THE DAILY NEWSLETTER - MONDAY, JANUARY 4, 2021

Media Winners & Losers

MEDIA WINNER:
Chuck Todd

Chuck Todd grilled Senator Ron Johnson (R- WI) on Meet the Press for the attempt to object to the 2020 election results he has joined in with several other Republican colleagues.

In response to Johnson touting how many Americans have "questions" about the election results, Todd said that the GOP and President Donald Trump have been screaming that there was fraud "and now you’re saying, ‘Whoa! Look at this! Oh my God! All these people believe what we told them!’ Because you didn’t have the guts to tell the truth that this election was fair!”

Johnson said the media “dropped any pretense of being unbiased” and they “completely ignored” the Hunter Biden probe.

“Senator, I’ve had enough of hearing this,” Todd replied.

“I’ve had enough of this too,” Johnson said.

It was a knock-down, drag-out, but Todd definitely got the sound bite win when he said "Why didn’t you hold hearings about the 9/11 truthers? There’s plenty of people who thought 9/11 was an inside job. What you’re basically saying is if there’s enough people who believe a conspiracy theory… how about the moon landing? Are you going to hold hearings on that?”

Oh dang!

Needless to say, Johnson has a different take on the interview.

MEDIA LOSER:
Slack

It wasn't just you.

Slack, the nearly ubiquitous workplace and project collaboration platform, went down for pretty much everyone across the web, and pretty much everyone across the web consequently took to Twitter to lament it.

The fact that arguably the most important means of communication for most digital publishing outlets is not properly functioning — on the first workday of 2021 — is probably not a good sign for the new year, as more than a few users noted.

Then again, was it really Slack that showed up loser? Or was it all of us?

Mediaite’s Most Influential in News Media 2020

See the reporters, anchors, correspondents, executives, and expert analysts who made this year's list.

The A-Block

THE PHONE CALL

Audio from a rather stunning call between President Donald Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, along with a few other participants, was released on Sunday. Trump berated Raffensberger on the call, essentially demanding a win, and then mischaracterized the call on Twitter. He also bashed Raffensperger for not being loyal.

Tim Kaine called it an effort to "overthrow the government." John Dean said it was practically "extortion."

Carl Bernstein called it the "ultimate smoking gun" from a "criminal president."

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris weighed in, as did Georgia democratic senate candidate Jon Ossoff.

Raffensberger opened up about the call in an interview with Good Morning America on Monday.

Also on cable

The pundits and anchors and commentators all had takes on the call, too.

CNN's John Berman asked if Trump has "lost his mind," and MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski said the GOP is full of "spineless losers."

On Fox, Marsha Blackburn said the phone call was not "helpful" and a defense of the call was literally laughed at.

Pelosi is Speaker some more

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will hang on to that title for at least two more years, after winning a narrow majority of votes.

‘Not One, Not a Person’

Despite the fact that polls predict a close race for Tuesday’s Georgia Senate runoffs, when speaking to Republicans in the state, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Patricia Murphy discovered that not a single one believed President-elect Joe Biden won.

Random Fortune

Two lucky grocery store shoppers were given the Moderna coronavirus vaccine by a pharmacy in Washington, D.C., a remarkable incident reportedly becoming more common as health care providers seek to avoid letting doses expire on shelves.

MyPillowGov

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell says he is "90 to 95%" sure he's going to run for governor of Minnesota in 2022.

Quibi

Short-form video streaming service Quibi, which shut down only seven months after launching, has reportedly been granted a new life thanks to a possible new deal with Roku.

Must See Clip

Shared Reality

America lacks a shared reality, said CNN's Brian Stelter on Sunday.

"A cult is attempting a coup in America," said Stelter to open his remarks. "In the home of the free, the land of the brave, the biggest story right now is about cowards, feeling captive to a lame duck President pretending he won an election that he lost."

"How was that, what did you think of that?" Stelter then asked his audience about his own commentary. It was a bit of dramatic introduction to the topic of "framing" in the media.

It was... interesting.

Links We Like

The President Could Sabotage Georgia and Get Indicted
- via Erick Erickson
Is It Too Late to Impeach Trump Again?
- Gail Collins and Bret Stephens, New York Times
What the GOP is Doing is Worse Than Treason
- Tom Nichols, The Atlantic
Republicans Turn to QAnon Central to Save Them in Georgia
- Sam Brodey, Daily Beast

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