THE DAILY NEWSLETTER  - THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2020

Media Winners & Losers

MEDIA WINNER:
Brian Karem

In an exchange with President Donald Trump that rocked the political media world Wednesday, Playboy magazine reporter and CNN commentator Brian Karem asked the president at length about committing to a peaceful transfer of power should he lose the upcoming election.

“Will you commit to making sure that there is a peaceful transferal of power after the election?" Karem asked.

“Well, we’re going to have to see what happens,” Trump responded, adding false info about mail-in ballots.

“People are rioting. Do you commit to make sure that there’s a peaceful transferral of power?” Karem pressed.

Karem went after it hard and Trump refused to commit and obfuscated about ballots. The implications are chilling, as MSNBC's Chris Hayes covered on Wednesday night. Reporter Barton Gellman of The Atlantic explained on Don Lemon's show last night the very serious and real situation, saying he "scared himself" just putting the article together.

And yet, with all of that in mind and after Karem's stunning exchange, not a single other reporter followed up on the issue during the briefing.

Still, despite the lack of follow-up and support in the briefing room, Karem's dogged pursuit of an answer made major news, and provoked discussion from the news shows on up to the Senate, (to include Republicans) and even the majority leader.

MEDIA LOSER:
Lawrence Jones
(& Friends)

As protests started in the wake of the Breonna Taylor grand jury decision on Wednesday, video was captured of people unloading banners from a U-Haul truck, revealing a certain degree of preparation on behalf of protestors ahead of the indictment announcement.

Among opponents of such protests, the footage of the U-Haul truck prompted suspicion, and speculation that a nefarious and powerful force must be funding those protests.

The Twitter feed of Bill O’Reilly’s site The First may have been the first to ponder the prospect, but it ballooned from there, on up through Laura Ingraham and into Fox & Friends on Thursday morning.
Ainsley Earhart offered the view that the protests were “coordinated,” to which House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy responded, “more than coordinated…it’s planned.

“It looks like there’s some sort of coordination that went into what we saw later in the day,' said Steve Doocy later. And that's when Lawrence Jones jumped on idea and cleverly noted that “if they have a video, they can know who purchased the U-Haul.” Then he went full galaxy mode.

“They have facial recognition technology and use them to get real criminals off the street,' he said. So... suggesting using facial recognition to nail the perpetrators of renting a U-Haul. On national TV. Out loud. That happened.

🎤  The Interview 🎤

‘I’m Not Part of the Resistance’:
Jon Karl Talks Trump, SCOTUS, and MEDIA BIAS

The A-Block

Trump Booed

President Donald Trump received a harsh reception as he and First Lady Melania Trump paid their respects to recently departed Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. After the president emerged from the front of the Supreme Court, a crowd could be heard loudly booing and then chanting, “Vote him out!”

Fox News Channel's Chris Stirewalt wondered aloud why the president even went to the memorial, knowing no one in attendance would "want him there."

Prompter Myth Busted

A viral tweet speculating that Joe Biden was reading answers from a teleprompter during an interview with Telemundo was debunked on Wednesday by the network and the anchor who conducted the interview: Jose Diaz-Balart.

Left Control

On Thursday, Trump tore into Chris Wallace by preemptively claiming the Fox News anchor won’t be fair to him next week when moderating the first 2020 debate between Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden

"He’ll be controlled by the radical left. They control him," said Trump.

Going down the same path

Democratic West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin appeared on Fox & Friends on Wednesday to talk about the Supreme Court fight in Congress and said that he opposes both nuking the filibuster and plans to “pack the court.” 

“I do not believe that would help anybody, basically,” Manchin said. "So why would you go down that path?”

Fox News at Night Dominates

Fox News at Night dominated in Tuesday’s ratings, easily beating its competition in the 11:00 p.m. hour in both overall audience and viewers in the coveted 25 – 54 age demographic. 

That strong performance helped the show’s parent network win total day ratings — and primetime as well. Get the top shows on the night and all the latest numbers from Mediaite+ here!

Reporters Arrested

The Daily Caller is threatening to sue the Louisville Metro Police Department after officers arrested and charged two of its reporters with misdemeanors related to breaking curfew during riots in Louisville, Kentucky on Wednesday evening.

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates on Fox Nation

Just before this year's first presidential debate — to be moderated by Fox News anchor Chris Wallace — the network's subscription-based streaming service Fox Nation will be debuting the feature film Right Makes Might: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates on Thursday, September 24th.

You can watch the teaser trailer here.

THREE Americas

Speaking with anchor Wolf Blitzer barely an hour after the announcement that only one of three Louisville police officers would face charges — for shooting into a different apartment than Taylor's — a weary Don Lemon condemned the lack of indictment and argued that the move effectively made the case for the Black Lives Matter movement.

The news had already sparked outrage from Taylor's attorney and from pundits like MSNBC's Joy Reid, who blasted it as a "Black lives DON'T matter ruling."

"For me it's just another instance, as someone who works in the news media, of there being I would say now three different justice systems: one for police officers, one for Americans of color, and one for white Americans, said Lemon in this must-watch segment.

Must See Clip

‘Arrest the Cops’

Former NBA star Jalen Rose offered commentary on the grand jury decision in the f Breonna Taylor case during a live ESPN broadcast on Wednesday.

During a bumper Rose responded to commentary about the game before adding in a much louder voice "But it’d also be a great day to arrest the cops that murdered Breonna Taylor!"

It was quite a moment and it quickly rocketed across the web.

Links We Like

The 1619 Project Vanishes
- Christine Rosen, via Commentary
Donald Trump Just Told Us Our Democracy Is At Risk -- From Him
- John Avlon, via CNN

Supreme Court Fights Are What Republican Majorities Are For
- Dan McLaughlin, via Popular Science

We Aren’t Just Mourning RBG. We’re Mourning A Fantasy
- Molly Roberts, via The Washington Post
It’s Never Been More Important To Get A Flu Shot.
- via Popular Science
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