President Trump has been the dominant political figure in the United States for ten years now, yet there's still so much we can learn from his biographers, and so much historical context that should be incorporated into the blow-by-blow coverage of his presidency.
Take the weekend's "recession" mixed messages. When Fox's Maria Bartiromo asked "if you are expecting a recession this year," Trump declined to rule it out. Then he gaggled with reporters aboard Air Force One, and a reporter pointed out that Trump "kind of hesitated" at the question. "Of course you hesitate. Who knows?" Trump said. "All I know is this: We're going to take in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs, and we're going to become so rich, you're not going to know where to spend all that money. I'm telling you, you just watch! We're going to have jobs. We're going to have open factories. It's going to be great."
Just trust me – it's going to be great.
It's that overconfidence, that swagger, that Trump fans admire and Trump detractors deride as propaganda. But where does it come from?
It comes from the late pastor Norman Vincent Peale, who wrote "The Power of Positive Thinking" in 1952. Peale sold millions of copies and drew people like the Trumps to his church on Fifth Avenue. "Trump imbibed the reverend's message as a boy at Marble Collegiate Church and has subscribed to his views all of his life," biographer
Michael D'Antonio wrote in "Never Enough."
Peale's boosters dubbed him "God's salesman" while critics "called him a con man, described his church as a cult, and said his simple-minded approach shut off genuine thinking or insight," Gwenda Blair, author of "The Trumps," wrote in 2015.
Peale preached exactly what Trump wanted or needed to hear. Trump once bragged that Peace "thought I was his greatest student of all time."
Peale's influence was the subject of a few news stories when Trump first ran for president. Since then, it has only come up sporadically. (There was an excellent CNN story in 2020 about the limits of Trump's positive thinking during the pandemic. Five years later, that story is like a time capsule.)
As the press and the public gets reaccustomed to Trump's 24/7 bluster topping the news agenda, it's worth revisiting some of the lessons from Trump biographers. I bet most people have never heard about the Peale relationship, for instance...
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If you haven't been watching "60 Minutes" lately, you have been missing some stellar reporting on the real-world impacts of Trump's wrecking ball approach. Last night Scott Pelley interviewed Hampton Dellinger for a segment on "what America is losing as President Trump fires independent government watchdogs."
It's hard not to view the tough-minded reporting as the newsmag's non-response to Trump's frivolous lawsuit against CBS and Paramount. Week after the week, "60" journalists are showing that they will not be chilled.
>> Related: At last week's RTDNA First Amendment Awards ceremony, "60" correspondent Lesley Stahl said she was especially honored to receive the award now, "when our precious First Amendment feels vulnerable and when my precious 60 Minutes is fighting, quite frankly, for our life. I am so proud at 60 Minutes that we [are] standing up and fighting for what is right."
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Meet the MeidasTouch guys |
A few weeks ago I mentioned that "The MeidasTouch Podcast" had surpassed Joe Rogan in some podcast rankings. The MeidasTouch hosts are "fast becoming power brokers in Democratic politics," the NYT's Ken Bensinger and Reid J. Epstein wrote in a profile over the weekend. This line stood out: "For its devoted fans, who call themselves the Meidas Mighty, MeidasTouch presents an alternate reality in which Democrats are ascendant and Mr. Trump and Republicans are in a state of collapse."
>> Speaking of the podcast charts, Gavin Newsom's brand new show broke into the top 5 on Apple's top shows chart over the weekend...
>> Scroll down for more political media notes. But first...
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SXSW continues all week in Austin.
This afternoon: Trump meets with tech CEOs at the White House.
Tuesday: New nonfiction releases include "On Air: The Triumph and Tumult of NPR" by Steve Oney and "Murder the Truth" by David Enrich. (This morning VF is out with a new excerpt from Enrich's book.)
Tuesday: Punchbowl News holds The Conference, a day-long convening in DC.
Wednesday: "Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney" starts live on Netflix at 10 p.m. ET for twelve Wednesdays.
Sunday: March Madness begins with Selection Sunday.
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Three cheers for 'The Studio' |
Eric Charbonneau/Apple TV+/Getty Images |
Television critics are tripping over each other to write the most laudatory review of the Apple TV+ comedy "The Studio." The show – starring Seth Rogen as a neurotic movie studio boss – premiered at SXSW over the weekend (see above) ahead of its March 26 streaming launch, and THR's Angie Han says it is "a strong contender for the best new comedy of 2025." TIME's Judy Berman calls it "the first great new show of 2025." Right now it has a 100% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes...
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When Fox's Jesse Watters got emotional on "The Five" last month about a friend "who got DOGE'd," the moment made the rounds in the White House, The Atlantic's Jonathan Lemire reports. "Trump watched the clip and asked advisers if it was resonating with his base of supporters," and "over the ensuing weeks, the president grew unhappy with the television coverage of cuts affecting his voters." Key words: His voters..
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Political media notes and quotes |
>> Lucas Shaw's latest: "Media moguls were excited for Trump to make them rich. Are they still?" (Bloomberg)
>> The NYT compiled this list based on government memos and agency guidance: "These words are disappearing in the new Trump administration." (NYT)
>> Trump is "appointing Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham and Maria Bartiromo to the board of the Kennedy Center." (The Hill)
>> "One topic Fox personalities are not quite as willing to run interference for Trump on is the economy," Greg Sargent observes. "And with signs mounting that Trump’s economy is hitting the skids, they are beginning to sound the alarm." (TNR)
>> This is the last week of Dan Bongino's podcast and radio show. With a little help from AI, the NYT reviewed his podcast episodes and produced "How Dan Bongino Would Run the F.B.I., According to Dan Bongino." (NYT)
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>> Tara Palmeri is leaving Puck and launching The Red Letter with the help of "an initial grant from YouTube." (NYT)
>> Conservative media was built by and for old men, but now, Max Tani writes, young conservative women are creating "an alternative to the manosphere." (Semafor)
>> Former 538 boss G Elliott Morris, who was laid off along with his staff last week, says ABC News "has now fully taken down the old 538 archives, including all interactive projects since 2014." A treasure trove of data is suddenly offline. He calls it "totally unacceptable and a real betrayal of the public." (X)
>> Correction: On Friday I wrote that The Associated Press was "rotated" out of its Pentagon workspace, but The AP was not one of the exiled outlets. Sorry about that.
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"FCC Chairman Brendan Carr sent a letter to the CEOs of Alphabet and Google, calling out the refusal of YouTube TV to carry a network, Great American Family, as a potential case of discrimination against faith-based programming," Deadline's Ted Johnson wrote. The letter "acknowledged the limitations on the FCC's authority over virtual MVPDs compared to cable distributors." But that's not the point; the public pressure is the point...
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>> Hadas Gold traveled to Atlanta and interviewed Steve Harvey for this report about celebrity AI deepfakes flooding the internet – and some possible legislative remedies. Read/watch here! (CNN)
>> Former Facebooker Sarah Wynn-Williams' tell-all book comes out tomorrow. Naomi Nix has a look at her whistleblower complaint about Meta's failed efforts to win the approval of the Chinese Communist Party. (Wash Post)
>> "Wealthy Chinese investors are quietly funneling tens of millions of dollars into private companies controlled by Elon Musk using an arrangement that shields their identities from public view," Sun Yu reports. (FT)
>> Musk is "emerging as a new star in Democratic ads and fundraising appeals." (CNN)
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>> Warner Bros.' "Mickey 17" pulled in $19 million at the domestic box office during its debut weekend, nabbing the No. 1 spot and exceeding expectations. (Boxoffice Pro)
>> A second season of Netflix's "With Love, Meghan" has already been filmed, and will come out this fall. (People)
>> "James Cameron, whose third 'Avatar' installment is due out in December, says the film will be the longest in the franchise so far in terms of running time," Dade Hayes writes. (Deadline)
>> ICYMI: Mike Myers returned to 30 Rock to reprise his Musk portrayal for SNL’s cold open. (YouTube)
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Five fantastic pieces from the weekend |
>> Kara Swisher's latest: "Musk's behavior is emblematic of tech's most heinous figures, who now feel emboldened to enter the analog world with the same lack of care and arrogance with which they built their sloppy platforms." (The Atlantic)
>> Taylor Lorenz explores why and how "right wing creators are dominating Lively-Baldoni coverage." (User Mag)
>> Amanda Hoover spotlights the "travel content creators who have gone to Afghanistan" for "Taliban tourism." (Business Insider)
>> John Markoff writes about Flipboard CEO Mike McCue, the new Surf browser, and "a long-shot bet to bypass the middlemen of social media." (NYT)
>> Zoë Bernard profiles "PR's fiercest pitbull" Lulu Cheng Meservey. (Business Insider)
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