TGIF! Well, we made it to Friday. Here's the latest on Laura Loomer, the Washington Post, George Clooney, Radhika Jones, "Can't Look Away," Bruce Springsteen, and more... |
America's act of 'self-harm' |
In this scary, stressful moment, with CNN's fear & greed index needle wrenched so far toward fear that it looks like it might break, I'm thankful for reporters and commentators who are steady and unshakable. Here are some of the things that are helping audiences right now:
>> Writing with plain language: Journalists are clearly describing the risks of recession and the higher prices that Americans will pay as a result of President Trump's tariffs. If the sweeping tariffs endure, it "will go down as one of the greatest acts of self-harm in American economic history," this FT editorial declares.
>> Offering practical advice: This morning's Chicago Sun-Times front page tells readers to "BUY NOW – OR PAY MORE LATER." The story is about car buyers who are "rushing to lock in deals." Other publications are running explainers about whether to sell stocks and how to protect retirement savings from a recession.
>> Explaining all sides of the story: "Trump feels wholly confident he'll be vindicated — if not instantly, then soon," Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen wrote for Axios this morning. The duo came up with a great list of nine things "you gotta believe" for Trump to be right.
>> Remembering political promises: I forgot about Trump's threats about an "economic crash" if he lost the election. But The AP remembered and published a list of his past claims. Last August Trump said "if Harris wins this election, the result will be a Kamala economic crash, a 1929-style depression. 1929. When I win the election, we will immediately begin a brand new Trump economic boom. It'll be a boom. We're going to turn this country around so fast."
>> Noticing what's not happening: Trump did not "fly to a factory" yesterday, Jeff Zeleny noted on CNN. "He did not use the presidential bully pulpit to sort of sell this tariff plan." Trump flew to Florida for a LIV Golf event instead. This morning he posted on Truth Social that "MY POLICIES WILL NEVER CHANGE."
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"Bad things can happen when presidents seem to lose their grip on reality," Stephen Collinson writes in this new CNN.com analysis piece. Collinson describes "growing signs of confusion about the White House's strategy" and fundamental "questions of competence."
For what it's worth, pro-Trump media outlets are telling a very different story – about a brave president putting American workers over Wall Street. It's an overly simplified story, to be sure, but for the time being Trump and his base are living in a bubble where the (severe!) market pain is minimal and worthwhile. "Fox News criticized after stock ticker removed during Trump tariff tumble," TV Insider wrote, collecting the social media reactions to the glaring omission...
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Powell speaks at SABEW today |
SABEW, the country's largest association of business journalists, is holding its annual conference in Arlington, Virginia, and I'm having major FOMO. Later this morning – in a stroke of truly magnificent timing – Fed chairman Jerome H. Powell will be fielding questions at the conference. SABEW Board President James Nelson and Bloomberg's Stacey Vanek Smith will moderate the conversation, which will be live streamed. (And after lunch, Wash Post editor Matt Murray will be interviewed by Sara Fischer of Axios, which also promises to be very interesting.)
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📺 🎥 Some counter-programming |
March Madness finale: The women's Final Four games will start tonight at 7pm and the men's Final Four games are tomorrow night.
The new "Minecraft" movie: It opens today, and is "projected to haul in big box office gold this weekend," Forbes' Tim Lammers writes.
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Loomer's looming influence |
A 9/11 truther got Oval Office time with Trump, and the next day, numerous national security aides were fired. Laura Loomer "is clearly more influential over who staffs the National Security Council than the actual National Security Advisor is," Kaitlan Collins said on CNN last night.
Dare I wonder... if there might be something to learn from Loomer's success in getting through to Trump?
Loomer is so conspiratorial and cancerous that Trump allies have tried to shield the president from her. And Fox News typically pretends Loomer doesn't exist. But she has used the cold shoulders and the criticism to gain online clout.
This Washington Post story calls Loomer "prolific on social media," and that barely begins to scratch the surface. She screams into the void at all hours. And – crucially – she IDs as an "investigative journalist" who is "vetting" Trump's staff for him. She hosts podcasts on Rumble and posts what she claims are scoops on X, recognizing that constant production of content is key to her "far-right celebrity" status, as The Atlantic put it yesterday.
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Covering anti-Trump rallies |
"ARE FURIOUS VOTERS GIVING RISE TO A NEW MOVEMENT?" That's what the banner on "CNN This Morning" asked this morning, looking ahead to nationwide anti-Trump “Hands Off!” rallies this weekend.
>> Mother Jones is planning a reporting blitz around the protests, a spokesperson tells us. The progressive outlet has assigned 10 editors and reporters to gatherings in Washington D.C., New York, and San Francisco, as well as several smaller locations.
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Radhika Jones stepping down |
Vanity Fair editor Radhika Jones, who says she has "always had a horror of staying too long at the party," is leaving the magazine this spring. Jones told the staff of her decision yesterday. Anna Wintour was on hand to celebrate Jones' tenure (and to signal that the search for a successor is just beginning).
I was a regular contributor to VF in 2023 and 2024, so I know firsthand that Jones was an inspiring and nurturing leader. (She was also one of my very favorite podcast guests.) But I imagine that Jones was getting exhausted by the Condé Nast grind. The headline on Charotte Klein's NYMag story sums it up thusly: "Amid Deepening Malaise, Radhika Jones Leaves Vanity Fair."
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>> Veteran opinion columnist Eugene Robinson is leaving The Washington Post, citing the "'significant shift' in our section's mission," Ben Mullin scooped. (Bluesky)
>> John Oliver is being sued for defamation "by a physician who claims the HBO host made false statements about him this past year on 'Last Week Tonight.'" HBO declined to comment. (Wash Post)
>> The head of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said "the US government had switched off a satellite that transmitted its Russian-language program into Russia.” (AFP)
>> The Independent's UK editor says "stories on its new AI-written summarization service, Bulletin, often outperform the human-written content on which they are based." (Press Gazette)
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Bloomberg's 'Can't Look Away' |
This new documentary feature is a real triumph for Bloomberg News. Called "Can't Look Away: The Case Against Social Media," the film is based on investigative reporter Olivia Carville's work on child safety in the digital world. It follows "a team of lawyers battling several tech companies" on behalf of shattered families. The film is streaming on the pay-to-view platform Jolt starting today, and is getting a theatrical run at DCTV's Firehouse Cinema in New York.
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>> Issie Lapowsky says "a huge swath of Silicon Valley is horrified by what Elon Musk is doing — but they fear speaking out.” (Politico)
>> A new Pew study finds that "the public and experts are far apart in their enthusiasm and predictions for AI." (Pew)
>> YouTube has "quietly updated its hate speech policy to remove the phrase 'gender identity.'" (User Mag)
>> On a very different note, the site has announced new video creation tools for its TikTok competitor Shorts. (CNBC)
>> Want to bid on an abandoned X handle? Soon there might be a (costly) way to do so. (TechCrunch)
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Opening night for Clooney and co. |
"Good Night, and Good Luck" had its official opening night on Broadway last night. "Guests later gathered to celebrate opening at a swanky black tie afterparty held at the New York Public Library," People reports. Jake Tapper snapped this picture of George Clooney with his co-stars on stage:
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A thoroughly A-list crowd was in attendance, including, just to name a few, Hugh Jackman, Drew Barrymore, Pierce Brosnan, Pamela Brown, Cindy Crawford, Maureen Dowd, Rachel Maddow, Julianna Margulies, Lorne Michaels, Matthew Rhys, Lesley Stahl, George Stephanopoulos, Jennifer Lopez, Gayle King, and Mike Birbiglia... |
On June 27 Bruce Springsteen is coming out with seven "lost" albums, including 74 songs that have never been officially released before. "Fans have long known that Springsteen has withheld many songs throughout his career," the NYT's Ben Sisario writes, but "even many Bruceologists may be surprised at the scale of 'Tracks II,' which is organized as seven discrete projects from 1983 to 2018..."
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>> MTV's annual Video Music Awards will also air on CBS this fall. (TheWrap)
>> "Tangled," Disney's "live-action reimagining of its 2010 animated film focused on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale heroine, has been put on pause," Borys Kit and Mia Galuppo scooped. (THR)
>> We've made it to "The White Lotus" finale weekend. To tide yourself over until Sunday, THR has an "uncensored oral history" of season three. (THR)
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SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST... |
>> Gretel Kahn says Russia and China are already capitalizing on a silenced Voice of America to reshape Africa's news ecosystem. (Nieman Lab)
>> "Pete Hegseth's P.R. War:" He is "performing for the cameras as much as for the troops" and relying on a "government-funded digital campaign" to turn him into a social media star, Julia Ioffe writes. (Puck)
>> M. Gessen connects the dots and declares: "The United States has become a secret-police state. Trust me, I've seen it before." (NYT)
>> As some universities throw in the towel in the fight for free speech, students and faculty members are continuing to fight on, Gaby Del Valle writes. (The Verge)
>> From TikTok to Reddit, there is an "online effort to foil Trump's deportation raids" by tracking ICE officers, Tatum Hunter explains. (Wash Post)
>> Concerned about press freedom? Amaris Castillo offers "some things you can do about it." (Poynter)
>> Spaces, a new Canadian social media platform, is "trying to revive social media as a home for local journalism," Lauren Watson writes. (CJR)
>> Great stunt! Saahil Desai rented a Cybertruck for "a journalistic experiment to understand what it’s like behind the wheel of America’s most hated car." (The Atlantic)
>> Peter Kiefer and Borys Kit take stock of "the incredible shrinking studio chief." (THR)
>> "The Pitt" is "serving as a model for other potential projects at Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max service," Joe Flint reports. If you haven't watched yet, binge the show this weekend! The season one finale comes out next week. (WSJ)
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