Never thought I would retweet the mooch. But all those who were involved, listened to the calls, etc. should be worried.. VERY. https://t.co/cH98pRDPvp— Mika Brzezinski (@morningmika) September 26, 2019
One of the keys to the Clinton impeachment process, per old Clinton hands, was to have him never, ever talk about it. https://t.co/x2dfHCwEtE— Annie Karni (@anniekarni) September 26, 2019
Just as a reminder: When historians write about Watergate, we always single out the biggest partisan hacks by name.— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) September 26, 2019
Also: when Cronkite and Co. said goodnight, the next news didn't come until the morning newspaper dropped on your doorstep. Time for information to sink in....now it's a 24 hour a day firehose. https://t.co/po4OgPSgsQ— Jeff Greenfield (@greenfield64) September 26, 2019
Whatever else we learn about them, the whistleblower sure knows how to write a lede pic.twitter.com/06dhK0Tn6i— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) September 26, 2019
Trump is desperate, throwing @VP under the bus to send senate Republicans a message that if Trump goes, Pence goes too.— Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) September 26, 2019
This crew is going down with the ship.— Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) September 26, 2019
All the president’s loyalists: Impeachment net snares Trump’s top advisers https://t.co/JTqhrqr3Dw
And now a few words from Lindsey Graham:
All you need to know about Lindsey Graham is that in 2016 he said Trump was “crazy” and a “kook” who was “not fit to be president.” Then, in 2017 said: “What concerns me is this endless attempt to label the guy as some kind of kook not fit to be president” pic.twitter.com/GX2UzZbuNl— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) September 26, 2019
Let’s travel back in time to see how Lindsey Graham felt when it was a Democratic president facing impeachment... pic.twitter.com/0Q0FscdpNV— Adam Best (@adamcbest) September 25, 2019
This is what happens when you spend 24 years in Washington D.C. 👇🏾 pic.twitter.com/L9gz27mAHX— Jaime Harrison (@harrisonjaime) September 25, 2019
And one more thing. Do you remember that outrageous scandal from the Obama administration?
Yeah but 5 years ago Barack Obama wore a bike helmet, the worst scandal in presidential history. pic.twitter.com/bmG571AXvG— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) September 25, 2019
Update on Thursday afternoon. This is interesting:
In public, Donald Trump’s allies are putting on a brave face, repeating talking points, mostly staying on message. But in private, there are few who believe that the allegations leveled by an intelligence agency whistle-blower that Trump abused American foreign policy to leverage Ukraine into investigating Joe Biden won’t result in considerable damage—if not the complete unraveling of his presidency. “I don’t see how they don’t impeach,” a former West Wing official told me today. “This could unwind very fast, and I mean in days,” a prominent Republican said.
Trump’s final bulwark is liable to be his first one: Fox News. Fox controls the flow of information—what facts are, whether allegations are to be believed—to huge swaths of his base. And Republican senators, who will ultimately decide whether the president remains in office, are in turn exquisitely sensitive to the opinions of Trump’s base. But even before the whistle-blower’s revelations, Fox was having something of a Trump identity crisis, and that bulwark has been wavering. In recent weeks, Trump has bashed Fox News on Twitter, taking particular issue lately with its polling, which, like other reputable polls, has shown the president under significant water. Meanwhile, Trump’s biggest booster seems to be having doubts of his own. This morning, Sean Hannity told friends the whistle-blower’s allegations are “really bad,” a person briefed on Hannity’s conversations told me. (Hannity did not respond to a request for comment). And according to four sources, Fox Corp CEO Lachlan Murdoch is already thinking about how to position the network for a post-Trump future. A person close to Lachlan told me that Fox News has been the highest rated cable network for seventeen years, and “the success has never depended on any one administration.” (A Fox Corp spokesperson declined to comment.)
Inside Fox News, tensions over Trump are becoming harder to contain as a long-running cold war between the network’s news and opinion sides turns hot. Fox has often taken a nothing-to-see-here approach to Trump scandals, but impeachment is a different animal. “It’s management bedlam,” a Fox staffer told me. “This massive thing happened, and no one knows how to cover it.” The schism was evident this week as a feud erupted between afternoon anchor Shepard Smith and prime-time host Tucker Carlson. It startedTuesday when Fox legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano told Smith on-air that Trump committed a “crime” by pressuring Ukraine’s president to get dirt on Biden. That night, Carlson brought on former Trump lawyer Joe diGenova, who called Napolitano a “fool” for claiming Trump broke the law. Yesterday, Smith lashed back, calling Carlson “repugnant” for not defending Napolitano on air. (Trump himself is said to turn off Fox at 3 p.m., when Shep Smith airs.) Seeking to quell the internecine strife before it carried into a third day, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and president Jay Wallace communicated to Smith this morning to stop attacking Carlson, a person briefed on the conversation said. “They said if he does it again, he’s off the air,” the source said. (Fox News spokesperson Irena Briganti denied that management had any direct conversation with Smith).
The ultimate referee of this fight will be Lachlan Murdoch. In recent months, Rupert’s oldest son has been holding strategy conversations with Fox executives and anchors about how Fox News should prepare for life after Trump. Among the powerful voices advising Lachlan that Fox should decisively break with the president is former House speaker Paul Ryan, who joined the Fox board in March. “Paul is embarrassed about Trump and now he has the power to do something about it,” an executive who’s spoken with Ryan told me. (Ryan did not return a call seeking comment.) But a person more sympathetic to Trump has told Lachlan that Fox should remain loyal to Trump’s supporters, even if the network has to break from the man. “We need to represent our viewers,” the source said. “Fox is about defending our viewers from the people who hate them. That’s where our power comes from. It’s not about Trump.”
Chaos inside Fox News as impeachment looms. Mgmt told Smith to stop attacking Carlson. Hannity privately says whistleblower is really bad for Trump. Paul Ryan has told Lachlan to plan for a post-Trump future.https://t.co/b2MmBKrWkF— Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) September 26, 2019
This is Sherman's Vanity Fair article in its entirety:
Trump’s final bulwark is liable to be his first one: Fox News. Fox controls the flow of information—what facts are, whether allegations are to be believed—to huge swaths of his base. And Republican senators, who will ultimately decide whether the president remains in office, are in turn exquisitely sensitive to the opinions of Trump’s base. But even before the whistle-blower’s revelations, Fox was having something of a Trump identity crisis, and that bulwark has been wavering. In recent weeks, Trump has bashed Fox News on Twitter, taking particular issue lately with its polling, which, like other reputable polls, has shown the president under significant water. Meanwhile, Trump’s biggest booster seems to be having doubts of his own. This morning, Sean Hannity told friends the whistle-blower’s allegations are “really bad,” a person briefed on Hannity’s conversations told me. (Hannity did not respond to a request for comment). And according to four sources, Fox Corp CEO Lachlan Murdoch is already thinking about how to position the network for a post-Trump future. A person close to Lachlan told me that Fox News has been the highest rated cable network for seventeen years, and “the success has never depended on any one administration.” (A Fox Corp spokesperson declined to comment.)
Inside Fox News, tensions over Trump are becoming harder to contain as a long-running cold war between the network’s news and opinion sides turns hot. Fox has often taken a nothing-to-see-here approach to Trump scandals, but impeachment is a different animal. “It’s management bedlam,” a Fox staffer told me. “This massive thing happened, and no one knows how to cover it.” The schism was evident this week as a feud erupted between afternoon anchor Shepard Smith and prime-time host Tucker Carlson. It startedTuesday when Fox legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano told Smith on-air that Trump committed a “crime” by pressuring Ukraine’s president to get dirt on Biden. That night, Carlson brought on former Trump lawyer Joe diGenova, who called Napolitano a “fool” for claiming Trump broke the law. Yesterday, Smith lashed back, calling Carlson “repugnant” for not defending Napolitano on air. (Trump himself is said to turn off Fox at 3 p.m., when Shep Smith airs.) Seeking to quell the internecine strife before it carried into a third day, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and president Jay Wallace communicated to Smith this morning to stop attacking Carlson, a person briefed on the conversation said. “They said if he does it again, he’s off the air,” the source said. (Fox News spokesperson Irena Briganti denied that management had any direct conversation with Smith).
The ultimate referee of this fight will be Lachlan Murdoch. In recent months, Rupert’s oldest son has been holding strategy conversations with Fox executives and anchors about how Fox News should prepare for life after Trump. Among the powerful voices advising Lachlan that Fox should decisively break with the president is former House speaker Paul Ryan, who joined the Fox board in March. “Paul is embarrassed about Trump and now he has the power to do something about it,” an executive who’s spoken with Ryan told me. (Ryan did not return a call seeking comment.) But a person more sympathetic to Trump has told Lachlan that Fox should remain loyal to Trump’s supporters, even if the network has to break from the man. “We need to represent our viewers,” the source said. “Fox is about defending our viewers from the people who hate them. That’s where our power comes from. It’s not about Trump.”
No comments:
Post a Comment