THE DAILY NEWSLETTER  - TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2020

Media Winners & Losers

MEDIA WINNER:
Benjamin Dixon

Former mayor of New York City and current 2020 Democratic candidate Michael Bloomberg has had a mixed bag of late when it comes to media moments. In the wake of audio from 2015 on NYC's stop-and-frisk policy, that mix has taken a decided, but not total, downturn.

That audio went viral fast on Monday, and evolved eventually into a direct tit-for-tat between Bloomberg and Trump on Tuesday. With a side order of Joe Biden.

Bloomberg's moment has prompted discussion segments on cable, provided pitfalls for Trump officials that can't be avoided even on Fox News, and plenty of conjecture on Bloomberg's viability against Trump, including from Trump's biggest supporters.

And it all started with a podcast.

Benjamin P. Dixon aired the clip on his show and it blew up from there. Blew up so much that there was even a CNN segment questioning his motives

Dixon's podcast not only had a major impact on the news cycle and potentially the primary, but resulted in a media scrum over his own podcast and politics.

Some say any press is good press, but that's not really the case. Bloomberg's moment isn't great here.

But for Dixon? From the widespread recognition to the impact of the clip, and even the bashing by some, it's a clear and obvious media win.

MEDIA LOSER:
Chuck Todd

It can be murky, sometimes, deciding whether backlash against a media personality is a net positive or negative. But when the hashtag #FireChuckTodd is trending, and not because of the Trump-right objecting to MSNBC, it makes it a bit easier to identify.

NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd was the object of this ire over a discussion on Monday's Meet The Press Daily about supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The host was discussing and reading from an article by Jonathan Last at The Bulwark, including a description of Sanders supporters as "digital brown shirt brigade" -- a Nazi reference that Todd not only repeated but built more discussion on.

The backlash was swift.

"'Digital brown shirt brigade.' That's how our Jewish candidate's supporters are being described on the MSM," wrote Sanders' national press secretary Briahna Gray

"MSNBC seems very frightened that ordinary voters, many of whom use the Internet, may actually get to participate in deciding who wins the presidency," said David Sirota, also on Twitter.

The hashtag was born, spreading far beyond just campaign staff. The backlash was itself a viral moment, prompting several articles, including on popular progressive blogs and in a syndicated Sinclair headline.

Quoting or not, Todd clearly suffered a media losing moment in this storm.

The A-Block

Roger Stone, Trump, and the DOJ 

Prosecutors in the Roger Stone case on Monday were set to recommend a sentence of 7 to 9 years for the Trump confidante and associate. That didn't sit well with the president, who attacked his Department of Justice on Twitter, saying "cannot allow this miscarriage of justice."

And so, it seemed, the sentence recommendation would not, in fact, be allowed. Fox News broke the story that the DOJ was going to revise the recommendation, which it characterized as "extreme."

In the wake of that news, the internet was rocked by the resignation from the case by one of the prosecutors. 

And then another.

And then ANOTHER.

Eventually all four withdrew over the DOJ's decision. 

Mediaite founder and ABC News chief legal analyst Dan Abrams discussed the situation on Tuesday. "This is a dark, dark day for the Department of Justice,” he said. “I am despondent over what I am seeing from this Department of Justice.” 

The Young Google/YouTube Turks

"The Young Turks (TYT), one of the largest progressive digital publishers on YouTube, is receiving funding from Google-owned YouTube to launch an online course called TYT Academy that focuses on the creation of digital-first local news." Those are the words from an Axios report that started a wave of WTH tweets on the right.

It was mostly focused on TYT founder and host Cenk Uygur, a candidate for congress and recently of the on-again-off-again Sanders endorsement fame.

Revenge

Former National Security Council Director for European Affairs Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who testified in impeachment, could be punished, Trump suggested on Tuesday.

“That’s gonna be up to the military, we’ll have to see,” he continued before adding, “If you look at what happened, they’re going to certainly, I would imagine, take a look at that… I think what he did was just reported a false call. If you look at what he said.”

Considering Trump's "observation" about the sentence recommendation turned into action by the DOJ, his saying the military could "certainly, I would imagine, take a look at that" can't be overlooked as mere idle chatter. Vindman was, after all, escorted from the White House by security last week.

Trump 46?

When Donald Trump Jr. took the stage at Monday night's Trump rally, a chant of "46" could be heard from the crowd.

But if you missed the rally, don't worry. Fox's Brian Kilmeade echoed the sentiment on Tuesday's Fox & Friends

Speaking of podcasts

Senator Ted Cruz told fans on Tuesday that if Bernie Sanders wins the 2020 presidential election, his podcast could be taken “off the air.”

And speaking of revenge

Rep. Matt Gaetz was one of only a few Republicans who voted for a measure designed to limit Trump's war powers. The political media buzzed since then that Gaetz was on the outs with Trump. 

On Monday, Trump gave Gaetz a shout-out from the rally stage, prompting a post from Maggie Haberman to Twitter suggesting the "ouster" was over, and that prompted a duel between the two online.

How do I look?

Let's close with this internet-ready prompt: Fox's Sean Hannity went to a Joe Biden rally, and you'll never guess what happened next!

Except you will guess. It was semi-confrontational and focused mainly on Hannity asking people questions about himself.

Must-See Clip of the Day

Eeny Meeny Miny Mo

Catch a nominee by the toe. If they holler, tell them "no." That is how New Hampshire go.

This MSNBC moment, in which they interview a voter in the New Hampshire primary on her selection method, could be a metaphor for a lot of things political in a variety of ways. Or you might just find it a fascinating moment in the tapestry of American life. But as a scientific method for choosing a candidate, it's certainly interesting.

And in a separate MSNBC moment, a voter in a diner interview told Ari Melber she is going to vote for Bernie Sanders out of revenge for the network's mistreatment of the Senator. Another single clip that can be seen as a broad commentary on politics.

Which to watch? Well we do know of one method you could use to decide...
 

Links We Like

This is What it Looks Like INSIDE The Trump Voter Information Bubble
via The Bulwark
We Need Straight Answers from China
- via National Review

New Hampshire Democratic Voters Paralyzed by Fear of Making Wrong Choice
- via Time
Bernie Sanders’s Abortion Comments and the Unnecessary Intolerance of the Culture War
- via The Dispatch
New York Times Expands Domestic Coverage to… The Suburbs?
- via Medaiite
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