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16 Apr, 8 tweets, 2 min read
That viral thread claiming bias by comparing Trump & Biden Afghanistan stories juxtaposes cherry-picked headlines, ignoring many that don’t fit the preconceived narrative it’s pushing, which means it’s exactly the sort of biased analysis you supposedly savvy media critics oppose.
It’s easy to find straight news about Trump’s Afghanistan policy, including uncritically repeating his positive spin on it.
Does this mean all was positive? Of course not. It means that claims that it was overwhelmingly negative aren’t proven by finding some negative headlines.
That’s CNN. There was a lot of straight news reporting about Trump and Afghanistan in the New York Times too.
It’s also easy to find articles in mainstream sources, such as CNN, that cover Biden and Afghanistan negatively, including both critical op-eds and straight news stories that lead with criticism of Biden’s decision from military leaders.
If you're under the impression that coverage of Trump on withdrawing from Afghanistan was overall more negative than coverage of Biden on the same topic, that's my general impression too (although not nearly as one-sided as cherry-picked articles shows).
But why assume it's bias?
In 2019, Trump conducted an absolute shitshow in Syria. Announced withdrawal without consulting the Pentagon or US allies, US fled as Russian and Turkish forces moved in, multiple high profile resignations, and in the end he ordered troops to stay anyway.
medium.com/arc-digital/am…
Whether you favored or opposed withdrawing from Syria is up to you. But it's objective to describe both process and execution as poor.
If military leaders and NatSec experts observe that, and then express doubt about Trump's idea to withdraw from Afghanistan, must media hide it?
Large majority of NatSec folks think it's a bad idea, but reporting that they think it's a bad idea makes for negative coverage, so media has to pretend that there's actually more positive opinion in the NatSec community?
Is that really what you think unbiased media coverage is?

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More from @NGrossman81

Nicholas Grossman Profile picture
10 Apr
Yes, Georgia’s new law does some good things. And yes, some criticism of it is hyperbolic and inaccurate. But if asked to judge it by only those things, setting aside the bad parts and the Big Lie context, those who value American democracy should say no.
arcdigital.media/p/set-up-the-s…
Some good pieces I cite:
@walterolson makes the important point that emergency voting rules for COVID need to be made permanent, and notes that some criticisms of GA's law are misguided.
He's right, but gives insufficient attention to the law's bad parts.
thedispatch.com/p/why-state-el…
Georgia's law isn't Jim Crow, but as @jbouie explains, Jim Crow didn't happen all at once. When you put it in the context of the state's history of voting restrictions, and see new burdens falling disproportionately on Black people, it's kinda Jim Crowish.
nytimes.com/2021/04/06/opi…
Read 5 tweets
Nicholas Grossman Profile picture
2 Apr
Conspiracy charges against Oath Keepers for Jan. 6 allege "frequent and consistent communication" leading up to the attack including nearly 20 calls involving founder Stewart Rhodes.
He's not charged, but it looks like FBI is building to it, establishing the conspiracy in court.
Some of the Capitol insurrectionists were cosplaying internet conspiracy theorists who got in over their heads.
Rhodes, in particular, is not that. He was dishonorably discharged from the military, got a law degree from Yale, and founded a militia.
He knew what he was doing.
Prosecutors say Rhodes sent messages to an encrypted Signal group called "DC Ops 1" that included now-indicted people, saying "We need to regroup any members who are not on mission" as the Capitol was breached.
I suspected he was commanding the attack, and this looks like proof.
Read 5 tweets
Nicholas Grossman Profile picture
1 Apr
Why is anyone surprised Trump didn't get infrastructure done?
He was an incompetent president, he's lazy—watched a lot of TV, got energized for little besides showy fights—often thinks very short-term (eg COVID), and corrupt. So he managed to cut his own taxes and that's about it
An infrastructure bill is hard. You need to balance various interests. You need to get it through Congress, leaning on spending-skeptical Republicans. Competent White House staff helps.
"But he's good at building things!"
No he's not. That's just more image creation you fell for.
If you honestly assess Donald Trump, you recognize that he was way more motivated by making money for himself than by helping the American people (including his voters).
Once it was clear an infrastructure corruption-fest wouldn't happen, he dropped it.
Read 4 tweets
Nicholas Grossman Profile picture
1 Apr
Good piece on internet-driven harassment by ⁦@lyzl⁩ (with ⁦@chick_in_kiev⁩).
I have three thoughts.
1) Harassment is a very different experience for harassers, especially online. Toss some death threats in an email, click send, you’re done. lyz.substack.com/p/when-the-mob…
1 cont) But for the harassed, it’s an unyielding flood. Social media becomes hard to use, as normal notifications get drowned out. Email too. They go after family and coworkers, so even if you can take it, others in your life—who didn’t do anything—often have trouble with it.
2) “No one has to work in journalism.”
That’s true, of course. But we as a society don’t want journalism controlled by harassment mobs, where only the people they leave alone, or those with especially thick skins, can do it. Gives them too much power, bad for media and discourse.
Read 6 tweets
Nicholas Grossman Profile picture
31 Mar
QAnon believes *people in power they don't like* are engaged in sex trafficking. When people in power they like are caught engaging in it or similar things, they come up with convoluted explanations about how he went undercover to stop it, got framed by the real perpetrators, etc
QAnon diverged from Pizzagate & other antecedent conspiracy theories about secret cabals of powerful pedophiles by making up saviors—in particular Donald Trump—who were supposedly fighting it from the inside.
To maintain the theory, anything bad those saviors do must be dismissed
Despite its many strands, QAnon has a core of political/cultural tribalism and Trump fan fiction.
If there's a good "us" fighting an evil "them," no evidence of malfeasance by a prominent member of "us" can convince believers, because it would lead them to question core beliefs.
Read 5 tweets
Nicholas Grossman Profile picture
18 Mar
Don't change the filibuster to allow the majority to legislate, Dems, or Republicans will go all-out on the judiciary, which is a thing that hasn't been happening but could, or has been but it's Harry Reid's fault, or... look there's no real argument, but I don't want you to, ok?
Saying that a GOP-run Congress will be able to pass legislation isn't a threat if:
1) You're pro-democracy and think GOP electoral victories should allow them to pass legislation.
2) You've watched the GOP change rules and push things through by bare majorities when it wants to.
The argument is not "we reluctantly accept that you get a minority veto in exchange for us getting a minority veto because a minority veto is inherently good." It's "we can do what we want with bare majorities, and want to be able to stop you from doing what you want regardless."
Read 4 tweets

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