| | | | | What a news day! This is Oliver Darcy filling in for Brian Stelter, who's getting a sunburn. I appreciate your feedback, so please do send me an email at oliver.darcy@turner.com or get in touch via Twitter. | | When the sun comes up, will President Trump's sharply criticized performance in Helsinki look any better... or will it look even worse?
On Monday "the world witnessed a betrayal the likes of which we've never seen," CNN's Chris Cuomo said just before dawn in the Finnish capital. The US president "sided with its enemy today," Cuomo said.
Jake Tapper made a similar point earlier in the day: "The United States was attacked, and today, President Trump sided with the enemy." Anderson Cooper called it "disgraceful." John King said it should be called "the surrender summit."
BUT... | | Trump's most loyal media allies move to his defense | | Despite it being an unquestionably dark day in Trump's presidency, all seemed well in the most loyal areas of the pro-Trump media world. Glimmers of light came down from the sky and offered Trump relief from a monsoon of criticism. Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and Lou Dobbs all went to bat for the president...
>> On radio, Hannity slammed Republicans who had criticized Trump's performance. He called them "weak, pathetic, visionless, feckless, spineless." Then, Hannity began his "interview" with Trump by telling the president how "very strong" he was at the presser.
>> Carlson, meanwhile, downplayed Russia's election meddling, bizarrely claiming Mexico has "more successfully" interfered with US elections than Russia "by packing our electorate..."
>> And Dobbs? Well, he called all the criticism "stupid stuff," telling his audience, "I think that the president handled himself perfectly."
The big picture: If Monday proved anything, it might be that at the end of the day, Trump has a stable of cable news personalities who will back him until the end of time... | | | Brian Stelter emails: We will probably never really know what happened at Trump and Putin's private meeting. But we do know what happened at the presser. And no amount of clean-up will make people forget the mess. Journalists stepped up to the challenge on Monday and helped viewers/readers process what they'd all just witnessed. | | Reporters couldn't hide their shock -- and I'm glad they didn't try to. As Margaret Sullivan wrote in this WashPost column, journos are in the "uncomfortable position of calling a spade a spade, with none of the usual recourse to false equivalence or 'both sides with equal weight' coverage..."
>> Mark Landler's news analysis for Tuesday's NYT: "Trump Sheds All Notions of How a President Should Conduct Himself Abroad"
>> Tapper tweeted this Finnish front page: "Trump 0 - Putin 1"
| | Critics say Trump committed treason | | Stelter emails: The word "treason" -- as in, Trump is committing treason -- entered the public lexicon in a whole new way on Monday.
Some of Trump's critics have been saying this for a while. But the deadly serious allegation gained a lot more attention after Monday's presser. Former CIA director John Brennan called Trump's performance "nothing short of treasonous." For a while, "treason" was trending on Twitter. Stephen Colbert said it again on Monday night's "Late Show." The NYT's Thomas L. Friedman says "there is overwhelming evidence that our president" is engaged in "treasonous behavior." And "OPEN TREASON" is the headline on the cover of Tuesday's NY Daily News.
As a result, we're hearing questions like this on TV: "Do you think the president's comments rise to the level of treason?" (That's from "AC360.") And when Trump arrived back at the W.H., one of the shouted questions from the press pool was, "Any response to being called a traitor?"
| | Maddow: Get ready for the "worst case scenario" | | Rachel Maddow said on her MSNBC program that it's time for Americans to get ready to face the "worst case scenario," i.e. the possibility that Trump has been compromised by Russia, that he's in office to "serve the interests of another country rather than our own." She asked: "What's the corrective to that? How do you remedy that?"
Maddow said she recognized "it sounds nuts to say it even now, even tonight" but "there is a reason there is a big national freakout happening right now over what the president just did in public." You can watch her full opening monologue here...
| | What will Trump say next? | | | Stelter emails: POTUS arrived back at the W.H. while "Hannity" was on. He didn't say anything to the press pool. What will he tweet on Tuesday? What will he say? Will he speak on camera at all? Will Sarah Sanders hold a briefing? So far, there's no briefing on the schedule. But Trump is scheduled to meet with some lawmakers on Tuesday afternoon. And Tucker Carlson's pre-taped interview with Trump will air Tuesday night... | | The meeting started late, then went long | | | The White House declined to even say exactly how long the one-on-one lasted... | | | Trump didn't call anyone "fake news," so I guess that's progress, but he "refused to stand up for the country he was elected to represent and protect," WashPost's Dan Balz writes in Tuesday's paper... | | Journalists didn't mince words | | | Many journalists seemed horrified by the spectacle they had just witnessed -- and were not shy about disclosing it to their audiences. "I guess 'wow' is now an understatement, but this is truly a remarkable moment in American history, 72 hours after the DoJ accused Russia of a criminal act against the democracy, POTUS essentially forgives Russia on the world stage,'" tweeted Chuck Todd. "This is what the Russians have been waiting many years for," said Richard Engel... | | Over at Fox News, the immediate reaction was not much different. "Fox & Friends Weekend" co-host Abby Huntsman, who is also the daughter of US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman, tweeted, "No negotiation is worth throwing your own people and country under the bus." Bret Baier seemed taken aback by what he described as a "surreal" news conference. Neil Cavuto went as far as to say, "I just found that Vladimir Putin appeared to run circles around the president." And Trish Regan, a Fox Business Network host who has been supportive of Trump, exclaimed, Trump "should have defended us!"
>> Brit Hume, tweeting about Newt Gingrich slamming Trump's performance: "Gingrich is dead right about this. And he's nowhere near the only Trump defender who's appalled at Trump's response today." | | Drudge: "PUTIN DOMINATES" | | | The news conference didn't even seem to play well over at the Drudge Report. Immediately after it had concluded, the usually pro-Trump news website's banner headline read: "PUTIN DOMINATES IN HEL." Oof. | | -- The Salt Lake Tribune, which is owned by US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman's brother Paul, has a column in Tuesday's paper calling on Jon Huntsman to quit...
-- Erin Burnett said former Trump NSC spokesman Michael Anton cancelled his Monday evening "Outfront" interview because "he said he could not defend the president on his actions today..." (Twitter)
-- Washington Post editorial board: "Trump just colluded with Russia. Openly..." (WaPo)
-- Politico's Jason Schwartz: "Fox News will point to its many anchors and pundits who were critical of Trump today, but the fact is, on its top-rated show at the most-watched time, its number one star gave Trump a ridiculous, softball interview..." (Twitter) | | US President or fringe right-wing media personality? | | Trump, on the international stage with Putin, came across as someone whose information diet solely consists of right-wing/conspiratorial media. Reading the transcript of the news conference, it is hard to see any daylight between Trump's ramblings and the nightly tirades of Hannity or other far-right personalities.
To deflect from answering the hard questions on Russia, Trump invoked a number of popular right-wing narratives. He attacked FBI agent Peter Strzok, said he wanted to see Hillary Clinton's emails and take custody of her server, and spread the debunked conspiracy surrounding Imran Awan. Viewers would be forgiven for confusing his words with that of a fringe right-wing personality. | | "Trump just stepped in to run interference for Vladimir Putin" | | One particularly odd moment at the Trump-Putin press conference occurred when Jeff Mason asked Putin why Americans should "believe your statement that Russia did not intervene in the 2016 election, given the evidence that US intelligence agencies have provided."
Before Putin could answer, Trump jumped in and started rambling, seemingly aiming to shoot part of the question down. Trump, among other things, said "the whole concept of that came ... as a real why the Democrats lost an election." As NYT's Jonathan Weisman put it, "Trump just stepped in to run interference for Vladimir Putin on a question from an American reporter on the Kremlin's effort to sway the presidential election." | | Chris Wallace is known to be a skilled interviewer -- and his skill was on display Monday as he pressed Putin on a number of issues, including election meddling, whether Russia has compromising material on Trump, Russia's annexation of Crimea, the mysterious deaths of Putin's political opponents, and more.
A remarkable moment occurred early on in the interview when Wallace read specifics from Mueller's 29-page indictment of 12 Russians to Putin. Putin smirked. Then Wallace attempted to hand a hard copy of the indictment to Putin. Putin refused to accept it. And that wasn't the only contentious moment. Wallace was relentless in his questioning, leading Putin to resort to claiming Wallace was misinformed on the issues. Watch video of the interview here...
--> Erik Wemple: "To judge from the number of times Putin tells Fox News's Wallace that he's 'deceived' or misinformed, Wallace is doing a strong job of holding him to account..." | | Wallace to Putin: Why do your opponents end up dead? | | Another stunning moment occurred when Wallace bluntly asked Putin why "so many of the people that oppose Vladimir Putin end up dead or close to it." Putin responded that everyone has political rivals, including Trump, to which Wallace quipped back that "they don't end up dead."
Putin then said, "Well, haven't presidents been killed in the United States? Have you forgotten about -- well, has Kennedy been killed in Russia or in the United States? Or Mr. King? What -- and what happens to the clashes between police and, well, civil society, and some -- several ethnic groups? Well, that's something that happens on the US soil. All of us have our own set of domestic problems." | | "Today's winners taking off" | | The AP's Jon Lemire and Reuters' Jeff Mason were both lauded for the smart, direct questions they asked both Trump and Putin.
"The WH reporters are asking really great, tough questions today, with firm professionalism," tweeted Lydia Polgreen. "Hats off." Annie Karni snapped a picture of the two aboard a plane heading back to the US, and tweeted, "Today's winners taking off..." | | -- Dylan Byers reports, via a source familiar, that Comcast is dropping its bid for 21st Century Fox assets, but that Brian Roberts "still has his sights on Sky..." (PACIFIC)
-- Weinstein Co. has closed its $289 million bankruptcy sale to Lantern Capital, a Texas private equity firm... (Variety)
-- Tom Kludt's latest: "Judge's order for LA Times to alter published story sparks outrage from press advocates..." (CNN) | | Sinclair's purchase of Tribune in trouble? | | | Hadas Gold emails: FCC chair Ajit Pai threw a huge wrench in Sinclair's plans to buy Tribune on Monday by announcing he had "serious concerns" about the $3.9 billion deal and has called for a hearing on the matter. Pai said he's concerned "certain station divestitures that have been proposed to the FCC would allow Sinclair to control those stations in practice, even if not in name, in violation of the law" and now wants an administrative law judge to take a look. | | This is what's delaying the deal | | | Gold continues: At issue is how Sinclair plans to divest certain stations in order to meet government media-ownership regulations. Several of the stations Sinclair plans to sell would actually be sold to people and companies with close ties to Sinclair and its leadership, either through family or other business relationships. The arrangements would also allow Sinclair to continue operating the stations. As a result, Sinclair wouldn't hold the license, but could still hold sway over the station. | | Sinclair's opponents didn't see this coming | | | Gold adds: Monday's announcement came as a surprise to Sinclair's opponents, because last year the FCC changed a rule related to something called the UHF discount that directly helped Sinclair buy Tribune. Many experts believe this could spell the end to Sinclair's Tribune deal. As The Wall Street Journal noted "agency history suggests that such actions are almost always fatal in the long run." Read Gold's full story here... | | "Shocked and Disappointed" | | | In a statement released Monday evening, Sinclair said it was "shocked and disappointed" by Pai's decision. Sinclair said, "At no time have we misled the FCC in any manner whatsoever with respect to the relationships or the structure of those relationships proposed as part of the Tribune acquisition." Sinclair added that "any suggestion to the contrary is unfounded and without factual basis." | | | Brian Lowry emails: The current administration's regulatory policies when it comes to media mergers have been all over the map, which makes the FCC chairman's "serious concerns" about the Sinclair-Tribune merger genuinely surprising — not because they're unjustified, but because it's difficult to square them with its response to Disney-Fox and AT&T-Time Warner, and the perception that Trump officials have been essentially rewarding the president's friends (of which Sinclair is clearly one) and penalizing his perceived foes. | | By Julia Waldow:
-- The WashPost has officially launched its own channel on Twitch, an Amazon-owned live streaming platform for gamers. Planned programming includes live-events coverage hosted by Libby Casey and the series "Playing Games with Politicians," hosted by Dave Weigel, according to WashPost PR... (WashPost)
-- The Information spoke to almost a dozen developers irked by delays to get their apps approved on Facebook Messenger in a post-Cambridge Analytica age... Facebook has since updated to its review process, and some developers say it's affecting their businesses... (The Information)
-- After two years, Instapaper is cutting ties with Pinterest... (TechCrunch) | | Netflix stock sinks after big miss on subscriber growth | | Netflix missed expectations for subscriber growth, prompting Wall Street to start "hitting the panic button," as CNNMoney's Jill Disis reports here.
The company said it only added 5.2 million subscribers last quarter -- a huge number, but approximately 1 million fewer than expected. As a result, Netflix's stock sank about 13% in after-hours trading. Read Disis' full story...
>> NYT's Tuesday headline: "Netflix, the Stock Market's Big Hope, Disappoints" | | House to hold hearing on 'content filtering practices of social media giants' | | The House Judiciary Committee is set to hold a hearing on Tuesday morning aimed at "examining the content filtering practices of social media giants." Execs from Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter are all set to appear. The last time this committee held a hearing on social media "filtering," Diamond & Silk were invited to testify and things quickly went off the rails. You will be able to watch Tuesday's hearing live on YouTube...
Nick Pickles, senior strategist for public policy at Twitter, is set to say in his opening remarks that "censorship will not solve political or societal challenges" and that Twitter is "committed to protecting speech." Monika Bickert, VP for global policy management at Facebook, is also set to say in opening remarks that Facebook is "committed to encouraging dialogue and the free flow of ideas." With Facebook's InfoWars problem in the headlines, it will be interesting to watch this hearing and see if that topic comes up. | | | For the record, part three | | | -- A rocky start for Prime Day: Amazon's website suffered "periodic outages" on Monday afternoon... (CNNMoney)
-- Lester Holt "will be awarded the 2018 Poynter Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism" in December... (Poynter) | | 'Full Circle' launches on Facebook Watch | | | Josiah Ryan emails: Anderson Cooper launched his new Facebook Watch show "Full Circle" from Helsinki with an interview with Pussy Riot's "Nadya" Tolokonnikova, who expressed disappointment that Trump did not seem to broach the topic of the human rights violations that have become characteristic of Putin's 18 years in power. Wearing a mask for artistic and security reasons, Tolokonnikova also argued that the American media gives Putin more credit than he deserves and that he and "his fellows" are mostly just interested in enriching themselves... | | | Brian Lowry emails: On Monday PBS announced a fall programming lineup that includes "The Facebook Dilemma," a Frontline documentary that "dives into the recent controversies plaguing Facebook..." | | By Chloe Melas:
-- Mandy Moore announces she's making a music comeback...
-- "Real Housewives of New York" star Countess Luann de Lesseps is headed back to rehab... | | Showtime calls out Sarah Palin | | Stelter emails: Sarah Palin claimed last week that Sacha Baron Cohen duped her by posing as a disabled veteran. Now that Cohen's show "Who Is America?" has premiered, Showtime is calling her out.
Variety has the network's statement: "There has been widespread misinformation over the past week about the character of Billy Wayne Ruddick Jr., Ph.D., performed by Sacha Baron Cohen on the Showtime comedy series 'Who Is America? Baron Cohen did not present himself as a disabled veteran, and viewers nationwide who watched the premiere on Sunday can now attest to that."
The Ruddick character was shown interviewing Bernie Sanders on Sunday's premiere. When Sanders inquired about the interviewer's disability, "he stated that he is not and uses a mobility scooter to conserve his energy," Showtime noted. "In addition, Baron Cohen never presented himself as a veteran of the U.S. military to former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin during the booking process or during the filming of her interview, and contrary to her claims he did not appear in a wheelchair."
Over to you, Palin... | | | Thanks for reading! Email your likes, dislikes, thoughts straight to me: oliver.darcy@turner.com | | | | | | |
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