The stunning history of William Barr’s crusade to bury evidence to protect Republican presidents https://t.co/iY8JjO8jje
— Raw Story (@RawStory) March 25, 2019
(this post has updates below including the addition of David Brooks, NYT, CNN & Politico)
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
Scratch that, actually. We’re living through one of the shittiest times in American history even though Very Smart Reporters of Twitter have made declarations that WILL make you question why we have national press in the first place.
There are some very smart reporters acting very stupid today.
Just say the WH spun you up and you’re dizzy
— Zerlina Maxwell (@ZerlinaMaxwell) March 25, 2019
OMG y’all—dumb takes on Barr’s cover-up abound:
1) Peter Baker, New York Times
@nytimes squealing "witch hunt is over!" is the *least* surprising take this morning h/t @EricBoehlert @StephMillerShow pic.twitter.com/L89l0x9lRu
— Will Is Social Chair Of Fani Willis Fan Club ⚖️ 🌻 (@bywillpollock) March 25, 2019
2) Terry Moran, ABC News
John Brennan has a lot to answer for—going before the American public for months, cloaked with CIA authority and openly suggesting he’s got secret info, and repeatedly turning in performances like this. pic.twitter.com/EziCxy9FVQ
— Terry Moran 🇺🇸 (@TerryMoran) March 25, 2019
3) Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept (a two-fer)
Good morning. The NYT didn't even try to caveat the truth to make the medicine go down a bit more smoothly for their readers. Their front-page headline this morning, as crystal clear as it gets: pic.twitter.com/9tCoHByQWB
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 25, 2019
And as for the growing "isn't-it-time-to-move-on-dot-org" sentiment: no way. This wasn't some 2-week story. This was the single biggest story the US media fixated on for *3 years* & got the crux of it totally & completely wrong in a very damaging way. It's accountability time.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 25, 2019
4) Chris “Scalding Hot Takes” Cillizza, CNN
Donald Trump spent 18 months running down an investigation that has given him, largely, what he wanted: A credible and well investigated report that he nor his campaign colluded with the Russians.
— Chris Cillizza (@ChrisCillizza) March 24, 2019
5) Ed O’Keefe, CBS News
WATCH: The Mueller Report is out and there's early signs that Democrats are divided over how to proceed. Our @cbsthismorning report for Monday: https://t.co/lPjNdjFR0M
— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) March 25, 2019
6. David Brooks, NYT
Beto O’Rourke and John Brennan owe Donald Trump a public apology. If you call someone a traitor and it turns out you lacked the evidence for that charge, then the only decent thing to do is apologize. https://t.co/DQTl5bGTf4
— David Brooks (@nytdavidbrooks) March 26, 2019
7. CNN
Special counsel Robert Mueller found that no one in the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government in 2016 — but Democrats are not ready to accept that finding https://t.co/ywnmPFjZ8X
— CNN (@CNN) March 25, 2019
8. New York Trump Stenography Times (repeat offender)
— Rebecca Pilar Buckwalter Poza (she | they) (@rpbp) March 27, 2019
9. Politico, aka National Enquirer on the Potomac
Are you surprised by the Mueller report? We ask 3 legal experts.https://t.co/2SlQO2GPWL
— POLITICO (@politico) March 26, 2019
The Mueller Report is not out.
Once again for the cheap seats: MUELLER’S REPORT IS NOT OUT—it’s been buried in a soup can in William Barr’s backyard. To declare otherwise is either willfully ignorant or a lie. Shame on the press for being so feckless and incurious about what we’re facing: a traitorous president* shielding himself and his pals/family from prosecution.
At least everyone learned their lesson about not getting out over their skis pic.twitter.com/cAf6KG2xYp
— Tom Scocca (@tomscocca) March 25, 2019
Without action history will repeat like a scratched vinyl record: William Barr was called upon by George H.W. Bush to cover up Iran-Contra and he was hired to do no different here. The press failed us in 2016 and they’re doing it all over again now.
Charles Dickens’ opening graph in “A Tale of Two Cities” says it all:
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
“Some of its noisiest authorities insisted on being heard” is exactly where we are right now. As long as news and journalism are left to personalities and catch phrases and dopey hashtags like Chris Cuomo’s #LetsGetAfterIt we’re doomed.
RELATED: PRESS PLAYS ALONG WITH BARR’S OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE PLOY (ERIC BOEHLERT)
I’ve written extensively in this space about why #TrumpRussia is the biggest scandal in American history and Barr’s attempt to cover it up—with an assist by national media—won’t change that. Have a look at my archives for back issues on this subject.
I’ll update as events warrant. I’ll be live-tweeting tonight’s Maddow show because it’s the only program I watch that gives us the straight dope. 😡
Trump’s Attorney General Claims Mueller Report Clears the President—that’s what an accurate headline looks like today
— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) March 25, 2019
UPDATE (26 March 2019): usual suspects at New York Times are out with “think” pieces (term used loosely) about how Trump has been vindicated. (Writer’s note: I’m not linking to them because I refuse to give NYT hate clicks.) He has not, ya know, been vindicated; I’ll now toss to twitter gal pal Xeni Jardin for more on NYT gross op-ed page:
UPDATE 2 (8 May 2021): VINDICATED; fucking vindicated. See my Twitter thread for all the receipts. National media helped Bill Barr craft a flimsy Mueller narrative that Casino Mobster wanted; many of us bloggers, journalists and other reporters watched the slow-motion trainwreck with abject horror.
Judge Jackson caught Barr lying about Mueller so WHEN DO RETRACTIONS HAPPEN pic.twitter.com/ihPsiVfeFh
— Will Is Social Chair Of Fani Willis Fan Club ⚖️ 🌻 (@bywillpollock) May 8, 2021
Will Pollock is a perpetually crabby New York City escapee based in Midtown Atlanta. He’s a freelance multimedia journalist, media analyst and author of two books (the award-winning Pizza for Good & Leaving Triscuit), with more on the way.
In 2001, Will earned his Masters from The Medill School of Journalism, graduating with highest honors from the magazine sequence. As permanent member of Journalism’s National Honors Society, he’s been active in monitoring, writing and blogging about media and journalism ever since he graduated.
Obsessed with good storytelling and journalistic excellence, Will uses snark, humor and reason to distill dumb shit and make it fun. He is a seeker/maker of non-consensus news, and will help you cure your crankies by finding the nut in every story.
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