In the last month, media elitists attacked Donald Trump’s shutdown strategy as cruel but spun the Democrats’ cave-in to Trump as a smart retreat.
On PBS, Jonathan Capehart claimed there was a “meanness and a cruelty” to Team Trump’s handling of the shutdown, and David Brooks pushed the Democrats to emphasize the “once-in-a-nation’s history threat to democracy” that Trump posed.
MS NOW’s Katy Tur claimed it revealed Trump’s “dark side.” Her colleague Joe Scarborough spun Democrats’ backing down to Trump as one of history’s “greatest retreats,” like Dunkirk.
The following are just some of the most obnoxious outbursts by leftist journalists and celebrities from the past month:
Shutdown Revealed Trump’s “Dark Side”
“The shutdown did reveal quite a dark side of Donald Trump….Posting about the grim reaper coming to slash government jobs, laying off workers….Suing states to say, ‘No, you can’t release these SNAP funds.’...There was a certain callousness that went further than I’ve seen Donald Trump go in the past.”
— Host Katy Tur on MSNBC’s Katy Tur Reports, November 12.
“There’s a Meanness and a Cruelty” to Trump’s Shutdown Strategy
“There’s a meanness and a cruelty here when you put all of these things together, using the shutdown, using these things to pressure Democrats to come to the table and come up with a deal.”
— Contributor Jonathan Capehart on PBS’s News Hour, November 7.
Democrats Should Emphasize Trump’s “Once-In-a-Nation’s History Threat to Democracy”
Host William Brangham: “David, do you think that the Democrats are making a coherent, resonant argument as to why they are holding the line here [on the shutdown]?”
Contributor David Brooks: “I think it’s okay. I mean, they’re emphasizing the subsidies. Frankly, if it was up to me I might have mentioned a once-in-a-nation’s-history threat to democracy, as the core problem here.”
— PBS’s News Hour, October 31.
Democrats Backing Down on Shutdown Amongst “Great Retreats” Like George Washington, Dunkirk
“Sometimes….strategic retreats actually lead to eventual victory….When George Washington retreated from Long Island in 1776. That retreat helped us eventually win the Revolutionary War….There have been movies made about Dunkirk. I mean, one of the great retreats in the history of modern warfare allowed the British to live to fight another day.…Why did these Democrats do what they did?...Because Democrats, unlike a lot of Republicans, actually care about the hungry. They just do. Are Republicans going to be rewarded because they don’t give a damn about helping the hungry in their own districts?”
— Host Joe Scarborough on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, November 10.
Trump’s “Demolition” of White House Drove Voter Turnout Against Republicans
“I was struck by something Vaughn Hillyard reported from a voter in New Jersey saying that this voter was out there today voting because of, quote, this is what Vaughn said, the phrase he used, ‘the White House demolition.’ Donald Trump tearing down the East Wing of the White House, that sent a voter to the polls in New Jersey. Surely it sent thousands of voters to the polls all around the country.”
— Host Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC’s election night coverage, November 4.
Katie Couric Blames the Victim: “Charlie Kirk’s Rhetoric Was Extreme”
“I think some people might say Charlie Kirk’s rhetoric was extreme. You know, I think that’s the conversation that happened. People condemned political violence, but they also felt a great deal of discomfort with his language, suggesting that these kinds of words lead to violence. I don’t know, I’m just kind of sharing my observations as I saw the conversations unfold.”
— Host Katie Couric to Sen. John Fetterman on her podcast Next Question with Katie Couric, November 13.
Joy Reid: Racist MAGA Won’t Accept JD Vance Because He’s Married to an Immigrant
“[Vice President JD] Vance has a problem in that the base of MAGA is fundamentally racist….What most motivates MAGA? Hatred of non-white immigrants. They’re obsessed with non-white immigrants and undocumented people. They use the term illegals, which is just the N-word for brown people.…So they can’t have the successor to MAGA be the guy with the brown Hindu wife. They’re also Christian nationalists. That ain’t gonna work. That’s why he’s throwing his wife under the bus. Poor [Second Lady] Usha – or she’s in on it, right?”
— Former MS NOW host Joy Reid on the I’ve Had It podcast, November 25.
Jen Psaki Rages Against Trump “Sycophants” in “Kremlin-esque” White House Press Briefings
“I read the press briefing a lot because we do a little thing on our show about it sometimes, more and more of the questions in there are by sycophants, or by people who are not asking about news that the American people cares about….It’s becoming more of a Kremlin-esque press corps.”
— MS NOW host Jen Psaki on Next Question with Katie Couric podcast, November 19.
Joe Scarborough: Trump Administration is “Going Against Jesus’s Teachings” on Deportation
“The administration official that said the Pope is wrong. You kinda going against not only the Pope, you’re going against Jesus’s teachings throughout the entire New Testament. All I can say is good luck with that, taking it up with Jesus and taking it up with the Pope. And all of the archbishops and so many priests. The New Testament, the Gospel is so painfully clear that the Pope feels free to say, ‘Please don’t call yourself pro-life if you’re against abortion, but you support the inhumane treatment of these souls.’”
— Host Joe Scarborough on MS NOW’s Morning Joe, November 20.
Laughable: PBS and BBC Aren’t “Servicing Left-Wing Communities,” Do Cater to Conservatives
“I think in the United States public broadcasting also is an absolute must. And so to see the Corporation for Public Broadcasting be, you know, dismantled. To see the pressure against PBS and NPR when these are not servicing left-wing communities. These, and nor is the BBC, they service the entire country and often are most appreciated in some of the areas that actually tend to vote conservative and are not as serviced and satisfied and catered to by a lot of the other media.”
— PBS host Christiane Amanpour on Christiane Amanpour Presents: The Ex Files podcast, November 14.
Does Acosta Think We’d Miss Them?
“I think the only solution to all of this is collective action. We need to see the networks get together, perhaps with some of the major newspapers. Send a letter to the White House, send it to Karoline Leavitt and say, ‘Listen, if the President does not stop these attacks, we’re not coming into your Oval Office. We’re not going to ride with you on Air Force One. You can have Fox and all these other sycophantic outlets covering you, but we’re just not going to do it. We’re going to take a break for a while until you clean up your act. That’s what I think they should do.”
— Former CNN correspondent Jim Acosta on MS NOW’s Velshi, November 30.
Sunny Hostin: America is a “Sick” and “Racist” Country, “Based on Racism and Slavery”
“I think it’s ridiculous that people don’t see what this country was founded on and what this country still is sickened with. It’s a sick country. It’s a racist country.”
— ABC’s The View co-host Sunny Hostin on Behind the Table podcast, November 18.
“Because of my lived experience as an afro-Latina, I’m able to look at this world with a different prism and I’m able to tell this country and tell this audience and tell my fellow co-hosts some uncomfortable truths. This is a country based on racism and slavery and founded in it. There is systemic racism and misogyny….I never met anyone that raises their hand and says, ‘I am racist.’ However, there are people that seem to be able to look the other way when it comes to racism. So you have a president who traffics in misogyny, who traffics in xenophobia, who traffics in sexism and won against a black woman. So don’t tell me that this country is ready for a black woman.”
— Co-host Sunny Hostin on ABC’s The View, November 17.
Sunny Hostin Urges Democrats: “When They Go Low, You Go Lower!”
“The other huge takeaway for me, that I don’t think enough people are talking about, is what happened in California with Prop 50….That, for me, was a huge, huge takeaway, because that is the road map for how Democrats become the opposition party. You meet energy with energy. When they go low, you go lower!”
— Co-host Sunny Hostin on ABC’s The View, November 5.
Democrats “Caved” to Trump’s “Cruelty”
“This was a choice by Republicans to cut SNAP benefits! This was a choice Republicans to cut ACA subsidies! This was a choice by the Republicans to gut the federal government and federal employment! Democrats had nothing to do with it. I want an opposition party! I think the Democrats caved! I think the Democrats let down the American people!...We’re not gonna get better, because with Donald Trump the cruelty is the point! He does not care! It’s a Republican choice!”
— Co-host Sunny Hostin on ABC’s The View, November 10.
Sara Haines’ Case of Severe Memory Loss
“The other thing I am so sick of hearing from Donald Trump is – once you become the president – I don’t remember an administration – and I could be standing to be corrected on this – that constantly talks about the left and the Democrats….I don’t remember Biden constantly saying ‘Republicans, Republican, Republicans.’ He talked about what we need to do.”
— Co-host Sara Haines on ABC’s The View, November 18.
Stephen Colbert: “I’m More Conservative Than People Think”
“The demographics of these shows are interesting, too. It’s about a third, a third, a third. It’s about a third Republicans, a third Democrats, a third independents. You’d think, you know, old, you know, people perceive me as this sort of lefty figure. I think I'm more conservative than people think.”
— CBS Late Show host Stephen Colbert on GQ Interview, November 3.
