We’ve been seeing something fascinating happen, as the left gets more and more out of control.
Folks like Twitter CEO Elon Musk and journalist Matt Taibbi — who I think it is fair to say would have classified themselves as liberals — have been going through an evolution. Musk, who always voted Democrat, has now voted for at least one Republican and called for people to vote Republican in the 2022 midterms.
Taibbi is also lighting up the Democrats/media and calling them out for what they are doing. He seemed surprised at the viciousness the Democrats leveled against him, when he answered questions before Congress about the Twitter Files. They bashed him as a “so-called journalist.” They tried to get him to reveal his sources and then lied about it. They weren’t upset about the government censorship and the suppression of political opponents that he was reporting; they were upset that he was letting all of us know about it. They only wanted to do what they could to smear him, so they could damage the impact of what he was saying. And even as he was testifying before them, in a frightening development, the IRS showed up on his doorstep.
That’s a pretty frightening thing to face. You would like to think that his fellow journalists would rally around him and support the attack on his reporting, that they might be outraged at the IRS coincidentally showing up at his door and what that might mean. But instead, he got attacks on himself and his reporting.
But, Taibbi is fighting back.
He wrote a fascinating article about MSNBC. Perhaps the title says it all. It started out being: MSNBC Sucks. But he changed it to “Eat Me, MSNBC.” Both headlines are accurately descriptive of what trash MSNBC is at this point. The article calls out a lot of the things that they got wrong on Russia collusion.
The last time I was on MSNBC before today' with @mehdirhasan was just before the inauguration of @realDonaldTrump, when I made the mistake of saying, "We don't have any hard evidence" that there was a conspiracy with Russia." I was never invited back: https://t.co/Nn0lerWdln
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) April 6, 2023
He said he realized the problem the last time he was on MSNBC when they were talking about Trump and Russia collusion. He asked about confirming something that was being discussed, that they had no hard evidence of a conspiracy. Taibbi said he was never invited back. MSNBC didn’t want the facts to get in the way of the bad narrative.
Taibbi wrote about MSNBC:
Warning: contains coarse language
It went from being a place where you had to be at least in the ballpark of demonstrably true to being a place where the factual standard was, “Whatever dogs*** drops out of the mouth of any hack or spook.”
Moreover, the network didn’t just re-report this stuff, it became the favored launching pad for all the most blatant blue-Anon disinformation, like California congressman Adam Schiff saying he had “more than circumstantial” evidence of collusion…
But he noted how he was going into a bit of the lion’s den this week to do his first interview on MSNBC since that time, knowing he would be a target, over the issue of the Twitter Files.
“I’m going to be interviewed on MSNBC today by Mehdi Hasan,” Taibbi wrote. “I’m looking forward to it as one would a root canal or rectal. I accepted the invitation because it would have been wrong to refuse, on the off chance he was planning a good-faith discussion. If you’re reading this, things have gone another way.”
Indeed. Medhi Hasan flipped out, attacking Taibbi’s reporting. Taibbi lit him up, saying that took some nerve. “Incompetent? Are you kidding me? You’re MSNBC,” Taibbi responded. “My God, you guys had six consecutive years of just screwups on the Russia story.”
In response to @mehdirhasan's attempted scolding, @mtaibbi says:
"The hilarity of this coming from MSNBC which did nothing but vomit up fake Russiagate stories… that you guys still haven't apologized for."
Mehdi's defense: "I wasn't there in that period." pic.twitter.com/49R56TUCfK
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) April 7, 2023
“The hilarity of this coming from MSNBC which did nothing but vomit up fake Russiagate stories… that you guys still haven’t apologized for.” Hasan’s excuse was he wasn’t with MSNBC then. But he’s willing to promote their propaganda now without question. Hasan could not defend his network on Russiagate.
While Taibbi acknowledged he had gotten an acronym wrong in one of his Twitter Files stories, he admitted it, “Apparently I’ve gotten, like, one thing wrong, or a few things wrong, but mostly I think these stories are going to hold up over the test of time,” Taibbi said. “Unlike your [MSNBC’s] Russiagate story.” He later followed up with a tweet noting he wasn’t truly wrong, and that they never admit all the times they were wrong on Russiagate.
Which I admitted, confusing CIS/CISA in one tweet, but CISA was a partner to EIP and @mehdirhasan should acknowledge this. https://t.co/DirkblMzO6
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) April 7, 2023
They have never addressed a single problem with any of their Trump-Russia stories and after I exposed the Hamilton 68 scam – which was a staple for them – they said nothing. https://t.co/438QJm4Pvu
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) April 7, 2023
Taibbi also lit MSNBC up over the Hunter Biden laptop story, when he was talking with Hasan.
.@mtaibbi reminds @mehdirhasan that MSNBC spread the lie that Hunter Biden's laptop was Russian disinformation.
Mehdi says: "I never said a word about the Hunter Biden story." That's not true, but say it were: he's admitting to staying quiet on a scam that enabled censorship. pic.twitter.com/8K9O1U08GH
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) April 7, 2023
Hasan said he never said a word about it. That isn’t a defense, it’s an admission that you’re not a journalist and weren’t doing your job. He also did say a word or two, as journalist Aaron Maté observed.
Here’s an example of @mehdirhasan, contrary to his new excuse-making, saying a word about the Hunter Biden story: all intended at minimizing it, and the censorship that came with it. pic.twitter.com/4vu6opItyW
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) April 7, 2023
Taibbi finished up by calling Democrats a “threat” to free speech.
He also later fired off a final shot at MSNBC, noting how they misidentified him back in 2017 as his father Mike Taibbi.
Since we’re in the business of cleaning things up, it should be noted the MSNBC transcript of that interview six years ago still identifies me as my father, Mike Taibbi, and “NBC TELEVISION REPORTER” Matt Taibbi: pic.twitter.com/RyFHHHQHu1
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) April 6, 2023
Bottom line, Hasan did not refute the crux of the censorship that Taibbi reported in the Twitter Files. But it’s fascinating how they are more intent on attacking Taibbi, rather than investigating the greater points of what he is reporting or why the IRS is showing up on his doorstep right at that point. Looks like they’ve long since given up being real journalists for the sake of pushing the political agenda.
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