THE DAILY NEWSLETTER  - FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 2020  

Media Winners & Losers

MEDIA WINNER:
Chuck Todd

Journalism is a tough business these days, with newspapers, websites, television and radio stations across the country cutting staff or shutting down entirely. For journalism students trying to build a career in this industry, support from experienced mentors is invaluable.

Chuck Todd, NBC's political director and host of Meet the Press, deserves accolades for his mentorship of a group of college students in an innovative program, Meet the Press College Roundtable. 

The thirty participants in the five-week program were able to get real-world experience interviewing prominent people about very timely subjects, including Black Lives Matter, police reform, and the coronavirus pandemic. 

Several of the clips have been posted to Twitter under the hashtag #MTPCollege, and they're worth viewing. Of special note are interviews with Mark Cuban being asked about his role as an NBA team owner in fighting racial injustice, the president of Howard University discussing his campus' plans for reopening in the fall, and NAACP President Derrick Johnson discussing the impact the White House has on their efforts to combat systemic racism.

This program Todd shepherded gave these college students opportunities that many journalists with years of experience might not have, and the students clearly took the opportunity seriously, asking thoughtful and well-researched questions. 

Any journalist asking thoughtful and well-researched questions is a winner in our book, so high five to Chuck Todd. 

MEDIA LOSER:
Mollie Hemingway

Senior editor at The Federalist and Fox News contributor Mollie Hemingway has made a name for herself as an ardent defender of President Donald Trump and his administration, but has faced criticism when she's been...well, shall we say...less than accurate in how she's framed her arguments

That's exactly what happened on Fox News' Outnumbered Thursday, when the panel was discussing protesters tearing down Confederate statues. Liberal pundit Marie Harf mentioned Iraqis tearing down statues of Saddam Hussein, and Hemingway later misrepresented Harf's comments by saying she had compared George Washington to Hussein. Harf repeatedly objected, and Hemingway finally acknowledged her with a sardonic, "Thank you for the clarification."

We've got the video clips and transcripts of both Harf and Hemingway's comments here, so you can judge for yourself. Cable news runs on partisan debate, but misrepresenting your opponent's arguments isn't a fair way to promote your own side. 

Hemingway followed that kerfuffle with another misleading tweet Thursday evening, misrepresenting a Karen Tumulty opinion column at the Washington Post. Tumulty smacked back on Twitter Friday morning, asking, "Mollie: Did you actually read the column?"

Make your arguments, fight for your viewpoint. Be a partisan hack if you wish -- that can make for lively panel debates. If everyone thought the same thing, that would be dreadfully boring. But misrepresenting what your opponents say makes you a loser every time.

The A-Block

Biden-Palin 2020...Wait, What?!

Former campaign adviser James Carville has long been a feisty and fearless presence on political news shows, and Thursday was no exception.

When MSNBC's Brian Williams asked him who he thought Joe Biden should pick as his running mate, Carville offered a succinct and blunt response, "I don't care." 

"Pick Sarah Palin," Carville continued. "I'll be for her too. I just want to win this thing."

Obviously, Palin isn't seriously being considered on Biden's short list, but Carville was entertaining as always.

Stellar Job, You Guys. Just Great. Really. 

"Government" and "efficiency" aren't words that often go together, and the coronavirus stimulus payments are a glaring example of that. 

The federal government sent out $1,200 to American taxpayers but apparently didn't take the basic step of checking to see if the people whose names were on the checks were still breathing. 

Yep. The feds sent checks to over a million dead people, totaling nearly $1.4 billion. 

Oh, and they still don't have a plan to get that money back. 

Judge to Trump Family: Go Pound Sand

The president's niece, Mary L. Trump, has a book coming out, and it's supposed to be a salacious tell-all. Needless to say, Donald Trump is less than thrilled about it. 

The Trump family, led by the president's brother, Robert Trump, attempted to get a New York surrogate's court to block the release of the book, claiming that a nondisclosure agreement Mary Trump signed in relation to the settlement of Fred Trump, Sr.'s estate blocked her from sharing this damaging information. 

The judge tossed the whole case right out of court because the relief sought had nothing to do with the long-settled matter of the administration of the Trump patriarch's estate. 

Looks like that book is coming out after all. 

I'll Take My Ball And Go Home

Pro-Trump conservatives have long complained about getting unfair treatment from Twitter and other major social media platforms.

This week, many of them decided they had had enough, and flocked to Twitter competitor Parler. 

A whopping 500,000 new users signed up for Parler accounts, spurred by reports of two popular pro-Trump Twitter accounts getting banned.

Republican politicians like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) announced they were registering for Parler accounts as well.

Now, it appears that the vast majority of these people -- including Cruz and Paul -- still kept their Twitter accounts, so it remains to be seen how big of an impact Parler will have in the long term.

Whiffing a Softball

Fox News' Sean Hannity had Trump for a one-on-one town hall on Thursday, and he lobbed one particular softball at the president...who whiffed bigly. 

It was one of the most head scratching: Hannity asked Trump to name his top priorities for his second term, if he won re-election, and Trump failed to name even one

Instead, Trump dropped a long, rambling answer about how he'd spent very little time in Washington and then "all of a sudden" found himself President of the United States.

Watch the video here.

Et tu, Fox News?

Trump's bromance with Hannity lives on, but the president's animosity towards his one-time favorite Fox News continues to build. 

This latest news is unlikely to help: a poll commissioned by Fox that shows Biden leading in Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, and even Texas.

Yep, Texas.

Trump won all those states in 2016, but cannot prevail in November without them. Florida has been expected to be a swing state, but if the Lone Star State is within reach for Biden -- game over for Trump. 

Fake News, But It's Our Fake News

Trump's rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma may have had a disappointing turnout, but he did get one major benefit from it: the campaign's "biggest data haul" ever, according to campaign manager Brad Parscale

What the Trump campaign is doing with that data, however, is raising concerns about users' privacy and security.

An analysis by the MIT Technology Review of both the Trump and Biden apps found that the Trump one accessed an abnormally broad swath of users' personal data -- not to mention pushing out "highly questionable or entirely disproven information."

Must See Clip

Why So Defensive?

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) got visibly indignant on Thursday when CNN’s Manu Raju tried to ask him if it’s “appropriate” for Trump to refer to the coronavirus as “the kung flu.”

During McCarthy’s weekly press conference, Raju pressed him on Trump’s repeated use of the phrase, even though the president’s administration previously decried the slur as “highly offensive.”

McCarthy did not appreciate the question, and went on a short rant before abruptly ending the presser and stomping off without answering it, or any other questions.

Watch what happened here.

Links We Like

States can Reform Qualified Immunity on their Own
- via Reason
The Week It Went South for Trump
- via Wall Street Journal
Gov. Greg Abbott orders Texas bars to close again and restaurants to reduce to 50% occupancy as coronavirus spreads
- via Texas Tribune
Trump is headed for defeat if he doesn't change course
- via New York Post
It's time to rethink the presidential debates
- via The Washington Post
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