Apparently Jake Tapper summoned his inner-Politizoom and went after Trump on the very same subject we unleashed early this morning. Why the hell is the “president of the United States” re-tweeting wholly fantastical, and even more irresponsible, conspiracy theory tweets?
Tapper went at the subject while enjoying a slightly larger audience than our beloved regulars here at Zoom. We can also take comfort in knowing that our “president” spends most of his time in executive time, watching TV, and surely heard the rant.
Here is the transcript for history, which is going to slam our period into the garbage bin, floating slightly above sea level, for all that we’ve unleashed:
“Hello, I’m Jake Tapper in Washington where the state of our union is appalled. We begin this morning with a retweet from the president of the United States. Not a message about healing or uniting the country one week after two horrifying massacres. Not about the victims of those tragedies. Instead, President Trump using his massive twitter platform — 63 million followers — to spread a deranged conspiracy theory tying the death of pedophile Jeffrey Epstein in prison to the president’s former political rivals the Clintons. I’m not going to show you the tweet, but the spokesman for former President Bill Clinton responded to the president retweeting it saying, quote, ‘Ridiculous, and of course not true, and Donald Trump knows it. Has he triggered the 25th Amendment yet?’
“President Trump could use his megaphone for anything, but the president often uses it to amplify that which is the worst of us — personal attacks, bigotry, and insane conspiracy theories. Officials say Epstein died by apparent suicide while in the custody of the federal government. The attorney general, William Barr, released a statement opening an investigation into how this happened, saying he was, quote, ‘appalled’ and saying Mr. Epstein’s death raises serious questions that must be answered. …
“This is of course not the first time that President Trump has chosen to use his amplified voice to spread conspiracies. He lied about President Obama’s birthplace. He suggested Ted Cruz’s father might have been involved in the JFK assassination. He lied that he saw American Muslims in New Jersey on TV celebrating 9/11 when there is no such tape. President Trump has also given voice to the lie that the migrant and refugee crisis at the southern border of the U.S. is a plot by Jewish billionaire George Soros to fund a, quote, ‘invasion.’ That’s a conspiracy theory that was the motive for mass slaughter in Pittsburgh and El Paso. This is no longer just irresponsible and indecent. It’s dangerous.”
And here is the video, if you’d like to savor the moment with some whiskey at 11:00 a.m. Self-medication in moderation will be allowed this morning, given the “state of the union” and our sanity:
Jake Tapper rips Trump for spreading a "deranged" conspiracy theory pic.twitter.com/Ic89Nr8mGG
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) August 11, 2019
One of the most insufferable aspects of being a proud member of the progressive left, and in particular an alum of the Kolossal mothership, is the incessant need to proclaim the media inept, and in the pocket of conservatives. Each time I hear the generalization I want to beat my head against a brick wall because it feels so good when I stop. It sounds like a whiny mirror image of Rush screaming about the “liberal media.”
Of course we need to hold power, including powerful media, accountable. Of course we should point out specific instances of gross failure. But the generalizations and whiny histrionics about how we’re all victimized is just tiresome, self-important, self-satisfied, smug, and lazy.
Thus it is that I feel a need to give a big “atta-boy” or “atta-girl” to those in the media who kick so much ass that the target cannot sit comfortably.
It happened this morning, here at 3:00 a.m., and on CNN a little later. Good.
“And that’s the way it is,” this morning, to quote a beloved media member who has passed on to the big studio in the sky. The day is better today because of Tapper’s rant. It took some guts, because some of his audience will be offended enough to change the channel, or worse.
Let’s have his back on this.
****
Peace, y’all.
Jason
*The changing fonts in some quotes is driving us nuts, and we are working on the problem. Our thanks for your patience, your dedication to us, and the honor of your time.
