Justin Baragona here, bringing you the latest media dispatches from the right-wing industrial outrage complex and Bari World. In tonight’s edition, we talk to journalism ethics experts on whether it is “fair game” for reporters to dig into the nature of Natalie Harp’s relationship with Donald Trump, and how newsrooms should navigate this story. Also, Disney is getting lauded for punching back against the Trump administration, but didn’t they help jumpstart his war against the media in the first place?

Subscribe now

Who’s Afraid of Natalie Harp?

“Okay, back to the midterms because the Natalie stuff, I think, is strange. So I’m going to leave it there.”

That was what MS NOW’s Katy Tur said to the New York Times’s Maggie Haberman on Tuesday afternoon following a several-minute conversation about Natalie Harp, the close aide to Donald Trump who has suddenly been thrust into the news cycle after Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) name-checked her during a Sunday campaign speech.

Tur’s pivot came after Haberman, whose best-selling book Regime Change (co-authored with Times colleague Jonathan Swan) prominently features Harp, said the 35-year-old staffer had “clearly taken devotion to [Trump] to a very different level” while referencing the “deeply personal letters” Harp had left the president.

Subscribe now

Haberman pointed out that those letters, which saw Harp telling Trump he is “all that matters to” her, left the Secret Service “alarmed,” something Swan also revealed to Mehdi in an interview last month.

Still, it was Tur’s reaction to Haberman and desire to move on to another subject that got me thinking, particularly since the story being “strange” is precisely why people want to know more about it.

How should mainstream media newsrooms navigate this particular story, considering the innuendo tied to it? Is it fair game to go through the door that Ossoff seemingly opened and dig into the nature of Harp’s relationship with Trump? And what are the media and journalistic ethics involved here?

To answer some of these questions, I reached out to Eric Deggans, Knight Professor of Journalism and Media Ethics at Washington and Lee University and NPR critic-at-large, and Subbu Vincent, director of Journalism and Media Ethics at Santa Clara University.

Read more

Justin Baragona here, bringing you the latest media dispatches from the right-wing industrial outrage complex and Bari World. In tonight’s edition, we look at why a former spokesman for Jill Biden is publicly endorsing a Trump-backed Republican for Senate, and why it may not be all that surprising. Also, if you thought Fox was bad with the anti-Muslim hate, you ain’t seen nothing yet, while it looks like Bari Weiss’s right-wing blog is doing the bidding of one of its investors.

Subscribe now

Why Is This Ex-Biden Spox Choosing Mike Rogers Over Abdul El-Sayed?

Days after declaring his support for Michigan’s Trump-endorsed GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers, claiming he couldn’t defend Abdul El-Sayed’s “cowardly” stance on 9/11, Michael LaRosa, a one-time press secretary for former First Lady Jill Biden, doubled down during an appearance on MAGA sycophant Laura Ingraham’s Fox show.

And he made sure to add a dash of Islamophobia too.

Pointing out that he’d already signed a petition calling for New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani to be banned from the 9/11 commemoration next month, LaRosa demanded that El-Sayed fly to the Big Apple and personally address every single person who lost a family member in the 2001 World Trade Center attack.

Subscribe now

“He should look them in the eye and tell them that there is no justification for what happened,” LaRosa groused. “I would like him to wipe the grin off his face when he is talking about it, too!”

LaRosa was linking El-Sayed to comments made seven years ago by influential leftist streamer Hasan Piker, who has been campaigning for El-Sayed. Though Piker took those remarks back, saying he “obviously” didn’t mean America deserved 9/11, it hasn’t mattered to El-Sayed opponents who have found their new bogeyman. (Notably, Rogers falsely claimed that El-Sayed “believes that America deserved 9/11” shortly after El-Sayed secured the Dem nomination.)

Read more

Justin Baragona here, bringing you the latest media dispatches from the right-wing industrial outrage complex and Bari World. In tonight’s edition, we break down everything that’s wrong with David Ellison’s recent woe-is-me New York Times op-ed about the WarnerMount merger. Plus, ‘60 Minutes’ continues to be a disaster, and MAGA media had a racist, Islamophobic meltdown over Abdul El-Sayed’s victory in Michigan.

Subscribe now

Debunking Ellison’s ‘Desperate’ Ploy to ‘Change the Narrative’

“Horseshit.”

That’s what a CNN on-air personality succinctly told me about Paramount CEO David Ellison’s recent New York Times op-ed, which argued that his critics were wrong about his politics and that he’d be a good steward of CNN.

The essay, which a CBS News senior staffer described to Zeteo as “very ill-advised,” came across to several CBS and CNN insiders as a “desperate” ploy to “change the narrative” around the suddenly in-doubt $111 billion merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery.

Subscribe now

While CBS and CNN sources I spoke to mocked Ellison’s column for reading as if it were written by a team of lawyers and PR flacks (Breaker’s Lachlan Cartwright revealed investment banker Blair Effron spearheaded the effort), it’s clear the 43-year-old wants to be seen as a misunderstood victim unfairly painted as a right-wing partisan.

But have his views and actions been misconstrued? Have his critics really been unfair to him? Well, I decided to do a bit of “fisking” of Ellison’s op-ed – and it’s clear: his argument doesn’t add up. Let’s take a look:

Read more

Justin Baragona here, bringing you the latest media dispatches from the right-wing industrial outrage complex and Bari World. In tonight’s edition, we look at how the Murdoch media empire is leaning harder into Islamophobia as it ramps up its fearmongering about Zohran Mamdani. Plus, CBS News staff isn’t sold on Bari Weiss’s newest ‘60 Minutes’ hires, and the network’s ratings under Weiss keep sinking lower and lower.

Subscribe now

‘Incredibly Islamophobic Image’

Since even before he became New York mayor last year, the right-wing infotainment complex – and, particularly, the media outlets owned by Rupert Murdoch – has obsessively attacked Zohran Mamdani, painting the democratic socialist as a dangerous “antisemite” who will destroy the city with his “communist” policies while calling for him to be denaturalized and deported.

And while there’s always been a consistent undercurrent of Islamophobia flowing through this unending and deranged demonization of Mamdani, the last week has brought forth a more overt stream of anti-Muslim hate that has blared on the front pages of Murdoch’s papers and the screens of cable news.

(Scroll down for a supercut of the absolute worst on-air commentary – it is a must-watch.)

Read more

Justin Baragona here, bringing you the latest media dispatches from the right-wing industrial outrage complex and Bari World. In tonight’s edition, we look at the controversial past of Bari Weiss’s latest hire – and what it says about the type of staff she’s looking to build at CBS News. Additionally, why is the White House Correspondents’ Association hosting the greatest threat to press freedom in America? Also, CNNers are feeling cautiously optimistic following the latest WarnerMount merger developments.

Subscribe now

‘An Absolutely Uninspired Choice’

Shortly after CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss announced that she had hired Mike Pesca – the host of the long-running daily news podcast ‘The Gist’ – to be the network’s editorial director of podcasts, one of Pesca’s former colleagues chimed in with a biting observation.

“‘What experience qualifies you for this job?’ ‘Well at Slate I died on the hill of being able to say n—,’” The Ringer’s Joel Anderson tweeted on Friday. “‘Say no more. Your offer is on the way.’”

Indeed, Pesca and ‘The Gist’ were suspended indefinitely by Slate in February 2021 after he argued with his fellow colleagues that white people should be allowed to say the n-word in certain situations. He would ultimately part ways with Slate in September of that year while also purchasing the podcast – which he would continue to host until he ditched it to work for Weiss.

Subscribe now

“I’m not surprised,” one CBS News insider told Zeteo about Weiss’s embrace of Pesca to lead the network’s budding podcast division.

Read more

Justin Baragona here, bringing you the latest media dispatches from the right-wing industrial outrage complex and Bari World. In tonight’s edition, we discuss how Lindsey Graham’s passing exposed just how useless the Sunday shows really are; if the broadcast networks will do Donald Trump’s bidding and air his election denial address; and what the California attorney general thinks about the damage Bari Weiss has done to CBS. Also, we give you another look inside the Trump-Fox Feedback Loop!

Subscribe now

The Sunday Shows Are Broken

I can think of no more fitting tribute to Lindsey Graham, a man who spent his life opportunistically chasing access and proximity to power while shamelessly preening for the television cameras, than the embarrassing display put on by the political mainstream media in covering his death.

This was best typified by the Sunday shows. Namely, CNN’s ‘State of the Union’ and NBC News’s ‘Meet the Press,’ which saw both programs’ anchors get pathetically rolled in order to say they scored an interview with the president.

Read more

Justin Baragona here, bringing you the latest media dispatches from the right-wing industrial outrage complex and Bari World. In tonight’s edition, we reveal just how often a certain MAGA-loving Democrat has been popping up on Trump’s favorite cable network, Bari Weiss’s latest bit of meddling at ‘60 Minutes,’ and the TDS that’s sweeping MAGA world.

Subscribe now

Fox’s Fetterman Obsession

In the run-up to the 2022 midterms and with control of the Senate hanging in the balance, Fox’s primetime lineup went all-in against the opponent of Sean Hannity’s hand-picked GOP candidate in Pennsylvania, portraying the Democratic challenger as a “giant walking vegetable” who “can barely utter a sentence.”

Besides peppering its airwaves with smears about John Fetterman’s then-recent stroke leaving him an “incompetent husk,” the network’s right-wing stars also fearmongered about the Senate hopeful’s policies, labeling him as “pro-murderer” and suggesting he wanted to “legalize all drugs.”

Flash forward to the present, and the same person who Hannity and the rest of the Fox crew obsessively warned its viewers about has now become one of the MAGA network’s favorite guests.

Read more

Justin Baragona here, bringing you the latest media dispatches from the right-wing industrial outrage complex and Bari World. In tonight’s edition, does Zohran Mamdani need to take the threat of “Barstool conservatism” seriously ahead of his next mayoral election? Also, Anderson Cooper just can’t seem to get away from Bari Weiss, and NPR really steps in it over a botched Supreme Court story.

Subscribe now

‘El Presidente’ for NYC Mayor?

Amid the current political freakout (from MAGA and establishment Democrats) over Zohran Mamdani’s role as kingmaker as anti-war progressives and democratic socialists rack up primary victories, the New York City mayor suddenly found himself a potential new challenger for 2029.

Read more

Justin Baragona here, bringing you the latest media dispatches from the right-wing industrial outrage complex and Bari World. In tonight’s edition, we look at how Trump’s ‘Fox News Cabinet’ is bent out of shape over the president “capitulating” to Iran and turning its back on Israel. Plus, is Tony Dokoupil trying to rehab his image by distancing himself from Bari Weiss? Also, what does the CBS News ombudsman actually DO at the network?

Subscribe now

Turning on Trump?

Donald Trump’s ‘Fox News Cabinet,’ which gleefully pushed the administration to join Israel in launching its doomed and illegal war against Iran, is now beside itself that the president is desperately backing out of the fight by signing a “weak” peace agreement that reveals without a shred of doubt that the United States lost.

Read more

Justin Baragona here, bringing you the latest media dispatches from the right-wing industrial outrage complex and Bari World. In today’s edition, we dig into Bari Weiss’s latest big hire at CBS News – and the allegations of Islamophobia that have followed him throughout his UK broadcasting and political career. Also, is woke algae ruining Trump’s big, beautiful reflecting pool? And how are the MAGA hawks at Fox dealing with Trump’s supposed Iran peace deal?

Subscribe now

Bari’s Latest Hire Is on Brand

“No, don’t try that one on me!” Sky News presenter Trevor Phillips dismissively sneered at UK Green Party leader Zack Polanski last month during an extremely contentious interview.

That contemptuous response came after Polanski, the only Jewish party leader in the UK, as well as the only leader who is outspoken against the genocide in Gaza, wondered why his “Jewish identity [was] being erased from this conversation” as Phillips continuously twisted the left-wing politician’s previous remarks about the threat of antisemitism in the UK.

Polanski noted that many Jews – such as himself – do not feel that pro-Palestinian rallies should be perceived as unsafe hate marches, while acknowledging that attacks on Jewish sites and people in Britain are on the rise. But Phillips chose to ignore and even belittle Polanski’s personal experiences and feelings on the matter. Even when the progressive leader brought up his own recent brushes with antisemitism.

Five weeks after Phillips “monstered” Polanski on air, as Zeteo’s own Owen Jones observed in a recent column in The Guardian, CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss announced that the longtime British broadcaster and political figure had been hired as her network’s senior global affairs correspondent.

“Trevor Phillips cuts through the noise. His decades-long career is a masterclass in seeing beyond groupthink and pursuing the truth,” Weiss said in a statement about his hiring, noting that his reporting will appear on all of CBS News’s programming. “Trevor’s deep knowledge of geopolitics and history will be an incredible asset at CBS News, where he’ll quickly become an indispensable voice for audiences across all platforms.”

Subscribe now

Following the five-alarm fire she set at the network in recent weeks with her “Black Thursday” firings at ‘60 Minutes,’ which has sparked growing murmurs that Weiss could be demoted ahead of the CNN-CBS News merger, one wonders why her next big move was to hire a 72-year-old opinion host unfamiliar to American viewers. (At the very least, it doesn’t seem like this will move the needle with younger audiences, which Weiss’s digital-first strategy was supposed to appeal to.)

“I guess I’d be looking at what correspondent work he had done before. He is a presenter. That’s different,” one former CBS foreign bureau staffer told me.

Of course, with Weiss – a former New York Times opinion columnist and founder of the anti-woke blog The Free Press – seeing herself as a heterodox thought leader, it doesn’t take much digging to see exactly why Phillips appeals to her.

Read more

Justin Baragona here, bringing you the latest media dispatches from the right-wing industrial outrage complex and Bari World. In tonight’s edition, we bring you a scoop about a story that Cecila Vega was working on for ‘60 Minutes’ when she was fired. Plus: David Ellison and Co. try to put out Bari Weiss’s fires, who is (or isn’t) watching Stephen Colbert’s replacement, and Fox soothes Trump’s fragile ego after the Madison Square Garden boos.

Subscribe now

Why Was Cecilia Vega Fired?

One of the stories that Cecilia Vega had lined up for the upcoming season of ‘60 Minutes’ when she was unceremoniously fired by Bari Weiss, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter, was a profile on Francesca Albanese – the UN special rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Read more

Justin Baragona here, bringing you the latest media dispatches from the right-wing industrial outrage complex and Bari World. In today’s special edition, we dive into the five-alarm fire that is the current state of ‘60 Minutes’ and CBS News after Scott Pelley was ousted for dressing down Bari Weiss’s handpicked executive producer of the show while accusing her of “murdering” the network. Strap in for a slew of exclusive details and insights about this latest Bari trainwreck…

Subscribe now

The Scott Pelley Fallout

“I’m not answering that question.”

That’s what Scott Pelley says Bari Weiss told him during Tuesday night’s acrimonious meeting, which saw the veteran correspondent get summarily fired, when he pressed her on why she had terminated the senior staff of ‘60 Minutes.’

The ousting of Pelley from ‘60 Minutes,’ as insiders tell me, appears to serve as the depressing climax of Bari Weiss’s reign of terror over CBS News, which has seen the “anti-woke crusader” and her “band of moronic misfits” run roughshod over the Tiffany Network in her attempt to bend the news organization to its knees.

Read more

Justin Baragona here, bringing you the latest media dispatches from the right-wing industrial outrage complex and Bari World. In tonight’s edition, we reveal how Stephen Colbert made Bari Weiss furious on his way out the door, CBS News ghosts one of its top reporters, and The Free Press is offering its readers branded trips with their favorite writers. Also, if a right-wing podcast launches and no one listens, does it even exist? And whatever happened to that rescheduled WHCD? Let’s hop in…

Subscribe now

Bari Can’t Take a Joke

CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss was “incandescent” with rage over Stephen Colbert’s recent mockery of her and Tony Dokoupil, prompting the network’s leadership to direct ‘CBS Mornings’ to ignore the final episode of ‘The Late Show,’ sources told Zeteo.

Read more

Justin Baragona here, bringing you the latest media dispatches from the right-wing industrial outrage complex and Bari World. In tonight’s edition, speculation that Bari Weiss’s role will be scaled back has reached a fever pitch. So, who could lead a combined CNN-CBS if not Bari? Also, Fox’s coverage of the San Diego mosque shooting sparks internal criticism, and Jeff Bezos has thoughts on ‘Melania.’

Subscribe now

Is Weiss About to be Bari-ed?

In just seven short months at the helm of CBS News, Bari Weiss is already hearing the rumors rumbling in the background that she could see her role significantly scaled back just as Paramount is readying itself to add CNN to the mix.

Read more

Justin Baragona here, bringing you the latest media dispatches from the right-wing industrial outrage complex and Bari World. In tonight’s edition, Bari Weiss defers to Bibi and allows him to choose who interviews him, major changes are coming to CBS’s storied newsmagazine ‘60 Minutes,’ and the New York Times actually stands up to a pro-Israel pressure campaign.

Subscribe now

Major Problems for ‘60 Minutes’

“Thank you, Bari Weiss.”

That was the message delivered by Michael Oren, the former Israeli ambassador to the United States, following CBS News’s mostly deferential interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Oren was positively thrilled that the network, which is led by the self-avowed “Zionist fanatic” Weiss, appropriated Israeli talking points throughout the interview.

Meanwhile, we have since learned that Major Garrett – the veteran reporter who was tapped to conduct the exclusive sitdown – was Netanyahu’s preferred choice, and drew the assignment after a “negotiation” between Weiss and the prime minister.

As for Garrett, this was the second time in the past couple of months that the CBS News editor-in-chief chose him to handle a high-profile interview that would air on ‘60 Minutes,’ even though Garrett isn’t a correspondent for the iconic newsmagazine.

The decision to fly Garrett, the network’s chief Washington correspondent, to Israel late last week to sit down with Netanyahu is not sitting well with the staff of the Sunday night program.

Read more

Justin Baragona here, bringing you the latest media dispatches from the right-wing industrial outrage complex and Bari World. In tonight’s edition, I devote the bulk of the newsletter to a ‘CBS News Sunday Morning’ story about the West Bank that sparked outrage from one of its interview subjects – and how Bari Weiss fits in all of this. Also, Donald Trump weighs in on the passing of Ted Turner – and gets everything wrong.

Subscribe now

Has Bari Weiss Found Another CBS News Institution to Meddle With?

“I am deeply troubled by my portrayal and the omission of key facts in the segment in which I participated in good faith,” Zaid Azhari, in a message reviewed by Zeteo, wrote to CBS News producer Sari Aviv last month.

A cultural heritage researcher and leader of the “Save Sebastia Campaign,” Azhari was upset over a ‘CBS News Sunday Morning’ story that aired on April 5 and centered on the political turmoil surrounding Israeli archeological digs in the occupied West Bank, asserting that his interview for the piece was “selectively edited to falsely portray me as someone who erases Jewish history.”

Subscribe now

According to four sources, the report was subjected to last-minute edits and script changes by self-avowed “Zionist fanatic” Bari Weiss, the CBS editor-in-chief who has made sweeping changes at the network since her hiring last fall. The story had been in the works for months, and prior to Weiss joining CBS.

“We aim to inform audiences, not satisfy story subjects. That’s what this piece did. We encourage everyone to watch it and judge for themselves,” a CBS News spokesperson said in a statement.

“Oh yeah, she definitely meddled,” one CBS News senior staffer told me, while other sources noted that this represented a new front in Weiss’s editorial “interference” at the network.

“Bari found out about the story and made changes to the script. She has never jumped in editorially on a ‘Sunday Morning’ story until this one,” one CBS insider said, while a network reporter noted that “this piece is the first time she’s pulled like a CECOT on the show.”

Read more

Justin Baragona here, bringing you the latest media dispatches from the right-wing industrial outrage complex and Bari World. In tonight’s edition, we take a behind-the-scenes look at how Bari Weiss blew up CBS News’ international news coverage. Plus, another prominent news outlet is telling its staffers to love Israel or leave. Also, is Disney showing some backbone during Kimmelgate 2.0, and where does Trump’s America rank in terms of press freedom?

On top of that, if you haven’t already, please check out my deep-dive profile on the face of Bari’s CBS – Tony Dokoupil. I spoke to a lot of people for it!

Subscribe now

Blindsided by Bari

Earlier this week, CBS News staffers were shocked to learn that well-respected London bureau chief Claire Day – who has spent nearly 25 years with the network – was leaving the company at the end of the month amid a broad editorial restructuring of CBS’s international coverage.

While network president Tom Cibrowski claimed in a memo to staff that Day’s departure had been a mutual decision, both the New York Post and Status quickly reported that she had effectively been “ousted” from her role following simmering tensions with editor-in-chief Bari Weiss over the bureau’s Middle East coverage.

The Post, specifically, noted that an unnamed freelance cameraman and editor had accused Day of running the bureau like a “Hamas cell,” while Status reported that Weiss – a self-avowed “Zionist fanatic” – at one point griped that London was so biased against Israel that “they might as well be Hamas.”

Speaking to several CBS sources, I’ve since learned that Weiss may have gained some of her perception about Day’s supposed anti-Israel bias from her conversations with Cameron Stewart, a freelance cameraman who has been working out of CBS News’ London bureau since late 2019.

Read more

Justin Baragona here, bringing you the latest media dispatches from the right-wing industrial outrage complex. In tonight’s edition, we take a deep dive into Tucker Carlson’s mea culpa for “misleading people” into voting for Trump – and why progressives shouldn’t just take it at face value. Plus, we ask: with Trump’s approval numbers sinking to new lows, is it just a matter of time before Fox abandons him?

Subscribe now

Should the Left Embrace Tucker the ‘Tormented’?

You do not, under any circumstances, got to hand it to Tucker Carlson.

The former Fox star has increasingly drawn plaudits from progressives for his “credible anti-war voice” and outspoken criticism of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, resulting in Donald Trump unceremoniously excommunicating his one-time close ally and adviser from MAGA.

With Democratic lawmakers talking up a potential bipartisan alliance that would feature Carlson, the far-right pundit sparked even more applause from the left when he issued an apology for “misleading people” with his past advocacy for Trump.

“You know, we’ll be tormented by it for a long time – I will be… It was not intentional,” Carlson declared at the tail-end of a two-plus-hour podcast conversation with his brother, former Trump speechwriter Buckley Carlson, whom he colloquially referred to as “Uncle Buck.”

Subscribe now

“You and I and everyone else who supported him – you wrote speeches for him, I campaigned for him – I mean, we’re implicated in this for sure,” Tucker Carlson said. “It’s not enough to say, ‘Well, I changed my mind’ – or like, ‘Oh, this is bad – I’m out.’”

To be certain, Tucker’s explicit condemnation of Trump’s illegal war against Iran and Israel’s genocidal violence against Palestinians should be commended. It is clearly a good thing, and we can only hope that more on the right follow his lead on these particular issues.

However, I watched the entire two-plus-hour conversation, and it was readily apparent that the two had become disenchanted with Trump precisely because they believed he wasn’t extreme and fascistic enough, and they felt the president didn’t make good on his vows of retribution against liberals and Democrats.

Besides drawing copious headlines that hyped his mea culpa for helping Trump get elected, prominent left-wing personalities praised Carlson. Even Mehdi – who also complimented Carlson recently for challenging an interviewer to define the phrase “Israel’s right to exist” – briefly gave Carlson some kudos. That is, until he listened to the rest of the conversation that took place between the two ultra-conservative brothers.

Read more

Justin Baragona here, bringing you the latest media dispatches from the right-wing industrial outrage complex. In tonight’s edition, we take an inside look at how the MAGA grifting class truly operates – and what they really worship, a scandal in the world of media newsletters, and the violent racism directed towards a progressive congressional candidate because he had the audacity to speak another language.

Subscribe now

Inside the Cult of MAGA Grifters

For one brief moment this week, it seemed that Donald Trump’s deranged behavior had finally reached a point where even his most diehard loyalists in the MAGA media ecosystem couldn’t stand behind him.

That blowback, of course, was short-lived and quickly replaced by praise for the president. And with the conservative attention economy showing the need for pro-Trump grifters to stay in their MAGA lane to keep the dollars flowing, we have someone who was deep inside that bubble spilling the tea on how this exactly works.

Read more

Justin Baragona here, bringing you the latest media dispatches from the right-wing industrial outrage complex and Bari World. In tonight’s edition, we take issue with the establishment press delivering a collective shrug at the president’s increasingly deranged threats towards free speech – while they simultaneously prepare to “honor” him. Plus, we look into who Bari Weiss is wining and dining, and share the world’s worst history lesson delivered by Trump’s Fox brain trust.

Subscribe now

Trump Ramps Up His War on the Press

Within the span of roughly 30 hours, Donald Trump threatened to jail journalists if they didn’t burn their confidential sources and accused a news network of criminal conduct for publishing an accurate public statement. And in both cases, he called for the feds to criminally investigate media outlets.

Yet, despite the media-bashing president ramping up his already white-hot incitement towards the fourth estate to new levels, the White House press corps tasked to cover him has delivered a collective shrug.

And all the while, the elite political media class is prepping to spend a night publicly feting this man during a lavish party. But don’t worry, because in an act of unparalleled bravery, they’ll make sure to show the president their defiant support for the First Amendment by wearing matching accessories.

Read more