place where there’s no crime, no poverty and no pushing. That place, of course, just happens to be John Kerry’s America....It’s as if Edwards’s main message is his positivity. He loves the crowd, and the crowd loves him. He smiles at the crowd, and they smile at him. He speaks to the crowd, and they speak to him.”— Newsweek reporter Richard Wolffe in a “Web-exclusive commentary” posted on his magazine’s Web site July 14, 2004. JOE BIDEN, 2008 & 2012 ■ “At 65, Joe Biden brings a wealth of experience into the equation. Obama was only 11-years-old when Biden was first elected senator, and he’s carved out a long record of accomplishment, especially on foreign policy.— Correspondent Dean Reynolds on CBS’s Early Show, August 25, 2008. ■ “The international experience comes from a fervor to do good and to come to a consensus and present America’s best foot forward....That’s a very powerful combination. If you’ve got a Vice President who looks like he can do something and doesn’t want anything more than to see it done, that seems to be a pretty good starting point.— Keith Olbermann during MSNBC’s live coverage of Biden’s selection, August 23, 2008. ■ “Pundits talk about Biden’s foreign policy experience, his ability to attack Republicans and the strength he brings in a key battleground state like Pennsylvania. But for the Amtrak Senator, it’s about working people he feels a part of....”— MSNBC contributor Mike Barnicle profiling Biden on the Today show, August 27, 2008. ■ “He’s No. 2 on the ticket but No. 1 in their hearts. Women born before the baby boom generation seem to have a collective crush on a handsome vice presidential candidate with piercing blue eyes and a wide smile who likes to talk about government benefits for seniors. No, not Paul Ryan. Joe Biden’s bringing sexy back....”— Politico’s Jonathan Allen in an October 2, 2012 story posted to his newspaper’s Web site, “Joe Biden, Sex Symbol?” TIM KAINE, 2016 ■ Co-host Joe Scarborough: “I think Tim Kaine is about as good of a choice – ”Co-host Mika Brzezinski: “He’s awesome.” Scarborough: “ – as Hillary Clinton could have made....I think it was a home run.”...Bloomberg’s John Heilemann: “Between him and Hillary Clinton, this is the most qualified ticket in terms of sheer resume that’s ever run on either ticket in the history of the election.”— MSNBC’s Morning Joe, July 25, 2016. ■ “Kaine checks all the political boxes. Experience — serving at every level of elected office from mayor to U.S. Senator. Battleground credentials — representing Virginia, a key swing state. And fluency in Spanish — speaking directly to crucial Latino voters. To relax, the 58-year-old plays a mean harmonica. His band, the Jug Busters....A devout Catholic who took time away from Harvard Law School to serve as a missionary in Honduras, Kaine attends a mostly black church in a working class neighborhood.”— NBC correspondent Peter Alexander on Today, July 27, 2016. ■ “There’s a suburban dad quality to him, every man, whatever cliche you want to use about it. But there’s a genuineness about it. He seemed conversational in it, and there was — it exuded credibility when he took after Trump.”— NBC’s Chuck Todd during his network’s live coverage of the Democratic convention, July 27, 2016. KAMALA HARRIS, 2020 ■ “She’s so impressive....She is, in my mind, the finest prosecutor I’ve ever seen in my life of watching politics and Washington lawmakers. She’s just unbelievably smart, articulate, and good.”— CNN presidential historian Douglas Brinkley on CNN Tonight, August 11. ■ “She cares about women’s issues. She cares about equality deep within her soul, from her own experience. We’ve had a great time knowing her so far, and it’s kind of exciting, this pick.”— Co-host Mika Brzezinski on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, August 12. ■ “I thought Kamala Harris gave a fantastic speech. She absolutely nailed it. I think this is one of the finest performances I’ve seen her deliver in terms of a speech. She has tremendous range as a speaker. There are times when she’s incredibly warm and funny and light. She’s talking about spending time with her nieces and her step-kids, being called ‘Mamala,’ cooking dinner.”— Senior political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson on CNN’s The Situation Room, August 12. ■ “Both of them [Joe Biden and Kamala Harris], they strengthen each other….They’re both steadier together. They’re both stronger together. That was such a beautiful thing to see. I think if you’re going to give a headline today it would be ‘Hope Reborn.’ That’s what I felt. Hope reborn. You just haven’t heard people talking that way about the country and cutting through and seeming authentic...They blew me away. Both of them were stronger today than I’ve seen them in a very long time, if ever.”— Political commentator Van Jones on CNN’s The Situation Room, August 12, 2020. ■ “It’s not just women of color who are celebrating Kamala Harris, it’s women of all colors who are cheering her on. And she seems to check a lot of boxes. I find the Jamaican community’s cheering for her, the Indian community’s cheering for her, the Asian community’s cheering for her, and certainly black America is cheering for her. But I’ve had a lot of white women, too, who have reached out to me and said this is just a great look, as they say, for women all over the world.”— Co-host Gayle King on CBS This Morning, August 19, 2020. For more examples from our flashback series, which we call the NewsBusters Time Machine, go here.                           August 4th, 2024 10:06 AM Rich Noyes 285291 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tim-graham/2024/08/04/conservatives-pounce-team-kamalas-trash-talk-and-strange-hypocrisy Scores of conservatives took to Twitter (or X) Saturday to taunt Kamala Harris after her team claimed Trump was "running scared" from a debate against her on September 10 on ABC. On Friday night, Trump announced on his Truth Social account that he and Fox News agreed to a presidential debate on September 4 in front of a full arena. He said the ABC debate had been "terminated in that Biden will no longer be a participant." So apparently, Trump is negotiating for new terms....since the Democrats forced out Biden to coronate Harris. The "Kamala HQ" X account tweeted "our statement" (not Harris in particular?) trash-talking that “Donald Trump is running scared and trying to back out of the debate he already agreed to and running straight to Fox News to bail him out.” This prose was a statement attributed to her aide Michael Tyler in press accounts. “He needs to stop playing games and show up to the debate he already committed to on September 10.” Stephen "Redsteeze" Miller was one of many prominent accounts to insist if the nominees were honoring their previous commitments, than Vice President Harris should show up to honor her agreement to debate GOP VP nominee J.D. Vance. Initially, CBS News was supposed to host a Veep debate on either July 22 or August 13. Kamala Harris must uphold her prior agreement and debate JD Vance. https://t.co/UzWINuLKx1 — Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) August 3, 2024 Conservatives made the obvious point that the presidential debate agreement was between Trump and Biden. So it can be considered null and void. Trump agreed to those terms to flush Biden out, which proved Biden did not have the mental capacity to be president any more.  Republicans in general were very tired of the old Commission on Presidential Debates model, where the standard was setting up the GOP with a pro-Democrat moderator to tilt the debating field. This is why it was hilarious when Democrat Neera Tanden tweeted: "So Trump is too afraid to face Kamala in a neutral setting he previously agreed to. He basically admits that to face her he’ll need to the assist [sic] of two Fox hosts and its whole network. You know what that is? It’s weak." ABC or CBS is not a "neutral" setting, and it never has been. This is like saying Democrats never "need the assist" of their cluster of supportive media outlets. "Baseball Crank" from National Review jumped on that one, and added that all the pro-Biden terms should be renegotiated:  I'm sure he'd still go to ABC to debate Biden, which was the agreement. And its terms (CNN & ABC, no audience, mics cut) were all built around protecting Biden. Either Harris is willing to debate Trump, or she is not. https://t.co/nyzK1L63p2 — Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) August 3, 2024 Leigh Wolf of the Ruthless podcast tweeted: "This is how ridiculous Kamala Harris is…she is insisting that Trump attend a debate that Biden canceled, stating it was already previously agree to, while using the exact opposite argument to cancel her own agreed-to debates with JD Vance, I.e. the candidates have changed so she shouldn’t be held to prior agreements." August 4th, 2024 6:25 AM Tim Graham 285327 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/clay-waters/2024/08/03/no-mirror-pbs-blames-reagan-cable-news-disinformation-declining Wednesday’s PBS News Hour segment posed as an even-handed examination of declining trust in the news media, setting up Fox News on the right matching MSNBC on the left as both being to blame. But veteran reporter Judy Woodruff’s framing of bias, as a problem only for cable news and its opinion-heavy political coverage, leaves out the constant bias that occurs on those presumed bastions of objectivity, the Big Three broadcast networks, not to mention PBS and CNN. Anchor Geoff Bennett introduced the segment. Geoff Bennett: Despite having access to more information than ever before, Americans' trust in the news media has been declining in recent years, and nearly three-quarters of Americans say the news media is making political polarization worse. Judy Woodruff investigates as part of her ongoing series, America at a Crossroads. Woodruff first talked to Republican Jeri Levasseur, a retired nurse who watches Fox News and Newsmax and occasionally CNN. Jeri Levasseur: I think that President Trump gets a -- not that FOX is pro-Trump, but I think he gets a better interpretation of his values and what he stands for from FOX. MSNBC is much more likely to insult Republicans, as opposed to insulting a Democrat. [TV clip: Elie Mystal, Justice Correspondent, The Nation: The Supreme Court is a clear and present danger to their entire political agenda.] Judy Woodruff: Across town, Demet Haksever, who immigrated to the United States from Turkey in 1975, is watching MSNBC. Demet Haksever, Retired Economist: In the morning, I start watching MSNBC, "Morning Joe," CNN, sometimes PBS, other sources, BBC. And, at night, I tune in to MSNBC. CNN, PBS, BBC, and MSNBC? Quite a liberal media diet. Woodruff: Haksever and Levasseur are not unique. A 2023 survey by the Associated Press found that 26 percent of Democrats and 60 percent of Republicans have little to no trust in the news media. And research by YouGov in 2024 showed Democrats were more likely to trust a wider range of sources than Republicans, who were far more inclined, like Levasseur, to primarily trust FOX and Newsmax. But Woodruff ignored the main reason Democrats were more likely to trust more outlets -- most are pro-Democrat in their coverage. There may be a “wider range of sources,” but they certainly don’t represent a wider range of political views. The notion of pro-Democrat or liberal bias in the mainstream media didn’t come up. Instead, Woodruff traced the problem to a lack of government regulation traced back to (naturally) President Ronald Reagan’s repeal of the so-called Fairness Doctrine. The "objective" expert was Martha Minow, one of Barack Obama's favorite law professors at Harvard and the daughter of Newton Minow, who originally called TV a "vast wasteland." Martha Minow, Harvard Law School: The national news is more polarized certainly on broadcast and cable, and it is much less reportage and much more opinion. Woodruff: Martha Minow is a professor and former dean of Harvard Law School, whose book Saving the News looks at how the news media has been transformed under declining government regulation and increasing economic and political pressure. …. Woodruff: But as cable TV grew in popularity and dozens of new channels came on air, all viewers had to do to get a contrary point of view was change the channel, in theory. So, the Fairness Doctrine was phased out by President Ronald Reagan's FCC in 1987, setting the stage for a radical transformation in the way Americans got their news. If anyone can remember a conservative successfully using the Fairness Doctine to address liberal unfairness, that would be rare indeed, which is why Reagan deregulated. In her book, Minow wants to re-regulate "fairness" and offer a more "robust funding" of public media. No wonder PBS presents her as the Objective Expert!  Woodruff explained: "Harvard's Martha Minow says there is no easy solution to this problem. More non-profit media, [taxpayers] funding local journalism, and fighting disinformation could all help…." Sympathy for the liberal version of reality peeked through, with MSNBC-loving Haksever acting as de facto fact-checker on a Fox News story about violent crime by illegal immigrants. Eric Shawn, FOX News Senior Correspondent: Breaking just now, an illegal immigrant from Ecuador arrested, apprehended, under arrest, suspected of sexually assaulting, as you said, a teenage girl in a New York City park. Jeri Levasseur: Recently, there was a 13-year-old girl in New York that's been raped by an illegal that's crossed into this country. He tied up the little boy that was with her, gagged them, and nothing comes out of the White House about how horrible this is. Chris Hayes, MSNBC Host: According to new analysis from NBC News -- quote -- "Despite several horrifying high-profile incidents, there is no evidence of a migrant-driven crime wave in the United States." In fact-- Haksever: They are just cherry-picking a couple of terrible crimes by immigrants, but they don't mention ever the positive contributions of the immigrants to our communities, to this country. Liberal-leaning Heksever got nearly the last word of the 12-minute segment, bashing Fox News as a danger to democracy, with Woodruff and the MSNBC watcher seemingly in tune. Woodruff: ….Demet Haksever sees an even greater threat in the coverage coming from Fox, especially its promotion of conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election. Haksever: The disinformation, they spread it about the validity of the election results, 2020. It poses a great risk to our democracy. I come from Turkey, and we lost our democracy because of the same divisions. Woodruff: What happens to a democracy in a situation like that? Haksever: Well, democracy dies in that case. “Democracy Dies in Darkness” is the much-ridiculed mission statement instituted by the Washington Post early in the Trump administration. This segment was brought to you in part by Consumer Cellular. A transcript is available, click “Expand.” PBS News Hour 7/31/24 7:36:59 p.m. (ET) Geoff Bennett: Despite having access to more information than ever before, Americans' trust in the news media has been declining in recent years, and nearly three-quarters of Americans say the news media is making political polarization worse. Judy Woodruff investigates as part of her ongoing series, America at a Crossroads. Jeri Levasseur, Retired Nurse: So, I listen to FOX News. I listen to Newsmax. I will go to CNN to see what they're saying. Judy Woodruff: Jeri Levasseur is a Republican committeewoman in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Jeri Levasseur: Do we want to do heavy traffic time, like 4:00 to 7:00 again? Or do you… Judy Woodruff: On a hot evening this July, she and a handful of fellow Republicans were working on their plans to show support for former President Trump, while FOX News played in the background. Man: Attempt to enforce their vision for America, but it is not based off meritocracy. It's based off racism, quite frankly, and its based off neo-Marxism. Jeri Levasseur: I think that President Trump gets a — not that FOX is pro-Trump, but I think he gets a better interpretation of his values and what he stands for from FOX. MSNBC is much more likely to insult Republicans, as opposed to insulting a Democrat. Elie Mystal, Justice Correspondent, "The Nation": The Supreme Court is a clear and present danger to their entire political agenda. Judy Woodruff: Across town, Demet Haksever who immigrated to the United States from Turkey in 1975, is watching MSNBC. Demet Haksever, Retired Economist: In the morning, I start watching MSNBC, "Morning Joe," CNN, sometimes PBS, other sources, BBC. And, at night, I tune in to MSNBC. Judy Woodruff: Haksever is a retired economist who's now involved with Indivisible, a grassroots political group dedicated to opposing the Republican Party. And why do you prefer MSNBC, you say? Demet Haksever: Well, I like that their focus on the issues that are important to me. Judy Woodruff: What about FOX? Demet Haksever: Oh, FOX, no. I gave up on FOX a long time ago. Judy Woodruff: Haksever and Levasseur are not unique. A 2023 survey by the Associated Press found that 26 percent of Democrats and 60 percent of Republicans have little to no trust in the news media. And research by YouGov in 2024 showed Democrats were more likely to trust a wider range of sources than Republicans, who were far more inclined, like Levasseur, to primarily trust FOX and Newsmax. Martha Minow, Harvard Law School: The national news is more polarized certainly on broadcast and cable, and it is much less reportage and much more opinion. Judy Woodruff: Martha Minow is a professor and former dean of Harvard Law School, whose book "Saving the News" looks at how the news media has been transformed under declining government regulation and increasing economic and political pressure. Martha Minow: Political parties funded newspapers in the 1840s, '50s, '60s. The journalism that developed in the 1880s into the golden age of the 1960s was the first time that objectivity was elevated as an ideal, that really recognized we need multiple sources, we need to be more transparent, we need to actually document, we need to have a counterpoint. Announcer: Here is a bulletin from CBS News. Judy Woodruff: That also just happened to be good business, to advertise to the most people, which paid for publication. Newspapers and broadcasters had an incentive to aim for objectivity. Walter Cronkite, Former CBS News Anchor: This picture has just been transmitted by wire. Judy Woodruff: In the 1950s, '60s and '70s, television news reporting was primarily limited to the three major networks, CBS, ABC, and NBC. With only a handful of channels available for broadcast, the government issued licenses to the networks and also put regulations in place to ensure fair treatment in their coverage, Like the Fairness Doctrine enacted in 1949. Martha Minow: The Fairness Doctrine was part of the entrance of the federal government in the regulation of access to the airwaves for television, radio. You have to have balance. And if there is a presentation on one point of view, you have to have a contrary point of view. If a public official were attacked, they had a right to reply. David Walker, CNN: Good evening. I'm David Walker. Lois Hart, CNN: And I'm Lois Hart. Now here's the news. Judy Woodruff: But as cable TV grew in popularity and dozens of new channels came on air, all viewers had to do to get a contrary point of view was contrary point of view was change the channel, in theory. So, the Fairness Doctrine was phased out by President Ronald Reagan's FCC in 1987, setting the stage for a radical transformation in the way Americans got their news.   Martha Minow: I think a lot of people now turn to the media to be reinforced in what they believe, rather than to learn something new. Judy Woodruff: Minow says cable networks like MSNBC, FOX News and others now pursue smaller audiences on the left or the right, sometimes called narrowcasting, by leaning into opinion coverage that those viewers will agree with. Sean Hannity, FOX News Anchor: Kamala Harris has a horrific track record, even worse public persona. Jen Psaki, MSNBC Host: She has different superpowers and different areas she will need to work on to appeal to voters than President Biden. Martha Minow: Opinion media is more successful than news media, than journalism. I think it's related to this lack of curiosity, people looking to be reinforced. Also, it's more expensive — you know this — it's more expensive to actually interview people, to look at documents, to actually explore without knowing ahead of time, what is your story? Being able to convert a story into something that's very simple, digestible, and maybe even outraging is more successful. It attracts attention. It's what people talk about. Eric Shawn, FOX News Senior Correspondent: Breaking just now, an illegal immigrant from Ecuador arrested, apprehended, under arrest, suspected of sexually assaulting, as you said, a teenage girl in a New York City park. Jeri Levasseur: Recently, there was a 13-year-old girl in New York that's been raped by an illegal that's crossed into this country. He tied up the little boy that was with her, gagged them, and nothing comes out of the White House about how horrible this is. Chris Hayes, MSNBC Host: According to new analysis from NBC News — quote — "Despite several horrifying high-profile incidents, there is no evidence of a migrant-driven crime wave in the United States." In fact… Demet Haksever: They are just cherry-picking a couple of terrible crimes by immigrants, but they don't mention ever the positive contributions of the immigrants to our communities, to this country. Judy Woodruff: But is partisan news media in fact creating more division in the country, or are partisan viewers now finding their way to more friendly outlets? Matthew Levendusky, University of Pennsylvania: So, I have been focused on polarization almost my whole career. Judy Woodruff: Professor Matthew Levendusky is a political scientist at the University of Pennsylvania. His research shows that watching certain channels does have an impact on viewers' political opinions. Matthew Levendusky: We showed people the Kind of FOX coverage, the MSNBC coverage, or the mainstream news coverage, and what we found was that people tended to move in the direction of the source, right, especially if it was a source that was congenial to them. Judy Woodruff: How do you see the role of the news media and any bias or slant in the news media in affecting the way most people think about issues? Matthew Levendusky: Well, there's certainly an effect. I think people who are actively involved in politics tend to be quite polarized, but the country as a whole still has room to come together and find common ground. But the factor working against that is that politicians often have an incentive to divide people. Judy Woodruff: Levendusky says both the news media and political leaders, who are often recruited from the political extremes during primaries, have played a role in deepening our divisions. Donald Trump, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: Venezuela is releasing thousands of people, criminals, gang members, drug dealers, the worst. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY):They are trying to control women's bodies quite explicitly. Matthew Levendusky: If you look at studies about the kinds of people that run for Congress, they're increasingly being drawn from people who are more on the extremes, rather than the middle, because the people who are in the middle sort of look out at Congress and they say, where am I going to fit in? So It's pushing people and kind of stretching them out a little bit more towards the extremes. Jeri Levasseur: Well, the thing is, early voting starts in September. Judy Woodruff: Jeri Levasseur has felt the impact of this growing polarization in her own community and even her own family. Jeri Levasseur: I do have a brother who is very liberal. So we just don't talk politics at all ever. Judy Woodruff: And what about where they get their news? Jeri Levasseur: They would never watch FOX or Newsmax or — it's MSNBC. Demet Haksever: Right, this is how we make it in Turkey actually. Judy Woodruff: But 10 minutes down the road, Demet Haksever sees an even greater threat in the coverage coming from FOX, especially its promotion of conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election. Demet Haksever: The disinformation, they spread it about the validity of the election results 2020. It poses a great risk to our democracy. I come from Turkey, and we lost our democracy because of the same divisions. Judy Woodruff: What happens to a democracy in a situation like that? Demet Haksever: Well, democracy dies in that case. Judy Woodruff: Harvard's Martha Minow says there is no easy solution to this problem. More nonprofit media, funding local journalism, and fighting disinformation could all help. But she remains deeply concerned about how these divisions are affecting our communities. Martha Minow: The lack of a shared reality is a crisis in America right now. And you can see this. Depending on what your preferences are, you flip channels or whatever, you see it's different topics, and when it's the same topic, there's no relationship. And if you don't share a reality, and indeed you think the people next to you are out to get you, it's not just democracy that's at risk. It's peaceful coexistence. Judy Woodruff: In an upcoming installment of America at a Crossroads, we will look at how the Internet and social media have only accelerated this concerning trend. For the PBS "News Hour," I'm Judy Woodruff in Haverhill, Massachusetts. August 3rd, 2024 10:28 PM Clay Waters 285314 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/mark-finkelstein/2024/08/03/msnbc-warns-about-shapiro-and-left-works-couch-jd-vance On Saturday's edition of The Weekend, MSNBC contributor Jason Johnson, in a segment devoted to Kamala Harris's possible VP picks, took not-so-subtle shots at Josh Shapiro. Johnson began by saying that some of the possible candidates would be momentum killers for the campaign, causing the Washington Post and the New York Times to run headlines about "Kamala's first stumble and Dems in disarray." You'd have thought that the hosts would press Johnson to name names on those momentum-killing candidates -- but they didn't. But reading between the lines, it wasn't too hard to discern who Johnson had in mind: Shapiro. He gave upsides and downsides on three of the possible candidates: Pete Buttigieg, Mark Kelly, and Shapiro. But the drawbacks on Kelly and Buttigieg were mild. Kelly might have problems with labor -- but he's been able to "pivot" on those issues. Does "Mayor Pete" have sufficient experience? But when it came to Shapiro, the criticisms were more pointed and serious. Shapiro's biggest calling card is that he is governor of the key[stone] swing state of Pennsylvania. But Johnson noted that for 25 years, VPs have been no guarantee of winning their home swing state. Johnson next flat-out declared that "there's a lot of complaints within the left about Josh Shapiro." Finally, Johnson said it would risk turning off young people, who will be key to the ground game, if Harris picks someone whose issue positions—whether domestic or "international"—they disagree with.  And what has been the biggest issue for young people this year? Who has been leading the pro-Hamas demonstrations on campus and elsewhere? Young people. So who might those young people, Johnson seemed to imply, be most upset about as the VP pick? Shapiro—the Jewish governor of Pennsylvania who, it was recently revealed, actually did some volunteering with the IDF in Israel when he was 20. At the end of the segment, discussing JD Vance, Johnson and Michael Steele, with some egging on by Symone Sanders-Townsend, had great fun working "couch" into the conversation, a reference to a false and fabricated internet allegation about his personal life. If false claims about Vance's personal life are fair game, what of true claims about Kamala's personal past?  Note: Johnson also managed to work in one of the liberal media's favorite attacks on Trump, saying that Harris's campaign is so great that we'll be studying it in 50 years -- "assuming we still have a democracy." Here'e the transcript. MSNBC The Weekend 8/3/24 8:16 am EDT JASON JOHNSON: This [Harris's VP pick] is is very important, because of the short timeline. Kamala Harris -- the VP's campaign has been excellent, right? We are going to be studying this in 50 years: assuming we still have a democracy. We're going to be studying this in 50 years as, like, this is one of the best-run campaigns we've seen. This is almost like England: they have 90 days to put this together. She cannot afford a stumble. What I mean by stumble is, I don't actually think that any of the people that are in this top six would harm her, but it could change momentum. There are some of these people she could select that'll keep the momentum going, and there are some of these people she could select where, Monday, the headline in the Washington Post and New York Times is going to be, "Harris's First Stumble: Dems in Disarray."  There are some people she could pick that could mess up the momentum they have right now, and I hope they make a wise decision this weekend. . . .  SYMONE SANDERS: The Harris campaign worked it [the VP selection process] very similar to how she was selected in 2020. There was a group of people that candidate Biden designated, and said you all are going to be my selection committee; I want yourthoughts. I will have the final say, but I want some people that I trust also weigh in on these folks.  I have to imagine when they handed the packet over, they were thinking about JD Vance, and everything they've seen in the news, Jason, about all of these things coming out, and all of the audio, and the fact that he wrote the forward for Kevin Roberts of the Heritage Foundation, architect of Project 2025, his book, it's coming out. It just seems like all these unforced errors, and I could just imagine, the packet was sick, and it's like: we think we got it all, but we don't know. JOHNSON: Well, here's the thing, it's a completely different process, right? JD Vance, JD Vance was selected, because Donald Trump -- it was a flex! He already thought he was going to win. JD Vance was just to run up the score in states he thought he was already going to win. This is different. This is finding an actually governing partner. And let's be honest, you have a lot of very qualified people. But you have people that some parts of the Democratic base are more excited about. Pete Buttigieg is probably the best communicator the party has. He's fantastic. Great, that works for you.  If you were to pick Mark Kelly, he literally is from a border state. He can talk about the border, he can talk about security, he can talk about IVF that he and his wife used to have a child. He can talk about gun issues. He can do all those things. You've got, you know, Josh Shapiro, who's great on the stump, who's charming, who's from a critical swing state. But let's also be clear: it has not been evident over the last 25 years or so that your Vice President is necessarily going to guarantee you a swing state. There are criticisms from labor about Kelly, even though he's been able to pivot. There are concerns about whether or not Mayor Pete would be ready for this position after just being Transportation Secretary. And there's a lot of complaints within the left about Josh Shapiro. And I think that the Harris campaign has to be very aware of these things. Look, she's got to make sure that the young people, the young people who have free time, they young people who are going to volunteer, the young people are going to go to Michigan and knock on doors and take a semester off because they're so excited about her: she can't have any of those young people get disappointed, or think that she's playing in their faces, if she picks someone who represents or has positions that they're not happy about on any issue, domestic or international. SANDERS-TOWNSEND: So Michael, can I just say, can I just ask you, but like, aren't they, this is just like, you think the young people were excited about Joe Biden when Barack Obama picked him in 20--in 2008? Like, I think they were voting for Barack Obama. JOHNSON: No, but it's not the same kind of race. We're not in the same kind of race. MICHAEL STEELE: I think to Jason's point, it is a different race today, and those are the considerations, particularly when you stack them up. But when you stack them up against what we see on the other side, I don't think--to be honest, I just don't think any of those gentlemen are going to have a problem with JD -- [Symone starts to giggle] -- nah, I won't say it. With JD Vance, I'll just go there. I know, I almost said it. JOHNSON: You had to couch it perfectly, so the people really didn't get confused.  STEELE: I had, I had to couch it perfectly. And so I just figured I'd just leave the couch in the other room. Heath Mayo, Dr. Jason Johnson, thank you both so much for being with us this morning. Symone, you're so bad. August 3rd, 2024 4:46 PM Mark Finkelstein 285326 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jeffrey-lord/2024/08/03/washington-posts-phony-story-trump-black-journalists-convention You gotta love the decided lack of self-awareness at The Washington Post and ABC News. The other day former President Donald J. Trump appeared solo (no Vice President Kamala Harris in sight) at a gathering of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) in Chicago. The Post starts out its report on his appearance by saying Trump told “a phony story about the ex-governor of Virginia executing a baby after birth.” Hello? No, he did not. The Post should be able to get this right, since northern Virginia is part of its circulation area, and turning Virginia blue is one of its ongoing political objectives.  Fact: Virginia’s Democrat then-Governor Ralph Northam said this during an interview in 2019 with D.C. radio station WTOP on the subject of an abortion-on-demand bill by state Delegate Kathy Tran.   If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen," Northam said. "The infant would be delivered, the infant would be kept comfortable, the infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired. And then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother. There was no mention at all that a delivered infant would be instantly kept alive after birth. Instead, Northam made it plain that while a newly born, very much alive baby, was out of its mother’s womb “a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother” as to whether the baby would be allowed to live. That is the fact of what Northam said. Instead, the Post told its readers that Trump had told viewers “a phony story about the ex-governor of Virginia executing a baby after birth.”   No, he did not. At the time, the Post channeled Northam's post-gaffe spin: "Northam’s office later made clear the governor was talking about prognosis and medical treatment, not ending the life of a delivered baby." Then there was this from the same appearance at the NABJ.   Trump, said the Post, made “an absurd claim that he ‘saved’ historically Black colleges and universities.” Absurd claim? Here is the Associated Press report on what Trump did on this subject in 2019 as reported at the time he did it. The headline:  Trump signs bill restoring funding for black colleges The AP story reported it this way, bold print for emphasis supplied:  President Donald Trump on Thursday signed a bipartisan bill that will permanently provide more than $250 million a year to the nation’s historically black colleges and universities, along with dozens of other institutions that serve large shares of minority students. In signing the bill, Trump said historically black schools have ‘never had better champions in the White House.’   “When I took office, I promised to fight for HBCUs, and my administration continues to deliver,” Trump said. “A few months ago, funding for HBCUs was in jeopardy. But the White House and Congress came together and reached a historic agreement.” Michael Lomax, president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund, thanked Trump and the thousands of advocates who lobbied Congress to support the bill. “We enlisted more than 20,000 supporters to write and call their members of Congress,” Lomax said. “This activated army of advocates became the frontline of support for HBCUs, and they won the battle for our institutions.”  The bill restores $255 million in annual funding that lapsed Sept. 30 after Congress failed to renew it. Facing an end to the funding, some schools had started planning for deep cuts, with some telling staff their jobs or programs would be eliminated.” There it is: a fact in black and white. The AP said at the time that in fact: Facing an end to the funding, some schools had started planning for deep cuts, with some telling staff their jobs or programs would be eliminated. Which is not, as the Post would have readers believe, “an absurd claim”  from Trump that he had acted to save HBCUs. It is fact. He wasn't alone in saving funding, but he did. Here’s one more, where the Post got an assist in its tall-tale telling from ABC’s Rachel Scott.  The Post reported:  To a Black audience, he yet again bragged he did more for Black people than any president since Abraham Lincoln — earning the instant rejoinder (which he ignored) from ABC News’s Rachel Scott: “Better than President Johnson, who signed the Voting Rights Act?" Hello? To say that Scott ignored basic history on LBJ would be to understate. Here was this a few years back on LBJ from no less than former Democrat President Barack Obama:  During his first 20 years in Congress, he opposed every civil rights bill that came up for a vote, once calling the push for federal legislation a farce and a shame. LBJ biographer Robert Caro, author of a multi-volume LBJ biography, said this of Johnson on civil rights in his best-selling Means of Ascent:  He had been a congressman, beginning in 1937, for eleven years, and for eleven years he had voted against every civil rights bill – against not only legislation aimed at ending the poll tax and segregation in the armed services but even against legislation aimed at ending lynching: a one hundred percent record. …Running for the Senate in 1948, he had assailed President" Harry "Truman’s entire civil rights program (‘an effort to set up a police state’)…Until 1957, in the Senate, as in the House, his record – by that time a twenty-year record – against civil rights had been consistent. Caro went on:  In 1947, after President Harry S Truman sent Congress proposals against lynching and segregation in interstate transportation, Johnson called the proposed civil rights program a "farce and a sham--an effort to set up a police state in the guise of liberty. …In his 1948 speech in Austin kicking off his Senate campaign, Johnson declared he was against Truman’s attempt to end the poll tax because, Johnson said, "it is the province of the state to run its own elections." In short? Reporter Scott skipped entirely LBJ’s decidedly anti-civil rights, anti-voting rights record to zap Trump. This would be the same Trump who has never once expressed opposition to voting rights of black Americans. Not to mention that long before he ran for president, Trump was honored for his support of civil rights by none other than the Rev. Jesse Jackson.   And oh yes. It would appear the name of this group that Trump volunteered to meet with the other day -- the National Association of Black Journalists -- is misnamed. It would seem, as demonstrated by ABC reporter Scott, that this group in reality is the National Association of Liberal Journalists.  A group where “facts” are decidedly selective when it comes to covering former President Trump. As the Washington Post’s phony coverage of Trump’s appearance decidedly illustrates. August 3rd, 2024 4:00 PM Jeffrey Lord 285317 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/christian-toto/2024/08/03/james-woods-oscar-nominated-face-hollywood-blacklist-20 James Woods did something he rarely does this week. He appeared on a talk show for a wide-ranging chat on everything from acting to President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline. That’s standard operating procedure for most stars. Woods isn’t like most stars. He’s openly conservative, and he’s paid a steep price for beliefs shared by roughly half the country. His last sizable role came in 2014’s “Jamesy Boy.”     He’s since lost both his agent and place in Hollywood, Inc. Why? He’s openly conservative. It’s that simple. He’s far from alone. Kevin Sorbo has a painfully similar story as to why he no longer works in mainstream Hollywood films. Jim Caviezel claims he lost not one but two agents for starring in “Sound of Freedom.” Other right-leaning artists keep their views to themselves. They know better. Some once met in secret as part of the Friends of Abe collective. They bonded over professional horror stories, shed tears over discrimination and offered each other moral support. A very tiny few, including Jon Voight, can share their conservative takes without professional punishment. Voight is both a legend and an exception to the rule.  And while some will name-check Tim Allen and Kelsey Grammer as fellow, outspoken conservatives, neither is a fraction as boisterous as, say, John Leguizamo or Rob Reiner. It’s why Woods’ interview with SiriusXM superstar Megyn Kelly proved illuminating and tragic. He served up killer stories, shared personal tales of losing his father at an early age and teased a secret project coming this fall. The takeaway? It’s darn near criminal the twice Oscar-nominated star is no longer welcome in Hollywood. And there’s zero outrage about it from his fellow actors or the corporate press.     Woods is still in the industry’s cross-hairs. He explained to Kelly why he had to hide his connection with the Oscar-winning “Oppenheimer” – he’s an executive producer on Christopher Nolan’s film – to ensure its Oscar hopes wouldn’t suffer. “When Oppenheimer came out, there was a discussion about my Twitter, and it was gently suggested that I basically remain invisible, which was painful,” he said. “On the other hand, I’m a pragmatic person and I thought, a lot of people put their effort into this, so I’m just going to be an invisible pariah … I stepped back and basically took one for the team.” The irony? Woods spoke glowingly of two far-Left artists during the Kelly chat. Each epitomizes how progressives can do or say almost anything in Hollywood and not face professional repercussions. The actor praised Whoopi Goldberg of “The View” fame and Reiner for being talented and dear friends. Sure, they may disagree on almost everything, but Woods would work with either again in a heartbeat. Would most liberal stars say the same about Woods? Has either Goldberg or Reiner directly addressed Woods’ professional cancelation? Plus, many artists have openly wished death on President Donald Trump and/or compared him to Hitler. No professional repercussions. It’s the new Hollywood Blacklist. It isn’t as punitive as the 1950s version. Woods isn’t threatened with jail time for not “naming names.” That’s little comfort for a 77-year-old star who can still deliver great performances … except no one is willing to risk the new blacklist’s wrath to hire him. August 3rd, 2024 1:30 PM Christian Toto 285311 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2024/08/03/prisoner-swap-capehart-gushes-over-biden-not-bad-82-year-old-man Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart had nothing but effusive praise for President Joe Biden on Friday’s PBS News Hour as he marveled at the prisoner swap with Russia being, “not bad for an 82-year-old man everyone said had cognitive decline and were questioning his mental acuity.” Host Geoff Bennett set the table, “Well, as we end our conversation, I want to talk about the fact that Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan were among those two dozen detainees released as part of the biggest prisoner exchange between Russia and the West since the Cold War. Lasting takeaways. President Biden said it was a feat of diplomacy.”     Capehart oozed, “Yeah, not bad for an 82-year-old man everyone said had cognitive decline and were questioning his mental acuity. When you read what… happened in the Wall Street Journal, that man was all over it.” He added, “This was a huge diplomatic feat, but this was also a huge victory for the United States and for the American people. To bring those Americans home is something that should be universally celebrated.” Bennett also sought to get in on the praise, “And the detail that he was on the phone with his Slovenian counterpart basically coordinating this deal just an hour before he announced that he wouldn't seek reelection, I mean, how does that strike you?” Capehart wasn’t done gushing, “Well, that example is something that, you know, when, I have interviewed the president twice, and in both interviews, I came away with one really distinct impression. He loves that job. And the fact that he's got all of this stuff going on, but he is on the phone trying to make a deal, that's why he wants to be president. That's why he loves the job. It's about getting something done.” Johnson then turned to David Brooks fill-in, Washington Free Beacon editor-in-chief, Eliana Johnson. Johnson was more subdued, “It's wonderful that they're home. However, we need to stop doing deals where we trade terrorists and assassins for reporters and dissidents.” She added, “And what dictator wouldn't take more hostages to make that deal? And in order to do that, we need to impose serious consequences on the hostage-taking nations. And that is not something I have seen from the Biden administration. If we continue to do deals like this, we will find more Americans behind bars, unjustly detained in despotic nations.” Earlier, Johnson also confused Capehart by arguing that if it wasn’t for Sarah Palin, John McCain would’ve done even worse in 2008. Perhaps, she could replace Brooks full time. Here is a transcript for the August 2 show: PBS News Hour 8/2/2024 7:35 PM ET GEOFF BENNETT:  Well, as we end our conversation, I want to talk about the fact that Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan were among those two dozen detainees released as part of the biggest prisoner exchange between Russia and the West since the Cold War. Lasting takeaways. President Biden said it was a feat of diplomacy. JONATHAN CAPEHART: Yeah, not bad for an 82-year-old man everyone said had cognitive decline and were questioning his mental acuity. When you read what was that — the ticktock of what happened in the Wall Street Journal, that man was all over it. This was a huge diplomatic feat, but this was also a huge victory for the United States and for the American people. To bring those Americans home is something that should be universally celebrated. BENNETT: And the detail that he was on the phone with his Slovenian counterpart basically coordinating this deal just an hour before he announced that he wouldn't seek reelection, I mean, how does that strike you? CAPEHART: Well, that example is something that, you know, when, I have interviewed the president twice, and in both interviews, I came away with one really distinct impression. He loves that job. And the fact that he's got all of this stuff going on, but he is on the phone trying to make a deal, that's why he wants to be president. That's why he loves the job. It's about getting something done. And the fact that he's got all of this stuff going on, but he is on the phone trying to make a deal, that's why he wants to be president. That's why he loves the job. It's about getting something done. BENNETT: Eliana? ELIANA JOHNSON: It's wonderful that they're home. However, we need to stop doing deals where we trade terrorists and assassins for reporters and dissidents. And what dictator wouldn't take more hostages to make that deal? And in order to do that, we need to impose serious consequences on the hostage-taking nations. And that is not something I have seen from the Biden administration. If we continue to do deals like this, we will find more Americans behind bars, unjustly detained in despotic nations.  August 3rd, 2024 12:00 PM Alex Christy 285325 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2024/08/03/cnn-cries-racism-algerian-boxers-gender-controversy Early Friday morning, CNN tried to claim that conservative outrage that Algerian boxer Imane Khelif was allowed to fight in the women’s tournament at the Olympics despite previously failing a gender test was a bunch of fake news stirred up by Vladimir Putin hacks. Later that night, during Laura Coates Live, The Atlantic’s Jemele Hill added another charge: racism, especially racism against black women, despite the fact that Khelif is Arab, not black. Coates agreed with her colleagues’ take that much of the controversy is built around misinformation, “And to be clear, this is not a transgender woman. This is a woman who is being used as a poster child to try to convey some other culture war. And the fact that she is being used in that way is something that is just so unbelievable to so many people.”     Yes, some people have wrongly labeled the boxer from Algeria, of all places, transgender, but so what? There is no right to be an Olympic boxer. If Khelif has an unfair advantage over the competition due to some rare condition, it is more than fair to ask if she should be allowed to compete. However, Coates didn’t want a nuanced conversation about that. Instead, she wondered, “And you have to wonder, why is it such a polarizing issue? Why is it so hard to believe that someone could be an exceptional athlete and a woman?” For people like Hill, the answer is always race: Well, it's not – we're going to peel back some layers. Let's peel them all back. Because there are some commonalities here, and it's the commonalities that women of color face who are athletes. Always constantly having their physique, their appearance compared to men. We saw this with Serena Williams throughout her career, because she's strong, she's powerful. Unlike other tennis players that she played against or were part of her era, she had one of the most powerful serves, if not the most, that you had seen in tennis. And constantly, she had to face caricatures and stereotypes that she was a man. So, these are very specific attacks that are often directed at women of color, especially black women. Hill then tried to change the topic by declaring that Khelif’s critics are hypocrites because they haven’t spent as much time condemning the Netherlands for having a convicted child rapist on their beach volleyball team, but, to be fair, CNN hadn’t exactly covered that either. Wrapping up, Hill declared, “The things that are damaging women's sports and are damaging participation are lack of investment, lack of resources, and lack of media coverage. Those are the things that hurt women's sports. It is not the presence of trans women. And using trans women as a weapon in what is a broader issue about women's sports is frankly disgusting.” Coates brought the segment to a close by agreeing, “And of course, using her as a boogeyman to convey all of those things. And you know, when you said what you said, if you want to protect women and daughters, she is a woman, she is somebody's daughter, and she is a woman in sports. It conjures up that old statement, ‘ain't I a woman?’ Jemele Hill, thank you so much.” What if one believes that child rapists and people who fail gender tests should not be allowed to compete? Here is a transcript for the August 2 show: CNN Laura Coates Live 8/2/2024 11:44 PM ET LAURA COATES: And to be clear, this is not a transgender woman. This is a woman who is being used – JEMELE HILL: No. This is a – COATES: – as a poster child to try to convey some other culture war. And the fact that she is being used in that way is something that is just so unbelievable to so many people. And you know what? We've been here before, in a way. I mean, when I heard about this, it brought to mind the South African runner, Caster Semenya. And obviously these are distinct scenarios, but the idea of competitive advantage, if you've just read her guest essay in the New York Times from last year, it is unbelievably compelling, and it's reignited a lot of debate about fairness in women's sports. And you have to wonder, why is it such a polarizing issue? Why is it so hard to believe that someone could be an exceptional athlete and a woman? HILL: Well, it's not – we're going to peel back some layers. Let's peel them all back. Because there are some commonalities here, and it's the commonalities that women of color face who are athletes. Always constantly having their physique, their appearance compared to men. We saw this with Serena Williams throughout her career, because she's strong, she's powerful. Unlike other tennis players that she played against or were part of her era, she had one of the most powerful serves, if not the most, that you had seen in tennis. And constantly, she had to face caricatures and stereotypes that she was a man. So, these are very specific attacks that are often directed at women of color, especially black women. And then beyond all that, I heard a whole lot of people who were ready to be loud and wrong about this, chime in, using women against other women, saying, we need to protect our daughters. We need to protect women's sports. Meanwhile, the Dutch, they have a volleyball player, who was a convicted rapist, convicted of raping a 12-year-old who was playing at the Olympics. I didn't see any of those same people with those “protect our daughters,” “protect women and girls in sports.” And often when it comes to issues of equity, when we're talking about financial investment, when we're talking about giving female athletes and women's sports appropriate media coverage, where's that “protect women's sports” crowd then? Where's Donald Trump's tweets about protecting women and protecting women's sports when we're talking about how women are under-invested in when it comes to sports? The things that are damaging women's sports and are damaging participation are lack of investment, lack of resources, and lack of media coverage. Those are the things that hurt women's sports. It is not the presence of trans women. And using trans women as a weapon in what is a broader issue about women's sports is frankly disgusting. COATES: And of course, using her as a boogeyman to convey all of those things. And you know, when you said what you said, if you want to protect women and daughters, she is a woman, she is somebody's daughter, and she is a woman in sports. It conjures up that old statement, “ain't I a woman?” Jemele Hill, thank you so much. August 3rd, 2024 10:09 AM Alex Christy 285324 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/brad-wilmouth/2024/08/03/cnns-kaitlan-collins-found-vances-democrat-ex-roommate-trash-him On Tuesday's The Source, CNN host Kaitlan Collins continued the media's hyping of J.D. Vance's "childless cat ladies" comments by bringing on the GOP vice presidential candidate's former roommate at Yale who is now a Democrat state legislator to trash him as coming from a "dark" and "creepy" place. This is the danger of a Republican going to Yale -- most of your roommates are going to be leftists. The CNN host introduced a clip of Vance from an interview on The Chris Buskirk Show a few years ago in which he argued that becoming a parent improves one's character, and that people who are "sociopathic" are more likely to be without children, not that all childless people are sociopathic. Setting up the segment, the clip of Vance was played: There's just these basic cadences of life that I think are very powerful and really valuable when you have kids in our life. And the fact that so many people, especially in America's leadership class, just don't have that in their lives. You know, I worry that it makes people more sociopathic, and, ultimately, our whole country a little bit less -- less mentally stable. And, of course, you talk about going on Twitter -- a final point I'll make is you go on Twitter, and almost always the people who are most deranged and most psychotic are people who don't have kids at home. Collins then went to her Democrat guest, Georgia State Senator Josh McLaurin, and posed: "When you hear what Vance -- Senator Vance of Ohio just said there, calling Americans 'sociopathic,' suggesting that they're mentally unstable. What do you make of these new comments that we've uncovered?" Senator Vance's former roommate trashed the comments as coming from a "dark" and "creepy" place as he responded: And it obviously comes from somewhere sort of dark, sort creepy. I mean, Democrats are saying "weird" -- we're not talking about indie music. We're saying that this ticket -- the Republican ticket -- Trump and Vance -- are obviously committed to some sort of agenda not only just for their families, but for other people's families. And that's what's scary, is that they want to impose that agenda on other people. Collins clearly loved this spin, as she followed up: I think people who are watching this and clearly hear that you are supporting Vice President Harris -- you were at that rally in Georgia tonight -- but they're curious about your background, your history with J.D. Vance before he was Senator J.D. Vance. I mean, when this was all beginning to be uncovered, were you surprised by this? Or do you remember him ever talking about this before? McLaurin recalled that he had leaked to the media some of his personal correspondence with Vance several years ago: "Well, you know, I'm the one who published the 'America's Hitler' text, right -- he wrote to me in 2016 that he feared that Trump might be America's Hitler. So, obviously, it's a huge flip-flop for him now years later to be Trump's biggest cheerleader on the national stage." He went on to twice claim that Senator Vance has "contempt for women." It sounded like he could have been the opposition researcher pushing these remarks:  McLAURIN: By 2021 when I heard him make that "childless cat ladies" comment for the first time, I mean, I was kind of shocked because, I mean, for one thing, I was shocked that somebody who apparently had political aspirations would want to insult millions of Americans who, you know, if you're running for U.S. Senate or especially the stage he's on now, you just can't afford to be -- to have that much contempt for everyday people. Transcript follows: CNN's The Source July 30, 2024 9:47 p.m. Eastern KAITLAN COLLINS: In battleground Nevada tonight, Donald Trump's pick for Vice President, J.D. Vance, making no mention of the uproar that has surrounded the comments that he made in the past deriding "childless cat ladies" who are in government. It comes as CNN's Kfile tonight has uncovered more examples of Vance disparaging Americans who don't have children. Here's one of those. J.D. VANCE: There's just these basic cadences of life that I think are very powerful and really valuable when you have kids in our life. And the fact that so many people, especially in America's leadership class, just don't have that in their lives. You know, I worry that it makes people more sociopathic, and, ultimately, our whole country a little bit less -- less mentally stable. And, of course, you talk about going on Twitter -- a final point I'll make is you go on Twitter, and almost always the people who are most deranged and most psychotic are people who don't have kids at home. COLLINS: My source tonight is Josh McLaurin, who was J.D. Vance's Yale roommate, and is now a Democratic state senator in Georgia. It's great to have you here. You know, when you hear what Vance -- Senator Vance of Ohio just said there calling Americans "sociopathic," suggesting that they're mentally unstable. What do you make of these new comments that we've uncovered? STATE SENATOR JOSH McLAURIN (D-GA): Well, first of all, hi, it's great to join you, Kaitlan. And, as a preface to my answer, I just came from the Kamala Harris rally in Atlanta where the vibes are excellent. So this is kind of a plunge into a different reality when you start talking about where the top of the Republican ticket is. The vibes are very different. Obviously, the "childless cat ladies" comment from 2021 has resonated -- echoed across the country -- women from both parties and even, you know, Jennifer Aniston has been outraged, right, about his comments. And it seems like it's not just a one-off thing. As you pointed out, this is some sort of a fixation where he is apparently very angry and committed to this theory about leadership or about his political opposition. And it obviously comes from somewhere sort of dark, sort creepy. I mean, Democrats are saying "weird" -- we're not talking about indie music. We're saying that this ticket -- the Republican ticket -- Trump and Vance -- are obviously committed to some sort of agenda not only just for their families, but for other people's families. And that's what's scary, is that they want to impose that agenda on other people. COLLINS: I think people who are watching this and clearly hear that you are supporting Vice President Harris -- you were at that rally in Georgia tonight -- but they're curious about your background, your history with J.D. Vance before he was Senator J.D. Vance. I mean, when this was all beginning to be uncovered, were you surprised by this? Or do you remember him ever talking about this before? McLAURIN: Well, you know, I'm the one who published the "America's Hitler" text, right -- he wrote to me in 2016 that he feared that Trump might be America's Hitler. So, obviously, it's a huge flipflop for him now years later to be Trump's biggest cheerleader on the national stage. I reached out to him in 2016 because we were friendly at the end of law school and after. We graduated in 2013, 2014 -- I graduated a year later. But in 2016 I thought I had an ally in him even though because I was a Democrat and he was a Republican, I think we both found Trump to be appalling at that time -- really scary. And so we reached -- I reached out to him, and I asked for his thoughts on Trump, and he was very thorough and incisive. He told me that Trump was the fruit of the Republican party's collective neglect -- that a demagogue would come along and exploit that failure. I mean, that's very sophisticated analysis that still holds true today. So, I mean, I wasn't ready for the big flipflop that he made years later. I know it was gradual, but by 2021 when I heard him make that "childless cat ladies" comment for the first time, I mean, I was kind of shocked because, I mean, for one thing, I was shocked that somebody who apparently had political aspirations would want to insult millions of Americans who, you know, if you're running for U.S. Senate or especially the stage he's on now, you just can't afford to be -- to have that much contempt for everyday people. And so, you know, it's one thing that Democrats have to do is stay focused on everyday people, the issues that really matter to them, you know, the economy, reproductive rights, and not get distracted the way that Republicans are by these sort of weird cultural wars. COLLINS: Well, and we heard from Vance's team after K-File [CNN's Andrew Kaczynski] was publishing this report on these other instances where, you know, he was fundraising off of what he said in 2021, and, you know, repeating what he said about childless sociopaths and saying, "Our childless opponents have a lot of free time on their hands." When they were asked for comment to that, a spokesperson said, "As Vance has clearly stated, he was talking about politicians on the left who support policies that are explicitly anti-child and anti-family. The media can obsess over it all they want, but he's not going to back down when it comes to advocating for policies to protect parental rights and encourage people to have more kids." When you hear that, and when you hear what Senator Vance says about his views on Trump now being changed because he watched him in office, do you think that that's genuine? McLAURIN: I think voters are smarter than that. I mean, it's the Democrats who are pushing for an expanded child tax credit to cut poverty in half in the country. You know, this attempt to pivot away from the raw personal feelings of Trump and Vance is going to fail, I think, because it's obvious with such a fixation repeatedly in multiple media appearances in a way that's filled with contempt, right? This is not just some sort of dry policy discussion that Republicans are trying to have with people about kids. No, this is some sort of weird projection. And, again, it doesn't really matter what the exact source of the trauma or the psychology is of it -- I think people are aware that, whatever the case may be, Trump and Vance want them not to have reproductive rights, push for a national abortion ban, and maybe even without the use of Congress -- yu know, that's what Project 2025 mentions -- and tell people basically whether they can plan for the family the way that they want or not. I mean, Project 2025 includes restrictions on birth control. So, again, it's not just about abortion, and it's not just about these dry policy issues. There is an agenda where these leaders atop of this ticket have some sort of contempt for women, and are apparently not afraid to show it to millions of Americans. COLLINS: Obviously, we've seen the pushback from Vance's team on that. State Senator Josh McLaurin, thank you for joining us sharing that perspective. August 3rd, 2024 6:14 AM Brad Wilmouth 285319 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tim-graham/2024/08/02/newsbusters-podcast-dragging-kamala-victory-comedy-pop-stars They ditched the eighty-something President. Now they’re obsessing over the coolness of a younger president? Kamala Harris will be 60 in October. It's now time for the promotional progressive press to lean into how cool Kamala is, that she's being endorsed by 21-year-old pop stars and will be the cool candidate on Saturday Night Live this fall. Several networks gushed over Maya Rudolph playing (not mocking) Harris on SNL. CNN's Dana Bash said she was 'very, very, excited.' Her colleague Abby Phillip said Rudolph was coming back "because we need it." That implies Kamala must be affirmed. SNL is the MSNBC of political satire.  MSNBC host Ari Melber insisted that the comedians were crucial, that impressing young voters with the pop-culture cool vibes could put several states "in play." Comedian Roy Wood told Phillip on CNN that SNL "during an election year should be required reading in every school in this country. There should be book reports on Monday about what SNL is going to do this fall." He predicted they would make "mincemeat" out of Trump, along with Jon Stewart and John Oliver. CNN entertainment reporter Elizabeth Wagmeister gushed earlier that pop star Olivia Rodrigo endorsing Harris was "HUGE." Rodrigo's big issue is "reproductive rights," and at some concerts, she allowed pro-abortion activists to distribute emergency contraceptives, condoms, and information about "abortion access." Then Team Rodrigo belatedly discovered something obvious: many children attend these concerts, so they pulled up on all the sex stuff.  Later, Wagmeister ripped into J.D. Vance clips talking about "childless cat ladies," and suggested the biggest childless cat lady of all, Taylor Swift, has yet to endorse. Rodrigo will be nothing compared to Tay-Tay. USA Today even has a reporter whose only job is covering Taylor Swift!  The leftist journalists get upset when Trump talks about her as a biracial woman, but what excites them most about her is she’s a biracial woman. You can’t call her a DEI hire. But the DEI lovers can’t stop loving the DEI potential. They just don’t like you spitting out DEI like it’s DOA. They even tried to turn her cackle into a positive. Why, it has a rhythm like excellent dance songs, exclaimed The Washington Post. The stretching is almost Olympic.  Enjoy the podcast below, or wherever you consume your podcasts.  August 2nd, 2024 10:28 PM Tim Graham 285320 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/mark-finkelstein/2024/08/02/morning-joe-doubles-down-trump-not-just-deeply-damaged-also Mike Barnicle rarely makes a Morning Joe splash, but his description of Donald Trump yesterday as a "deeply damaged" man seemed to get some traction. And so, Barnicle recycled his shtick on Friday's show. On Thursday, Barnicle recruited Charlie Sykes to second his take. On Friday, it was Eugene Robinson's turn to say that he "absolutely" agreed with Barnicle's depiction of Trump as badly, deeply damaged. Someone off-camera chipped in, describing Trump as "broken." Robinson, despite questioning his right to diagnose Trump given that he was not a psychologist, proceeded to don his Dr. Freud cap nonetheless, opining that Trump has "some deep insecurity and feeling of inadequacy." And between that and being a "really, really damaged person," Robinson argued that Trump was "dangerous," and would demonstrate that again if he were elected. Robinson concluded his analysis by offering up that Trump was "not a well man." There's good reason to doubt Robinson's analysis of others. After all, not long ago, Robinson vouched that Biden was not merely sharp, but "sharp as a tack."     The normally circumspect Richard Haass agreed with Robinson's "dangerous" take, adding that Trump was "unwilling and unable to put the country first," having "an inability to put anything other than himself first." Note: This morning's critique of Trump's personality came in response to his refusal to celebrate yesterday's hostage release. Trump criticized the swap, calling U.S. negotiators an "embarrassment." Here's the transcript: MSNBC Morning Joe 8/2/24 6:37 am EDT MIKE BARNICLE: Gene raised the issue quite cogently a couple of minutes ago. Why is it incapable [sic] of Donald Trump to say in the hostage release that, you know, hey, this is great. Good luck to them. I'm happy they're home?  He can't. And he can't let Kamala Harris go. He can't let that go. Why? Not because it's politics, not just because he's filled with hate and envy. I think, and I would submit --Gene, I don't know if you'd agree with me or not -- but he is a badly, deeply damaged individual. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON OFF-CAMERA: Yeah—broken. EUGENE ROBINSON: Oh, yeah, I would absolutely agree. There is a deep -- you know, beneath all that bluster -- who am I to diagnose him, I'm not a psychologist. But there's clearly some deep insecurity and, and feeling of inadequacy that causes him to, to, to continually lash out and puff himself up, and adopt this air of infallibility, which is, which is absurd. But that's who he is. I think he is a really, really damaged person. And, you know, because of that, and for a lot of other reasons, he's a really, he's really dangerous. He proved that in four years as President. He would prove it again if he were ever allowed near the White House again. This is, this is not a well man. RICHARD HAASS: And the dangerous part of it, though, is also, and it's a consistent thing here, is you have someone running for president who is, in some ways, unwilling and unable to put the country first.  And we see that in the ungenerous reaction to getting these Americans home.  It's a good thing for the country. Maybe it's not a good thing for his political campaign, but there's something else going on. It's good for the country! It's good for these families. And there's a consistent pattern here, just an inability to put anything other than himself first. And that's what we're seeing in capital letters here. August 2nd, 2024 8:07 PM Mark Finkelstein 285306 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/ben-shapiro/2024/08/02/kamala-harris-candidate-myth So, Kamala Harris is the new Democratic candidate for president. And, we’ve been told, she is incredible. Not merely serviceable, a middle innings relief pitcher brought in when your starter suddenly implodes in the third inning. She is the Mariano Rivera of politics. She’s lights-out. She’s charismatic, fascinating, quick on her feet, charming. She is, in the words of the legacy media, a historic candidate — not just because she’s a Black woman, a fact that explains her lightning-fast political ascent but that only Democrats are allowed to mention, and only then in the context of explaining why America requires a Black female president — but because she is, apparently, so good at this. Apparently, Harris was the candidate America needed all along. As in a bad romcom, all we needed to do was remove her glasses, brush out her hair and put her in a better outfit — and she would transform from high school weirdo nerd into prom queen. The media’s shift in position regarding Harris has been whiplash-inducing. After all, we were told in 2020 that she had run one of the worst campaigns in modern presidential history — mechanical, off-putting, unpleasant, incompetent and arrogant. Then we were told that she was one of the worst vice presidents in modern history — free of accomplishment, running a completely dysfunctional office with extraordinary rates of staff turnover, so wildly unpopular that even a senile Joe Biden worried about whether Harris could compete with Donald Trump. But now all is forgiven. All her oddities — coconut trees and electric school buses, Venn diagrams and the significance of the passage of time — are delightful TikTok memes. Her strangely incoherent word salads, topped off with a heavy helping of smugness, are now evidence of her rhetorical brilliance. Her wild hand motions, so reminiscent of a drunken tarmac operator attempting unsuccessfully to usher a jumbo jet toward the gateway, are actually enchanting symptoms of her enthusiasm. And her positional dishonesty — the fact that she has now shifted virtually every position she ever held — is not evidence that she is a liar, but that she is astute and clever. So, precisely what happened to turn Kamala Harris from a deeply disliked politician (35% approval rating) into an Obama-esque talent (44% approval rating)? Joe Biden dropped out. That’s it. That’s the whole thing. When Biden dropped out, the legacy media could finally end the rock-in-the-shoe discomfort of cognitive dissonance from which they had been suffering since Biden’s brain-dead debate with Trump. They had been forced by circumstance into doing something they despise: objective journalism, in which Democrats are treated as normal figures subject to cross-examination. Since Barack Obama’s ascent nearly 20 years ago, the media have avoided just this sort of thing. Biden’s collapse onstage compelled them to do some journalism, just to cover their asses — otherwise, they would have been implicated in his health coverup. So they did. But they didn’t like it. Now, Biden is gone. They can declare victory. And they can go right back to bathing in the warm, urine-filled kiddie pool of Democrat-media coordination they so enjoy. They’ve eaten their vegetables. Now it’s time for dessert: a heavy helping of Kamala cake. And they’re going to enjoy it. The only question is whether the American people will fall for this quite obvious and heavy-handed routine. So far, some have. But presidential campaigns have a way of sanding off the varnish lacquered on by the friendly media. After all, at one point, the legacy media gave Hillary Clinton the same treatment. It didn’t work out well. In the end, politicians tend to stand or fall on their own merit. Which is terrible news for Kamala Harris, since she has none. Ben Shapiro’s new collection, "Facts and Furious: The Facts About America and Why They Make Leftists Furious," is available now. Shapiro is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, host of "The Ben Shapiro Show," and co-founder of Daily Wire+. He is a three-time New York Times bestselling author. To find out more about Ben Shapiro and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com. August 2nd, 2024 5:50 PM Ben Shapiro 285318 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/free-speech/tom-olohan/2024/08/02/zuckerberg-punishes-pro-women-sports-company-while-turning Mark Zuckerberg-owned Facebook and Instagram targeted a clothing company critical of gender ideology instead of cracking down on advertising of illegal drugs running rampant on their platforms.  The Wall Street Journal exposed the social media networks in a Wednesday article for allegedly profiting off of ads that directed users to websites selling illegal drugs. The Journal reported that it found dozens of such ads while noting that the non-profit Tech Transparency Project had found 450 of them. In response to this article, Jennifer Sey, founder of XX-XY Athletics, a pro-women sports company, accused Meta of handicapping her company’s ads all while allowing the placement of illegal drug ads.  Instagram “will run ads for illegal drugs including cocaine but severely limits the reach of an ad (essentially shadow-banning) for @xx_xyathletics, a brand standing up to protect women's sports. How is this the world?” Sey wrote on X. Sey accused Meta of more than just misplaced priorities. In a July 3 Substack post, she explained that Meta restricted her company’s ability to buy ads targeting the followers of high-profile accounts that share Sey’s views. Meta’s censorship reportedly occurred while they placed no such limits on ads targeting the followers of leftist accounts.  Specifically, Meta did not allow XX-XY Athletics to target the followers of three women’s rights activists: former collegiate swimmer-turned-women's rights advocate Riley Gaines, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) and social media personality Isabel Brown. Yet Meta did not place restrictions on targeting the followers of leftist former soccer player Megan Rapinoe or President Joe Biden.  Sey said that this greatly limited the effectiveness of her company’s social media ads and cost her a great deal of money. The XX-XY Athletics founder said that “targeting the followers of influencers who align with a brand’s message increases return on ad spend by 3 to 4x.” She explained that her company’s inability to buy targeted ads meant that XX-XY Athletics would have to spend far more to have the same effect.  Here's the ad from @xx_xyathletics that was shadow-banned. This is considered "offensive" in today's upside down world. pic.twitter.com/tuU96MC0Dx — Jennifer Sey (@JenniferSey) July 31, 2024 And while Meta was tilting the scale to favor transgender activists and the left, the psychedelic drug DMT and cocaine were being advertised on their platform, the Journal reported.  Meta claimed it took down many of these drug ads in 48 hours and banned the users responsible, but has not answered for censoring XX-XY Athletics. MRC Free Speech America Director Michael Morris made clear that Meta’s takeaway from this event should be reassessing its priorities, not more censorship. “More constitutionally protected speech, not less,” said Morris. “That should be the priority of an American company like Meta, particularly during a highly contentious Olympics where women’s sports are once again front and center.” Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that the State Department be held to account to adhere to the U.S. Constitution and that Big Tech mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on so-called hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable. August 2nd, 2024 5:37 PM Tom Olohan 285322 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/culture/justine-brooke-murray/2024/08/02/catholic-group-begs-doj-probe-violent-abortionist It seems Joe Biden’s Department of “Justice” is becoming more of an oxymoron by the day.  Its latest double standard features a conservative Catholic organization begging them to investigate over four hundred known attacks waged by the abortion mafia on pregnancy centers and churches, LifeNews reports.  In a letter shared with the Daily Signal, the organization CatholicVote asked Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke to meet with them to probe the overwhelming cases of abortion radicals violating the FACE Act, which prohibits instigators from threatening or using physical force to intimidate people out of expressing their right to religious freedom.  However, the act also prohibits forceful attempts to interfere with so-called “reproductive health care services.” Therefore, Biden’s DOJ figures they can apply this act unevenly by targeting only pro-life protesters.  “The [Biden] administration has repeatedly met and coordinated with the abortion industry, but has refused to meet with representatives of the millions of pro-life Americans and concerned Catholic citizens who are being threatened and intimidated across the country,” CatholicVote President Brian Burch writes in their letter, dated June 21. “Nearly every single prosecution of alleged violence against abortion clinics has involved application of the FACE Act despite the lack of enforcement on attacks against churches and pregnancy resource centers,” Burch adds. “What policies are in place at the DOJ which contribute to this imbalance, and what is being done to rectify it?” After two years of crickets from the DOJ despite numerous communication requests, they finally sent ONE response to CatholicVote in June 2024, updating the group that three Florida pro-abortionists pled guilty to threatening pro-life pregnancy resource centers.  Still, most of these attacks are “not being pursued with any diligence by the federal government,” Tommy Valentine, director of CatholicVote’s Catholic Accountability Project, told The Daily Signal. Valentine added,  “And a lot of these are centrally organized by domestic extremist organizations like Jane’s Revenge, like Ruth Sent Us, various anarchist groups that are clearly coordinating at least some of these attacks."  Apparently these violent extremists are receiving the same coddling as the Hamas-holes calling for another 9/11 in our city streets.  After all, Biden’s DOJ has more important things to worry about like throwing eighty-two-year-olds in prison for protesting against the murder of unborn babies and branding angry soccer moms as terrorists for protesting their woke school boards. August 2nd, 2024 5:28 PM Justine Brooke Murray 285321 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/star-parker/2024/08/02/bibi-netanyahu-profile-courage Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed this past week, at the invitation of House Speaker Mike Johnson, a joint session of Congress. The prime minister’s job that night was to make clear to the Congress, to the nation and to the world the “what” and “why” of Israel’s operation in Gaza, following the murderous attack by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, and why Americans should identify with and support Israel’s struggle. My heart went out to this brave and besieged leader as he made his case. As I watched and listened, I thought of the words of another brave and besieged leader of the nation Netanyahu represents, King David. I thought of the 23rd Psalm, authored by that great king and leader, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” Perhaps it is too prosaic to compare the struggle of war to business, but a few days before, I received in my email a quote from Apple founder Steve Jobs. Jobs observed, “I’m convinced that about half of what separates successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance. It is so hard. You pour so much of your life into this thing. There are such rough moments ... that most people give up. I don’t blame them. It’s really tough.” The message is that in life’s most defining and difficult moments, we often stand, from the perspective of the outside, alone. But those who make it through do not feel totally alone. They are convinced that there is truth in this world, and they feel connected to it. They feel part of something bigger than themselves. Of course, the difference is that, in business, what is on the line is your money. In war, it’s your life. Those who really know history — far too few — can appreciate the common bond between Israel’s struggle and the American struggle. When Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, declared the birth of Israel as an independent state, May 14, 1948, and when the American founders signed the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, both were done in solitude in the face of certain war and attack by powers far larger and stronger. Israel then was a tiny island surrounded by a sea of hostility by the neighboring Arab countries, far greater in number, and all committed to the destruction of the newly declared Jewish state. The American founders, representing 13 American colonies, took a great, lonely stand against the mighty British empire. Following both declarations was war. And, against the odds, both small fledgling nations were victorious and prevailed. Both struggles were for eternal values and the freedom to struggle for and pursue them. It’s why both peoples prevailed against great odds. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi boycotted Netanyahu’s address and then called it “the worst presentation of any foreign dignitary ... addressing the Congress of the United States.” She lectured that the prime minister should be using his time working on “a ceasefire deal that will bring the hostages home.” This is exactly what Netanyahu is doing. But in contrast to Pelosi, who has nothing on the line except her political calculations, he understands what is involved and how to protect his people and his nation. In 2011, Israel released 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for one Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, held hostage. One of the 1,027 released was Yahya Sinwar, Hamas leader and mastermind of the Oct. 7 attack. Sinwar was in prison, sentenced for the murder of two Israeli soldiers. He is known to have murdered at least 12 of his own people accused of cooperating with Israel, several of whom he admits to personally having strangled to death. Negotiating with murderers is no path to peace. Benjamin Netanyahu understands this. Israel’s struggle is indeed America’s struggle. Let’s turn our prayers to support this brave leader. Star Parker is president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education and host of the weekly television show “Cure America with Star Parker.” Her recent book, “What Is the CURE for America?” is available now. To find out more about Star Parker and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com. August 2nd, 2024 4:27 PM Star Parker 285316 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-fondacaro/2024/08/02/sununu-triggers-view-points-out-kamalas-undemocratic On Thursday’s edition of ABC’s The View, the penultimate for the season, Republican Governor Chris Sununu (NH) sent the liberal ladies into a tailspin by pointing out how the Democratic Party – the self-appointed defenders of democracy – had a very undemocratic method of anointing Vice President Kamala Harris the presumptive nominee. Staunchly racist and anti-Semitic co-host Sunny Hostin (the descendant of slave owners) tried to argue that Democratic primary voters “voted for Harris too. She was on the ticket.” But she wasn’t. During the primary season, President Biden’s was the name at appeared on the ballot. Hence why vice presidential nominees have to approved at conventions; not to mention the fact that none of the other Democratic challengers had veep picks. “She has 2,000 delegates she has already,” Hostin continued to brag. Sununu countered her on that point by calling out how party elites had made calls to push Biden out and wrangle the delegates to fall in line, causing moderator Whoopi Goldberg to blow a gasket: SUNUNU: Guys, look, three phone calls were made from Schumer and Pelosi, Biden said I'm in this thing, I'm not leaving. A couple phone calls are made and all of a sudden he's pushed out and in 48 hours all the delegates aren't given a choice of other candidates, they’re told you're going to get behind Kamala. GOLDBERG: That's actually not what happened! But go ahead. SUNUNU: But where is the other choice? GOLDBERG: That’s not actually – The other choices decided she was the best choice. That’s what they decided. SUNUNU: But who decided? Who’s they?     In answering Sununu’s question of “who decided?” Hostin and co-host Joy Behar sounded like the seagulls from Finding Nemo, echoing: “The delegates did. The delegates did. The delegates did.” “But the delegates haven’t voted yet, guys,” Sununu popped their bubble. “The delegates decided,” Behar repeated. Ignoring Democrats such as Congressman Dean Phillips (MN), who was actually a primary challenger, Goldberg pointed to others not in the race to show people bowing down to Harris. “But also I'm saying Newsom said ‘I'm not going to challenge this.’ People decided who would have gone in to challenge said ‘no, we're not going to challenge her,’” she argued. Sununu’s efforts to get them to see reason were futile. When he tried to “flip it” and see what their reaction to a Republican Party unilaterally dumping Trump and installing challenger Ambassador Nikki Haley, faux conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin clownishly proclaimed: “I wish we had a party that could operate that way!” Hostin, missing the point of the analogy, noted: “But they can’t the convention happened already.” “But that would be awful. But everyone has to accept that would be awful for America. But that would be awful because the voters have to decide,” Sununu pushed back on Farah Griffin. Behar seemingly couldn’t wrap her head around how it could be bad for America and seemed to hint that he had an issue because of sexism. “Why? Why would it be awful? So, it would be two women against each other,” she pressed. His insistence on calling the Democratic Party’s leadership “elites” triggered the snowflake moderator. “Stop calling them elites!” Goldberg exclaimed. By this point, Behar was over it and wanted everyone to stop taking about the undemocratic nature of Harris’s nomination. “Look, that's – by the way, that's ship has sailed. She's the nominee. So why beat a dead horse? Ok, let's move on,” she demanded. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read: ABC’s The View August 1, 2024 11:31:29 a.m. Eastern (…) GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU (R-NH): The challenge I think Democrats have, let's -- Let's talk about what's really going on in the last couple of weeks here. So, the Democrat voters all voted for Joe Biden and then a couple elites said, yeah. SUNNY HOSTIN: Well, they voted for Harris too. She was on the ticket. SUNUNU: Understood. That's right but they voted for him – [Applause] That's right, but they voted for Biden to be president and then it wasn't like it was sent to the convention and then the delegates had a choice or anything like that. A couple elites -- HOSTIN: She has 2,000 delegates she has already. SUNUNU: That's right and she did it in – [Applause] Guys, look, three phone calls were made from Schumer and Pelosi, Biden said I'm in this thing, I'm not leaving. A couple phone calls are made and all of a sudden he's pushed out and in 48 hours all the delegates aren't given a choice of other candidates, they’re told you're going to get behind Kamala. WHOOPI GOLDBERG: That's actually not what happened! But go ahead. SUNUNU: But where is the other choice? GOLDBERG: That’s not actually – The other choices decided she was the best choice. That’s what they decided. SUNUNU: But who decided? Who’s they? HOSTIN: The delegates did. GOLDBERG: That’s who the people who were running. The people who would have – JOY BEHAR: The delegates did. HOSTIN: The delegates did. GOLDBERG: Governor Newsom decided he didn’t— SUNUNU: But the delegates haven’t voted yet, guys. BEHAR: The delegates decided. GOLDBERG: But also I'm saying Newsom said ‘I'm not going to challenge this.’ People decided who would have gone in to challenge said ‘no, we're not going to challenge her. We actually think—’ So, I can tell you -- SUNUNU: A lot of people voted for the ticket. [Crosstalk] ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: Let me just – GOLDBERG: GO ahead, babe. SARA HAINES: There was another scenario that could have happened here, where President Biden could have said, ‘In order to I have go you a nudge and really make it a decision we’re making, I could step down as president and you could step up right now,’ and she'd be going into an election. SUNUNU: But he didn't want that. HAINES: Right, but I'm saying that is actually something that's a little more disenfranchised -- SUNUNU: So, let me flip it if I could. What if I said, ‘you know what, Trump, you're losing in the polls now and we have another candidate and the head of the Republican National Committee and myself and a bunch of others say you're out. We're just going to instill Nikki Haley now because the polls are –‘ FARAH GRIFFIN: I wish we had a party that could operate that way! [Crosstalk] SUNUNU: But that would be awful. But everyone has to accept that would be awful for America. HOSTIN: But they can’t the convention happened already. SUNUNU: But that would be awful because the voters have to decide. BEHAR: Why? Why would it be awful? SUNUNU: Because voters have to decide, not elites. BEHAR: So, it would be two women against each other. GOLDBERG: Stop calling them elites! That’s – You’re – SUNUNU: No, no, insiders, let’s say. GOLDBERG: Okay. SUNUNU: No, no. I just want -- I'm a big believer, everyone should vote. You guys are -- but. HOSTIN: They did vote. They voted for Harris as vice president and the delegates want her as the nominee GOLDBERG: Go ahead, Joy. BEHAR: Look, that's – by the way, that's ship has sailed. She's the nominee. So why beat a dead horse? Ok, let's move on. August 2nd, 2024 4:00 PM Nicholas Fondacaro 285315 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/free-speech/catherine-salgado/2024/08/02/trump-says-zuckerberg-apologized-after-post Former President Donald Trump says he received a call from a Big Tech CEO after he survived an assassination attempt —and even an apology following censorship of the iconic fist pump photo. Trump told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo that Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta (Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp), “called me … a few times.” Zuckerberg not only praised Trump, according to the GOP nominee, but said he would not “support a Democrat” and even “apologized” for Meta’s platforms censoring images and information about the attempted assassination. But the former president did not have nice things to say about anti-free speech search giant Google. Trump noted that he spoke with Zuckerberg after the assassination attempt. “He called me after the event, and he said, ‘That was really amazing. It was very brave,’ and you know, he actually announced he’s not going to support a Democrat, because he can’t, because he respected me for what I did that day,” Trump said on Fox Business.  Nor was that their only conversation, according to Trump. “But I was called by Mark Zuckerberg yesterday, or the day before, on this same subject, and he actually apologized. He said they made a mistake, etcetera, etcetera, and they’re correcting the mistake.” Facebook and Instagram censored images of the iconic photo of Trump pumping his fist and saying “fight” following the attempt on his life. The platforms imposed filters and labeled them “Altered photo/video,” as MRC’s CensorTrackrecorded. Zuckerberg admitted the mistake and apologized to Trump for it, the former president emphasized, in contrast to the response from Google. Google Search also suppressed information about the attempted assassination of Trump. “Google, nobody called from Google,” Trump said. Trump went on to accuse Google of not being a good actor. “Google has been very bad,” Trump said. “They’ve been very irresponsible, and I have a feeling that Google is going to be close to shutdown, because I don’t think Congress is going to take it. I really don’t think so. Google has to be careful.”  The former president was more positive about Meta, claiming it has learned its lesson since its 2020 election-interfering censorship. “Now, I will say this, I believe Mark Zuckerberg. He called me… he called me a lot. They are working, and I think they’ve fixed it. And he’s not doing what he did four years ago with the $500 million, I don’t believe.” This was a reference to the infamous $400 million+ “Zuckerbucks” that Zuckerberg used to fund and therefore influence counties’ election activities in 2020. Trump’s comments mirror MRC Free Speech America’s observations of Meta and Google in its reports of how each have interfered in elections since 2008.  While each have censored political candidates a similar number of times, with Google censoring candidates 41 times and Facebook 39 times, Google’s censorship appears to be more deeply embedded in its work as it rarely apologizes or corrects the issue. Meta, and Mark Zuckerberg specifically, meanwhile have at least paid lip service to free speech and made attempts to allow disfavored speech on the platform. MRC Free Speech America Assistant Editor Gabriela Pariseau contributed to this report. Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment and provide an equal platform for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using MRC Free Speech America’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable August 2nd, 2024 3:18 PM Catherine Salgado 285313 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2024/08/02/msnbc-fearmongers-election-life-or-death-choice-women MSNBC’s tradition of rolling out self-identified Republicans to repeat the kookiest Democratic talking points continued on Friday as former GOP communications director Tara Setmayer joined Ana Cabrera Reports to claim “women voters are looking at this election as a life or death choice.” Against the backdrop of recent comments from Donald Trump about Kamala Harris’s race, Cabrera wondered, “Do you think a debate is more or less likely after all of this?”     Setmayer claimed a debate will happen because Trump’s ego demands it, and that “I'm looking forward to Donald Trump debating Kamala Harris. I think that she will use her prosecutorial skills to destroy him on the debate stage, because if his default is just to name-call and to try to bully her, that is not going to play well.” While Setmayer would be wise to recall those “prosecutorial skills” led her to withdraw before Iowa in the primary, she insisted that “Let's not forget that, you know, the idea of women, now we have a woman at the top of the ticket, and women voters are looking at this election as a life or death choice.” She continued to insist that Harris is the personification of freedom, “The binary choice is democracy or Trump, and for women, it's our lives or Trump, and Kamala Harris embodies the future of this country, embodies freedom in this country now, and Donald Trump and MAGA embody regression and trying to turn things back, and by his behavior, acting like this, continuing to act like this, this only reinforces that choice, particularly for women in battleground states.” Setmayer concluded by reiterating, “So, do I think he's going to debate her? I don't think his campaign wants her to debate him, but she -- or for him to debate her, but I don't think his ego is going to allow him to be called a coward, that he is, if he were not to do it.” With “Republicans” like this, one wonders why MSNBC needs Democrats.  Here is a transcript for the August 2 show: MSNBC Ana Cabrera Reports 8/2/2024 10:24 AM ET ANA CABRERA: So, Tara, I just want to pick up on what we heard at the end of that Chuck Schumer clip. Do you think a debate is more or less likely after all of this? Tara. TARA SETMAYER: I don't think that Donald Trump's ego, I don't think Donald Trump's ego will allow him to not debate her. This is something that he thinks that he's great at, just like he thinks he's his own best lawyer. So, I'm looking forward to Donald Trump debating Kamala Harris.  I think that she will use her prosecutorial skills to destroy him on the debate stage, because if his default is just to name-call and to try to bully her, that is not going to play well. Let's not forget that, you know, the idea of women, now we have a woman at the top of the ticket, and women voters are looking at this election as a life or death choice.  The binary choice is democracy or Trump, and for women, it's our lives or Trump, and Kamala Harris embodies the future of this country, embodies freedom in this country now, and Donald Trump and MAGA embody regression and trying to turn things back, and by his behavior, acting like this, continuing to act like this, this only reinforces that choice, particularly for women in battleground states.  So, do I think he's going to debate her? I don't think his campaign wants her to debate him, but she -- or for him to debate her, but I don't think his ego is going to allow him to be called a coward, that he is, if he were not to do it.  August 2nd, 2024 2:12 PM Alex Christy 285312 https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/business/tom-olohan/2024/08/02/huffpost-op-ed-breaks-ranks-admits-obvious-truth-about-kamala One leftist is trying to rebrand diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) as a badge of honor and admitted something the legacy media has often been keen to deny.  Christina Blacken, founder of a “leadership development and behavior change training company,” The New Quo, wrote a July 30 op-ed for The HuffPost titled with a stunning admission. “Kamala Harris Would Be A DEI President,” the title read, adding, “And That's A Good Thing For America.” In her article, Blacken distorted what DEI is and embraced popular smears against DEI opponents. She even claimed that DEI creates a type of meritocracy, somehow.  The legacy media has viciously lashed out at people who label Vice President Kamala Harris as a “DEI-hire,” calling it “clearly racist” and denouncing supposed “outright racism.” This is despite the fact that in 2020 Biden made it clear that he would put unchosen characteristics over qualifications when he promised to solely consider women for his vice presidential pick. The Washington Post, Politico, NPR, The Associated Press, CNN and other outlets acknowledged the pressure to prioritize race and gender.  Bracken, who called Harris a potential “DEI President” in her title, bristled at anyone on the right who dared to acknowledge this. “[T]hey cast Harris as a DEI candidate to simultaneously discredit her accomplishments while quietly dog-whistling to their brood.” Ludicrously, Blacken casts DEI initiatives as a pursuit of meritocracy: “[A] world where true merit and capability, across demographic backgrounds, are considered.” To be clear, this is a woman who promotes DEI, which puts unchosen characteristics like race and gender above considerations like merit.  Blacken claimed that conservative leaders “create “slurs for their followers to run with.” She added that, “Somehow for those people, DEI ― which actually means creating practices, policies and behaviors that create better financial, mental and physical outcomes that benefit everyone, including white men ― is interchangeably used as a derogatory alternative for the N-word.” But DEI does not benefit everyone, as Blacken claims. DEI is racial and gender discrimination in hiring and admissions rather than simply choosing the most qualified candidate or applicant. Even the legacy media has occasionally acknowledged this.  A report by Bloomberg News, owned by leftist billionaire Michael Bloomberg, laid out how this worked in 2021. According to the media outlet, a mere 6 percent of jobs at major companies they analyzed went to white individuals in 2021. Simultaneously, white people made up 68.5% of layoffs at studied companies that shrank in 2021.  Blacken, however, does benefit from DEI.  She chose to whitewash DEI because she is not a disinterested observer. DEI is her livelihood. According to The New Quo website she, has trained “11,500 leaders across 9 industries” through her live trainings and online courses. She describes her work as “creating equity goals and practices that infuses [sic] DEI into every area of their business,” and  “helping companies create more inclusive language in their content and services.” Conservatives are under attack! Contact ABC News (818) 460-7477, CBS News (212) 975-3247 and NBC News (212) 664-6192 and demand they report on the dangers of leftist DEI ideology infecting corporate America. August 2nd, 2024 2:09 PM Tom Olohan 285310