Thread by @DrewHolden360

🧵THREAD🧵

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.

And MSNBC managed to cover seemingly every aspect of the fraudulent story.

Remember the Steele Dossier? It imploded, but not before @MSNBC and its staff did everything they could to promote it. @KatyTurNBC

All to darken the public’s view on Trump.

This was on of my favorite threads, revisiting Steele

https://twitter.com/drewholden360/status/1285363642930798596

Another angle of Russiagate that I think folks may have already forgotten was the claim that Trump was willfully ignoring bounties placed on US troops in Afghanistan by Russia.

@maddow was a huge promoter. @MSNBC ran with it.

The story was a bust. @SteveSchmidtSES

I did a whole thread on this one too.

https://twitter.com/drewholden360/status/1806467735364211056

@MSNBC’s coverage really touched on every topic tied to Russiagate.

Remember when they ran interference for the illicit wire tapping of Carter Page?

Again: all of this was in service of political aims.

And then, to hear @MSNBC tell it, there were Trump’s taxes.

Remember when those were going to finally reveal the smoking gun of all the Russia stuff?

And of course there was Hunter Biden’s laptop.

@MSNBC was one of the most vocal advocates that it was “Russian disinformation” rather than an albatross for the president on the eve of an election.

But it isn’t just Russia-related conspiracies that @MSNBC has pushed.

Early in Trump’s first term, they were instrumental in promoting a conspiracy that border agents had used “whips” on migrants.

@joyannreid even had @IlhanMN on to shake their heads.

It was bogus.

I did a whole story about the “whips” story too

https://twitter.com/drewholden360/status/1546635003567738882

@MSNBC and @maddow almost single handedly created a conspiracy theory about ivermectin overdoses supposedly leading to overwhelmed hospitals during the heat of the pandemic.

Again. It wasn’t real. Just anti-Trump propaganda.

I’ve got a whole thread on that one, too:

https://twitter.com/drewholden360/status/1434591443855753220

Do you remember when the FCC was going to end the internet? @chrislhayes had one of the best headlines. @MSNBC was petrified.

Did any of my followers survive Net Neutrality? (at least @BrendanCarrFCC did)

Back when election denial was a left-wing occupation, @MSNBC led the charge that Trump wasn’t a legitimate president.

No, really. Their words.

Or what about Covington Catholic. Remember when those kids in MAGA hats were supposedly harassing a Native American elder?

That story was bogus too. @MSNBC ran one of the most unhinged op-eds of that cycle (no small feat!). @amjoyshow

My all-time favorite of course remains @MSNBC’s (and Joy Reid’s in particular) promotion of the Jussie Smollett hoax.

And those conspiracy theory claims cut in the opposite direction to, when @MSNBC wrote off actual, important news as supposedly without merit.

Remember the “conspiracy” of a COVID lab leak?

Did @TomCottonAR ever get his apology?

Perhaps most consequential of all have been the claims from @MSNBC, @maddow, @NicolleDWallace and beyond that Biden’s cognitive functioning is totally fine.

They actively worked to cover up the mental decline of the guy with the nuclear codes. (H/t @townhallcom & @rcpvideo)

And then there was the promotion of grifters and other ne’erdowells.

From @MichaelAvenatti and Lisa Page to Fani Willis and Michael Cohen, there hasn’t been a voice they haven’t been willing to promote if said voice opposes Trump.

This side by side on masking just cracks me up.

Then there are just the ridiculous headlines. I don’t have the energy to go through all of these, but I promise you, they’re all real.

Including this one from last week.

Do they have any shame at @MSNBC?

My hunch is that they don’t, and that that’s part of the reason why they find themselves potentially up for purchase.

If @elonmusk is the one to do that, I sure hope he puts the network to better use.

In fairness, I don’t see how it could be worse than what @MSNBC is today.

@elonmusk @MSNBC Okay, a couple more because it seems like you guys liked this one and there’s more in the vault.

Remember “Jim Crow 2.0”? @MSNBC helped brand and promote that nonsense too.

@elonmusk @MSNBC Few outlets worked as hard as @MSNBC to promote Dr. Fauci and help him coverup the U.S. funding at labs in Wuhan.

Speaking of apologies, did @RandPaul ever get his?

Accusing Sen. Paul of “slander” sure sounds to me like…slander.

And where conspiracy theories go, @JoeNBC is rarely far behind. Doesn’t seem right to leave him off the @MSNBC thread.

From promoting Biden’s supposed mental competence to spreading disinfo on the pandemic and Trump (h/t @tomselliott & @kylenabecker), he’s been part and parcel.

@JoeNBC @MSNBC @tomselliott @kylenabecker @MSNBC has taken a special interest in promoting conspiracy theories tied to Trump’s health, from claiming he didn’t have Covid to claiming that maybe he wasn’t actually shot (h/t @EndWokeness)

@JoeNBC @MSNBC @tomselliott @kylenabecker @EndWokeness Oh and @MSNBC has pushed conspiracy theories about Israel, too, treating the Hamas-laden UNRWA as an authority, including blaming Israel for a hospital in Gaza that Hamas blew up. @mitchellreports

@JoeNBC @MSNBC @tomselliott @kylenabecker @EndWokeness @mitchellreports I almost forgot. @MSNBC was instrumental in pushing the false narrative that COVID was so dangerous to kids that schools needed to shut.

They had @rweingarten on to talk her book on it, without pushback.

If you like revisiting what the media gets wrong, check out my newsletter, @Holden_Court.

You can subscribe here: open.substack.com/pub/drewholden

@Holden_Court And if you’d like to buy me a beer for spending all this time with MSNBC so you don’t have to, I’ve got a better idea.

I’m running a turkey trot on Thanksgiving for a great charity that feeds those in need. You can donate here: zippy-reg.com/fundraise/2077…