Clash of the ‘extremism reporters’

The biggest drama coming out of CPAC last week comes courtesy of a woman who wasn’t even admitted. Amanda Moore is a freelance reporter best known for going “undercover” with the MAGA movement. She found herself denied entry to the event, as one of the “propagandists” singled out by ACU chairman Matt Schlapp, along with reporters from HuffPost and Mother Jones. Instead Moore sat in the lobby of the hotel where the conference was hosted, writing about the experience for the Nation.

Ben Goggin is the deputy tech editor at NBC News, whose specialties include extremism. Goggin wrote a piece about the “Nazis” who went to CPAC and “mingled openly.” When Schlapp said they were unwelcome, Goggin tweeted out video of the young men who self-identified as Nazis to the extremism reporter, attempting to intimidate Moore. One of them gives a Hitler salute behind her. But Goggin’s report did not mention Moore by name. As a result, she is going full Felicia Sonmez at him on Twitter/X.

“i can’t fucking believe a ‘real’ journalist at a major outlet has had the audacity to say i’m tearing him down bc i pointed out he essentially stole my shit and erased me, jesus christ this is baby shit,” Moore said in one of her many tweets. “I don’t mind the nazis harassing me, it’s the behind the scenes politics and gatekeeping that make this unsustainable.” 

“It’s concerning that people interested in journalism are now turning to influencer-style tactics and stunts to make a living,” Goggin said in one of his many responses. “It completely degrades public trust in journalists, their incentives, and the facts they present.”

The “Nazis,” clearly, had come to CPAC knowing there were a lot of journalists there hunting for “signs of extremism.” They knew they would get attention for their presence and make the conference look bad, à la Nick Fuentes and his groypers a couple of years back. The ACU, the conference organizers, would face “hard” questions about how poorly they dealt with the far-right. And Moore and Goggin came to the conference to write this story — which is why they’re squabbling like schoolchildren over who deserves credit for it.

Everyone involved has been compensated with a healthy dollop of attention. Isn’t that all you wanted?

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Out: Sleepy Joe
In: Horny Joe

Cockburn was mortified to hear last week of President Biden jokingly bragging about “good sex” with Jill being the secret to his marriage’s success. Now it seems there’s not a family member with whom he won’t discuss the birds and the bees. Here’s Tyler Pager in today’s Washington Post:

In the early months of his presidency, as the pandemic dragged on with its stifling restrictions, President Biden often delivered a favorite monologue to aides: he was worried about young people’s mental health, he said. High school seniors were missing prom and graduation. He wanted to know how college students went on dates.

Specifically, Biden wondered how young people could “make love” under the circumstances, according to two aides who heard the president use that phrase multiple times during his first year in office. Biden’s fixation on loneliness among young people, the aides said, grew out of his near-daily conversations with his grandchildren.

Please, Grandpa, no! The purpose of the piece is to demonstrate how President Biden’s decisions are still shaped by the conversations he has with his family, confidants and “normal folk.” Perhaps this means we’re about to see a White House initiative to get zoomers breeding. Either way, it’s good to know that Joe’s dwelling upon the problem Ani Wilcenski highlighted in the cover story of this month’s magazine…

Blind item: the family goes nuclear

The debate over “tradlife” has been raging online all week. Watching it unfold are a number of socially conservative advocacy groups keen to promote family values, some of which have been unfairly branded “Christian nationalist” by godless harpies in the mainstream press. But how many are practicing the example they preach?

Cockburn hears that a leading figure in one such group, who has drifted further right over the decades, has spent the last couple of years embroiled in one of the political world’s messiest divorces. It must get easier to promote submissive housewives with a renewed vigor after shredding your wedding certificate…

Ruthless feedback for new CNN leader

How is the new CNN chief faring? Mark Thompson joined from the New York Times with a brief of steadying the ship after the volatility of his predecessors. At his previous role at the BBC, Thompson had commented on the “massive bias to the left” — and he faces a similar challenge to restore trust at his new network. “Change is essential if we’re to secure this great news company’s future,” he told staff in January. 

Sadly for Thompson, the audience bequeathed to him by the ghosts of CNN past is absolutely feral. Just look at the response to Dana Bash “platforming” the four hosts of the Ruthless podcast on her show after Mitch McConnell’s retirement announcement, as three of them worked for the departing Senate Minority Leader in some capacity. (The fourth, Shashank “Comfortably Smug” Tripathi, wore sunglasses for the duration of the hit, presumably because, like Bono, he has glaucoma. Cockburn wishes him well.) 

“CNN producers have now been replaced by single white men living in their parents’ basements,” seethed one critic on X. “Just straight-up amplifying right-wing trolls now. Dang that liberal bias,” wrote another. 

“CNN is so desperate to bring viewers back to the circus that they’re letting in any old clowns off the street,” chirped another pundit. Others directed their ire at the new head honcho: “Unserious news org, @CNN This type of thing won’t help us take you more seriously, Mark Thompson, new CEO.” 

The podcasters’ style also came in for scrutiny. “men should wear jackets,” tweeted clothes fetishist “Derek Guy” regarding Tripathi’s attire. Give him a break, Derek, the poor fella probably can’t see the mirror! 

If this is the reaction garnered by the mere appearance of four relatively milquetoast conservatives on a mainstream network, how could Thompson possibly have high hopes for getting viewers whose views are closer to the likely Republican nominee for president?

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