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Artisanally-Crafted Narratives – THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
A scandal that lasted 1/40 of a Scaramucci.
It had social media ignited on Thursday as talk of a Trump-Jeffrey Epstein scandal has people lit up. By late in the day, The Wall Street Journal dropped its massive hit piece – Trump sent Epstein a bawdy birthday letter, 22 years ago. The story itself was so explosive that people across the country responded with a resounding, “Uh…ummm…what?!”
Not only was this a nothingburger that lacked any import, the Journal could not even produce tangible evidence this thing existed. The anonymously-sourced card allegedly had a sketch of a naked woman and just the name “Donald” scrawled at the bottom, and reporters Joe Palazzolo and Khadeeja Safdar allegedly saw it. That is the extent of their “proof.”
It was Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday, and Ghislaine Maxwell was preparing a special gift to mark the occasion. She turned to Epstein’s family and friends. One of them was Donald Trump.
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) July 18, 2025
Maxwell collected letters from Trump and dozens of Epstein’s other associates for a 2003… pic.twitter.com/RKQKJwWnsz
Body Checking the Fact-Checkers – USA TODAY
When impeachable sources insist it is unimpeachable information.
We have all the proof needed that the WSJ birthday story is legitimate – USA Today’s college sports reporter has verified things!
See, as Dan Wolken explains it, no news outlet would print a story if it was not verified by editors and legal Except for CNN this year. And MSNBC, and ABC News, and CBS News, and…
The amount of people who think publications the scope of the Wall Street Journal just put explosive stuff out about a public figure without well established authentication procedures and running it through a team of lawyers knows literally nothing about journalism.
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) July 18, 2025
BlueAnon – MSNBC
We think Larry should have chosen a tinfoil hat to match his tie.
The Wall Street Journal piece was essentially discredited before sundown last night, but that was missed by MSNBC’s soporific host Lawrence O’Donnell who, at 10:15 pm, was not only still leaning on the letter as legitimate, he was going on about the source of it – and going off the rails in the process.
Larry went on a lengthy rant suggesting that Vice President JD Vance was pushing to have the Journal release the letter because it would be the most damaging thing to ever hit Trump’s political career, and as a result, Vance would rise to the role of president of the USA. Yes, this was Larry’s honest position.
This is as utterly unhinged as you will see.
— Brad Slager: CNN+ Lifetime Subscriber (@MartiniShark) July 18, 2025
Here is @Lawrence with the crackpot theory that @VP J.D. Vance was the source of the @WSJ letter, doing so to force out president Trump and rise to the office. pic.twitter.com/DiG3oOZWAm
BlueAnon – VARIOUS OUTLETS
How exactly did they “hide” an interview that was put out over a year ago?
Another so-called scandal was circulating where it was claimed that Fox News had deceptively edited an interview with Donald Trump where he said he’d release the Epstein Files on air, but supposedly said something different in a full answer. Except the difference is that he gave a longer explanation saying they might need to be careful with some of the information and verify things were not fake, but that, yes, he would want it released.
As media figures are crying foul and even some in Congress want answers, the facts are the answer is essentially the same. Plus, unlike the “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris, the whole reason people are referring to the full answer from Trump is that Fox News released the entire interview. In June.
Of last year.
Thursday Delivered Another Non-Scandal – a Look Into the Fox News Trump Interview Editing Accusationshttps://t.co/zE6MFKmyb4
— RedState (@RedState) July 18, 2025
Stealth Story Evolution – MSNBC
This is certainly a refreshing standard — in defiance of all of your previous standards.
Joe Scarborough has essentially rendered himself an inconsequential pundit, even among those who were enthusiastically following him up to last year. It might have something to do with pushing so hard for Joe Biden’s mental acuity that when President Silver Alert was entirely exposed last summer Scar-Joe became the emblem of the lying press corps that defended Biden all that time.
It is for this reason that one of his latest pronouncements has been met with laughter. Scar-Joe now suggests that presidents should be required to release all of their health records in real time.
Joe Scarborough suddenly wants congress to pass a law requiring full presidential medical records be released to the public.
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) July 18, 2025
"Because that have to report on presidents, you're just sort of whistling in the dark. You have no idea how any president is actually doing."
LMAO.
Mr.… pic.twitter.com/usUgdToleQ
First Amendment Strike Force – MSNBC
Not because of the jokes, Chris, it’s because nobody wanted to hear them any longer.
Chris Hayes, like many in media circles, was bothered to hear that Stephen Colbert was being canceled. This is probably because his show is basically one that would fit on MSNBC, with clap-ter being the main difference.
But for him to suggest Colbert was fired over saying mean things about Trump is more laughable than a Colbert monologue. The only response to this to make sense would be, “Finally, after ten years they finally heard him insulting Trump!”
Not really an overstatement to say that the test of a free society is whether or not comedians can make fun of the country's leader on TV without repurcussions.
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) July 18, 2025
