THE DAILY NEWSLETTER - THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2021 

Media Winners & Losers

MEDIA WINNER:
Dr. Scott Gottlieb

Former FDA commissioner and Pfizer board member Dr. Scott Gottlieb presented a positive outlook on how mask requirements may soon phase out in an appearance on Fox News.

On CNN Thursday, Dr. Gottlieb warned people who had and recovered from Covid-19 that natural immunity alone won’t protect them from covid, and they need to be vaccinated.

The doctor and expert expressed his belief and hope that delta variant wave will be the “last major surge” of the pandemic while talking to Chris Hayes on MSNBC.

On each of those cable networks, Gottlieb has a friendly audience. His is an increasingly trusted brand in a field - the public face of medical news during the pandemic field - where many have faltered and stumbled from trustworthiness to pariahs or partisans.

Gottlieb's brand is to favor facts as he explains them, even when there are political implications. He has criticized past inconsistencies that the media glossed over but which many Americans are angered by. He has realistically assessed sacred cows like vaccine mandates on the merits and potential outcomes. He has calmly explained how and why Donald Trump mishandled the pandemic more than once.

Any one of those individually will piss off some partisan group. But Dr. Gottlieb continues to go back on the air and offer rational analysis, and is treated as a reliable expert before three cable news audiences. the networks and Sunday shows. It's no mean feat, and a much-needed service.

MEDIA LOSER:
Kayleigh McEnany

Former Trump Press Secretary and current Fox News host Kayleigh McEnany deleted a tweet Wednesday night that slammed the sharp increase in the murder rate in 2020.

Her quote tweet of a New York Times article on crime rate trends included a predictably political missive: “The US Murder Rate under Joe Biden…”

However, as many on Twitter were quick to point out, the massive increase in the murder rate shown on the graph happened in 2020, when the president was Donald Trump.

Oops.

McEnany is not afraid to blame President Joe Biden for the nation’s woes, and because pobody’s nerfect, she erred in promoting a spiked murder rate under her own former boss WHILE she was press secretary.

McEnany critics on Twitter — of which there are many — had a predictable field day with her accidental slam on Trump.

Twitter critics can be merciless about simple, easy to make errors. Relatedly, certain types of controversial pundits thrive on backlash.

But this wasn't that. This was easy to get right, the fact that she was trying to dunk made the backfire more dunkable, and the error was so glaring there was nothing to gain from being attacked.

Being put in a position where she had no choice but to delete her own tweet was the bitter icing on the pretty humiliating cake.

The A-Block

‘Pretty White Women Missing’

MSNBC host Chris Jansing and Dateline co-host Keith Morrison debated on Thursday why the story over Gabby Petito, who went missing and whose body has since been found, went viral, with the Jansing and Morrison citing “pretty white women” as a reason.

“You’ve done a lot of stories like this, but every once in a while one catches fire online and in the public imagination,” Jansing told Morrison during MSNBC Reports.

“It’s amazing. I continue to be, you know, kind of uncertain as to why. Why that one as opposed to some other one,” said Morrison. “There’s usually some very ancient story, I think, that gets our guts going with a story like this. And it immediately – I’’s like a weather system that suddenly existed everywhere in the country. Everybody knows about it.”

“You know, I mean, obviously, there’s a whole question, which we don’t – it’s not for us to get into,” said Jansing. “But we’ve talked a lot about it here on MSNBC, and that is, it’s a lot of pretty white women.”

“Pretty white women missing,” said Morrison in agreement.

“For sure,” said Jansing.

Although there's also the video aspect...


In Other News...

Johnny Depp Rages Against ‘Out of Hand’ Cancel Culture: ‘No One Is Safe, Not One of You’

Marjorie Taylor Greene and the Scooby Doo Gang Teamed Up To Fight the Green New Deal

John Berman RIPS Tucker Carlson Over 'Not Even Thinly-Veiled Racism' of Replacement Theory

BINGE NEWS: Guess Who is Getting a SECOND Season On Netflix Somehow

Must See Clip

‘Jesus Christ!’

Wednesday’s edition of The Five went WAY off the rails during a segment on the crisis at the southern border.

WAY. Off. The trainwreck began when Geraldo Rivera misinterpreted a comment by Greg Gutfeld about Haitian asylum-seekers. A full on shouting match ensued that went all the way to apologies at the end.

You really have to see this for yourself. It's nuts.

Links We Like

Biden Channels Stephen Miller to Deport Haitian Asylum Seekers
- Ryan Bort, Rolling Stone
The New Big Lie Republicans Want You To Believe
- Jill Lawrence, USA Today
A Win For White Power At A School Board Meeting In Grapevine, Tex.
- Karen Attiah, Washington Post
The Eastman Memo Is a Tragedy of Errors
- Dan McLaughlin, National Review
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