TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 2026
But also, a furious fellow explains: It's stunning to see the extent to which President Trump has been abandoned by Murdoch World.
We refer to the way his deal-which-isn't-a-deal has been trashed by the Wall Street Journal, by the New York Post, and by a wide range of Fox News Channel commentators.
What makes it "a deal-which-isn't-a-deal?" There's nothing deep about the answer, but the editorial board at the New York Post explained in a pithy way:
The still-mysterious Iran deal leaves a LOT of work undone—at best
Aside from the vast damage the war did to Iran’s military assets and the deaths of so many of the ruling cabal, this Memorandum of Understanding seems to leave things right back where they were before the bombs started dropping.
That is: Tehran hasn’t actually agreed to give up its nuclear program or its support of terror groups like Hezbollah and Hamas—but only to talk about it all some more.
In our view, nicely rendered! With respect to the "deal" which isn't really any such thing, Iran hasn't agreed to do the things the president wants it to do. Iran has only agreed to talk about it some more!
The editors call this a "deal" in their headline. We'd stick to the bureaucratic term, "memorandum of understanding," and we'd make a point of leaving the description at that.
That said, the editors aren't the only residents of Murdoch World who are walking away from the president's triumphant claim of a wonderful deal. The Wall Street Journal editorial board follows suit in an editorial which carries this dual headline:
Trump Stages an Iran Retreat
The regime gets financial relief to reopen Hormuz and hold more nuclear talks.
"[T]here’s no denying that Mr. Trump is retreating from his main goals as political pressure has built at home and finishing the job requires greater military risk," the unhappy Journal board says.
Meanwhile, Mediaite spills with reports about Fox News personnel taking a walk away from the new arrangement. We'll start with a link to Mediaite's report about the New York Post editorial, then link you to some reports about blowback from inside the Fox News Channel:
‘When Does the World Get to See It?’ The New York Post Calls Out Trump Over ‘Mystery Deal’
(for full report, click here)
Retired General [Jack Keane] Shreds Trump’s Iran Concessions on Fox News...
(for full report, click here)
Fox’s Ben Domenech Shreds Trump’s Iran Deal—Appears to Brand JD Vance ‘Hillbilly Obama’...
(for full report, click here)
....Fox’s Andy McCarthy Goes Scorched Earth on ‘Neville Trump’ Over ‘Laughable’ Iran Deal
(for full report, click here)
...Fox’s Dana Perino Calls Out Trump White House for Keeping Iran Deal Details Under Wraps
(for full report, click here)
That is correct! Yesterday, the president was even challenged at substantial length on The Five. Dana Perino did so right at the start of the show, in a lengthy demurral.
It was surprising to see Perino depart from the expected messaging norm in that extended way. Meanwhile, here's one thing which didn't happen in the second segment of yesterday show:
None of the program's four pro-MAGA co-hosts managed to say that UFC fighter Josh Hokit shouldn't have insulted Michelle Obama at last Saturday night's White House event.
None of them managed to say that! As we noted this morning, liberal co-host Jessica Tarlov directly questioned Greg Gutfeld:
“Why can’t you just say that the guy should never have said that Michelle Obama is a man?"
It wouldn't be hard to agree that Hokit shouldn't have said that. But Gutfeld went on an extended, histrionic rant in which he explained his increasingly peculiar "cable news" agitprop messaging style.
We think you ought to watch his agitated rant.
Below, headline included, you see the start of Sarah Rumpf's report for Mediaite, where video is included. We then include Rumpf's quotation of a key part of what Gutfeld said:
Fox’s Greg Gutfeld Defends UFC Fighter Who Called Michelle Obama a Man: ‘We Enjoy It When You’re Upset’
Fox News host Greg Gutfeld defended comments by UFC fighter Josh Hokit in which he called former First Lady Michelle Obama a man by downplaying it as the fighter just being a “troll,” and adding that the right enjoyed it when the left was “upset.”
[...]
"Hell, I seem to remember, not too long ago, how often I heard that Melania Trump was an escort—and from a lot of people who are now “oh, oh, oh!” huffing and huffing. People who say that a Black kid who stabs a White kid, that was just him defending himself. People faking Charlie Kirk getting stabbed in the neck, thinking it’s funny. People hoping for another Luigi Mangioni to take out Elon Musk or perhaps Trump or maybe both!
"See, we don’t have to listen. In fact, we enjoy it when you’re upset.
"That guy is a troll. He showed up at the weigh-in pretending he was drunk and was throwing up applesauce as a fake pretense because he was pretending he was scared. That’s called a troll. We get it. Not our fault if you don’t. He knows it’s going to upset you. He’s a troll! You give a mic to a troll?"
We don't have to listen to you libs any more! Gutfeld has been saying this, over and over, in the past few months.
It's all a game of owning you libs! We enjoy it when we say things that make you libs get upset!
He's been saying this sort of thing for moths. Yesterday, he ranted it hard. This is being broadcast to audiences which are triple the size of nightly MS NOW audiences.
This is the world of a type of unstated secession. Later, on the Gutfeld! show, this angry fellow returned to the joy of insulting Michelle Obama himself.
A large modern nation can't expect to function successfully this way. Luckily, if you read the New York Times or the Atlantic, you will never have to know that this insult-driven cultural secession is actually going on!
This 61-yeatr-old angry child loves to feed this gruel to his viewers. CEO Scott tells him to do it, pays him nine million per year!
Biden had a press secretary who not only quit, she quit the whole Democratic party. She was fed up with it. Said there was no vision.
ReplyDeleteIf she doesn't really know the inside scoop, nobody does.
People are starting to see why it's are so unpopular.
Did she join the fascist party?
DeleteHere is the full story:
Delete"Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre left the Democratic Party to become a political Independent. She made the decision following her departure from the administration, citing deep frustration and disillusionment with Democratic leadership over how the party abandoned Joe Biden before he dropped his re-election bid."
I agree that Biden was treated shabbily by his own party. But let's not forget that it was Somerby who was a ringleader in the Biden-is-too-old campaign, which was also waged by the right wing and by the NY Times, and by billionaire donors on the right and left who didn't want to see Biden institute a wealth tax, as he was promising to do in his second term.
Given that Biden is not running for anything in the midterms or in 2028, the complaints against the Democrats are now moot. This kind of disappointment is now causing Dems to look for more progressive, non-traditional politicians who are willing to do something about the mess Trump has made of our country.
For a supposedly great deal-maker, Trump sure screwed the pooch. It is true that our military efforts put Iran years farther behind in developing nuclear weapons, but Trump's negotiation seems to have accomplished zilch or less. The original Cease Fire at at time when we had military advantage was bizarre. Its months-long extension was bizarre. Trump has now made it clear that we will not use military means under any circumstances. Thus, he has thrown our military victory out the window.
ReplyDeleteGo take a flying fu k, dickhead
DeleteThe fucking art of the fucking deal, dickface
DeleteDemocratic Party "Everybody in the whole world except us is misogynistic and racist."
ReplyDeleteUniverse "Here's a black woman, Jasmine Crockett, that you can get behind and support."
Democratic Party "Actually, we prefer white man for this one."
DOH!
It would be nice for the right if you could generalize what happens in Texas to Democrats in the rest of the country, but we in CO and CA and other places didn't get the chance to vote for Crockett and TX is a notoriously Hispanic and religious place, a former slave state that is part of the South more than the West. Talarico has served in the Texas State Legislature, so he has paid dues too. I wish our more charismatic politicians on the left were not running against each other like this.
DeleteI think it is likely that the Republicans preferred to run against Talarico instead of Crockett, given that their attacks on Talarico helped him in the primary by giving him more visibility. Crockett is dangerous to the right and has been very effective in Congress.
There is a pattern of the right wing funding and promoting Democrats in primaries who they think will be weaker against their own Republicans candidates in the general election. There may have been some of that ratfucking involved in Talarico's defeat of Crockett, rather than Democratic racism. And don't forget that Crockett is also female and TX is a state where masculinism has made inroads, as shown by the 2024 results.
"He's been saying this sort of thing for moths."
ReplyDeleteThe only problem is that it was mostly mosquitos in attendance on Sunday night.
""That guy is a troll. He showed up at the weigh-in pretending he was drunk and was throwing up applesauce as a fake pretense because he was pretending he was scared. That’s called a troll. We get it. Not our fault if you don’t. He knows it’s going to upset you. He’s a troll! You give a mic to a troll?"
ReplyDeleteContext matters. Gutfeld is wrong about this because the context of this guy's supposed trolling was a 250 year celebration of our nation's creation, FLAG DAY, an event that was supposedly non-partisan, not a Trump rally, not Trump's birthday party, but an event that Americans of all stripes should have been able to participate in.
It was not an occasion for trolling. Gutfeld can troll all he wants on his show because that is a place explicitly for such nonsense. Gutfeld would be a fool is he told the same jokes at a church service, a children's party, in court.
Trump doesn't understand context (or he doesn't care) given his speeches where he has advised boy scouts how to find trophy wives and similar boorishness. I don't know if that is a sign of mental illness or just his lack of empathy and not giving a shit about anyone except himself. But Gutfeld, Somerby, and Hokit need more situational awareness because they are further down on the food chain.
Gutfeld was wrong and Somerby should have said so. Instead he blamed the Atlantic and the NY Times for Gutfeld's errors. Those publications are about reporting real news, not curbing the misbehavior of D-list comedians who haven't learned how to read a room.
Calling Gutfeld a child (as if that were a bad thing to be, as if children have any choice about being young) is name-calling but it doesn't specify what Gutfeld has done wrong. And it does nothing whatsoever to defend Michelle Obama or liberals from being thin-skinned (which we are definitely not).
Someday Somerby might put on his big-boy pants and actually tell his readers why what Gutfeld does is NOT trolling, not "owning the libs," but is hate speech for the enjoyment of people who are too dumb to know this is no way to waste their time. Somerby is going to shuffle off this mortal coil sooner than most of us (possibly excepting Trump) and this is how he is using his remaining time! Does he have no family, no friends, no useful hobbies or service to perform for anyone, no books left on his shelf, no bucket list to fulfill? What is wrong with someone who thinks Gutfeld is a good use of time?