The biggest news out of NYT’s “bombshell” on Trump’s taxes is that it has flattened a conspiracy theory among Democrats & the media, popular in 2016-17, that Trump was hiding his taxes because of an illicit connection to Russia.
I’ve got some apology candidates👇
You may remember that, back when “Russian collusion“ was the talk of the town, countless pieces and tweets surmised that Trump hadn’t released his taxes because they would be filled with Russian connections.
Well, they weren’t. Wonder if we’ll get any follow up from @ewarren?
Or perhaps @HillaryClinton, who made this conspiracy theory a component of her 2016 campaign, will be interested in following up?
Or perhaps we’ll hear something new from @ChrisMurphyCT, who pushed this line more than perhaps any elected official?
I’m sure that @maddow, @allinwithchris or anyone else at @MSNBC would always be happy to have him back on, Senator.
Or maybe @RonWyden would like to follow up on his letter request, now that we know the dastardly contents of Trump’s taxes?
It wasn’t just in the Senate either. Here’s @SpeakerPelosi pushing the same entirely unverified claim.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that @RepMaxineWaters may be the most unhinged member of Congress.
Not an exaggeration to say the Dems were unified in pushing this allegation without evidence. Here’s @TheDemocrats.
But it wasn’t just the Dems. The media put together countless think pieces and investigations and whimsical musings on this subject, too, that went up in smoke.
I’m exactly zero percent surprised to see that chief Russian collusion cheerleader @MSNBC got in on this one. Also featuring @KatyTurNBC and @TimOBrien.
Each passing day seems to bring with it another part of the #RussianCollusion narrative unraveling, which always goes unremarked among those who pushed the original conspiracy theory.
We need a serious reckoning on what happened, and these threads will continue until we get one.
I’ve said it once & I’ll surely have to say it again:
You don’t need to be a partisan to see that the concoction of a bogus conspiracy theory to undermine a duly elected POTUS, pushed by multiple organs of the US govt, is a HUGE problem.
You need to be a partisan to not care.
There have been more bombshells that have come out to refute the Russian collusion narrative in the last six weeks than there was to substantiate it ever.
And we hear whispers, at best, from the same voices who pushed the original hoax.
We need - NEED - to talk about the conspiracy theories that the left pushes.
If the media ever hopes to regain the trust they’ve lost among millions of Americans, they need to take a hard look in the mirror about their role in all this.
I’ve got the screenshots to help.
Folks often ask but I don’t have anything to sell or ask you to subscribe to.
But with winter approaching, this is a really difficult time for a lot of food banks. If you’re in the DC area, I’ve always found Capital Area Food Bank does a great job. capitalareafoodbank.org
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
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.
My general premise for the newsletter is that media criticism could be a lot better; more driven by what the media actually does and says and more set in recent context, rather than an impressionistic sense that the media is hopelessly off-track.
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.
That doesn’t mean the threads are going away. But the amount of context and nuance I can capture in a thread is limited. So the Substack will (hopefully) provide that more robust analysis, aiming ultimately at *why* the media misses the way that it does.
“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.
But that wasn’t a one off sentiment. The belief four years ago among the media was that allowing people to leave their homes was tantamount to killing people.
@washingtonpost called it a “deadly error” — not in an opinion piece, mind you, but in a “health” news headline.
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
Trump was allegedly going to drive himself to the Capitol to take part in the riot.
That’s what @CBSNews @Independent @NPR @NewsHour said.
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
So what changed? Well, Biden empowered the press by saying the border wasn’t secure in late Jan. Then Republicans voted against a “bipartisan” border deal.
After that, the media were off to the races: yes, there was a border crisis, and it was the GOP’s fault. Here’s @CNN.
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!
Print reporting read the same way.
@nytimes cited an “expert” who said Colorado’s case was “legally sound” and that the only thing that could stop it was politics.
Why, then, did the 3 liberal justices also side against Colorado?