1. The New York Times printed this ridiculous op-ed by right-wing absurdist Rich Lowry. Anything for clicks.
2. After the assassination attempt against Trump in Pennsylvania, Politico detected a “new softness” in him. He was also suddenly “spiritual.”
3. When Trump visited Capitol Hill, scene of the Trump-incited Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, the Associated Press called it a “triumphant return.”
4. USA Today couldn’t decide whether Jan. 6 was good or bad.
5. This story about the Trump family’s fashion choices during a civil fraud trial was on Page 1 of the New York Times. Eleven months earlier, the Times’ story about Trump calling for “termination” of the Constitution ran on Page 13.
6. Classic sanewashing. Bloomberg said Trump “sharpened his criticism” of Harris on immigration instead of reporting that he claimed Harris was “mentally impaired” and warned that if she won, every town in Wisconsin would become a “third-world hellhole.”
7. When Trump called his political opponents “vermin,” the New York Times wrote this ridiculously soft and uninformative headline. After a social media uproar, the Times rewrote it but still left the word “vermin” out of its headline.
8. More vagueposting. CNBC’s headline says the “data is clear” but doesn’t tell us what the data says. The story itself says the data is “more in line with Biden’s narrative of American economic dominance than Trump’s apocalyptic warnings.”
9. Yet more vagueposting. The New York Times writes a story about Trump and Vance exploiting the death of an 11-year-old Ohio boy to demonize immigrants. But the Times’ headline blames “politics” instead of Republicans.
10. I’m part of the resistance. I’m not exhausted. I don’t know what the New York Times was talking about here.
11. Sen. Rick Scott used disgusting detail to lie about something that doesn’t even exist, what Republicans call “post-birth abortion.” Yet Scott got no pushback from Politico.
12. How embarrassing for the New York Times to be so ignorant about its own hometown that it thought Trump was once “Master of New York.” After mockery, the Times changed this headline to say New York was “Once Trump’s Playground.”
13. Yes, I know this is an op-ed, not a news report. But it was a journalistic choice (and a bad one) for the New York Times to print Matthew Schmitz’s opinion piece excusing lawlessness and describing Trump as an “outlaw hero.”
14. Politico, which just fell off the turnip truck, raises the possibility that Trump will “be guided by loftier principles.”
15. Major media must have euphemism desks to come up with alternatives to saying Trump lied. Instead, he’s “inverting the facts” (New York Times) and offering “revisionist history” (Washington Post).
16. The New York Times praised Nikki Haley’s “skill” at being two-faced. But instead of calling it dishonesty, it was “an ability to massage her message to the moment.”
17. Vivek Ramaswamy also got an affectionate New York Times euphemism. His lying was “a penchant for dispensing with the facts.”
18. The New York Times’ Peter Baker wrote about “gallows humor” at Washington dinner parties, as if it was funny that Trump’s fascism might force Americans to flee the country. Of course, the DC dinner guests might have a second home in Portugal. But most of us don’t.
19. Sure, Fox had to pay $787 million for lying about the 2020 election, but they got a debate! That'll burnish their image!
20. And then there’s this — major media folding to fascist intimidation. Shameful. Utterly shameful.
If you appreciate my media criticism, please consider subscribing to my free Stop the Presses newsletter, which examines how right-wing extremism exploits the weaknesses in American journalism. stopthepresses.news
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🧵A vote for Donald Trump is a vote for …
Vladimir Putin, beating up Capitol police, pathological lying, RFK Jr., repealing the Affordable Care Act, cognitive decline, theft of classified documents, racism, quack cures for Covid, a huge sales tax on imported goods ...
(🧵A vote for Trump, cont.)
... police brutality, convicted felons, Project 2025, fascism, women dying because of abortion bans, scams against students, marital infidelity, Elon Musk, Supreme Court corruption, demonizing immigrants, sexual assault, tax cuts for billionaires ...
(🧵A vote for Trump, cont.)
... QAnon, public discussion of a dead golfer’s penis, family separation, mockery of the disabled, betrayal of NATO, “termination” of the Constitution, an anti-vax campaign welcoming back polio, climate change denial, school shootings ...
For the first time, no major Chicago newspaper will endorse a candidate for president.
The Tribune is owned by Alden, which announced in 2022 it would end such endorsements. The Sun-Times is part of a nonprofit now, and under IRS rules can’t endorse.
I have thoughts. 🧵1/8
Yesterday it was revealed that the Los Angeles Times editorial board wanted to endorse Kamala Harris but owner Patrick Soon-Shiong ordered it to endorse no one. This seems like cowardice or, as those who study fascism call it, “anticipatory obedience.” 2/8 semafor.com/article/10/22/…
In the past, I haven’t supported newspaper endorsements for president. Endorsements may help in lightly covered local races, but people can get info about presidential hopefuls. And there’s a danger that people assume straight news coverage is biased because of endorsements. 3/8
Great work by @ProPublica in exposing how a “pink slime” outfit called Metric Media is publishing right-wing disinformation like the “Catholic Tribune,” which has nothing to do with the church. They’re trying to trick voters to push a fascist agenda. 🧵1/5 propublica.org/article/church…
ProPublica’s story gives us yet another reason to boycott the Uline shipping supplies company. Owner Richard Uihlein bankrolls “pink slime” outfit Metric Media, as does JD Vance’s owner and operator, Peter Theil. #BoycottUline 2/5 cjr.org/tow_center/the…
Here’s a good article explaining how these “pink slime” outfits pretend to produce legitimate local news when they’re really spreading disinformation. (WaPo gift link) 3/5 wapo.st/3NAFcxn
Here’s my updated list of reasons to vote against Trump. Pick your favorites and share them with any persuadable voters you know. 🧵 1. Trump incited a deadly assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. 2. His extremist justices took away women’s right to control their own bodies.
(Trump🧵) 3. He wants huge tariffs, which are in effect a tax on American consumers. 4. He stole top secrets and left them in a Mar-a-Lago bathroom. 5. He bragged about grabbing the private parts of women he’d just met.
(Trump🧵) 6. He called for a “day of violence” in which police could do whatever they wanted with no accountability. 7. He says his mass deportation of undocumented immigrants will be “a bloody story.” 8. He pushed the fake-electors scheme to overturn a fair election.
🧵
Ask the Trump supporters in your family if they know these things:
Trump’s “God Bless the USA” Bibles were printed in China.
Trump secretly shipped Covid test kits to Putin when they were needed in the U.S.
Trump says he’ll let California burn if the governor opposes him. ...
🧵(Talk to your family, cont.)
There is credible evidence that Egypt gave Trump a $10 million bribe.
Trump wants to pardon the rioters who beat up Capitol police officers.
Gen. Mark Milley, the top-ranking military officer under Trump, says Trump is “fascist to the core.”
🧵(Talk to your family, cont.)
Trump dined at Mar-a-Lago with a neo-Nazi who joked that the Holocaust was like baking cookies in an oven.
Trump promised to come up with a health care plan nine years ago, and we’re still waiting to see it.
Dear New York Times,
Your headlines are a disaster. Such as this one in which you depict Trump’s racism as “his long-held fascination with genes and genetics.” This 🧵 offers other examples.
Please do better. I’m willing to help.
Mark
1/14
When Trump called his opponents “vermin,” the Times wrote this mind-blowingly bad headline.
After a social media uproar, the Times changed it … 2/14
… but in the retooled headline, the New York Times still didn’t include the key word “vermin” that Trump had used in his speech. Other media put “vermin” in the headline because of its obvious echo of fascist rhetoric of the past. 3/14