WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2025
...the second time around: Yesterday, when he dropped the bomb in question, one news site took notice.
Mediaite reported the president's rage. Tommy Christopher started like this, headline included:
‘SCUM!’ Trump Rages at CNN, MSNBC on White House Lawn Over Skeptical Coverage
President Donald Trump raged at MSNBC and CNN over their coverage of the U.S. airstrikes in Iran, claiming they “hurt” bomber pilots by questioning his claims about the damage done.
[...]
Both of those networks drew Trump’s rage when he spoke to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House Tuesday morning as he departed the White House on route to The Hague, Netherlands.
He called the outlets “scum” and accused them of trying “to demean me” with their reporting.
At that point, Mediaite's Tommy Christopher presented a transcript of the angry president's rage-filled remarks. His remarks had gone like this:
REPORTER (6/24/25): How confident are you [INAUDIBLE] has been demolished?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think it’s been completely demolished. I think the reason we’re here is because those pilots, those B-2 pilots, did an unbelievable job.
And, you know, the fake news, like CNN in particular, they’re trying to say, “Well, I agree that it was destroyed, but maybe not that destroyed.”
You know what they’re doing? They’re really hurting great pilots that put their lives on the line! CNN is SCUM! And so is MSDNC. They’re all—.
And frankly, the networks aren’t much better. It’s all fake news, but they should not have done that.
Those pilots hit their targets. Those targets were obliterated, and the pilots should be given credit. They’re not after the pilots. They’re after me. They want to try and demean me.
Obviously, no one has been criticizing the pilots who performed Saturday's elaborate mission. The president offered that absurd claim, that moved to the angry assertion that CNN and MSNBC are "scum."
We're willing to call that unusual language. Quite correctly, Mediaite took note of that fact, from its eye-catching headline on down.
That was the fury of the president as he started his trip to the NATO conference. This morning, during a formal presser at The Hague, there the president went again. Once again, with extreme anger, he delivered his favorite new bomb:
PRESIDENT TRUMP (6/25/25): This was an unbelievable hit by genius pilots and genius people in the military. And they're not being given credit for it because we have scum [pointing] that's in this group.
And not all of you are. You have some great reporters, but you have scum.
CNN is scum. MSDNC is scum. The New York Times is scum. They're bad people. They're sick. And what they've done is they're trying try to make this unbelievable victory into something less...
As of this morning, the New York Times is also scum. And not only that—the Times is also sick.
Love is said to be better the second time around. By way of contrast, the furious use of the insulting term "scum" seems to be less notable.
In today's diatribe from The Hague, the president continued with the ridiculous claim in which "the genius pilots" are being demeaned by the press, along with other "genius people in the military."
After relaunching that foolish claim, he turned again to his favorite insult, even as some of the "scum" sat right there before him. For a fuller account of today's explosion, see this morning's report.
Love is better the second time—but this startling insult is being ignored today, even at Mediaite. Simply put, our sitting president is extremely erratic and very angry—and our timorous press corps seems inclined to normalize all such behavior.
They don't know what to say about this This seems to be their solution:
Nothing to look at! Move right along!
In this face of the president's strange behavior, they just say nothing at all.
ReplyDeleteSquealing idiot-Democrats is a nice spectacle. I agree with you: they should squeal more.
"they just say nothing at all"
Because they know they are scum. And they will keep being scum. What's there for them to say?
Trump is wrong as usual. Those outlets are not scum, they are putrid hot garbage.
ReplyDeleteJew-hater violent crime loving communist wins Democrat primary in NYC.
ReplyDeleteI know, isn't that fabulous the predator creep weirdo had his ass handed to him. Great news.
Delete@5:37 I wonder how many New Yorkers voted for Mamdani as a FU to Trump.
DeleteI don't think Trump was much of a factor. Mamdani has that winning charisma thingy like Obama. (Trump has it with the cult, sadly.) Young, smart, eloquent, photogenic, and progressive ain't a bad way to go thru NY politics. And really, an old asshole right centrist sex pest like Cuomo should be hiding in shame. And hopefully Mamdani forces all white people to quit their high paying jobs and give them to Muslim immigrants like a good brown monster Commie should.
DeleteJew hating commies for the win.
DeleteJeez. These nutball wingers are going to make me feel nostalgic for the Somerby-Putin conspiracy theorists.
ReplyDeleteHow does Somerby write today's essay without noting that Trump is angling for the Nobel Peace Prize and everything he has been saying is in support of that campaign. If his attack on Iran did not accomplish over-the-top results, then he won't be a candidate (he thinks) so he has to inflate his actions in order to deserve the same medal that Obama won.
DeleteSomerby's focus on the words without considering Trump's motives leaves us without anything resembling analysis.That's also why Trump has Israeli intelligence contradicting the US assessment of damage -- to support Trump's effort to win the Peace Prize. It is also why Trump got so angry when Israel decided to violate his ceasefire announcement.
This isn't exactly a conspiracy theory but something so obvious no theory is needed to explain Trump's actions. Trump doesn't care about Iran or Middle East peace or those bomber pilots. He has been doing Putin's bidding (in terms of inviting China to transport oil through the straits of Hormuz). Iran got a head's up about the bombings that enabled it to move its enriched uranium ahead of the attack, because Putin and Iran are allies and Trump and Putin are allies too. There is no mystery about that. The Pentagon tried to cut Trump out of the intelligence, but there was no anti-aircraft fire on the bombers flying into Iran because the uranium had already been moved and it was to Putin's advantage to have Trump make a fool of himself this way, while driving up the price of oil and further destabilizing the US economy.
But you go ahead and follow Somerby's path, in which the most important consequence of this bombing is that Trump used bad words to and about the press. That's all that really matters.
CBS Hourly radio news gave major attention to the uncertainty and weakness in the estimate that the reported low impact of our bombs. This is a battle of spin. I’m glad to see the good guys fighting back.
ReplyDeleteMedia and corrupt Defense Department officials perpetuated the hoax that our bombs in Iran set Iran’s nukes back only a couple of months. CNN and others who perpetuated this hoax deserve to be called scum.
""the genius pilots" are being demeaned by the press"" says the cretin taking a wrecking ball to Universities and government funded research labs. Complete weirdo and doofus.
DeleteDavid, if you are going to call the damage estimates that you disagree with a hoax, you need some evidence that (1) the lower damage estimates are incorrect, and (2) they were deliberately fabricated to mislead. You have supplied neither.
Delete"...corrupt defense department officials..."
DeleteThis comment is grounded with what supporting evidence?
DiC - You’re getting more ridiculous by the second. You don’t know the DOD officials and don’t know if they are perpetrating a corrupt hoax. But nevertheless you’re telling us that the press should self-censor and hide what these officials said. That’s unAmerican, pure and simple.
ReplyDeleteI don't see anyone here saying that.
DeleteIf a DoD official leaked a classified report for political purposes, that would have been a corrupt act and probably a crime. However, I just read that the report had been shared with members of Congress. So the corrupt act may have been perpetrated by a Dem Rep or Sen.
DeleteGiven that no info was being shared with Democrats, your theory suggests that it was a Republican who leaked.
Delete6:48 - I guess you’re right, it’s worse. According to DiC’s first accusation, the media conspired with DOD officials to concoct and then report a hoax. This is an absurd accusation, parroting Dear Leader’s brazen attempts to intimidate the press. It’s unAmerican.
DeleteDiC then walked that back, proving he didn’t know fuckall about what he was talking about. His new story is that some MoC leaked it to the press. Does he apologize for his ridiculous “media participated in concocting a hoax” story? No. Instead, he blithely moves on to sliming Dem MOCs, still without the barest shred of support for his slander.
"This is an absurd accusation"
DeleteThere's nothing absurd about it. That's what 's been happening since 2016 over and over again (with the FBI, DOJ, etc.). If you didn't pay attention, that's your problem.
11:04 - Didn’t you get the new talking points? Leavitt confirmed the existence of the intelligence report, and admits that it was a DoD official who leaked the report to CNN. The new talking point is that the report is “wrong” because “everyone knows” that dropping 30K bombs will destroy the bunkers. If someone points out that the nuclear material might have been moved before the bombing, then pivot to accusing the questioner of demeaning our brave and patriotic pilots.
Delete
DeleteI don't care about any bombs or pilots. All I'm saying is that surmising that "the media conspired with DOD officials to concoct and then report a hoax" is not at all an "absurd accusation". Because, like I said, that's been happening a lot.
An example of what you mean?
Delete"the media conspired with DOD officials to concoct and then report a hoax. This is an absurd accusation"
DeleteWhat makes you say that, Gulf-of-Tonkin-breath?
Dg, young brother, you have a lot to learn. My oh my.
Oh my. Dg. Oh my. How old are you?
DeleteOh my. An accusation the media conspired with DOD officials to concoct and then report a hoax is an absurd accusation? Why do you say that?
DeleteOh my! Oh my oh my.
OH MY!! An accusation the media conspired with DOD officials to concoct and then report a hoax is an absurd accusation? Do tell!!
DeleteDo tell WMD-breath!!!
Tell us all about it!!
Oh my!!!!!!
Oh my. There are actually people out there, supposedly liberals! That claim it's absurd that the media and the defense department would collude to concoct a hoax. My oh my oh my. My oh my. A liberal. Wow.
DeleteWe've come a long way baby. We've come full fucking circle. Liberals, liberals! Fucking liberals claiming it's absurd that the DOD and media would collude to create a hoax. My oh my. That is the fucking most incredible thing I've read in a long long time. Wow.
DeletePartisanship against Trump has turned people who really probably have true liberal feelings into ... lunatics. Or how can it be described? It's astonishing. DG tell us all about how absurd it is that the defense department - the fucking defense department and the media would collude to create a hoax! Are you 12 years old? I mean what what leads you to make a claim like that? How could you say that? It's astonishing! So basically you know no history beyond the last 9 years, or what? I'm just fucking flabbergasted. Wow.
DeleteThat was the howler of the decade so far. Oh my.
DeleteBut really, if you could please explain what you mean by that being an absurd scenario. I ... am I missing something? Why did you say that?
DeleteWow. Dude. Wow. My God. It's no wonder liberals can beat to a pulp in national elections. My God. I'm probably missing something DG. Go ahead and just explain your rationale for making that claim please.
DeleteWITHOUT QUESTION MILLIONS OF LIVES AND MODERN HISTORY HAS BEEN SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACTED BY HOAXES THAT THE MEDIA AND THE DEFENSE DEPARTMENT HAVE CONCOCTED MOTHERFUCKER. PULL YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS MOTHER FUCKER. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU TO SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT?
DeleteFUCK YOU YOU IGNORANT DUMB SHIT FUCK!!!!
DeleteFUCK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DeletePartisanship ate your fucking brain.
Delete"Liberal Man meets Conservative Man
Conservative Man wears his myth on his skin
Liberal Man has to explain his and keeps his shirt buttoned up and his sleeves rolled down
Conservative Man greets Liberal Man with a well-rehearsed cold stare
Liberal Man replies by issuing forth horseshit
Conservative Man retaliates by taking his concrete reality of the situation and lodging it, like a wedge, right between both sides of the Liberal Man's brain
Liberal Man is caught off guard by this apparent non-abstraction
There is one full minute of confusion
Liberal Man becomes Conservative Man
Conservative Man becomes Liberal Man
War is declared
Liberal Man cheats and calls for reinforcements
Conservative Man is set upon by a mob and murdered
Said mob then turns on Liberal Man and he dies a broken man"
Jeez. Perhaps we need a defibrillator.
DeleteThe media reports what politicians say about WMD and Gulf of Tonkin, and you think this is evidence of media conspiring in a hoax? (And I guess you feel that all-cap obscene insults is the epitome of wit and reason.)
But I’m done with you folks. I don’t see any likelihood that I’ll learn anything of value from your unhinged taunts.
DeleteState-controlled ("state-aligned" or "elite", if you prefer) media participate in state-arranged hoaxes. Why deny the obvious?
Walter Cronkite? David Lehrer? David Halberstam? Hunter Thompson? Who, exactly?
DeleteThe media, media companies. Entities that produce the stories, the narratives known as "news", "expert analyses", and "expert opinions". Editors, camera-men, makeup girls, CEOs, accountants, talking heads, typists, office managers, delivery boys, etc., they all do their jobs, according to their job descriptions.
DeleteAnd of course you need the name, date of birth, and social security number of every one of them, or you will remain unconvinced, right? Okay then.
DG. First of all, FUCK YOU!!!! You are FUCKING STUPID. You call yourself liberal and are arguing Who exactly??? You call yourself liberal and haven't read Manufacturing Consent??? Motherfucker, you can go to hell. FUCK YOU. What you said was indefensible and fucking so disgusting. Is it really that you are that ignorant? Hunter Thompson???????????? Mother fucker, I would kill you if you were in my presence right now. Fucking grow up you fucking piece of corporate cock sucking garbage. This is what has become of liberalism. Who exactly???? Hunter S. Thompson???? OH MY GOD. Did you know you are a Republican????? How about Judith Miller, idiot cunt rag? Are you going to tell us now that was an isolated incident you fucking dumb fucking piece of garbage? Fuck you.
DeleteThey stole liberalism away and gave it the dumbest people on the planet who defend the Defense Department and major media. Who never read. Who are not curious. Who have never read Manufacturing Consent or Listen Liberal or Amusing Ourselves to Death. Who defend our lowest, most corrupt institutions and what they have done. It's just really, really sad. It's so sad.
"I don’t see any likelihood that I’ll learn anything of value from your unhinged taunts."
DeleteWHY WOULD YOU THINK YOU WOULD YOU FUCKING IDIOT. GO READ A BOOK YOU IGNORANT COCK SUCKING DUMB FUCK. FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Absurd, is the idea that there is a Republican voter who isn't a bigot.
Delete4:56/5:01 — I wasn’t aware that it’s now acceptable for progressives to hurl anti-gay and misogynistic slurs at those with whom they disagree.
DeleteTrump has now canceled both proposed briefings to Congress about the results of the mission. That suggests he cannot back up his claims with actual data and knows questions will be asked that he does not want answered. So he is going to take his ball and go home instead.
ReplyDeleteHow is it that the President of the US gets away with not reporting to congress after exercising military power in an attack on another country and doesn't have to account to Congress about it? That has to be as illegal as the other abuses of power that Trump has been engaged in. I think this should be added to the Articles of Impeachment against Trump.
Meanwhile, it is obvious that he doesn't want the public to know that he didn't achieve what he has been claiming. That will mean that his achievement is not Nobel prize-worthy after all, but instead a giant waste of money that has advanced Iran and Russia's interests and not made the world safe from Uranian nukes at all.
Trump is throwing a major tantrum because he sees his glory slipping away because of his incompetence. Somerby has allowed himself to be distracted by the noise, as always.
The attack cost hundreds of millions and in all likelihood achieved precious little tactically, and nothing strategically.
DeleteBy all indications it looks like Netanyahu is yanking Trump's chain.
You mother fuckers are born motherfucking losers. To. the. core.
DeleteUntil Trump's bombing of Iran is shown to benefit a black person, there will be no public discussion of how it grows our deficit.
DeleteDG - what the press should have said was that the estimated impact was too early to be reliable. Instead they made it sound like the “few months” was an established fact. Their spin succeeded. Many people now believe that the bombing only delayed Iran’s next A bomb for a few months.
ReplyDeleteKaroline Leavitt (!) says the report - which CNN describes as an “early report” - was leaked to CNN by a low-level intelligence official. So, if you’re a mensch you’ll apologize to Dem MOCs and to CNN. And if you’re a true American you’ll admit that CNN was doing its patriotic duty in making this report, especially in the certain knowledge that it would be slimed by the President, by Leavit, and by their scummy lickspttles.
DeleteDG - OK, I apologize to the Dems MOCs. But, CNN probably helped conspire to release a carefully chosen portion of the report that was designed to mislead the public. They gave a false impression of how much the bombing achieved.
Delete"a low, vile, or worthless person or group of people" is an accurate description of CNN.
The report is real. The only “hoax” is your accusation that the report was a hoax.
Delete“They gave a false impression of how much the bombing achieved.”
DeleteAgain, you’re just making shit up. You have no idea at all how accurate the report is. You want it to be false so you make yourself believe it is false. The self-deception is pitiful; the resulting sliming of CNN is slimy and unAmerican.
You suffer a lot of hate attacks in these comments, DiC, and by and large I disapprove of them. But your drooling repetition of Dear Leader’s vicious attacks on a free press cannot stand.
DeleteDG - I'm not saying the report is false. I'm saying the way it was presented to the public created the impression that Iran's nuclear development was only set back a few months. How could anyone possibly know this? They haven't inspected the sites. Nobody knows how much damage the equipment suffered.
DeleteDG - Is my criticism of the liberal media harsher than other posters' criticism of FoxNews and various conservative web sites? I don't think so.
If Trump says that the bombings were a complete success and demolished the enrichment sites, it is the patriotic duty of every American to believe that and call any assessment that says otherwise, even if made by the investigative arm of the DoD, a hoax concocted by corrupt officials.
DeleteDiC - Again, your favorite dodge: “The other side does it, too!” It’s a great way to deflect, if you lack integrity.
Delete
DeleteIt's not that "The other side does it, too!". It's that this is your side's deliberate and standard M.O. vis-a-vis Donald Trump since 2016. So, your side's happy to dish it out, but can't take it? Well, as the Bible says: sow the wind, reap the whirlwind.
DiC accused CNN of hatching a hoax by falsely reporting the content of an intelligence assessment. It turns out the report was true and he was wrong. Instead of admitting this, he deflects by making wild charges against others, hoping we chase and forget about the topic at hand.
DeleteIt’s transparent, but it’s not something that someone who is seeking the truth would do. It’s a cornered debater’s trick.
The same is true with the “demeaning patriotic pilots” dodge.
Delete"They haven't inspected the sites. Nobody knows how much damage the equipment suffered."
DeleteTrump knows. "Completely obliterated," he declared. So which is it, David? Nobody knows? Or Trump knows?
Or Trump is nobody.
DeleteFrom Political Wire:
ReplyDelete"Trump Limits Sharing of Classified Info with Congress
June 25, 2025 at 1:30 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 78 Comments
“The Trump administration plans to limit sharing classified information with Congress after someone leaked an internal assessment suggesting that Saturday’s bombings of Iran’s nuclear facilities weren’t as successful as President Trump claimed,” Axios reports."
In order for Congress to have leaked info saying that the bombings weren't as successful as Trump is claiming, they had to have been provided with that info by the White House in the first place. Otherwise, it isn't a leak. So that means the White House knows the raid was less successful and was participating in a cover up with respect to the press. Trump was then lying about the success of the raid.
Trump was booed at the NATO meeting. I don’t think the Nobel Committee is going to look favorably on his peace efforts.
ReplyDeleteIs it true that "the genius pilots" are being demeaned by the press, along with other "genius people in the military.""? That's an exaggeration, but IMO they're not getting the praise they deserve. Regardless of the correctness of the bombing, the military from Hegseth and Caine on down did a perfect job of a difficult task.
ReplyDeleteMore is expected of Hegseth and Caine than just dropping the bombs in the right place.
DeleteLet’s just face it: This whole “demean the pilots” bullshit is misdirection, plain and simple.
DeleteThe entire country is watching sick Democrats trash these brave men and the disgust for Democrats by all decent people will grow even stronger.
DeleteHegseth didn't drunkenly post the attack plans on Instagram, so we'll give him credit for that. Did the pilots demonstrate the same level of dedication and perseverance as the Slim Pickens character in Dr. Strangelove?
Delete10:29 - Perhaps you forgot to give us a single example of a prominent Dem impugning the bravery of our patriotic pilots. It must have slipped your mind. You may want to rectify the omission.
Delete(See? Now I’m chasing!)
A perfect job, was it? I guess we will have to take the evidence-free administration's word that it's goals were met, Trump and his underlings never having lied about anything. Maybe they can get the guy who photo shopped those knuckles to come up with some nice images of the bombing targets.
DeleteThey are going to have the imaginary Republican voter who isn't a bigot, provide the proof that Trump's bombing of Iran was a success.
DeleteOh, and now top officials are saying that “new information” confirms the obliteration of Iran’s nuclear weapons capabilities for several years. But this “new information” can’t be shared with Congress, for unexplained reasons. So what we have is their word, from the people who said Trump won in 2020, Haitians are eating our cats, and 200-year-olds are collecting social security.
ReplyDeleteYou're fucking dumb as fuck.
DeleteNow that Trump said it in public, it's your favorite word. Keep it up, junior. Stellar.
Deletehttps://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/22/pentagons_pundits_a_look_at_the
DeleteIt makes me very sad, the ignorance. The total ignorance.
Tulsi Gabbard is now stating that the Iranian uranium enrichment facilities that she said were not enriching uranium, will continue not enriching uranium. Job well done.
DeleteYeah, bro. Don't you trust me?
Delete
Delete"But this “new information” can’t be shared with Congress, for unexplained reasons. "
So, you want the names and photos of the American spies on the ground in Iran. Interviewed by the NPR and CNN, plus the originals of their full reports, complete with their signatures and all addendums.
Makes sense. And yet somehow I suspect that even with all that delivered to you, you'd still remain unconvinced. You know why? That's right: because you're a Soros-bot.
Nobody wants the names and photos of spies, except those people who you imagine to exist, so you can hate them.
DeleteNow Trump is saying his bombing of Iran has obliterated the imaginary Republican voter who isn't a bigot.
DeleteThank you Mister President.
6:43 - Perhaps you’re not aware that sensitive intelligence has been shared with MoCs on the intelligence committees since, well, forever. Sources and methods are sometimes redacted.
DeleteRemember the Fanny Burps
ReplyDeleteI could see Trump providing proof that his bombing of Iran is a success, long before I cold see anyone finding a Republican voter who isn't a bigot.
ReplyDeleteI could also see Congress being run by actual unicorns before I could see someone finding a Republican voter who isn't a bigot.
God could stop illegal immigrants from totally outclassing white people on the job market, by simply snapping His fingers. That He doesn't do so, speaks volumes.
ReplyDeleteTrump is deporting Cubans and Venezuelans, whose friends voted for him.
Delete