THE DAILY NEWSLETTER  - TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 2020 

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Media Winners & Losers

MEDIA WINNER:
CNN

President Donald Trump claimed this morning that CNN is "dying" and that prime time host Chris Cuomo's ratings are plummeting, despite the fact that the network, led by strong numbers from Cuomo, just saw its highest rated May in the history of the network.

Cuomo on Tuesday's show said, "please, show me where it says protesters are supposed to be polite and peaceful." GOP rapid response director Steve Guest shared that clip on Twitter, where it got a huge response, and Trump's comment came as retweet of someone sharing Guest's post.

"Fredo’s ratings are down more than 50%. People are tired of his act," he wrote, adding that CNN "is dying."

Rather than letting that claim stand, CNN pushed back, with straight fire.

"CNN is not dying. But Americans are," CNN's PR account replied. "Focus on that and leave television ratings to us."

That tweet was followed by a second that featured the CNN press release on their huge numbers, flatly contradicting Trump's wild lies.

Here are details and analysis of CNN's ratings, from Mediaite+, including not just the record May, but their massive weekend leading into June.

Pushing back when being burned with propaganda is good. Doing it with the facts at hand and receipts to share? That's a PR win. And when those receipts also show a ratings win ... well that's a Media Winner moment.

MEDIA LOSER:
Laura Ingraham

Fox News host Laura Ingraham has made something of a network career out of defending the president. She accomplishes that in all sorts of ways, but especially through a disturbing thematic policy: no dissent.

That could explain why, after Trump very obviously had Lafayette Park violently cleared of protesters so he could walk to a church he doesn’t attend for a photo op, she defended him — dishonestly.

First on Twitter, Ingraham insisted that tear gas was not used to clear protesters, taking the word of an anonymous police source as a refutation of claims both from reporters on the ground, and her own network.

When Park Police later issued a statement denying the use of tear gas — but conceding they had used pepper balls, which the CDC considers a tear gas — Ingraham doubled down, demanding a correction from Mediaite.

On her 11 p.m. show, Ingraham continued her disturbing quest to rewrite history in order to protect the president. She cast the D.C. protesters as violent, but not the police who were caught on camera violently assaulting a member of the media.

It’s concerning enough that the Park Police appear to be putting out mealy-mouth statements to shield the president from criticism over his stunt. But a television host dutifully spreading that disinformation to help cover up the president’s crack down on protesters? That's something you'd see in a banana republic.

The A-Block

NYPD

New York City Police Department officers were filmed on Tuesday night shoving and screaming at two Associated Press journalists covering the George Floyd protests.

AP broadcast producer Robert Bumsted and photographer Maye-E Wong were in the city to report on how the police were dispersing protests after curfew.

As the situation continued to escalate, the two journalists kept filming as a group of officers shoved and cursed at them despite their attempts to inform the police that they were members of the press.


'He got away with murder'

"I always felt that he got away with murder," said President Donald Trump about MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, in an interview with Fox News Channel's Brian Kilmeade.

Kilmeade, who was interviewing Trump, asked the president about his feud with Scarborough, meaning the many times he's suggested that Scarborough murdered a woman.

“Why put them in your crosshairs when there’s so many other huge problems out there?” Kilmeade asked. As in, specifically asked the president about the topic.

Trump, who Kilmeade was interviewing, answered "I hit back. I fight," before stating outright that he thinks that Joe Scarborough committed a murder.

After the president of the United States, who Brian Kilmeade was at that very moment interviewing, said
in that interview in answer to Kilmeade asking specifically about it, that he thinks journalist and former member of congress Joe Scarborough is a murderer who got away with that crime of murder,
Kilmeade bravely responded by saying "Thanks."

Also in the interview Trump said he wasn't hiding in his bunker he was just inspecting it.

‘Black Grievance Politics'

Candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden gave a speech on Tuesday amid the many crises facing the United States, and in general received praise and positive reviews.

On CNN, anchors and reporters praised the speech, saying Biden has “found his voice” and spoke with “moral authority,” in contrast to Trump.

Likewise, MSNBC had much praise for Biden's remarks, though MSNBC contributor Eddie Glaude Jr. said that while the speech is a "good beginning," Biden "needs to offer a set of remedies that actually rise to the level of the problems we face.”

On Fox, however, Brit Hume ripped the speech, saying on Tucker Carlson Tonight that it contained “black grievance politics we’ve been hearing for years.”

Well... bye.

Rep. Steve King (R-IA), known for his long history of extremist and bigoted comments, lost the Iowa Republican primary to state senator Randy Feenstra Tuesday night

The Republican Convention

President Donald Trump said Tuesday night that the Republican party is “now forced to seek another state” for its 2020 convention over a dispute with Governor Roy Cooper, a huge blow to the city of Charlotte, which has been investing in preparing for the convention for some time.

"Say it Now, Black Lives Matter"

Debate in the British House of Commons grew tense Wednesday — as U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was confronted Scottish National Party parliamentary leader Ian Blackford over the protests here in the United States and Johnson's support for Trump.

“Can I ask the prime minister what representations has he made to his ally Donald Trump?" asked Blackford. "And at the very least, prime minister, say it now: Black Lives Matter.”

PM Johnson had to answer on the spot.
 

Must-See Clip

Be Quiet 

Minnesota protesters called out CNN’s Miguel Marquez as he continued to speak on camera, right in the middle of a moment of silence.

Marquez was doing a live shot on The Lead . and amazingly describing for Jake Tapper the reasons for the silence all around him. Describing. Silence. Out loud.

The crowd kept trying to shush him, and in the last moments of the clip someone puts their hand in front of the camera to shut him up.

So dumb, so weird, such a must-see clip.

Links We Like

One of my closest and dearest friends died last week. I am going to his funeral today.
- Leon Wolf, on Twitter
Years of polite protests against Trump could not do what this movement might
- Dahlia Lithwick, via Slate
If protesters can march, why can’t businesses open?
-  Karol Markowicz, via New York Post
The George Floyd protests expose the fault lines in metropolitan America.
- Ross Douthat. via New York Times
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