Memo to the media:

Please stop claiming that the Mike Flynn unmasking "boosts" Trump's attacks or "gives him an election issue."

It does not do anything of the sort. Merely by saying that, you're misleading readers and rewarding bad faith.

New piece: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/14/2016-nightmare-is-already-repeating-itself/

Here's the problem.

There's no way to *neutrally* assert that new info "lends ammunition" to an attack or "allows Trump to make an issue" out of something.

Either the new info *legitimately* allows this, or it does not. You need to say which it is.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/14/2016-nightmare-is-already-repeating-itself/

When people criticize the media for "But Her Emails," journos often respond that critics don't want Dems scrutinized.

But that misses the objection, which is about *presentation and proportionality,* and creating misleading *impressions* of equivalence.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/14/2016-nightmare-is-already-repeating-itself/

Some others are making similar and related points. See these tweets from @AdamSerwer, @nycsouthpaw, @zackbeauchamp and @samstein.

I tried to turn this argument into a full piece (see the thread above or this link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/14/2016-nightmare-is-already-repeating-itself/)

"There’s no such thing as OBAMAGATE. But that doesn’t mean people won’t find themselves under indictment, facing years in prison, as part of a desperate bid to help Trump win re-election."

@brianbeutler on the concrete meaning of this authoritarian push: https://crooked.com/articles/trump-final-authoritarian-push/