Get access to Brad Slager's "Riffed From the Headlines," a daily VIP feature where he looks to bring accountability to the mainstream media. Use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership!
News Avoidance Syndrome – POLITICO
How do you tune your ears to only hear one side?!
At Politico, Josh Gerstein wrote a gushing piece on SCOTUS Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, and in it, he opens with her defense of the courts from critical attacks:
You have to have an independent judiciary — one that is not beholden to the political branches or beholden to people. I just wish that people really focused on that and, therefore, stood up in some ways for the judiciary, when people — judges are being attacked and undermined, that is really an attack on our society.
Gerstein then helps her out and fills in the blanks. The attacks on the court come from a predictable (to Josh) President Trump.
Not mentioned at all by Gerstein are the lengthy examples seen from Democrats the past couple of weeks, as they had scathing outrage over the Louisiana redistricting decision, and, of course, the calls to impeach the members of Virginia’s state Supreme Court.
NEW: Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson calls on Americans to stand up to attacks on the judiciary, says courts can't be 'beholden to the political branches...or to people'https://t.co/Q6gH4bnwCL
— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) May 13, 2026
Low-Octane Gaslighting – VARIOUS OUTLETS
Look, gang – we expect this from her, but your ignorance is not excusable.
Speaking of attacks on the judiciary, we have this prime example. In an impromptu presser outside the Capitol, the deeply cerebral U.S. Rep Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) spoke on the matter of Virginia’s redistricting drama. She expressed dismay and disapproval that SCOVA ruled the new voting maps that were drawn were unconstitutional, specifically because the court ruled after the voters cast their votes.
Now we will leave it to interpretation whether it was willful deception by her or ignorance, but the Democrats had gone to the court and specifically filed to have them rule on things after the vote, and the court complied. Either way, she was peddling misinformation.
But none of the gathered journalists dared to challenge her on this detail in the matter.
AOC: What is extremely disturbing about what has happened in Virginia is this court overturned the will of three million Virginians. They can say what they want about the ballot initiative, but they explicitly chose to issue this ruling after the election happened. They had all… pic.twitter.com/NC7kUsMikB
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 13, 2026
Both Kinds of Standards – THE INDEPENDENTS
History, once again, began with Trump’s inauguration.
There is an old chestnut spoken in legal circles that during a trial, you should never ask a question of a witness for which you do not already know the answer. This is wisdom that Mehdi Hasan could have heeded before looking bad. Another wise phrase is that it is never wise to repost Aaron Rupar.
In uttering his disgust with the way the president treats the press, Hasan asked when it became acceptable for the president to insult the media.
When did we normalize this? When did it become okay for a president to tell a female reporter she’s a ‘dumb person’ for asking a totally legitimate question about his contradictory answers? Was there a specific date and time it become okay? Normal? Normalized? https://t.co/iv1ydBN1tR
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) May 13, 2026
Now, I could get deep in the weeds with Hasan and point to the times our early presidents had contemptuous relationships with the newspapers, but instead, we just need to backtrack a couple of years. You remember Joe Biden, don’t you, Mehdi?
He was the president who saw journalist Steve Baker arrested, and he is on the record insulting Peter Doocy in Trumpian fashion. Just thought I’d help you with the research…you did not want to engage in it yourself.
Probably around this time https://t.co/QV9oUtmaCg pic.twitter.com/NhxtWluNrI
— Brianna Lyman (@briannalyman2) May 13, 2026
Prose & Contradiction – POD SAVE AMERICA
Suddenly, past comments are a serious matter…unlike what we were told weeks ago.
Many people are recognizing that in the race for Mayor of Los Angeles, Spencer Pratt is making waves and impressing more people. A sign that he is worrying the Left is seen in the Pod Save Bros deciding to try to lash out at the candidate. Jon Favreau dug up an old tweet from Pratt where he was touting Alex Jones – from about 15 years ago.
Not only is this the kind of exposé to cause shrugs across the country, but it is also particularly amusing to see this from the same guy who tried to platform Graham Platner and excused away his years of deeply problematic posts.
@JonFavs: Something Spenser Pratt posted 15 years ago is questionable and disqualifying!
— Brad Slager: CNN+ Lifetime Subscriber (@MartiniShark) May 13, 2026
ALSO @JonFavs: Graham Platner’s Third Reich death camp tattoo, communist confessions, supremacist podcast visits, and neo-Nazi support are from the past — we need to overlook those. https://t.co/RV9LsIudTh pic.twitter.com/iUK3U0e8TK
Body Checking the Fact-Checkers – POLITIFACT
When you try recasting a Democrat by saying “that’s not what he said”, maybe don’t post what he said…?
In an effort to clean up for U.S. Rep. Democrat Hakeem Jeffries (NY-8) and to slam his critics at the same time, PolitiFact saw a need to clean up after the minority leader regarding his comments about “Maximum Warfare.” We get the trademarked methods of this site when it needs to recalibrate the facts to deliver a narrative. Republicans are taking his words out of context, and “The soundbite lacks larger context.”
The effort by Amy Sherman is to not give more, but less, as she narrows his words to mean only, and strictly, the redistricting efforts taking place.
Small problem for Amy, however. She not only gave Jeffries’ full quote, but her cleanup attempt also had his poster used at that presser displayed, where he distinctly says, “Maximum Warfare Everywhere All The Time.”
Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries called for “maximum warfare” related to redistricting in Virginia. Some Republicans used his words out of context, linking them to the White House correspondents’ dinner hotel shooting.https://t.co/lMKv23vGfD
— PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) April 30, 2026
