Read on Twitter
Everything sounds like hyperbole in a hyperbolic age, but this really is one of the most damning confessions of Trump’s presidency. Just unspeakably horrifying. https://twitter.com/theviewfromll2/status/1274500280386813953
And may the gods of journalism save us from political reporters who let aides “clarify” or “walk it back” or insist (on background, of course, to speak “candidly”) that he was just joking. Yes, it’s hard to confront the magnitude of what DJT just told us, but that’s the job.
...and @WSJ... https://twitter.com/michaelcbender/status/1274509246605012992?s=21 https://twitter.com/michaelcbender/status/1274509246605012992
I just don’t understand how, after 3+ years of this administration, any reporter or editor could imagine that a statement by an aide that flatly contradicts the president ought to carry any news value whatsoever.
But if you disagree—if you somehow feel that it’s important that a staffer get a chance to spin—the very least of your obligations is to force that person to speak on the record, so that we know where to look when DJT inevitably tells us again that he meant exactly what he said.
This is the worst one yet. Nothing says you’re drunk on access journalism like treating “the White House” as a synechdoche for one or several aides contradicting the actual president. https://twitter.com/axios/status/1274535475194155008?s=21 https://twitter.com/axios/status/1274535475194155008
A reminder, from early March:
Sounds like an answer to me: "We've done too good a job, because every time we go out, with 25 million tests, you're going to find more people." https://twitter.com/JoeStGeorge/status/1275095209240604673
Pence, on a conference call with governors: “I think that the president’s observation was a…a passing observation in his remarks.” https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/pence-to-sisolak-trumps-slowing-of-testing-was-a-passing-observation
And...scene. https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1275381670561095682?s=21 https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1275381670561095682
Though I suppose I shouldn’t end this thread without some kudos for the WH aides who got exactly what they wanted: two days of political reporters pretending they weren’t sure whether Trump was joking, instead of two days grappling with the enormity of his admission.
