Cable news ratings; Haberman's countless scoops; Kirk parrots Carlson on Russia

Already, even a week before it hits shelves, Confidence Man — the new book on former President Donald Trump by New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman — has yielded a bushel of shocking revelations about the 45th president.
Haberman interviewed Trump himself for her book, brilliantly getting him to let his guard down and admit he had "incredible things” in his possession after departing the White House. This interview was conducted BEFORE the court-ordered search and seizure of his Mar-a-Lago home on August 8th.
The scoop was so stunning that an MSNBC legal panel led by Lawrence O’Donnell even speculated the bombshell could be subpoenaed as evidence — especially if it’s on tape.
A summary of the 607-page tome published by the Washington Post, and another published by CNN, also detail numerous bizarre incidents from inside the Trump White House.
According to Haberman's book, Trump nearly fired his own daughter, Ivanka Trump, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, by tweet.
Another passage of the CNN preview also shows an alarming lack of knowledge from Trump about how Congress functions. The former president even discussed filing a lawsuit against Congress ahead of his first impeachment in 2019.
And in a truly stunning anecdote, Haberman described how former Rep. Debbie Dingell believes Trump may have tried to pass himself off as a Washington Post reporter in a phone call to her on one occasion.
CNN's Oliver Darcy also reported that Haberman's book claims Trumpberated ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos in 2016 over asking “eight f*cking follow-ups” about Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin.
According to Darcy's report, Haberman's book further claims Trump ran wild chasing down a suspected White House leaker, citing a name he got from Fox News anchor Sean Hannity, whom he called a “very trusted source.”
Brava, Haberman. Countless scoops that not only made headlines for days, but also prompted subpoena speculation, and even a baseless felony theory, is an impressive feat.

Charlie Kirk, the founder of the Pro-Trump student group Turning Point USA, declared the United States military and intelligence community “guilty until proven innocent” of sabotaging the Nord Stream pipelines that channeled natural gas from Russia to Germany.
Kirk raged against the U.S. government on his podcast Wednesday, saying, “If this was an act of the Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA, which, again, is just speculation. It’s very important."
"How does that get us closer to peace? Is this a potential midterm election operation? Pure speculation," he continued. "I’m asking a question."
That's a pretty loaded question, Kirk -- you know, one that suggests the U.S. government sabotaged massive natural gas pipelines from Russia to Germany.
“Is this a wag-the-dog situation where they want us talking about a war in Europe when we have inflation, border problems, and the economy? Is this because there is a looming red wave here? Is this an underwater October surprise?” Kirk continued, implying the pipeline sabotage was a political stunt.
Hm, or maybe the media is giving the story attention because the attack on the lines will likely lead to shocking energy shortages in Europe over the winter.
Not to mention, on Wednesday, both European and U.S. officials began pointing the finger at Russia for the attack, as Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly threatened Europe, which Russia supplies with gas for heating, with a cold winter for the continent’s opposition to his brutal invasion of Ukraine. Putin has also already limited its supply of natural gas to Europe as a means of retaliation for sanctions over the war in Ukraine.
“I don’t trust the narrative industrial complex. The intelligence agency. And I hate to say it this way, it’s very painful as a proud American. They’re guilty until proven innocent in this situation,” Kirk said.
And a dishonorable mention to fellow question-asker, Tucker Carlson, who asked on his top-rated show Tuesday night, “Did the Biden Administration really do this?”
According to essentially everyone else (besides Russia), no, the Biden Administration did not really do this.