STARTING TOMORROW: Songs sung blue!

MONDAY, MAY 8, 2023

Naked and afraid: Last fall, on October 19, Donald J. Trump sat for a deposition as part of the rape / defamation lawsuit brought against him by E. Jean Carroll.

Trump was questioned by Roberta Kaplan, an attorney representing Carroll.

Last Friday, 48 minutes of minutes of videotaped excerpts were made available for public perusal. After watching the tape, we'd say that Trump was struggling to remain as low-key and inoffensive as possible, though he did succumb, along the way, to several startling lapses.

Last Friday afternoon, MNBC'S Nicolle Wallace invited four of her "favorite reporters and friends" to review those videotaped excerpts on Deadline: White House. 

This segment in question occurred at the start of the program's 5 o'clock hour. When the program returned from commercial break, this piece of videotape appeared:

KAPLAN: "When you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything, grab them by the [BLEEP], you can do anything." That's what you said, correct?

TRUMP: Well, historically, that's true with stars.

KAPLAN: It's true with stars, that they can grab women by the [BLEEP]?

TRUMP: Well, that's what—if you look over the last million years, I guess that's been largely true. Not always, but largely true. Unfortunately or fortunately.

KAPLAN: You consider yourself to be a star?

TRUMP: I think you can say that, yeah.

With that cold open, the 5 o'clock hour began. 

In that exchange, Kaplan was quoting a statement Trump had made, apparently in private, in 2005. It was a well-known part of the very well-known "Access Hollywood tape," which became public eleven years later, in October 2016.

The 5 o'clock hour of Deadline: White House began with that piece of tape. At that point, Wallace appeared—and when she did, she offered this interpretation of what Trump had said:

WALLACE (continuing directly from above): Hi, everyone. It is 5 o'clock in New York. This is the front-runner for the Republican nomination for president, who thinks, as of today, that he is a star, and that stars can do that.

Say what? Is that really what Trump said on that tape? Does Wallace think he said that?

It almost sounded like Wallace thought that Trump had reaffirmed his right to grab women by the [BLEEP]. She seemed to think that Trump told Kaplan, during his deposition, 1) that yes, he is a star, and 2) that stars still get to do that.

Is that what Wallace thought Trump said? Here you see her fuller statement as the segment began:

WALLACE (5/5/23): Hi, everyone. It is 5 o'clock in New York. This is the front-runner for the Republican nomination for president, who thinks, as of today, that he is a star and that stars can do that.

It's part of the newly released deposition of the disgraced, twice-impeached, once-indicted ex-president, doubling down, under oath, and now in front of the entire country and world, on comments he first made, as far as we know, on the Access Hollywood tape about where you can grab women.

According to Wallace, Trump had "doubled down" on his earlier comments from the Access Hollywood tape. She seemed to think that Trump had said that—because he is a star—it would still be an acceptable norm for him to behave in that way.

Did Nicolle Wallace really think that that's what Trump had said? Did she really think that Trump had told attorney Kaplan that, even "as of today," he has some sort of right to do that? He can do that because he's a star?

At this point, we'll be honest:

It would never have occurred to us to think that Trump had said that. Nor did Kaplan ever ask him if that's what he meant by the statement in question—or if she did, that exchange wasn't included in the excerpts from the deposition which were made public.

Question:

Had Donald J. Trump really "doubled down" on what he said in 2005? Had he really said that he retains some sort of right to behave in the manner described—in a manner which, under prevailing law, would be a criminal assault in almost all jurisdictions?

It wouldn't have occurred to us that that was what he'd said! But by the time this Deadline: White House segment was done, four of Wallace's favorite reporters and friends had explicitly agreed with her interpretation—and by ten minutes past the hour, Wallace even seemed to say that Trump wasn't even denying the charges Carroll had made!

He wasn't even denying her charges? After playing a carefully edited bit of tape, Wallace insanely said this:

WALLACE: I wonder, Maya [Wiley]. Again, this jury is going to hear him say that today, he thinks he's a star and can carry out the act of grabbing women between the legs. He's saying, "She loved what I did to her." I mean, it is really anything but a denial of the physical conduct that she alleges.

Ten minutes into the lengthy segment, Wallace had reached this very strange point.

According to Wallace, Trump wasn't even denying the charges brought by Carroll. According to Wallace, Trump had said this on the videotape:

"She loved what I did to her."

That's the crazy thing Wallace said after watching a carefully edited bit of tape. (As a courtesy to all involved, we aren't saying "doctored.")

Briefly, let's be honest:

Cable news, as it now exists, is built around crazy statements. It's also built around absurd or highly tendentious interpretations agreed to by one and all.

In effect, it's an endless succession of tribal rallies—of songs sung blue or red.

Of the major players in this disordered world, Tucker Carlson had long been most disordered. In our view, he had been most disordered by far.

At least for now, Tucker Carlson is gone.

Does that leave Wallace as the least reliable narrator in the realm of cable news? In fairness, there are many mornings when the hosts and sidekicks on Morning Joe don't seem to be far behind.

Of one thing you can be sure—whatever assessment Wallace makes, her ever-shifting arrays of favorites are almost surely going to agree with her. On Friday, a rare exception occurred:

On Friday, Wallace's claim that Trump wasn't even denying Carroll's charges was so baldly absurd—was so patently crazy—that Wiley didn't second the emotion, and no one else returned to the crazy claim. 

But make no mistake! As the Deadline bandwagon rolls along, with Morning Joe serving as an approximation, Donald J. Trump seems to be ascending in national polls. 

This afternoon, we'll look at the latest horrific numbers. This morning, the Morning Joe gang—two co-hosts, one sidekick, three additional guests—wondered why the voters seem to be tilting that way. 

It didn't seem to occur to the Morning Joe gang that, when people refuse to vote the blue way, some of those voters are refusing became of their loathing for them. It never occurs to players like these that the problem may be them.

All this week, we'll sift through the claim five people made on Deadline: White House last Friday—the claim that Trump had doubled down on his Access Hollywood statement. 

Along the way, we'll look at some other songs sung blue—at a few other doctored claims to which our tribunes cling like drowning people clinging to rafts, or like children lost in the woods.

To us, they seem like children lost in the woods, naked and afraid.  They just keep singing their songs sung blue! 

Does democracy in their hands, along with progressive interests?

Tomorrow: Had Donald J. Trump "doubled down" on his claim? On Deadline: White House (and virtually nowhere else), everyone said he had!

Fuller disclosures: Naked and afraid? For the background on our literary reference, you can just click this.

To watch the Deadline segment in question, let the Internet Archive help you! To start, you should just click here.