Europe
On Wednesday afternoon, MSNBC host Ali Velshi talked up the liberal push for a single-payer health insurance system as he discussed the plans proposed by Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, touting the "generous" benefits promised, but not dealing with the down sides like the rationing of health care.
The New York Times news pages are attacking Donald Trump from all angles to deny him a second term: The Europeans don’t like him! On Wednesday, Steven Erlanger, the paper’s chief diplomatic correspondent, fretted about how “Europe Ponders a ‘Deeply Damaging’ Trump Re-election.” Erlanger’s piece has a strong whiff of anti-Trump, pro-European superiority for a “news” story: "Many anticipate a collapse in the already eroding trust in American leadership and credibility."
On Morning Joe, James Carville claims that the Democrat party is "the only thing standing between the United States and the abyss." He says that if the Democrats nominate Bernie Sanders, it will go the disastrous way of the Corbynite British Labour party and it will be the "end of days."
This week, the world marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Allied forces during World War II. Politicians of all stripes dutifully tweeted, “#NeverAgain.” Meanwhile, many of those same politicians continued to forward the worst sort of anti-Semitism, blithely ignoring the fact that anti-Semitism isn't a relic of the past but a thriving part of the present.
On New Day, CNN "senior political analyst" John Avlon offers the preposterous proposition that John Bolton's prospective testimony at the impeachment trial would be "the equivalent of Nixon's smoking gun tape."
I love Ireland for its natural beauty, its people, its food (some of it), its music, its writers and especially its elections, which are shorter, less costly and designed to engage citizens and boost voter turnout. On January 14, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar called a general election for February 8. That means a campaign of slightly more than three weeks. In the process, the Irish Parliament was dissolved. What a delightful thought.
Without providing any evidence, ABC News made headlines on Friday when they claimed they had heard an audio recording of President Trump ordering the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine to be fired, something that would supposedly aid Democrats with impeachment. Both CBS News and NBC News pounced on the reporting during their evening newscasts despite the fact ABC had not released the audio or commented on its authenticity.
Joe Scarborough has once again assumed his role as a strategic advisor to the Democrats. On Morning Joe, Scarborough warns Democrats that it would be a "sucker's deal" for them to trade testimony by Hunter Biden for that of John Bolton at the impeachment trial.
Question: in addition to her duties as an NBC correspondent, is Heidi Przybyla also serving as a PR flack for the Biden campaign? You have to wonder after watching Przybyla's performance today on Morning Joe. Przybyla didn't merely highlight the memo that the Biden campaign has put out as a pre-emptive response to charges of Ukraine corruption—she passionately embraced the memo's findings.
CNN commentator Joe Lockhart spouted the conspiracy theory that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo possibly could have allowed "a Benghazi" against Marie Yovanovitch, who at the time was the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine.
During a CNN New Day discussion of the pending Senate impeachment trial on New Year's Eve, substitute host Poppy Harlow managed to work in a snide Merrick Garland shot at Mitch McConnell.
Throughout the entire impeachment saga, the media have lamented that President Trump does not sufficiently support Ukraine in its fight against Russia. To assuage any concerns that the Ukrainians themselves might have about the Administration, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is heading to the country on Friday, but such a trip led to widespread mockery on Monday's MSNBC Live.