Forward

Trump's closing message for the midterms

The key messages in President Trump's midterms playbook: "Hate the media. Fear the migrant caravan. Save me from Democratic oversight."

He's trying to stay on message despite the Pittsburgh massacre and the fallout from the wave of mail bombs. That means he's bashing the "fake news" while newsrooms are on a heightened state of security alert. That means he's talking about a migrant "invasion" at the southern border while authorities examine the Pittsburgh shooter's hatred of "invaders" and Jews.

And he is scheduled to travel to Pittsburgh on Tuesday, even though the mayor has urged him to postpone the visit... This is likely to be a very big story on Tuesday...

A White House scolding

Sarah Sanders surprised the press corps by scheduling a rare W.H. briefing on Monday — but as Daniel Dale pointed out, it was more of a scolding than a briefing.

"They just want to lash out," CNN's Jim Acosta explained afterward. "That might be part of the reason why we were brought into this briefing today. They wanted to get back to their midterms game plan, which is to go after the press and talk about the caravan..."

CNN responds to Sanders

At the briefing, Sanders claimed that CNN rushed to "blame the president" for the pipe bombs.

CNN PR responded: "No @PressSec, CNN did not say @realDonaldTrump was directly responsible for the bomb sent to our office by his ardent and emboldened supporter. We did say that he, and you, should understand your words matter. Every single one of them. But so far, you don't seem to get that."

Bloomberg: Trump is "inciting people"

The president "should be unifying and instead he is exciting people, inciting people," Michael Bloomberg told CNN's Cristina Alesci in an exclusive interview on Monday.

The media exec and 2020 possibility said Trump is using his position irresponsibly: "You don't use the bully pulpit as the President of the United States to rile up people and say things as a joke or as a campaign promise. That's not what the president should be doing. The president's words matter."

Colbert speaks for everyone

The start of Stephen Colbert's monologue on Monday night: "Last week scientists discovered that a hurricane had wiped out a tiny Hawaiian island. Just wiped it right off the face of the earth. And, uhh, I want to move there!" His audience applauded. "Because it has been a rough week on the non-submerged parts of America..."

"INVADERS"

The shooting suspect echoed this TV talking point

On October 21, the Pittsburgh suspect wrote on Gab, "I have noticed a change in people saying 'illegals' that now say 'invaders'. I like this."

His social media footprint showed how hatred of Jews merged with a hatred of immigrant "invaders." We may never know where he heard this hateful language, but right-wing TV and radio has been saturated with "invasion" and "invaders" talk for the last two weeks. Websites and social media feeds have been spreading conspiracy theories about Jews helping with the caravan. So I hope there's some soul-searching — even belatedly — about this dehumanizing content and coverage.

FIRST KEY POINT: Fox hosts, Fox guests and GOP leaders were all talking about an imminent "invasion," even though no such thing is happening. On Fox, I counted more than 60 "invasion" references since October 16. "Invading" was brought up more than a dozen times. On Fox Biz, I counted more than 75 "invasion" references, mostly on Lou Dobbs' show. (This data includes repeats.)

SECOND KEY POINT: In the comment sections on YouTube and other sites, anonymous users frequently went even further than Fox's TV stars. Here's my full story...

Now Trump is using the word

The president apparently isn't second guessing himself. On Monday, he used the word "invasion" for the first time in a tweet to describe the caravan. And he gave an interview to Fox's Laura Ingraham and talked about immigration at length. "We're being invaded," he said at one point. He claimed that "this has nothing to do with elections..."

But many Americans, perhaps most, are looking at Trump's decision to send 5,200 troops to the border as a stunt, as political theater. He's "doubling down on one of his favorite base-rallying issues with the midterm elections just days away," CNN's Pentagon team says.

On MSNBC's "All In," Michelle Goldberg said, "Trump has not only created this big lie about the caravan that has inspired mass murder, but he is now shifting the resources of government to instantiate his lie." At the same time on Fox, Tucker Carlson reassured his viewers that "the migrant caravan is a real thing..."

What do you do with "invaders?"

Oliver Darcy emails: As I told Brooke Baldwin earlier, I think the natural question to ask is: What do you do with invaders? This rhetoric from Fox is particularly charged because of what it tells the Fox audience. One doesn't let "invaders" into their home. When faced with invaders, one generally uses everything at their disposal to confront them — including force. That's the message that Fox is relaying to millions of people...

Shep speaks truth

"There is no invasion. No one is coming to get you," Shep Smith said on Monday. "There is nothing at all to worry about." The caravan talk is all about the midterms, he said.

Oliver Darcy adds: It's remarkable how it has become a regular occurrence for Smith to rebut the rhetoric coming from the channel's biggest stars (Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, etc). Smith's show effectively serves as a portal that briefly transports viewers from the Fox universe into reality. For those who have Fox on all day, that world -- aka reality -- must feel like an alien universe...

Another day, another package sent to CNN

This time, the package was sent to CNN headquarters in Atlanta. It was intercepted at a nearby post office on Monday morning. The package looked identical to the mail bomb suspect's other creations, and authorities believe it was his. It was addressed to CNN, not to any particular person. Details...

Zucker: "The screening process is working"

As a result of Wednesday's package at CNN NYC, all mail destined for CNN's US offices is now being screened first at off-site facilities. So this package in Atlanta "would NOT have come directly to the CNN Center, even if it hadn't been intercepted first," Jeff Zucker told staffers. "Our screening process is working and we will keep you updated as we learn more." Here's my full story...

Some cheer for CNN

This was quite the sight outside CNN's NYC offices on Monday: Members of a protest singing group gathered outside to thank CNN staffers and sing carols. "STAY STRONG CNN," one of their signs said. Frank Pallotta said he walked outside thinking these were protesters, when in fact they were supporters. "Thank you, CNN," they shouted. The group had a clear liberal bent -- some of their signs said "Real news, fake president..."

False alarm at NYT

As NBC NY first reported on Monday, the mail bomb suspect had a list of targets. Law enforcement officials told CNN that it was a "list of more than 100 people." Some of them have been notified by the FBI. And that's why the NYPD bomb squad was at the The New York Times building on Monday night.

After the all clear was given, here's what the NYT told staffers: "Earlier today, the FBI notified us that a Times editor was on a list of potential targets of the suspect in last week's rash of suspicious packages. This evening, a suspicious envelope addressed to that employee was discovered in a newsroom mailbox. NYPD responded and removed the envelope from the premises for further testing. The police have now told us that the package contained only papers and was harmless." The Times newsroom was not affected or evacuated during the scare...

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- Maggie Haberman on "AC360" Monday night: "It is fine to take issue with coverage" but "it is not fine to talk about 'enemy of the people.' That is the language of despots in other countries. And it is dangerous from the president."

-- Alisyn Camerota wrote for CNN.com aabout how she went to Trump Tower in 2016 for a meeting with Trump and "tried to explain the role of the free press to him." She notes that it "didn't work..." (CNN)

-- Read Erik Wemple on "the untrackable horror of Fox Business and Fox News..." (WaPo)

Media Matters pressuring Fox's advertisers

The liberal media monitoring group Media Matters, staunch opponents of Fox News, is moving closer to a full-fledged advertiser pressure campaign against Fox News. The group's president Angelo Carusone said Monday that Fox's "never-ending focus on demonizing political opponents and front-line communities — echoing Trump and framing the struggle against these groups as an urgent matter of life or death — makes the network an increasingly bad business decision for advertisers."

Carusone — who previously led boycott efforts against Glenn Beck and others — is calling out some Fox advertisers by name, like Expedia, McDonalds and Capital One -- telling them to "listen to their customers" and "consider suspending their relationship with Fox News until the network makes meaningful changes to curb its propagandistic narratives that intentionally spread disinformation and incentivize violence." And he's publishing a list of advertisers. But he is not actually calling for a boycott. We'll see how this unfolds...

I asked Fox to comment. Marianne Gambelli, president of ad sales for Fox News and Fox Biz, responded: "We cannot and will not allow voices to be censored by agenda-driven intimidation efforts. Media Matters continues to turn a blind eye to every television network but Fox News since it's the only outlet that doesn't subscribe to their extreme left-wing political agenda."

Drudge's rare rebuke of Fox

Oliver Darcy emails: In a rare rebuke, Matt Drudge laced into Fox News Monday afternoon for a segment that aired during "Outnumbered." In the segment, a chyron noted that the discussion topics were the recent mail bombs and shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue. But the anchors joked throughout it, laughing aloud at times. Drudge, seemingly disgusted, tweeted, "A segment on Fox News this morning where hosts laughed and joked their way through a discussion on political impact of terror was bizarre. Not even 48 hours since blood flowed at a synagogue? Check your soul in the makeup chair!"

A Fox News spokesperson responded in a statement: "Kennedy made an unrelated quip at the end of the segment which was focused on unity – there was absolutely no joking or laughing about the events of this weekend and a screen grab of her smiling is hardly indicative of the entire segment. The lower third should not have been up for the duration of this segment as it was not fully reflective of what the panelists were discussing."

>> Of note, there was joking and laughing throughout the segment in question, not just at the end...

Ioffe's apology

During an intense discussion on "The Lead" on Monday, Julia Ioffe said that "this president has radicalized so many more people than ISIS ever did." The comment shocked a lot of people. Later in the hour, Ioffe apologized on the show and said she "exaggerated."

She repeated her apology on Twitter. "This has been a very emotional and painful time, but I absolutely should not have gone with such hyperbole on the air. I apologize," she wrote. "I will add, though, that it is not a coincidence that the number of anti-Semitic attacks has jumped nearly 60% in 2017—the biggest one-year increase in recent history—while this administration has systematically pulled back resources from countering domestic extremism."

>> Later, Ingraham brought up Ioffe's comment to Trump, and he said she "must be some kind of a sick woman." Neither Ingraham or Trump acknowledged her apology...

Why this Trump ad hid the CNN logo

Oliver Darcy emails: One of the most common complaints from Trump supporters is that CNN does not cover the positive economic news emerging during the Trump presidency -- which makes the latest ad from the Trump campaign quite interesting. In the ad, a TV screen can be seen playing a news program that is covering the low unemployment rate. That news program is CNN's "New Day." Unfortunately, the Trump campaign went through the work of blurring the CNN logo from the screen so that viewers cannot see that it was in fact a CNN anchor, Christine Romans, discussing the positive job numbers. I wonder why they would have done that? 🤔

While Trump's attacks on the media "are usually centered on national outlets like CNN and The New York Times, the attitudes unleashed have filtered down to journalists on the street covering news in local communities across the country..."

--The AP's David Bauder in this story titled "Anger toward media spreads into local communities"

IN OTHER NEWS...

Megyn v. NBC update

Among the issues Megyn Kelly and NBC are haggling over: "Money and a non-disclosure and non-disparagement clause," THR's Marisa Guthrie reports. Her sources say that "Kelly is resisting an NDA." And I'm hearing the same thing.

But the biggest sticking point is probably the money. "Over the weekend and today, increasingly intractable NBC News boss Andy Lack has made it clear in talks with Kelly's reps that a hefty payout for the rest of her $69 million contract is a non-starter," Deadline's Dominic Patten reports, citing "well-positioned sources."

Kelly and her lawyer Bryan Freedman want the full sum of $$, of course. "Now it is all a matter of how lucratively it will end for Kelly and NBC and how soon that will officially come," Patten says...

The new 9 a.m. hour...

"We are starting a new chapter in the third hour of our show," Hoda Kotb said on Monday's "Today." With Kelly's show cancelled, "NBC is planning – for now – to utilize the crew that anchors the first two flagship hours of the show to carry it forward in its third," Variety's Brian Steinberg writes.

Savannah Guthrie in Pittsburgh joined Kotb, Al Roker and Craig Melvin in NYC on Monday's 9 a.m. hour...

New iPads on Tuesday?

That's what tech reporters are expecting from Apple. The company is holding a holiday season product launch event at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's opera house Tuesday at 10 a.m. I'll be there along with Samantha Kelly and Moss Cohen... Details to come...

World Series #'s

The five-game series averaged 14.3 million viewers at any given time, a 23% drop-off from the seven-game series last year, Variety reports. Game 5 on Sunday night averaged 17.6 million viewers...

Per SBD's Eric Fisher, "Fox Sports attributed this year's surprising audience drop for the World Series to several factors, including a diminished national appeal for the Red Sox, reduced TV viewership industry-wide, smaller tune-in from the N.Y. and Chicago markets and a heightened news cycle..."

Lowry's take

Brian Lowry emails: Fox can't be particularly thrilled that the World Series ended in five — ratings and revenue spike in sixth and seventh games — but the number of movie ads squeezed into the telecast was a pretty good sign why Fox is betting so heavily on sports. Other than football, there won't be many opportunities to reach that many men in one place through the rest of the holiday TV season...

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- New TV spots promoting the NYT: "Two new ads highlighting the importance of investigative reporting..." (NYT)

-- Elie Honig has joined CNN as a legal analyst...

B&C Hall of Fame Night

Gayle King, Cesar Conde, Richard Leibner, Carole Cooper, Christiane Amanpour, Charlie Collier, and others were honored at the B&C Hall of Fame gala on Monday night.

Oprah presented King with her award. "We cover the good, the bad, the oh so ugly," King said, "and lately there's a whole lot of ugly and we cover it with this in mind. When they go barbaric, we get empowered and we work harder than ever..."

Frontline's two-parter about Facebook

Brian Lowry emails: The most striking moment in Frontline's "The Facebook Dilemma" comes near the end of the two-part documentary, in which the five company staffers made available for interviews all essentially parrot the same talking point. It's a sign that Facebook has certainly taken the crisis-PR management of its situation seriously, but still leaves doubts about how willing the company is to address the broader issues that — in its quest for growth — have left it open to manipulation and abuse.

Read Lowry's full piece here...

"Outside the Bubble"

One more from Lowry: Elsewhere, Alexandra Pelosi's familiar HBO playbook feels notably shallow with "Outside the Bubble," a documentary in which she travels the country approaching Trump supporters like a strange tribe to be studied and understood. While the intent is sincere, breaking the points of disagreement into segments — guns, jobs, immigration, race — risks oversimplifying the broader forces at work...

"Roma" in theaters?

"We're hearing buzz that Netflix is putting together a plan that would have Alfonso Cuaron's Roma in a select U.S. city theatrical run two weeks prior to its December streaming date," Deadline's Anthony D'Alessandro reports. "If executed, the move would be unprecedented for Netflix, which to date has been largely known to release their feature awards caliber fare simultaneously day and date on their streaming service and in select theaters..."

George Clooney wins Hollywood's Halloween

Fun headline, right? Chloe Melas explains here...

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

By Lisa Respers France:

-- Demi Moore has opened up about a dark time in her life...

-- 50 Cent and Ja Rule have been beefing for almost 20 years and this weekend they escalated the feud...

-- One of the producers of "The Simpsons" has responded to a claim that Apu is being written out of the show...

-- Who wore it better, Joe Jonas or Sophie Turner? The singer dressed up as his fiancée's "Game of Thrones" character for Halloween...

How to catch up on Sunday's "Reliable"

You can watch the video clips on CNN.com, watch the full program via CNNgo or VOD, or listen to the podcast via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, or other apps...

Lewis: Cable news heightens America's rage

"By and large, cable news is a toxic shout-fest," both on the right and left, Matt Lewis told me on Sunday's show. "I think it contributes to the anger that we have in America right now." Margaret Sullivan responded by saying Lewis was making a false equivalency. Here's the clip.

But Lewis went on to make this point: While "we all have a part to play in this culture that we've fostered, there's nobody more important than the president" to set the tone.

Does this feel like a "state of emergency?"

Journalists have "become targets," Bill Carter said on Sunday's show, citing the bombs mailed to CNN and other threats. "It's a terrible sign of our times," he said. "We're in a position I don't think we've ever been in in this country — I think this is kind of a state of emergency — I've been around a long time, it's nothing like anything I've ever seen before, and I remember the Vietnam War and protests and everything else. This is at a height and a level of venom and hate that I've never seen..."

The big picture

Kathleen Hall Jamieson's advice: "Let's stop calling other people evil, and let's stop assuming that people are trying to destroy us when in fact they are not."

On "Reliable," she named three rhetorical cues — "evil," "enemy" and "destroy us" — that create a climate conducive to violence.

"Under those circumstances, we actually mobilize countries to kill people in other countries," she said. "Let's reserve that rhetoric for moments in which that's actually necessary."

That's a wrap on today's newsletter... Send me your feedback via email anytime... And see you tomorrow...