EXEC SUMMARY: Think of this newsletter as a five-layer cake. There's Trump news, then a look at the week ahead in media and tech. Some more Trump news, then some business headlines, and so on. Hungry yet? Dig in...
Going downhill fast
-- President Trump is attacking the Ukraine whistleblower at a time when the whistleblower's lawyers have serious concerns about the person's safety.
-- The president says he wants Adam Schiff questioned for "treason."
-- He also says impeachment is "unlawful," even though the process is spelled out in the Constitution.
-- Over the weekend he also called some Democratic lawmakers "savages."
-- He retweeted 22 accounts bashing Fox's Ed Henry and praising Fox's Mark Levin after a contentious segment on "Fox & Friends." He evidently searched for Henry and/or Levin's names on Twitter to find the tweets.
-- One of Trump's retweets invoked Fox Corp board member Paul Ryan, saying, "Wondering what's been going on at Fox lately? Talk to Paul Ryan, he's got influence over there."
-- He posted numerous video clips from Fox, including a video of Jesse Watters telling Dems to "get it over with" so Trump can be re-elected.
-- He said Democrats and the "fake news media" are "dangerous and bad."
A "Civil War-like fracture"
Folks often shrug off the president's ferocious comments on Twitter, but his posts tell us about what's on his mind. On Sunday night he butchered a quote from his loyal supporter Pastor Robert Jeffress, who made this "prediction" on Fox: "If the Democrats are successful in removing the president from office, I'm afraid it will cause a Civil War-like fracture in this nation from which this country will never heal."
Trump cut out the words "prediction" and "I'm afraid," added some other words, and tweeted this quote: "If the Democrats are successful in removing the President from office (which they will never be), it will cause a Civil War like fracture in this Nation from which our Country will never heal."
>> GOP congressman Adam Kinzinger tweeted in response: "I have visited nations ravaged by civil war. @realDonaldTrump I have never imagined such a quote to be repeated by a President. This is beyond repugnant."
What do you think?
The "craziness of this Twitter thread alone should alarm every American," Preet Bharara wrote Sunday night, referencing the comments about Schiff and other issues. In the thread, Trump claimed that the whistleblower "represented a perfect conversation with a foreign leader in a totally inaccurate and fraudulent way," even though we've all seen the call log for ourselves. He also claimed the whistleblower's source "illegally" provided info, and asked, "Was this person SPYING on the U.S. President? Big Consequences!"
Who's paying attention?
I suppose this isn't surprising, but it's worth noting: Sunday morning's ABC News/Ipsos poll found widespread concern about Trump's actions vis a vis Ukraine, but little surprise. "Those who said that they were keeping a close eye on the news were more likely to be Democrats and more likely to think the conversation was a serious problem," per ABC...
>> Related, from this WaPo story over the weekend: Many voters "said they chose not to follow every twist and turn in the Ukraine story because their views about Trump had long ago solidified, pro or con..."
Trump clinging to 'bizarre' conspiracy theory
It is a "frankly bizarre belief," Susan Hennessey said on "Reliable," explaining the convoluted -- and debunked! -- details about CrowdStrike and the DNC and Ukraine.
This angle is on Page One of Monday's NYT, under the headline "TRUMP EMBRACED SHAM CONSPIRACY, FORMER AIDE SAYS." | | Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Maggie Haberman and Peter Baker write: "Trump was repeatedly warned by his own staff that the Ukraine conspiracy theory that he and his lawyer were pursuing was 'completely debunked' long before the president pressed Ukraine this summer to investigate his Democratic rivals, a former top adviser said on Sunday." The adviser is Tom Bossert, now a paid contributor to ABC, who spoke on "This Week" Sunday morning...
>> Key graf: "Other former aides to Mr. Trump said on Sunday that he refused to accept reassurances about Ukraine no matter how many times it was explained to him, instead subscribing to an unsubstantiated narrative that has now brought him to the brink of impeachment..."
The power of the right-wing media machine is being tested right now
Oliver Darcy emails: Previous presidents may have faced impeachment with war rooms full of lawyers and press aides, but Trump has a hulking force of eager soldiers who have demonstrated zero willingness to abide by any traditional rules of engagement. Trump has Fox, a cluster of loyal right-wing websites, talk radio, and an army of trolls who will seek to hijack the online discussion. "It's fully operational," Charlie Sykes told me. "The right-wing media machine is fully operational."
The next few months will test the power of this right-wing media machine. To succeed, it will not only have to suspend reality for its audience, but also feed the millions who watch, listen, and read a counter-narrative to fill actuality's void. The role this right-wing media will play will be crucial to whether Trump can survive. If he sees his support on Fox or talk radio erode, it would almost certainly shift the tide and give Republicans enough wiggle room to turn on Trump. Read my full story here...
Why it's unlikely to happen...
Darcy adds: All that said, it's still unlikely the major stars of the right-wing universe will turn on Trump. As John Ziegler noted to me, the consumers of right-wing media "are invested" in Trump. "The Trump cult is very much like a child who believes in Santa Claus," Ziegler said, arguing that right-wing media bursting the Trump bubble would be "like the Disney Channel telling their audience there's no Santa Claus."
A genuine Q for Suzanne Scott or Lachlan Murdoch
Darcy adds: Given all the infighting at Fox, a serious question: How can Fox expect anyone to take their news division seriously when the network's biggest stars don't?
Hosts like Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham not only reject reporting from people like Shepard Smith, but the actually work to undermine it. There have been multiple examples of this over the last several days. Next time Lachlan Murdoch, Suzanne Scott or another Fox exec is interviewed at a conference, I'd love to hear this Q asked...
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- Philip Bump recapping his latest: "The worst, laziest argument about the whistleblower complaint is that it's inaccurate. It's been shown to be quite accurate — by the White House..." (WaPo)
-- Congressman Gregory W. Meeks has penned a letter to the NYT's anonymous "senior official" who tried to reassure readers one year ago. Meeks says "your plan didn't work..." (WaPo)
-- 🔌: I'll be talking more about all of this on "The Takeaway" radio program Monday morning...
Glasser says White House is spreading 'propaganda'
As the Ukraine scandal deepens and the impeachment inquiry accelerates, "people may feel that it's hopelessly complicated" and throw up their hands, Susan Glasser says, because there's "a concerted effort from the beginning to essentially spread propaganda and conspiracy theories, coming directly from the Oval Office."
Speaking with me on "Reliable Sources," Glasser made this essential point: Trump's defenders are doing more than merely "spinning," they're making stuff up.
SPEAKING OF THAT...
Voight shows what indoctrination by right-wing media looks like
Oliver Darcy emails: It can be maddening to watch right-wing media figures like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh mislead and deceive their audiences. At times, as I watch and listen to them, I truly question how they can look at themselves in the mirror and be proud knowing full well what they are doing.
But on the other side of the camera or microphone, it's depressing to think about the people who tune in to these shows on a regular basis thinking they are getting a fair and honest take on current events. Over the weekend, I noticed a disturbing video of actor Jon Voight commenting on the Ukraine scandal go viral.
In the video, Voight expresses his extreme loyalty to Trump and parrots claims made by people like Hannity and Limbaugh. While many were shocked, I couldn't help but feel a bit sad for Voight. The clip showed exactly what it looks like to be indoctrinated and caught in the pro-Trump media universe. And there are millions out there in similar circumstances...
Is Rudy helping or hurting?
I mean, if you have to ask... | | Giuliani was on CBS, ABC and Fox News on Sunday morning, continuing his smoke and mirrors campaign. "I am defending my client the best way I know how," he said on ABC.
Both ABC and CBS were offered a Biden campaign surrogate to respond to Giuliani, a Biden campaign source told me. Both networks declined. Perhaps the shows were holding out for an interview with Biden... But in any case, the campaign took a highly unusual step on Sunday afternoon... Two top aides sent a letter to the major networks saying Rudy should not be booked for interviews.
The Daily Beast, which first reported on the letter, noted that "rarely, if ever, has one campaign made an affirmative demand that a top aide to a rival candidate no longer be given a platform." What the Biden campaign is saying, in essence, is that Rudy's conduct is beyond the norms of good-faith TV interviewing. Fact-checks are "no longer enough," the letter said. "By giving him your air time, you are allowing him to introduce increasingly unhinged, unfounded and desperate lies into the national conversation." If he is going to be booked, as I assume he will be, the Biden campaign wants to have a surrogate on the air to respond...
--> Related? Some Biden supporters "are voicing growing concern that his campaign is not prepared to weather" Trump's attacks and a tightened primary contest, WaPo's Matt Viser reports...
IN OTHER NEWS...
Maddow's "Blowout" comes out Tuesday
And it is riveting... I'm already a few chapters in. The full title is "Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth," and it hits bookshelves on Tuesday. Rachel Maddow will start her book tour on Monday with a visit to her lead-in show "All In with Chris Hayes."
The book Maddow promoted last Friday, "On Tyranny" by Timothy Snyder, is No. 1 on Amazon's chart right now, so I expect "Blowout" to blow up the chart...
Week ahead calendar
Monday: Hillary and Chelsea Clinton will be on with Stephen Colbert, promoting their new book...
Wednesday: The Aspen Cyber Summit in NYC... CNN is the media partner... I'll be moderating the Policing Tech panel...
Wednesday: TechCrunch Disrupt will get underway in SF...
Thursday: House Dems will hear from Kurt Volker...
Fox Biz is updating its look (and looking more like Fox News)
"The Fox Business Network will officially launch a 'refreshed' brand Monday," Mark Joyella reports for Forbes. There's a new slogan -- "Invested in You" -- and an updated website and app too.
"This was just a great opportunity for Fox Business to embrace its lineage of being part of the Fox News family," marketing boss Jason Klarman told Joyella. "The look and feel of the logos, the style is similar, (and) the idea of 'invested in you' is about being in it for the people." So the ugly gold and maroon colors are gone, replaced by reds, whites and blues. Variety's Brian Steinberg has further details here...
New synergy with News Corp
Fox Biz's most-watched show, by far, is the resolutely pro-Trump "Lou Dobbs Tonight." But the network also wants to tout its less Trumpy aspects. "As part of the refresh, Fox Business is expected to announce Monday that it will launch a new series, 'Barron's Roundtable,' a program led by Jack Otter, an editor-at-large at Barron's, the weekly magazine for investors that is part of Dow Jones & Co., owned by corporate sibling News Corp," Steinberg reports. It will air Fridays at 10pm, with Invesco "as a presenting sponsor of the series..."
FIRST LOOK
This week's cover of NYMag
This is going to be a must-read. New York magazine assesses the #MeToo movement two years later, speaking with women and men about "the toll of Me Too." Coming forward "and its costs, by the people who lived it." Here's the cover, with a black frame added by me: | | The feature will be available at NYMag.com on Monday morning...
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- Folio's newest interview: "David Haskell on the Vox sale, succeeding Adam Moss and prioritizing journalism in a time of change..." (Folio)
-- Michael Smerconish interviewed Marty Baron at their alma later Lehigh U last week... Here's a clip... Baron said "the institutions of the country are being tested in a way that they have not been before," and "the press is one of those" (Twitter)
NOW BACK TO THE WEEKEND'S BIGGEST STORY...
"President Trump needs to step down"
With this editorial, the Connecticut Post became, to my knowledge, the first newspaper that has called for the president to resign. The Hearst Connecticut Media editorial board wrote: "The proper next step for the president is clear. He should resign. He has repeatedly proven himself unfit for office and appears to view the presidency as a position meant to benefit himself personally, not as one that must represent the interests of an entire nation." But, the editorial quickly added, "because there's almost no chance he is going to step down, Congress' work becomes that much more vital."
>> More than 24 hours later, the editorial is still the most-read thing on the CTPost website...
De Niro: Trump is not "capable of resigning"
I mentioned the CTPost editorial to Robert De Niro on Sunday's "Reliable Sources." Since everyone already knows De Niro is an outspoken Trump critic, I wondered if he thought such a move was realistic. De Niro doesn't think so. But he had a lot to say... As you might have heard, even if you weren't watching the interview live. De Niro dropped two F-bombs when I brought up Fox News criticism of his earlier anti-Trump F-bombs. The clip immediately went viral. My inbox has a few emails from people who were offended, but the overwhelming # of replies are from people who, shall we say, appreciated De Niro's passion.
Setting aside the dozens of digital stories about the expletives, De Niro made some big-picture points: He said the present political situation is a crisis. He said "too many people are too gentle and genteel about it." He said Trump is "worse than I ever could have imagined." And he justified the cursing by saying "this guy is like a gangster" and "we're in a terrible situation."
>> And in the second half of the conversation, we talked about his idea for reprising his Robert Mueller role on "SNL," plus his performance in the acclaimed new film "The Irishman..." Here's part two...
Do former Trump aides have an obligation to speak out?
Lawfare exec editor Susan Hennessey says yes, they do. On "Reliable," we also talked about how the impeachment inquiry will play out and how the press should keep facts front and center amid a partisan food fight...
Christine Pelosi: Whistleblowers are trying to alert us
Nancy Pelosi's daughter Christine, a Democratic strategist, also joined me on "Reliable." She said Dems should "speak out" but be quiet enough to hear "the voices of the whistleblowers who are trying to tell us matters of urgent concern." Okay, I said, but what about the very loud voices that attack her mother? She said "I know that they wouldn't criticize Nancy Pelosi if she wasn't effective..."
Ruddy says this is a 'mortal threat' | | Nancy Pelosi "has thrown down a challenge to the president," Newsmax CEO and Trump friend Christopher Ruddy told me on Sunday's show. "I view this as a mortal threat to the presidency. I think the president should view it that way." Later on, I challenged Ruddy's assertion that there is no evidence of a crime involving Ukraine...
"Trump But About Sharks"
Donie O'Sullivan writes: During the aforementioned pro-Mark Levin retweet rampage on Sunday, Trump's Twitter account shared an account that turns the president's tweets into posts about sharks.
"Trump apparently hates sharks, so this bot does some word replacement on his tweets to make them about sharks 🦈," the account bio says. Modern presidential, indeed...
How to watch / hear Sunday's "Reliable"
Listen to the full podcast via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or your pod player of choice; watch the video clips on CNN.com; or watch the entire episode via CNNgo or VOD...
Tapper exposes Jordan's misleading claims with real-time fact checks
Oliver Darcy emails: Universities should show this segment in journalism classes. On "State of the Union," Jake Tapper interviewed Republican Congressman Jim Jordan and illustrated perfectly how to stop spin in its tracks and apply fact-checks in real-time.
Jordan repeatedly tried to float the very same talking points that he peddles in right-wing media, but Tapper wasn't having any of it. It was remarkable to see how Jordan's arguments fell apart as Tapper fact-checked them and applied the necessary context to what Jordan was saying. The whole interview is worth watching.
>> Also worth noting: Jordan didn't get away with peddling his pro-Trump talking points on CNN, but these arguments are regularly on Fox and instead of fact-checked, PROMOTED by some of the hosts...
An epic day
Katie Pellico emails: Between Scott Pelley with Kevin McCarthy, Chris Wallace with Steve Miller, and Tapper with Jordan, it has been an epic day of displays of journalistic integrity, of being read in and unrelenting. It's a critical time for this kind of political journalism on TV...
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- Historical context about the impeachment process: Andrew Johnson's diatribes shocked people who heard them, but "were not nearly as widely disseminated as Trump's are today..." (WaPo)
-- ICYMI: Michael H. Keller and Gabriel J.X. Dance's story on the front page of Sunday's NYT: "The Internet Is Overrun With Images of Child Sexual Abuse. What Went Wrong?" (NYT)
-- "Congressional antitrust investigators are scrutinizing plans by Google to use a new internet protocol because of concerns that it could give the company a competitive advantage by making it harder for others to access consumer data..." (WSJ)
Coming up with the Forbes 400
Kerry Flynn writes: Forbes staffers, including chief content officer Randall Lane, spoke with The Daily Beast about the reporting process behind its annual billionaire list, Forbes 400. The piece discusses Trump's relationship with the list as well as other wealthy individuals who tried to lie their way into higher valuations.
As one reporter on the wealth beat said, "If someone comes to you and says, 'Here are all the financials of my business,' you don't take it necessarily as a given, whereas 10 or 15 years ago people would."
Sale values Food52 at $100+ million
Kerry Flynn writes: TCG bought a majority stake in Food52 for $83 million, valuing the media company at more than $100 million. Ben Mullin reports that Food52 (founded in 2009 by former NYT journalists) generated about $30 million in revenue last year. The biz remains unprofitable. but the investors are bullish on its e-commerce and product strategy. TCG's Mike Kerns: "With respect to verticalized digital media companies, we think it's important for those businesses not to be advertising-based. We look for diversified business models."
>> Recode's Peter Kafka adds that the deal is "a nice and somewhat surprising outcome for Food52, which faced competition from around the internet over the course of its lifetime: You can get recipes everywhere, you can buy cookware and other kitchen supplies anywhere, and lots of places let you do both at the same time..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
-- Friday night's world premiere of "The Irishman" was "greeted with raves across the board. Indeed, it currently stands at a 100 percent freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes..." (THR)
-- Owen Gleiberman says Netflix has a problem: "The Irishman" is "too good." Here's his argument... (Variety)
| | Tight security at "Joker" premiere
Brian Lowry emails: "Joker" debuts on Thursday night, amid heightened security and safety concerns surrounding the Warner Bros. release. The studio struck a defensive crouch by disinviting press (other than photographers) from the premiere's red carpet on Saturday, suggesting its PR strategy is simply to try and get the movie into theaters, spare those responsible from defending it further, and hope for the best. Projections have put the opening weekend in the $80-90 million range.
"If you like the movie, tell a friend, we haven't gotten enough press," director Todd Phillips quipped at the premiere. But in the wake of the Aurora shooting and more recent events, it's hard to understand why the studio wasn't prepared with a more thoughtful response to the misgivings expressed by, among others, Aurora families, despite the generally favorable festival reaction to the movie...
This weekend's box office headlines
Brian Lowry writes: Arguably the big news of the box-office weekend was "Judy," the Judy Garland biopic, which opened to more than $3 million on a mere 461 screens. To the extent that people seeing the movie helps specialty releases come award time, score one for Renee Zellweger's Oscar bid in the title role...
>> Overall, "DreamWorks Animation's Abominable easily scaled the box office chart over the weekend with a winning $20.9 million from 4,242 theaters," THR's Pamela McClintock reports...
>> Matthew Belloni tweeted: "One studio (Universal) has released the only 3 original movies (Us, Good Boys, and now Abominable) to open at #1 this year..."
"Jesus Is King" in IMAX next month
"Imax on Saturday revealed a collaboration with Kanye West, in which they will release the film Jesus Is King exclusively in Imax theaters around the world on Oct. 25," THR's Trilby Beresford reports. Imax says the film "brings Kanye West's famed Sunday Service to life in the Roden Crater, visionary artist James Turrell's never-before-seen installation in Arizona's Painted Desert..."
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