Good morning! Here's the latest on Jake Tapper, Alex Thompson, C-SPAN, Rupert Murdoch, HBO Max, Bruce Springsteen, "Big Dumb Eyes," MrBeast, and more... |
'The plane' becomes shorthand |
"I want to thank the media," President Trump said this morning in Qatar while most Americans were asleep. "The media, I have to say, has been very fair. They've been very fair. They've been terrific, actually. I was watching some of our — normally they would not say good things, but they're having a hard time saying bad because this is a record tour."
Then Trump made some grandiose claims about raising trillions of dollars for the US.
Questionable math aside, the president must be avoiding media coverage of his "jet envy." The idea that Trump might take a state-of-the-art jet from Qatar, use it as his own personal Air Force One, and keep it after leaving office continues to garner criticism, even from some MAGA media stars.
This is not turning out to be a one- or two-day story. We're on day five now. "In his eagerness to accept a plane from Qatar," Trump has "achieved a remarkable feat, uniting many partisans across America's bitter political divide," the BBC's Mike Wendling observes. "The problem for the White House is that unity is happening in opposition to it."
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Criticism and a 'so what?' |
"Even Fox News hosts want Trump to ditch his Qatar plane scheme," the Daily Beast wrote overnight. The Fox critics are usually gentle, but critical nonetheless; yesterday on "The Five," for instance, Lisa "Kennedy" Montgomery said the Bidens were famous for "grift" and "it's a political mistake to be doing something that could be construed as the same thing." Greg Gutfeld remarked, "you've got to act better than your predecessor." (On his comedy show later in the evening, though, Gutfeld's panel yukked it up about the "gift.")
Here's the thing: There aren't many full-throated defenders of the plane plan. As Anderson Cooper said last night, "I have not heard any really actual justification for him for actually taking the plane once he would leave the White House."
The MAGA media figures who aren't trying to guide Trump away from the "gift" are mostly just ignoring the story instead, maybe hoping it'll go away.
Jesse Watters' position is maybe the most revealing. Yesterday he sounded like a human ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, devoid of any ability to appeal to ethics or logic. Trump "is going to take the plane. And you guys are going to do nothing about it," he told Harold Ford. "And the press is going to ride on it. And then if you win in the midterms, you're going to impeach him. So what?"
"The plane" is easily digestible, even more so than "Signalgate" was. It is becoming shorthand for all of Trump's stabs at personal enrichment while in office. Witness: Stephen Colbert spent six minutes on the Qatari plane last night, likening it to a penis-measuring contest. And MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell led with the story last night, saying "Trump's desperate public attempt to take this biggest payoff in history is a perfect way of illuminating to voters who Donald Trump really is."
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Historic birthright citizenship hearing |
Via CNN's John Fritze, here's "what to watch for during the Supreme Court's historic birthright citizenship arguments."
But there's no "how to watch" option. "There will not be video of Thursday's arguments — live or otherwise — despite a recent request from C-SPAN to carry the proceedings live," CNN's Devan Cole notes. "That's because the Supreme Court has never allowed cameras in its courtroom during proceedings, rejecting years of calls from TV networks, public interest groups and lawmakers for greater transparency of its work."
The court did not respond to C-SPAN's latest request. But live audio of the oral arguments will be streamed here.
>> Background: The NYT's Abbie VanSickle documented how a "once-fringe" theory about the 14th Amendment made it into the Oval Office.
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Andrew Kirell writes: Bruce Springsteen is back — and he's pissed. For the first two years of his post-pandemic world tour, Springsteen's sets were autobiographical and introspective, notably devoid of the political statements that have long been a staple of his career.
But after a seven-month break, during which Trump 2.0 took office, Bruce returned to the stage last night in Manchester, England, with an overhauled set full of political songs and fiery sermons. He called the Trump administration both "treasonous" and "corrupt" and implored "all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experience to rise with us. Raise your voices against authoritarianism and let freedom ring."
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How 'Original Sin' was fact-checked |
Publishers don't typically fact-check the books they release. (This has been a point of contention in the industry for a long time.) So when Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson wrote "Original Sin," the authors hired the head of The New Yorker's famed fact-checking department, Fergus McIntosh, to ensure everything in the book was fully buttoned-up.
I was curious about this because the Biden camp is sure to issue with some of the reporting. I'm told every single person mentioned in "Original Sin" was given opportunity for comment during the process, and before The New Yorker published the excerpt on Tuesday, the magazine fact-checked it again.
>> Another rave review: "Of the many virtues of 'Original Sin,' the greatest is its stubborn focus on Biden's health as not just the most important factor in the 2024 election but the sole defining reason for Trump's victory," Alex Shephard writes in this WaPo book review. He came away convinced by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson's assessment: "Over the next year, dozens of books will appear that attempt to explain this election. It’s hard to imagine any doing better."
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Misinformation studies, cancelled |
"The Trump administration has sharply expanded its campaign against experts who track misinformation and other harmful content online, abruptly canceling scores of scientific research grants at universities across the country," the NYT's Steven Lee Myers reports. The cutbacks will "stifle findings about the noxious content that is increasingly polluting social media and political discourse."
>> "I'm almost certain this is going to lead to a vastly more polluted information environment," Boston University economist Marshall Van Alstyne said...
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Smartmatic claims Murdoch destroyed evidence |
Marshall Cohen reports: Smartmatic, the voting tech firm suing Fox News for defamation over its 2020 election coverage, levied stunning new allegations in court filings yesterday. The company claims that Rupert Murdoch and other senior execs intentionally destroyed damning evidence in the case "despite a clear duty to preserve evidence."
A Fox rep says the allegations are a "desperate attempt to distract" from a recent evidentiary ruling that was decided in the company's favor...
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No immediate ruling in CPB case |
CNN's Betül Tuncer writes: Judge Randolph Moss heard arguments in the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's case against the Trump administration yesterday. The judge left the bench promising a decision before June — sometime before the next CPB board meeting.
Speaking of... "Public broadcasting officials from across the country plan to descend on Capitol Hill today in hopes of convincing lawmakers to preserve their federal funding," NPR's David Folkenflik reports.
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>> The nonprofit National Trust for Local News is "selling most of its community newspapers in Colorado" to "a company with a history of gutting local outlets," Sarah Scire reports. (NiemanLab)
>> Ministers are moving closer to resolving "an impasse over The Daily Telegraph's ownership." (Sky News)
>> Nate Bargatze's "Big Dumb Eyes" has debuted at #1 on the NYT nonfiction best seller list. (NYT)
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The Kids Online Safety Act is back |
☝️ That's the headline on Lauren Feiner's latest for The Verge. "The Kids Online Safety Act, a bill imposing sweeping obligations on tech platforms to protect children that use them, has been revived in the Senate after a failed sprint to become law late last year." Details here...
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'These rebrands are trying to murder me' |
Alright, X, it's your move now. Bring back the name Twitter!
Yesterday Warner Bros. Discovery (CNN's parent) said it is putting the HBO back in the name HBO Max, rebranding (or debranding) the Max streaming service once again to emphasize its high-quality HBO content. Knowing the decision would get some laughs at the upfront presentation and online, the company's social media team spent the day "mocking itself with memes," Dan Whateley wrote for Business Insider. My favorite was a repurposing of a famous "White Lotus" line: Max's X bio was edited to read "these rebrands are trying to murder me." EW rounded up some of the other jokes here.
>> THR's Tony Maglio says the name change is likely the "latest sign of a potential division of WBD assets."
>> In other upfront news, CNN previewed a forthcoming streaming video product and "unveiled a slate of new originals that includes series featuring Eva Longoria and Tony Shalhoub and the renewal of 'Have I Got News For You.'"
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Netflix & YouTube close out the upfronts |
>> Netflix promoted 114 forthcoming movies and TV shows. I paid the most attention to the live programming lineup, including a rematch between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano on July 1, two Christmas Day NFL matchups, the SAG Awards, and "Netflix Tudum." (TechCrunch)
>> Netflix also said yesterday that "its cheaper, ad-supported tier now has 94 million monthly active users — an increase of more than 20 million since its last public tally in November." (CNBC)
>> NFL commish Roger Goodell took to the YouTube and Netflix stages to announce games on both platforms. At the latter, he brought out Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones who gave a difficult-to-follow speech that included a bizarre Rupert Murdoch shoutout. (THR)
>> YouTube showed off its massive array of content creators (think MrBeast) and live events and capped the night with a five-song Lady Gaga set. (Variety)
>> Speaking of MrBeast, he is "at the center of another controversy, and this time it directly involves Mexico." (CNN)
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>> New Line Cinema's "Final Destination Bloodlines" is looking at a $48 million to $60 million range for its opening weekend. (Boxoffice)
>> Cannes reviews are in for the Tom Cruise-led "Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning," and the film, possibly Cruise's last in the franchise, is pulling favorable reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an 88% Tomatometer score. (RT)
>> Brian Lowry says "Mission Impossible" is "the perfect title for the seemingly impossible mission" that Paramount Global and chair Shari Redstone face. (TheWrap)
>> Speaking of Paramount, the WSJ is out with a new profile of George Cheeks. (WSJ)
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