Examining the "enemy" rhetoric
President Trump began his Sunday by declaring two news outlets, the NYT and CNN, "truly The Enemy of the People!" His exclamation mark, not mine. We checked, and found that he's used the "enemy" phrase on Twitter more than 30 times since taking office.
I joked with CNN's Jim Acosta that Trump was trying to sell copies of Acosta's new book -- titled "The Enemy of the People" -- which comes out on Tuesday.
But Trump's poisonous rhetoric is no joke. Neither is the substance of Acosta's book. He signed the book deal well before the midterm election... so the post-midterms court fight over his W.H. press pass is covered at the end of the book, but the narrative is really about what it was like to cover the first two years of the Trump presidency.
Acosta joined me on Sunday, for his first live interview about the book, and said this about his reason for writing it: "I wanted to send a message to folks who really care about what we do, and the message is basically this: I did not want my children to grow up in a country where the press is called 'the enemy of the people.' Brian, you and I have grown up in a country for the last several decades here where, you know, Republicans and Democrats wanted to be in power in Washington, but they didn't demonize us to this extent." With Trump, "I think it started off as an act -- based on my reporting -- the president threw out 'fake news' and 'the enemy of the people' at the beginning just to sort of taunt and troll us. And that has essentially gotten out of control." Now "some of his supporters feel it's OK to lash out at us in ways that I think put us in danger. And I think we have to pause -- hit the pause button -- and think deeply about whether or not this is the kind of country we want to hand off to our kids." | | Behind the scenes...
In the book, Acosta says an unnamed "senior White House official" once said to him, "the president's insane." So I asked for the context. Acosta said the official was "frustrated" by Trump's behavior -- specifically "the president's lack of understanding about the Constitution, the constraints placed on the presidency. You know, guardrails were put in place by our Founding Fathers." Acosta said "it's this kind of behavior behind-the-scenes that really frustrates his top officials I think a lot more than people understand."
My exchange with George Conway
On Sunday morning I commented (on Twitter, of course) that George Conway's tweets about POTUS continue to be astonishing. I mean, this is the husband of a top White House official saying Trump is "mentally unwell." On Sunday morning Conway urged him to "do yourself and the country a favor. Resign and seek the psychological treatment you so obviously need."
When I said "astonishing," Conway responded and said, "What's astonishing is the media's and the nation's utter failure to confront the fact that we have a psychologically unwell and unfit president."
And when Erin Geiger Smith suggested that Conway should go on "Reliable Sources" and talk about his concerns, Conway said I should start by "putting on any number of the hundreds of mental health professionals who have been trying to get the public's attention on this issue for the last three years."
So... how was your Sunday?
Bringing the "enemy" phrase full circle...
Bryan Cranston's line
Chloe Melas emails: When accepting his Tony Award for Best Performance by an actor in a leading role in a play, Bryan Cranston dedicated the award to "all the real journalists around the world."
"The media is not the enemy of the people," he said. "Demagoguery is the enemy of the people."
Scroll down for complete coverage of the Tonys...
BTW: It's been 90 days
That's how long it has been without an on-camera White House press briefing. This is by far the longest period of time without a briefing in modern W.H. history. Monday will be day 91...
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- Margaret Sullivan's Monday column: She says "today's journalistic work... should have made far more difference than it has..." (WaPo)
-- "Facebook on Sunday removed the page for Natural News, a far-right conspiracy outlet that had nearly 3 million followers," right on the heels of this Daily Beast investigation... (Beast)
Week ahead calendar
Monday: The House Judiciary Committee holds hearings about the Mueller Report, albeit without Robert Mueller. CNN contributor John Dean and MSNBC contributor Joyce White Vance are among the expert witnesses...
Monday: The Code Conference begins in Scottsdale...
Monday night: Game 5 of the NBA Finals...
Tuesday: The E3 expo officially begins...
Wednesday night: Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals...
Thursday: The U.S. Open begins at Pebble Beach...
Big hearing about Big Tech on Tuesday
When House members convene on Tuesday for the first of several hearings about the power of Big Tech, they'll be hearing multiple pitches for a bill called the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act. The bipartisan bill -- now introduced in both the House and the Senate -- would provide newspapers and online publishers with a four-year antitrust exemption, allowing them to band together in negotiations with online platforms. Here's my overview story...
>> Rep. David Cicilline, chair of the House Judiciary's subcommittee that oversees antitrust law, told me on "Reliable Sources" that he wants to hear from the witnesses about "the impact of these large duopolies" (meaning Google and Facebook) on access to trustworthy local news, reliable information..."
Where's Mueller?
I also asked Cicilline if Dems have lost the Mueller messaging war. He naturally disagreed. But Mueller turned in his report more than two months ago. Why hasn't he testified before Congress yet? "We want to make sure we're doing this right," Cicilline said. "We want to be respectful of the Special Counsel... If that doesn't work, obviously we'll compel his attendance."
More from Sunday's "Reliable"
We discussed Laura Ingraham's cringe-worthy interview with the president at Normandy...
News coverage of the 2020 race and Joe Biden changing his stance on federal funding to pay for abortions...
The recent police raids of a newsroom and a reporter's home in Australia...
And YouTube's new white supremacy ban. Listen to the show in podcast form via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app...
The #DemDebate deadline
"The deadline for 2020 Democrats to meet one of the two criteria to qualify for the first 2020 debates later this month in Miami comes up on Wednesday," CNN's Chris Cillizza wrote Sunday. "At the moment, 20 candidates have qualified by either securing at least 1% support in three polls from an approved list of pollsters or positing 65,000 individual donors to their campaign from 20 states. Thirteen of those 20 are ensured a spot because they have met both criteria." More here...
Trump anniversary watch
Do you remember where you were when Trump came riding down the escalator? The four-year anniversary of his announcement speech is right around the corner, this coming Sunday, June 16. The GOP can draw a line right there: Before Trump and After Trump. I suspect we will hear quite a few call-backs to that speech in the coming days... Here's a story I once wrote about how CNN covered the announcement... | |
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- "Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in an interview with 'Axios on HBO' that YouTube is improving, but acknowledged the video service doesn't ensure the overall quality users have come to expect from its search and other services..." (Axios)
-- "Natasha Tynes, an award-winning Jordanian American author who lost a book deal following claims of online racism, is suing her publishing house for $13 million." Details on the defamation suit here... (WaPo)
Cuomo and Lemon on stage
Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon brought their nightly transitions between shows to the 92Y stage in NYC on Sunday night. It was a blast. The duo's hand-offs have become a highlight of prime time -- but they started, Lemon said, as a simple way to "discuss, talk about, FEEL what people at home are feeling." Now, he said, "it's often the highest rated segment on CNN the entire day." One of the audience members who asked questions said "you're like my therapy every night..."
"We are Ivan Golunov" | | The front pages of three Russian newspapers -- Kommersant, Vedomosti and RBK -- are all carrying the same message on Monday. Translated from Russian: "I/We are Ivan Golunov."
Golunov is a prominent Russian investigative journalist "known for reports on official corruption," CNN's Nathan Hodge reports. He was "detained Thursday in Moscow on charges he maintains are fabricated."
After being released from jail -- and amid allegations that he was beaten while in custody -- he was "placed under house arrest." This episode has "provoked an outpouring of support from Russian journalists, with many critics accusing local authorities of fabricating the case." Read on...
Did an Iranian opposition group dupe all these websites with a fake persona?
Heshmat Alavi claims to be "an Iranian activist with a passion for equal rights." He has built up a significant social media presence. He has "published scores of articles on Iran over the past few years at Forbes, The Hill, the Daily Caller, The Federalist, Saudi-owned al-Arabiya English, and other outlets," The Intercept's Murtaza Hussain wrote in this article on Sunday.
But Alavi "appears not to exist. Alavi's persona is a propaganda operation run by the Iranian opposition group Mojahedin-e-Khalq, which is known by the initials MEK, two sources told The Intercept." Remarkable reporting here -- read on...
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- Oli Coleman's Friday scoop: The legendary Four Seasons Restaurant, formerly a hot spot for media bigwigs, is closing on Tuesday... (Page Six)
-- Steven Zeitchik's Tony-timed story about BroadwayHD and skeptical producers: "Would you pay to stream endless musicals? Some Broadway insiders are quietly betting on it..." (WaPo)
-- The trailer for season two of HBO's "Succession" just landed... (HBO)
The next Xbox
Kotaku's Chris Kohler writes: "The first details on a powerful new Xbox console, release dates for anticipated games like Cyberpunk 2077, and another developer acquired by Xbox Game Studios led Microsoft's packed slate of announcements for its E3 briefing on Sunday."
Shannon Liao has the story for CNN Business here. The new console, codenamed "Project Scarlett," will debut "at the end of next year. Microsoft said it is 'four times' as powerful as the Xbox One S and comes with more memory, higher resolution, and better graphics. It will also have more storage..."
>> TechCrunch has all of the new game trailers in one place...
>> One of the buzziest trailers: The next iteration of "Flight Simulator," coming in 2020... Wow...
Quibi will cost $5/month with ads
The Verge's Andrew Liptak reports: "This weekend, Quibi cofounders Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman appeared at this year's Produced By Conference in California, and revealed when their forthcoming mobile-focused streaming service would launch: April 6th, 2020. When it does, it will come with two tiers: $4.99 with short ads, and $7.99 without them."
Does this make you more bullish or bearish about Quibi?
CBS-Viacom merger news "by the end of this month?"
Per Fox's Charlie Gasparino, the CBS board is scheduled to meet on Friday... He hears there will be "some announcement" concerning a CBS-Viacom merger "by the end of this month" or early July. "Shari Redstone likely would become the Chairwoman of both companies." Read Gasparino and Lydia Moynihan's full story here...
| | Big wins for "Hadestown"
As predicted, "Hadestown" took home the Tony Award for Best Musical on Sunday night. "The Ferryman" won for best play. And "Oklahoma!" won for best revival of a musical. Want to re-live the evening? Read the NYT team's live chat about the event...
"Hadestown" won seven other Tonys, from best original score to direction to sound design. The full winners list is up on CNN.com...
Rachel Chavkin's message
"In a Broadway season nearly devoid of female directors, the sole woman at the helm of a musical this year — Rachel Chavkin, director of 'Hadestown' — took home the Tony Award for best direction of a musical," Nancy Coleman wrote.
Chavkin's acceptance speech was one of the best moments of the night. "There are so many women who are ready to go. There are so many artists of color who are ready to go," she said. "And we need to see that racial diversity and gender diversity reflected in our critical establishment too. This is not a pipeline issue. It is a failure of imagination by a field whose job is to imagine the way the world could be. So let's do it."
Ali Stroker's speech
Chloe Melas writes: "Tony's history was made by Ali Stroker as the first actor in a wheelchair to ever win a Tony Award. She took home the award for featured actress in a musical for her role in 'Oklahoma!'"
"This award is for every kid who is watching tonight who has a disability, a limitation, a challenge, who has been waiting to see themselves represented in this arena. You are," Stroker said. People.com has the full acceptance speech here... | | And ICYMI, here's a recap of Tonys host James Corden's nine-minute opening number...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
By Megan Thomas:
-- Celine Dion stopped her final Las Vegas show so one audience member could use the bathroom, Devon Ivie writes... (Vulture)
-- In this Variety Actors on Actors conversation, Sacha Baron Cohen told Don Cheadle how he convinced Dick Cheney and others to sit down with him... (Variety)
-- Now that Alec Baldwin says he's done playing Trump on "SNL," here's who could play Trump... (CNN)
Two sequels fall short of expectations
"Universal's 'The Secret Life of Pets 2' and 'Dark Phoenix,' an 'X-Men' sequel from Fox, led ticket sales at the box office this weekend. But both fell short of expectations," the NYT's Gabe Cohn wrote Sunday.
"Pets 2" finished the weekend in first place with about $47 million in domestic ticket sales... "Well under half the roughly $104.4 million that the original 'Secret Life of Pets' made domestically during its first weekend in 2016..."
MonsterVerse, or curse?
Brian Lowry writes: "Godzilla" plummeted by 67% in its second weekend in terms of domestic boxoffice, to a not-very-monstrous $78.6 million so far. Those results are already prompting talk about how to "save" the franchise. Fortunately, the film is faring much better outside the United States — nearly tripling its domestic total — but it still seems to wave a caution flag over Warner Bros.' grand "MonsterVerse" designs, in much the way Universal's plans for a "Dark Universe" fizzled after "The Mummy" unraveled...
"Billions" wraps season four
Brian Lowry emails: HBO has sucked up a lot of oxygen this spring, but "Billions" continues to be a bright spot for Showtime. Sunday's season finale again shrewdly shuffled the deck on a show that's as good a symbol of the excesses of our time as any, while — with its crosses and double-crosses — being highly entertaining in the process. Lowry's review will be up on CNN.com overnight...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
-- "WarnerMedia's streaming service has given a straight-to-series order to the drama 'Tokyo Vice' starring Ansel Elgort..." (Variety)
-- Ben Sisario's latest is about the Billboard charts: "About half the 39 titles that topped the charts last year were sold as part of ticket or merchandise 'bundles.' Now even some who benefited from the strategy are complaining..." (NYT)
-- The fourth season of "The Good Place" will be its last... (LAT)
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