There’s so much to say about the remarkable reporting from Jodi Kantor & Adam Liptak—and I’ll say a lot of it in Monday’s newsletter.
But the most striking thing about all of it is the role & behavior of Chief Justice Roberts. “Calling balls and strikes” this ain’t:
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/u...
present shock is also another interesting way of looking at it
yup, douglas adams' total perspective vortex incarnate
i think it's bad to pick the head of the counterterrorism center based on who you feel bad lost their congressional race
worth a quick read of the late, great simon maloy on gorka. too good to excerpt. www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity...
My latest for MSNOW details how the Trumps turned Fox News’ “Biden Crime Family” schtick into a business plan, and the network immediately stopped caring about political corruption: www.ms.now/opinion/trum...
there is plenty to say about eric trump going, of course, but i'll leave that for others for the moment
text from reuters article https://www.reuters.com/world/china/trumps-son-eric-join-fathers-state-visit-china-2026-04-14/ "Eric and Lara Trump are proud to accompany the president on his state visit," said the Trump Organization spokeswoman, Kimberly Benza. "Eric is deeply proud of his father and the accomplishments of this term, and is attending in a personal capacity as a supportive son. He does not have business ventures in China nor plans on doing business in China. He will not be participating in private meetings, but will instead stand alongside the President to mark this historic occasion."
why are we hearing about fox news host lara trump going on the president's trip to china from a trump org spokesperson
www.reuters.com/world/china/...
headline: Tim Pool on Trump posting and deleting image of himself as Jesus: “Maybe it's just an old man with an ego. But Donald Trump — I think this one for me kind of crosses the line.” "old man" is highlighted
www.mediamatters.org/tim-pool/tim...
45 suggestions from the Trump administration's proposed 2027 budget seem to be directly pulled from Project 2025's Mandate for Leadership. In some cases it seems like Russ Vought saved his more extreme language/ideas for when he was instated as OMB director.
headline: Right-wing radio host on Trump sharing image of himself as Jesus: “Older people, they do struggle with some aspects of social media”
they can't deny it www.mediamatters.org/jesse-kelly/...
i feel bad for our country but this is tremendous content
modest proposal: the cherkis, a weekly highlight list of the most audacious and ridiculous decisions on the pitch
fox news chyron in 2011 asks what "president trump" would do wrt Libya
yea this was march 2011
(watching Homicide: Life on the Street) Melissa Leo is WEAK on Crime!
watch out zohran is darthmaxxing
oh shit they did the meme
headline from mmfa, 4/8/26: Fox News host tries to combat Trump's “TACO” trait by creating acronym of his own Griff Jenkins: “Let me give you another acronym — NACHO. Never avoids confronting hard obstacles.”
Trump is GUACmaxxing — giving up american clout
this is a wild story. this level of detail cannot come without many of the principles talking to the reporters. this reads to me a whole lot like vance and rubio - especially - trying to cut their losses and throw the president under the bus. it's like something from W's second term circa 2007.
Pete Hegseth talking about Iran in January 2020: “What better time than now to say, we're starting the clock, you've got a week, you've got X amount of time before we start taking out your energy production facilities?”
Now he's secdef, and Trump is doing it. www.mediamatters.org/pete-hegseth...
simon maloy tweet: "matt schlapp" is the sound made by two pork chops falling onto a linoleum floor
there are a million simon ones but
real chance this breaks though — the standard line for right-wing media when hegseth's been under pressure is that he's fighting the deep state and the neocon war machine. harder to argue that when this is the story, not to mention the unpopularity of the war itself.
veep moment of selina being told "ma'am? jonah shot himself in the foot."
maybe it's just a product of my job but this annoys me so much
This reads like it was lifted word-for-word from Catch-22.
I wrote about how right-wing media figures are looking for scapegoats as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran spirals out of control. Two leading candidates: NATO countries who won't open the Strait of Hormuz, and the Iranian people who haven't overthrown the government. There will be more.
Very strange to see people effectively saying, "we all know the president, who we support, loves to do politically motivated investigations of people who displease him" www.mediamatters.org/us-iran-rela...
Feel like these two tweets sum up where we are right now
