NewsBusters Podcast: Lawrence O'Donnell's Cheesy Trump Trial Diaries

May 17th, 2024 10:37 PM

Part of the endless Trump trial coverage on MSNBC was The Last Word host Lawrence O'Donnell reading what sounded like bad diary entries on courtroom happenings. Porn star Stormy Daniels dressed loosely in black, which "suggested the modesty of a nun." How bizarre. 

Days later, O'Donnell mocked Trump's appearance in court. He "leaves his face, with his eyes closed, in tortured elderly shapes when he drifts off into his closed-eye space, his mouth shifts from its preferred scowl to the look of a collapsing old building." Ever have that feeling of "collapsing building mouth"?

On MSNBC, Brian Stelter told Ari Melber the GOP's in terrible shape, with all these Trump bootlickers showing up at his trial in Manhattan. "I’m just trying to imagine if any Democrats are going to show up at the trial of Bob Menendez, the senator, or or the trial of Joe Biden's son Hunter -- both of which are gonna happen in the next few weeks! And we’re not gonna see any of this, and that tells you everything you need to know about the differences between these two parties in 2024."

To which there is an obvious rejoinder: We’re just trying to imagine if any Democrat-servant networks are going to show up at the trials of Senator Menendez or Hunter Biden. No one expects they will be doing gavel-to-gavel coverage for those trials, and that tells you everything you need to know about the Democrat-servant networks.

Speaking of MSNBC, The New York Times devoted nearly 3,000 words by Jim Rutenberg and Michael Grynbaum to explain “How MSNBC’s Leftward Tilt Delivers Ratings, and Complications.” What's complicated? The unintentionally funny part is when NBC News suggested MSNBC was ruining its branding as "straight news." Who believes that any more? Lester Holt made it clear "fairness is overrated."

We were a little stunned at how angry the networks became over Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker's commencement address at Benedictine College. It wasn't surprising: a Catholic speaker talked about Catholic issues to Catholic graduates. But the Butker critics who aren’t Catholics pulled out little snippets they could not abide. First, they hated that Butker paid tribute to his wife Isabelle for making him successful, for assuming “one of the most important titles of all: homemaker.” That is like a curse word to the feminists. They can’t allow the notion that children might benefit from having a parent in the home.

Lester Holt's NBC Nightly News featured a student who inaccurately summarized it: "Getting married and having kids is not my ideal situation right now. It definitely made graduation feel a little less special, knowing I had to sit through that and get told I'm nothing but a homemaker.'

Enjoy the podcast below, or wherever you listen to podcasts.