2016 Presidential

The headline at Dan Zak's Arts & Entertainment column at the Washington Post early Thursday evening: "We were promised a riot. In Cleveland, we got a block party instead." (There were occasional exceptions.) Though his article's tone was generally positive, he did complain that "Cleveland is basically a police state this week." Gosh, I didn't know police states had so much freedom of speech…

Reacting to Donald Trump’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention Thursday night, on Friday morning, the hosts and correspondents of NBC’s Today scolded the GOP nominee for his “dark” tone of “doom and gloom.” Opening the broadcast, co-host Matt Lauer proclaimed: “Donald Trump closes out the Republican National Convention in a speech that was both fiery...and dark.”

PBS NewsHour anchor Judy Woodruff was awarded an interview with Republican vice-presidential nominee Mike Pence for Thursday night's newscast, and she questioned Pence from the right about whether Trump can be someone social conservatives can support. But what really stood out was Woodruff's repeated protests against "pretty harsh criticism" of Hillary Clinton. She said "Last question," and then…

Azteca América went off the rails during their coverage of the Republican National Convention, characterizing the 2016 GOP platform and the mood at the convention as anti-Mexican.

Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka delivered her highly anticipated speech Thursday night before the Republican National Convention. She used her speech to briefly push the gender pay gap myth and later that night CNN commentator, and Black Lives Matter supporter, Bakari Sellers tried to wield it against her father. “What she did do was, she gave a speech that was Hillary Clinton's speech,” he stated…

CNBC provided coverage on the final two nights of the Republican National Convention and on Thursday, Squawk on the Street co-host and infamous GOP debate co-moderator Carl Quintanilla condemned Donald Trump’s mentioning of Americans being murdered by illegal immigrants because it reminded him of the Willie Horton ad from 1988. 

In the same episode that Bill Maher attacked Republicans as mentally retarded and compared them to Nazis, he insisted that this election will be a “referendum on decency.” In a live, post-Republican National Convention edition of HBO’s Real Time, Maher lamented, “This whole election to me is a referendum on decency. Just fundamental decency. I mean, the hatred we have heard [about Hillary Clinton…

After her MSNBC colleagues determined that Donald Trump’s convention speech Thursday night was a message derived from talk radio to “white America” that he would “protect” them, convention co-host Rachel Maddow stated just after the midnight Eastern mark that Trump serves as “a gateway drug” to transforming the GOP into one featuring people like David Duke (and by extension the KKK).

Thursday marked the final day of the Republican National Convention and Donald Trump himself was the grand finale. Trump’s speech was well received by the crowd but CNN commentator Van Jones wasn’t having any of it. “I've never felt this way in my life,” Jones stated, “You're either inspired by this or you're terrified by it. I’m terrified by it.” It was all a part of a rant he delivered on CNN’…

Reacting to Donald Trump’s nomination acceptance speech to conclude the Republican National Convention (RNC), Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson and MSNBC’s AM Joy host Joy Reid ruled late Thursday that Trump channeled a “conservative talk radio” culture in pledging “to white America” that he would “protect” them from illegal immigrants and secularists. 

The three networks on Thursday night immediately derided Donald Trump’s “dark speech” as one coming from a “vengeful” “demagogue.” On NBC, Tom Brokaw allowed that “some” will see Trump as on a “white horse who will lead them to some kind of sanctuary and then pull the drawbridge up.” But he sneered, “Others looking in are going to see someone they will only think as a demagogue of some kind.” 

Lester Holt pressed Donald Trump, Jr. on Thursday's NBC Nightly News on whether his billionaire father can show his emotional side: "We...sometimes look for our leaders to be compassionate — to console us during national tragedy. We saw President Obama in Dallas a week or so ago. We haven't seen that Donald Trump. Is this a man that can cry? Can he emote? Can he wrap his arms around the country…

First it was MSNBC warning viewers before showing anti-Hillary Clinton buttons. On Thursday, Chris Matthews and Chuck Todd agreed that mentioning the names of big cities is racist “coded language.” Matthews previewed Donald Trump’s convention speech and was horrified over the presence of words such as “Baltimore” and “Washington D.C.” 

For years, MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews has referred to Republican Senator Ted Cruz (Tex.) as Joe McCarthy or emulating McCarthyism and so he seized on Cruz’s fiery convention speech to claim Thursday night that he’s a McCarthyite playing “a perfect villain” for the Republican Party and Donald Trump. Matthews also went as far as dubbing Trump “Mr. Winner” who became a victim getting “…