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Internet finally blows up over January 6 U.S. Capitol attack

Scene of the Trump crime

Republican Mark Meadows is in the lead to be this week’s Villain of the Week, although he has competition from cohorts such as Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham of Fox “News,” and as always, Donald Trump. That’s because, after many months of the mainstream media ignoring or downplaying the January 6, 2021 terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol that sought to overturn the election of Joe Biden as President, regular folks finally got fed up enough to light up the airwaves and share incriminating information about the Republicans.

In particular, word got around very quickly on Tuesday, by a vote of 222-208, the U.S. House of Representatives held Meadows in criminal Contempt of Congress. The vote took place after Meadows, a former Republican Congressman and White House Chief of Staff to Trump, who had originally cooperated with the House Committee, suddenly stopped cooperating, defying a subpoena to appear for a deposition, and indeed sued the committee and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, attempting to defeat the subpoena for both his deposition and phone records. Before that happened, Meadows had turned over to the Committee a Republican PowerPoint presentation recommending Trump to declare a “National Security Emergency” in order to remain in the presidency rather than turn over power to Biden on Inauguration Day. Meadows had also given the committee text messages he received on January 6 while serving as Trump’s Chief of Staff, including ones from Hannity, Ingraham and Brian Kilmeade of Fox, and several from Donald Trump, Jr. These texts all had the same desperate tone, begging Meadows to get Donald Trump to stop the insurrection at the Capitol. For example, one of Ingraham’s texts read:

Mark, the president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy.

Likewise, Hannity’s January 6 text to Meadows, talking about Trump, was:

Can he make a statement? … Ask people to leave the Capitol.

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Tags: Congress, Democrats, Donald Trump, Fox News, January 6, Laura Ingraham, Mark Meadows, Nancy Pelosi, President Joe Biden, Republicans, Sean Hannity, Twitter, U.S. Capitol, U.S. House

It’s a Biden Boom: share the news

Written on December 10, 2021 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Good Government, Media Watch

The Biden Boom

One of the most important stories of 2021 is one that does not get told enough: the Biden Economic Boom. Specifically, in less than 11 months, following the Trump Recession in which millions of jobs were lost, President Joe Biden has presided over a historic economic and jobs recovery. This includes:

–Extraordinary economic growth, estimated to be 7.8 percent this year.

–Income, wage and salary growth all way above the figures for 2018 and 2019.

–Unemployment falling from 6.3 percent in January 2021 (Donald Trump‘s last month in office) to just 4.2 percent last month, a historic drop in such a short time. And jobless claims just hit a new 52-year low.

Indeed, The Hill calls this “the fastest economic recovery in history.”

Moreover, the Biden Boom is no accident, but rather, a result of the Biden administration’s phenomenal efforts to vaccinate Americans against COVID; the American Rescue Plan which put money in the pockets of many Americans; and now the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (which may soon be followed by the Build Back Better Act). It turns out that Americans really do like competence in government, or what we call Good Government, and that is part of the Democratic Party’s brand.

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Tags: American Rescue Plan, Coronavirus, COVID, COVID-19, Democrats, Donald Trump, economy, infrastructure, jobs, President Joe Biden, Republicans, Twitter, unemployment, Zoom

Democrats could learn a lot from the O.J. Simpson murder trial

Written on November 12, 2021 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Fox "News" Watch, Media Watch, Republican Messaging

The courtroom of public opinion

Re-watching the 1995 O.J. Simpson murder trial is quite jarring. Perhaps most maddening is that the prosecution seemed to have a strong case, and blew it with a poor presentation. For example, co-lead prosecutor Marcia Clark‘s questioning of her own witness, Kato Kaelin, was seen as inept, often harsh, and repetitive. Indeed, the questioning of Kaelin was so bumbling that, a week after it began, Clark had to have Kaelin declared a hostile witness. Simpson’s defense attorneys, in contrast, were dynamic and persuasive, constantly outperforming the prosecutors. They spoke plainly (“if it does not fit, you must acquit.”) They did not lose their cool, in comparison to Clark’s frequent displays of frustration and even desperation. They also distracted jurors with conspiracy theories such as racist cops planting evidence. As we know, Simpson was found not guilty in his criminal murder trial.

The Democratic Party, including President Joe Biden, his White House staff and Cabinet officers, Democratic members of Congress and others, could learn from the O.J. Simpson murder trial. The Democrats have done many good things during Biden’s less than 11 months in office, that they should be shouting about from the rooftops. For example, the 2020 Donald Trump recession is over due to the American Rescue Plan. COVID vaccinations are up (and corresponding COVID cases and deaths are down), which has also boosted the economy. As a result, unemployment is down, and jobless claims are down to a pandemic-era low. Congress has passed the bipartisan Infrastructure bill as Biden promised, Biden provided leadership in the fight against climate change at the COP26 conference in Glasgow, and more.

But in perusing the mainstream media, one gets the impression that Biden and the Democrats are doing a lousy job, are facing numerous “crises,” and are in “disarray.” Republicans (amplified by the media) are talking about inflation, gasoline prices, Critical Race Theory, Afghanistan, and other subjects, real or imagined, where the Republicans think President Biden and the Democrats are vulnerable. This raises the question: Why is there such a disconnect between the reality and the impression for the Democrats, similar to what happened to the prosecution in the O.J. Simpson murder trial?

After Virginia elections, Democrats should treat Republicans like their crazy aunt

Written on November 4, 2021 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Media Watch, Republican Messaging

Democrats might treat Republicans this way

On Tuesday night, Glenn Youngkin defeated Terry McAuliffe to become the Virginia Governor-elect. While the race was very close (just over a two percent margin), by most accounts, McAuliffe ran a poor campaign. In particular, Youngkin raised right wing conspiracy theories regarding schools (so-called Critical Race Theory, imaginary Trans bathroom worries, etc.), and McAuliffe failed to bat them down or talk forcefully about his own agenda. Instead, McAuliffe focused on how he isn’t Donald Trump, someone who does not even hold elective office at this time, and that Youngkin is merely a Trump stand-in. It didn’t help McAuliffe that the mainstream media elevated Youngkin’s conspiracy theories as if they were serious subjects, which automatically turned them into meaningful political issues.

The Virginia Gubernatorial election is in many ways a precursor to the 2022 midterm elections and the 2024 presidential election. It’s virtually guaranteed that Republicans will continue to toss out false, nutty or obscure Culture War conspiracy theories, and that the media will lap them up. Remember the Caravan? Fast N Furious? How about flag burning? PizzaGate? Jewish space lasers? The list of these made-up Republican shiny object distractions is endless.

With the election loss in Virginia (including not just Governor but Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General and possibly the House of Delegates)Democrats have now received their wake-up call. The Democrats can no longer afford to laugh with each other over their wine or beer about those crazy Republicans and their loonie conspiracy theories.

The big question going forward is: how will Democrats deal with these conspiratorial, election-winning Republicans?

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Tags: 2022 elections, 2024 elections, Critical Race Theory, Donald Trump, Governor election, Terry McAuliffe, Virginia

Donald Trump’s new social media platform can’t handle the Truth

Written on October 22, 2021 by Messaging Matters in Media Watch, Republican Messaging

When Trump was on Twitter

“If you can’t beat them, secede from them.” That seems to be the Republicans’ motto these days. On social media, for example, Republicans have attempted several times to establish their own conservative platform, essentially a bubble that would cancel truths and opposing views in favor of the monolithic GOP take. Do you remember Parler? How about GETTR, a name that sounds a lot like Donald Trump‘s and Jeffrey Epstein‘s former dating technique?

With that stellar track record to go by, now Trump, who was previously kicked off Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for instigating the January 6, 2021 domestic terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol, says he is launching another new right wing social media platform, to be called, ironically, “TRUTH Social.” However, in this case, the TRUTH is not all what it seems.

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Tags: Cancel Culture, Donald Trump, Facebook, GETTR, Jack Dorsey, Jeffrey Epstein, Parler, Republicans, social media, SPAC, Truth Social, Twitter

In Florida, “freedom” means “free to be dumb”

Written on October 15, 2021 by Messaging Matters in Good Government, Media Watch, Republican Messaging

Latest Florida postcard

Republicans have a strange and cynical view of “freedom,” that word they use so often. For them, it means opposing anything a Democratic official does, no matter how helpful. Case in point: the 2009 “Tea Party” protests against President Barack Obama‘s proposed Affordable Care Act, wherein Republican base voters, many of them who desperately needed but could not afford health insurance, took orders from rich insured Republicans and protested against something very beneficial to them.

One of the most vivid demonstrations of this Republican “free dumb” attitude today is the GOP-run state of Florida, where residents take many unnecessary risks and make many poor decisions, apparently in the name of “freedom.” This includes, for example, motorcycle riders wearing tank tops, shorts, flip-flops, and no helmet or protective gear, because such riders over the age of 21 can choose whether to wear or helmet or purchase insurance — they don’t need both. Similarly, Florida automobile drivers regularly can be seen pulling off roads into emergency lanes and grass medians to do casual things like make phone calls and send texts (don’t worry, they do that while driving too), wait for flights to land, or even go fishing by the side of the road. It is, sadly, no coincidence that the terms “Floriduh,” “Floridiot,” and bizarre news stories under the category “Florida Man” proliferate in the media.

But perhaps the best example of Florida “free dumb” is its response to the COVID pandemic. As we have noted previously, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has taken the almost insane position of fighting against COVID protections, such as vaccination or mask mandates. DeSantis has even taken to fining counties, school districts and other entities for establishing such mandates. Not surprisingly, Florida has been at or near the top among U.S. states in COVID cases (total and per capita) and deaths for many months as a result. In one Florida school district alone (Polk County), 17 employees have died of Coronavirus just since the beginning of this school year.

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Tags: 2024 Election, Affordable Care Act, Anthony Fauci, Coronavirus, COVID, COVID-19, Democrats, Florida, Florida Man, Floridiot, Floriduh, health care, President Barack Obama, President Joe Biden, Republicans, Ron DeSantis, Tea Party

Finally, a news article that blames COVID deaths on the unvaccinated

Written on October 5, 2021 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Media Watch

National Guard administering COVID vaccination in Arizona

One of the saddest elements of the Coronavirus pandemic in the United States is the elevation of false and erroneous information in the media, including but not limited to social media such as Facebook. Much of this “fake news” is critical of COVID vaccination and precautions such as mask wearing. Some of it is politically motivated, for example, by people who don’t trust any government, or by right wingers who want to hurt Democratic leaders such as President Joe Biden and various Democratic state governors, who are largely proactive in fighting the pandemic.

As a result, the media information on COVID that many people access and then discuss with their friends, family and colleagues becomes “he said/she said,” featuring falsehoods on an even level with scientific evidence and truths. In such an environment, therefore, few things are more welcome than this news article from a few days ago (and since updated) in The Miami Herald:

Not just a number.’ COVID deaths pass 700,000 in U.S. amid vaccine refusal, delta variant

What distinguishes this article is that it’s an actual news article, not an opinion or editorial piece or comment, which places the blame for the recent 700,000 U.S. COVID death milestone squarely on the folks who refuse to get a COVID vaccine. After the jump are some choice excerpts and quotes from the article:

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Tags: Coronavirus, COVID, COVID-19, Facebook, Florida, Miami, Miami Herald, President Joe Biden, social media, vaccination, vaccine

Gabby Petito disappearance, homicide becomes politicized

Written on September 22, 2021 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Fox "News" Watch, Media Watch, Republican Messaging

Awareness for missing Native American women and girls

It seems everything in America nowadays gets politicized, from the food we eat to the movies we watch to our responses to a worldwide pandemic. So perhaps it’s not too surprising that the case of formerly missing travel blogger Gabrielle Petito, whose body has been found in what the FBI calls a homicide, has become politicized too. Specifically, after weeks of intense media coverage, including frequent discussion and wild speculation in social media, about the blonde, blue-eyed 22 year old Petito, some folks began mentioning that there are a lot of people of color also missing, who are not receiving a modicum of media coverage in comparison. For example, here’s Joy Reid of MSNBC talking about this yesterday:

“No one is looking for us.” With all the coverage on the Gabby Petito case, Joy Reid calls out the media’s obsession with missing white women, and calls it “missing white woman syndrome”. pic.twitter.com/FPbA3bHjNq

— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) September 21, 2021

Other examples of this media phenomenon include the following:

“In the same area that Gabby Petito disappeared, 710 indigenous people— mostly girls—disappeared between the years of 2011 and 2020 but their stories didn’t lead news cycles …” https://t.co/HJ01B6CsRK

— Eugene Scott (@Eugene_Scott) September 21, 2021

https://twitter.com/hjelle_brian/status/1440381994475552781

I'm shaking reading about the discovery of Gabby Petito's body in Wyoming. While we're watching this case unfold, please take 5 seconds to read about Daniel Robinson, a geologist who went missing in the desert outside Buckeye three months ago. His father is still looking for him. pic.twitter.com/5RWrcMpMng

— Shayla Davis (@JournalistShay) September 20, 2021

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Tags: All Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter, Brian Laundrie, FBI, Gabby Petito, Gabrielle Petito, George Floyd, Larry King, Nancy Grace, racism

Kasie Hunt begins CNN tenure with ludicrous take on California recall election

Written on September 16, 2021 by Messaging Matters in Media Watch

CNN, where reporting gives way to feelings

Just one week after arriving at CNN after her stint at MSNBC, “analyst” Kasie Hunt came out with an unbelievably bad take when California Governor Gavin Newsom won his recall election in a landslide on Tuesday night:

CA GOV BIG PICTURE: One of the top Democrats in the country got caught living like an elite while everyone else suffered. Elites vs. the rest is the driving force in our politics right now and Democrats have a tough needle to thread both in California & nationwide … (1/)

— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) September 15, 2021

Hunt followed that up with:

Obviously California is a Special Place — but the fact that a Democratic national star in waiting *faced* a recall and then had to fight hard for it midway through the campaign does say a lot about the potential challenges Democrats face across the map (4/)

— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) September 15, 2021

And then, even though President Joe Biden had flown to California to help Newsom win impressively, Hunt couldn’t resist attacking Biden:

…especially if President Biden can't demonstrate he's capable of getting the resurgent pandemic under control, has another competence crisis a la Afghanistan, can't get his budget plan through Congress, etc. (fin)

— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) September 15, 2021

Leave it to the folks on Twitter, however, to set things straight. Here are a few of the many choice tweets that, to put it nicely, might make Kasie Hunt think twice about prioritizing “garbage takes” over solid reporting in the future:

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Tags: Afghanistan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Barack Obama, California, California Recall, Casie Hunt, Clint Eastwood, CNN, Fox News, Gavin Newsome, Larry Elder, MSNBC, President Joe Biden, Ronald Reagan, Sonny Bono, Twitter, Wolf Blitzer

Larry Elder California photo op goes horribly wrong

Written on September 10, 2021 by Messaging Matters in Democratic Messaging, Good Government, Media Watch, Republican Messaging

Venice Beach, CA, where fools and conservatives are not suffered gladly

As we mentioned several weeks ago, there’s a phony Republican effort to recall California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, that garnered enough signatures to become a real special election on September 14. One of the Republican candidates vying to unseat Gov. Newsom is conservative radio talk show host and conspiracy theorist Larry Elder, who, because of his celebrity (can you say Arnold Schwarzenegger?), is considered the front-runner among the Republican candidates. However, it seems that either Elder’s political instincts or his campaign staff were not ready for prime time on Wednesday, when Elder, who showed up for a staged photo op at a homeless encampment on Venice Beach to criticize Gov. Newsom, instead quickly had to be hustled away from the scene, as the crowd yelled and cursed at him, and one person even threw an egg at Elder. Here is a tweet from ABC7 TV in Los Angeles, containing video footage of the incident:

#HappeningNow – the homeless who live on Hampton and 3rd Ave in #venice don’t seem happy to see @larryelder – some are shouting at him to leave and now following him as he tours an encampment @ABC7 pic.twitter.com/CLMVwKskES

— Josh Haskell (@abc7JoshHaskell) September 8, 2021

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Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, California, Gavin Newsom, homeless, Larry Elder, recall election, Twitter, Venice