Greg Sargent Profile picture
Aug 30, 2019 3 tweets 2 min read Read on X
When Trump blasts Fox News for failing to "work for us," what's key is the *open and unabashed* assertion that he is entitled to a 24/7 propaganda outlet working on his behalf.

The open flaunting of Trump's corruption is a key feature of it.

New piece:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…
We should view Trump's demand that Fox News function as his personal propaganda network, along with his nonstop lying and attacks on legitimate news organizations, as its own form of insidious corruption:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…
"All politicians shade the truth. But most hew to an underlying belief that gaslighting voters too shamelessly treats them with deep contempt; that at some point, factual reality has to matter; and that this is necessary for democracy to function."

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Greg Sargent

Greg Sargent Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @GregTSargent

Nov 21
A Trump-appointed judge just struck down a Biden rule expanding overtime pay to 4 million working people.

It's really surprising how little media coverage this has received. Trump faced no real questions about this issue during the campaign. 1/

(link)
newrepublic.com/article/188663…
Remember the media frenzy about "Rich Men North of Richmond," the song MAGA claimed as their anthem? The media spent weeks obsessing over it as a cry of anguish from the blue collar heartland aimed at elites.

That song was all about overtime pay! 2/

newrepublic.com/article/188663…Image
Image
In the song, singer Oliver Anthony says he's struggling with long hours/low overtime pay, and says elites are rigging the system against him. Yet the Biden rule is all about combatting exactly this kind of elite rigging of the economy against workers. 3/

newrepublic.com/article/188663…Image
Read 7 tweets
Nov 15
Awful: Senate investigations into Trump's solicitation of $1 billion from Big Oil and Jared Kushner's financial dealings with Saudis will now hit a wall with GOP control, Dems tell me. We're headed for unchecked elite corruption under Trump.

New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/188467…
For many reasons, conditions are ripe for right wing elites to loot the place from top to bottom. Remember when Trump vowed to give Big Oil execs what they want in exchange for $1 billion in campaign funds? Now we'll likely never get to the bottom of it.

newrepublic.com/article/188467…Image
Image
“The next four years are going to be a smash and grab under Trump,” Sen Ron Wyden tells me, because “special interests who put Trump back in office expect a return on their investment."

His probe into Kushner's dealings will get much harder w/GOP control

newrepublic.com/article/188467…Image
Image
Read 7 tweets
Nov 9
Disturbing: A big reason Trump won was undecideds couldn't be persuaded that millions of jobs lost in 2020 and death of Roe were Trump's fault, internal Harris campaign polling showed. Biden/Ds let Trump rehab himself to disastrous effect.

New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/188238…
Internal testing in the battlegrounds over many months showed that Dems were having a very difficult time persuading undecided voters that Trump was a bad president, per sources. They didn't hold him responsible for things they disliked about his presidency.

newrepublic.com/article/188238…Image
Image
Image
Some Dems still blame the leading pro-Harris Super PAC, Future Forward, for failing to spend enough of its enormous budget on bloodying up Trump early on. This let Trump rehabilitate himself and get his favorables back up.

newrepublic.com/article/188238…Image
Image
Read 6 tweets
Nov 5
How did Harris close the gap w/Trump on the economy?

Here's how: Harris campaign and Dem groups have spent a whopping $225 million on ads about the economy, per data provided to me by AdImpact. GOP caught napping, outspent by $70 million.

New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/187950…
Harris campaign/Dem groups spent $225 million on econ ads from 7/21, when Biden bowed out, to the present, per AdImpact data. Trump/GOP: $155 million.

This challenges idea that Ds are so obsessed w/Trump hatred that they took eye off the ball on econ.

newrepublic.com/article/187950…Image
Image
A fascinating thing: Harris/Dem ads on economy are aimed at different groups in the potential anti-Trump coalition: Some aimed at working class whites who are soft Rs, some at nonwhite working class who are Trump curious, some at more affluent voters.

newrepublic.com/article/187950…Image
Image
Read 5 tweets
Oct 31
Today’s NYT featured a headline above the fold that read as follows:

“Biden Misstep Delivers Grist to Harris Foes”

This gets at one of the very worst things about the way political media has functioned during the Trump era. Here's a thread on the problem. 1/
I'm not sure what Biden meant w/the "garbage" comment. But even the harshest interpretation of it can only be that he meant Trump supporters *who openly make virulently racist displays* are "garbage."

That's news, I guess. Cover it, sure.

But what made it *front page* news? 2/
Why did this merit above-the-fold coverage days before the election?

*Because Trump/Rs made a big issue out of it.*

The headline itself gives away how this works. The news hook is literally that it provided "grist" to Republicans.

The problem with this should be obvious. 3/
Read 9 tweets
Oct 28
People keep saying Trump's rally was originally intended as his closing argument, but devolved into a hate rally instead.

But the rally we all saw IS his closing argument. He is running explicitly on much of what we witnessed on that stage.

New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/187616…
Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden is best seen as an explicit, very public declaration that if he wins, well, he told you exactly what you were going to get, so you’d better bend the knee and get ready to swallow all of it.

It's a coming-out party.

newrepublic.com/article/187616…Image
Image
When Stephen Miller declared that "America is for Americans and Americans only," that echoes the "100 percent Americanism" of the 20s and 30s.

“Miller is evoking the extremist fascist rhetoric of pre-war America,” fascism scholar Lauren Young tells me.

newrepublic.com/article/187616…Image
Image
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(