Bury Weiss
CBS News rebels against a MAGA toady’s censorship, the president unveils a new 'Trump-class' battleship, and the DOJ releases a fake video of Epstein’s suicide!?
On this day, well… every year since 1997, fans of Larry David’s ‘Seinfeld’ celebrate “Festivus.” The secular, non-commercial holiday’s key features include an unadorned aluminum pole, “feats of strength,” an “airing of grievances,” and a feast! Here’s my airing of grievances: I wish Jerry Seinfeld had decent politics!
Don’t miss our LIVE in-person event in DC: Join Mehdi, Swin, Joy Reid, Jim Acosta, Sarah Matthews, Miles Taylor, and another special guest for a powerful evening at the Howard Theatre in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, Jan 20, 2026!
Good morning! Peter here, once again reporting live from my oh-so luxurious childhood bedroom. As I tweeted last night, I’m currently listening to Michelle Branch while surrounded by a true and proper cache of X-Men comics, Pokémon cards, and printed copies of Gore Vidal and Christopher Hitchens essays. I also come bearing sour news: This will be the final edition of the First Draft newsletter… UNTIL THE NEW YEAR! Believe me, Mehdi, the Zeteo team, and I have some incredible things in store for 2026. This is by no means a goodbye; it’s merely a see ya later, alligator! I hope the next two weeks bring you and your loved ones nothing but joy.
In today’s ‘First Draft,’ billionaire darling Bari Weiss becomes an international embarrassment, Donald Trump seemingly renews his effort to annex Greenland, congressional Democrats increase pressure on the administration to actually release the Epstein files, and Americans continue to sour on AI.
‘We’re All Fascists Now’
‘We’re All Fascists Now’
That was the rather prophetic title that topped an (at the time) tongue-in-cheek Bari Weiss New York Times column in March of 2018.
“We live in a world in which politically fascistic behavior, if not the actual philosophy, is unquestionably on the rise,” she went on to write.
Indeed, Mrs. Weiss. Indeed, indeed, indeed…
Over the last 48 hours, the faux-free speech warrior, faux-queer rights advocate, and arguably faux-journalist “editor-in-chief” of CBS News decided to drop the mask; she opted to go full fash, as the kids say.
As we covered in yesterday’s edition of ‘First Draft,’ on Sunday night, a mere three hours before air, Weiss nuked a months-in-the-works ‘60 Minutes’ segment on the Trump administration’s efforts to send hundreds of migrants to a notorious El Salvadoran gulag without due process. Beloved veteran correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi interviewed several men, now freed from what many call a concentration camp, who claim to have been subjected to “brutal and torturous conditions.”
Despite CBS News screening the story no less than five times and clearing it by both network lawyers and Standards and Practices, Bari sought to bury the piece.
Why?