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The day after my 30th birthday I was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.

Two years later, I’m in remission. I don’t talk much about what happened, but I wanted to write it down, both for myself, and in case it could help others.

If interested, follow along. ⤵️ This is admittedly uncomfortable for me. I’m trying to learn how to talk about the experience, because it’s obviously become a big part of my life.

If you aren’t interested in the details, I totally understand. But I want to get this story in one place.

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I’m sure you’ve all seen the protests and attendant anti-Semitism at many elite American universities. What you may not be aware of is the hypocrisy in how schools have handled them.

Do you remember what these places said about protests in 2020? I’ve got receipts. ⤵️ We’ve gotta start with @Columbia, given their central role in this drama.

In 2020, the university pledged to change how campus police operated, and said protests were part of a “heightened state of consciousness” on race & were driving the “revitalization of American democracy.”

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Want to see a media conspiracy, based on Biden admin propaganda to smear a GOP governor, come into existence?

If so, follow along. Let’s revisit the media claim that Texas “physically barred” drowning migrants from entering the country.

Another long one ⤵️ Back in mid-January, three people trying to enter the country illegally drowned in the Rio Grande. It happened while Texas & the Biden admin were fighting about security measures.

The Biden admin told the press a lie. The media ran with it, and most never corrected the stories.

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Do you remember how bad the media’s “Covid lab leak” - the hypothesis that the virus came from a lab - coverage was?

I thought I did. But it was a more dramatic example of uniform media malpractice than even I remembered.

So I revisited it. Buckle in, it’s long. ⤵️ It started in Feb 2020 when @SenTomCotton suggested looking into the CCP lab studying bats near the initial cases in Wuhan.

The media were outraged. In a since-updated piece, @washingtonpost said the idea was a “conspiracy theory that has been repeatedly debunked by experts.”

It's always interesting to me, the tweets outlets never bother to delete.

https://twitter.com/NYTHealth/status/1229409687776514048

The reason I take screenshots is that I'm always paranoid that an outlet or journalist will scrap the evidence of a bad take. Maybe I should be giving folks more credit for standing by their inaccuracies.

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I launched a newsletter, called Holden Court, about the media, what they get wrong & why it matters. The goal is to reach beyond what my 🧵s have on Twitter & to build a better recent history of media & media criticism.

You can sign up at the link in my bio. More ⤵️ At that link you can read my launch piece and get a better idea of what it is that I’m trying to do.

The piece also walks through a recent example of bad media coverage that I worry we’re already forgetting about: the start of Covid.

I’m launching something new, so naturally I figured the best explainer was a 🧵thread🧵.

Introducing Holden Court, my Substack about the media, what it gets wrong, and why it matters.

You probably know the drill, but more details & links to sign up in the tweets below. ⤵️ Holden Court aims to unpack media failures, particularly when the media misses in unison on important political topics. But I’ll also have one-off content, Q&A opportunities, a mailbag and maybe virtual (or even in person) happy hours, too.

Sign up here: open.substack.com/pub/drewholden…

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“15 days to slow the spread” kicked off four years ago Saturday, sending the media into perhaps its most deranged cycle of my lifetime.

I dove back into some of the worst lockdown media coverage from those early days.

Buckle in, this one’s long. ⤵️ The real worst of the coverage was when states started reopening. The media outrage was palpable. Republicans wanted people to die, we were told.

Remember @TheAtlantic’s “Georgia’s Experiment in Human Sacrifice”? You may’ve forgotten how wild the text of it was. I did.

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Another media conspiracy, this time that Trump attacked a Secret Service agent on Jan 6, imploded yesterday.

Remember when the media—in unison—reported the “bombshell” allegations as fact?

I do. And I’ve got screenshots.⤵️ You’re familiar with the story I suspect but just in case: when former aid Cassidy Hutchinson testified Trump had “lunged” for a secret service steering wheel on Jan. 6, the media rushed to print the salacious (& false) claims as true.

Here’s @NBCNews @CNN @ABC @washingtonpost

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Does it feel like the media call the border a “crisis” more lately? You aren’t imagining it.

After dismissing the term as Biden’s border crisis mounted, the press have broken it out to try to blame the GOP. @FreeBeacon

I break it down. ⤵️
freebeacon.com/media/watch-ho… The new change is stark. I went thru @nytimes digital archive.

Since Biden said the border wasn’t secure in late Jan, “border crisis” appeared in 26 NYT stories, even as crossings declined.

When crossings peaked in Nov & Dec, but there was no one but Biden to blame?

5 mentions

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What happened to the media’s legal “experts” who said Colorado was right to kick Trump off the ballot? Remember them? I do. @FreeBeacon.

Quick trip down memory lane after even the liberal SCOTUS justices rejected Colorado’s claims. ⤵️
freebeacon.com/media/watch-su… Here’s a link to the video which is incredible. Lot of media hosts and talking heads were convinced Trump was toast. (H/t @thaleigha_ for making this gem).

The “experts” said so!

Tough day for this media conspiracy theory.

https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1764668696151179687

Can someone check on Joy Reid? Is she doing okay?

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Remember when Biden didn’t have the authority to close the border? That’s what the media insisted…right up until Biden decided to act.

The press turned on a dime. POTUS suddenly had “sweeping presidential powers.” @FreeBeacon

Start here ⤵️
freebeacon.com/media/watch-bi… After Republicans accused Biden of refusing to do anything to address the border crisis for weeks, the press jumped in to suggest the president’s hands were tied.

Just look at this headline from @Forbes

The media hid the fact that the suspect in the killing of a GA college student was an illegal immigrant released by Biden into the country.

It’s another example of the media playing defense for Biden’s failed border policies. @FreeBeacon.

Quick 🧵⤵️
freebeacon.com/media/media-hi… A lot of the unsavory details were reported by @AliBradleyTV in a thread Friday night. It’s worth your time to read it: the alleged killer was paroled under Biden’s open border policies in September 2022.

The tragedy would be entirely preventable if we had a secure border.

https://twitter.com/alibradleytv/status/1761207022320812182

🚨NEW: The same media outlets who rail against “disinformation” have quietly accepted millions to push Chinese state propaganda onto their unwitting readers.

I dug into the numbers. @FreeBeacon

Some highlights 🧵⤵️
freebeacon.com/media/some-of-… Quick context: @ChinaDaily is a CCP-controlled publication that broadcasts Chinese propaganda across the globe.

That includes in the United States. According to China Daily’s FARA filings, a number of major outlets receive a ton of money to provide a platform for China’s lies.

The world is on fire. War roils the Middle East & Europe. Our allies doubt our resolve.

It’s happening under Biden. Remember when the media said Trump was going to create exactly what Biden’s failed foreign policy has?

I do. @FreeBeacon.

Quick 🧵⤵️
freebeacon.com/media/the-medi… It’s hard to overstate how dramatic some of the old press coverage was.

Remember when Trump was going to kick off World War 3? @thedailybeast, @USATODAY (seriously), @politico and @CNN said so.

An anti-Semitic shooter with “Palestine” written on her rifle shot up the church of a staunch Israel supporter.

The media were miffed about what the motive could be. @FreeBeacon

Some of these are ridiculous, so quick 🧵⤵️
freebeacon.com/media/media-st… This @ABC headline is incredible. A master of the art form of avoiding the pesky news you don’t want to talk about.

But if you really squint, you midge be able to fake a stab at the motive simply by reading their own headline (or at least the first half)

If the media think a president’s mental fitness is “irrelevant” it’s curious that they spent four years writing about Trump’s.

https://twitter.com/dylanbyers/status/1758160387206443456

Also interesting to say that they’ve done “soul searching” since they’re playing defense for Biden’s lack of mental “agility”

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The media are rushing to defend Biden against allegations that his brain is broken. Perhaps they haven’t noticed the president’s mental challenges.

But, boy, did they go after Trump on the same score. Do you remember? I do. @FreeBeacon ⤵️
freebeacon.com/media/not-root… You surely know the backstory. Special counsel Hur said in a recent report that Biden is too mentally feeble to be held liable for illegally handling documents.

But for @nytimes, we shouldn’t rush to conclude what anyone with two eyes can see.

Quite the headline update from ABC News

The initial one is just hall of fame journalists burying their heads in the sand.

Started // Going

The media, as ever, were happy to serve as the handmaidens of Biden’s lies about the documents scandal.