Another Russian-related lie was exposed today, this time the allegation that @nypost’s Biden coverage was “Russian disinformation,” something that every corner of the media & Democratic Party assured us was the case.
Don’t believe me? Well, take a look👇
Getting us started is @CNN, who had chief Russian conspiracist James Clapper on the program to talk about how the Post story was “classic textbook Soviet Russian tradecraft” (his words) and then did an “anatomy” of the “dubious” story.
But right behind them was @nytimes, who ran a similarly incredulous story, and whose chief political reporter @maggieNYT doubled down on the Russian disinformation angle.
But the real leader - as with all things Russian hoax related - was @MSNBC.
Perhaps the organization that looks the worst in all this is @CBSNews. One of their reporters, @BoKnowsNews, dared ask Biden about the allegations and was shot down on twitter by his own news director (and that may not even be the worst of it).
@davidcicilline may fly under the radar on it but he’s been a died in the blood Russian collusion guy, too.
But it was the bluechecks who really outdid themselves on this one. You’ll see many of the same names here as who pushed the Russian collusion hoax way back when. Here’s @Amy_Siskind
@neeratanden went full black helicopters on this one.
One of the loudest voices in all of this continues to be @brhodes, which is pretty incredible when you consider that the only reason we know his name is because he duped a media establishment that loved his boss.
As ever, the former Republicans found a way to outdo themselves on this one. Here’s @MaxBoot checking in with the four-boxer, and also bringing @CNNTonight along for the ride.
I will never forgive myself for once speaking positively of @EvanMcMullin.
There’s no way to fit all of the NeverTrumpers, so we’re bundling them together. Here we’ve also got @BillKristol, @davidfrum and @WalshFreedom
Space and patience are almost gone. Here we’ve got:
It is ENORMOUSLY dishonest for anyone to pretend that a politically inconvenient story is disinformation from a hostile foreign power.
Our entire media establishment just did this - AGAIN - along with elected officials and thought leaders.
Shameful. Just all around shameful.
We can’t live in a world where everything the left doesn’t like magically becomes “Russian disinformation.” No one even bothered to show this was disinfo - all they had to do was say it & it built the narrative on the left and in the mainstream media.
Okay, follow up. There was just too much to cram in.
You had to know that @ThePlumLineGS would be all over a good Russian conspiracy theory.
@NatashaBertrand and @politico thought it would make sense to quote **a Biden adviser** about whether or not the Russian disinformation allegations were legit.
This one is likely my longest and perhaps most savage threads. So much - too much - to tee off on.
Also @Twitter can you let me know how to flag potentially misleading tweets about the 2020 Election? I’ve got some recommendations.
Also, of course, these are the same people who shouted about the Steele dossier and the “pee tape” and everything else related to “Russian collusion” for the last four years.
I’ve got a separate thread with some of the worst offenders.
Biden’s pardoning of his son Hunter says an enormous amount about the president’s views of justice.
But it also says a lot about the willingness of the mainstream media—the nation’s noble fact checking corps—to repeat bogus claims that suit Democrats.
Remember? ⤵️
For starters, let’s revisit the coverage of how Biden wouldn’t do what he just did.
Biden said he wouldn’t pardon his son, no way. He would trust our legal system.
The media repeated it at every turn, without a shred of incredulity.
Here’s @washingtonpost
Seemingly every outlet did the same. @CNN had a couple of my favorites.
Look at the lede in on this first one.
The media’s job isn’t to simply repeat what politicians tell them. Whatever happened to “defenders of our democracy” and all that?
The news that MSNBC may soon have a new owner (and that it might be a certain X power user) compelled me to finally open my “MSNBC conspiracy theories” screenshot folder and, woo boy, there are a lot.
If you’d like to revisit them, buckle up, and follow along. ⤵️
There’s nowhere better to start than with Russiagate.
Do you remember the promotion from @chrislhayes, @MalcolmNance, @maddow and others at @MSNBC that perhaps Donald Trump was a Russian agent?
I, for one, will not be forgetting.
But there was plenty of other insanity from the gang at MSNBC about Russiagate.
Here are just a couple.
The first seems apropos with Trump again picking a cabinet.
Whatever happened to Harris and Biden’s “strongest economy ever” that the media spent so much time hyping up in the lead up to the election?
I revisit the claims, and explain why they were off the mark about the economy all along, in my latest @AmerCompass.
Quick🧵thread🧵⤵️
It can be easy, in the wake of an election, to forget just how dominant a media narrative was.
One that’s already fading from view was how “great” the economy was, and why it would benefit Harris on Election Day. americancompass.org/its-still-the-…
As a refresher, check out this headline from @axios about the data.
@YahooFinance upgraded Biden’s economic grade to an A. That captures the press sentiment at the time quite well.
In recent days, the mainstream media has taken nakedly ridiculous claims about the tattoos of @PeteHegseth, Trump’s SecDef nominee, to spin up a story alleging he’s an extremist.
It’s an egregious example of politically driven “journalism.” I unpack why. ⤵️
The story really started with @AP, who ran an article claiming that two tattoos that @PeteHegseth has have ties to extremism, citing an extremely thin (and downright suspect) report.
They used that to label him a potential “insider threat” in their headline.
It wasn’t until 3 paragraphs in that a reader was told what that claim rested on: a tattoo of a Latin phrase. They’d go on to mention “concerns” about a cross tattoo as well.
Would be great if Trump’s unconventional picks for his cabinet inspire the media to consider a nominee’s credentials.
They might want to look at the current HHS Secretary, Xavier Becerra, who brings to the table the medical experience of being in Congress for 12 terms.
Or perhaps Obama’s former HHS Secretary, Sylvia Matthews Burwell, who had just finished her stint lobbying for Walmart.
Or Donna Shalala, Clinton’s former head of HHS, whose credentials were as a university administrator and feminist.