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It Was a Tough Weekend for Maggie Haberman

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Mar 20, 2023
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

03.20.23

Pathological Media Amnesia – THE NEW YORK TIMES

  • Why is this guy we perpetually cover constantly seen in the news?!?!

It was with sheer amusement that we read The Times as they went through a pained exploration of why our former president was still a relevant fixture in the press, despite all the efforts made to ignore him and force him to go away.

- "To those who believed that the secret to banishing Mr. Trump was to deprive him of attention — that ignoring him would make him go away — he has shown that to be wishful thinking."

Yeah…about those efforts to deprive him of attention.

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The piece was written by Maggie Haberman. This would be the Maggie Haberman who has a hard time staying silent about the man, with over a dozen pieces on him in the month of March. The same Maggie Haberman who, just weeks ago, was posting direct quotes from the guy on Twitter, where Trump was supposedly banished by the press for being a threat. Also, this is the writer who recently released a book centered entirely on the alleged pariah. 

Yes, the Trump-obsessed New York Times writer with a New York Times best-seller on Trump has a column in The New York Times wondering why Trump is still a media fixture. Precious.

Both Kinds of Standards – THE NEW YORK TIMES

  • So you say weaponizing investigations should be considered a bad thing?

Consider for just a moment how many times investigations were leveled against Donald Trump. Now, recall the enthusiasm and support each of these investigations received in the press. Keep those recollections handy as you see the other offering from Ms. Haberman regarding this Trump case.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is curious about the decisions made by the NYC attorney general, in this case, regarding Trump and wants to look into the legal specifics. But this has upset Maggie Haberman to the point that she has declared that announcing an investigation of this sort is to be regarded as a "threat.".

Democratic Custodial Services – WASHINGTON POST

  • Your applause for Hunter Biden is more than a little unseemly.

The news that Hunter Biden was suing the owner of the repair shop that had taken ownership of his infamous laptop clearly has many in the press excited, but none more than Matt Viser, it could be a safe bet. There are first a couple of telling details in this story. 

The first being that Hunter bringing suit that his laptop was illegally obtained is an admission that the contested nature of the computer is no longer contested; part of the suit contends he suffered an invasion of privacy, thus he is admitting the computer was his.

But it is also revealing that we see far more coverage of Hunter pressing this countersuit against John Mac Isaac than the original suit filed by the shopkeeper. Matt Viser seems rather eager on behalf of Hunter, sounding almost hopeful for some measure of justice.

- "The countersuit is in part an attempt by Hunter Biden and his lawyers to reframe the story, focusing it on a private citizen whose privacy was allegedly invaded rather than a man who critics say traded on his father's name and benefited from his political connections."

Viser goes further, detailing the defense's approach and how they are seeking to undermine the legality of the repair shop coming into ownership of the abandoned computer.

- "Mac Isaac and his allies have often pointed to a signed receipt saying that any property not retrieved after 90 days would be forfeited. But Biden's attorneys say that agreement had flaws. The boilerplate terms, they say, were contained in small print at the bottom of the page, well below the signature line. Delaware law says that personal property is only deemed abandoned after one year, and that certain steps have to be taken, such as posting public notices asking that the owner retrieve the property."

Artisanally-Crafted Narratives – NBC NEWS

Reporting on the latest Ron DeSantis controversy, reporter Matt Lavietes clearly shows his allegiance is with a cause rather than with the facts. Regarding the news that a hotel in Miami is facing the revocation of its liquor license as a result of hosting an adult-themed drag show that permitted minors to attend, Lavietes focuses on the alleged hostility toward the trans community.

- "The efforts by the DeSantis administration come as other Republican lawmakers across the country aim to restrict the centuries-old art form. Critics say these bills unfairly target the art form, which has deep ties to the LGBTQ community and violate the constitutional rights of free speech and free expression."

Getting only a passing mention is the mention of children attending a sexualized event, and completely ignored is the detail that the venue had been warned ahead of the event that it needed to prevent minors from attending the show. This was not a reactive punishment for a drag performance; it was a clear violation of the business statutes.

Low Octane Gas Lighting – CNN

At the Supreme Court, they held a ceremony for the recently departed Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but at CNN, they took the opportunity to lambaste the Court in a completely unbiased, non-partisan fashion. Reporting on the event, Ariane de Vogue wastes no time injecting her slant on the whole affair, even taking the low road tactic of mentioning how SCOTUS has low popularity with the general public – as if that is an important measure of constitutional adherence.

- "The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was lauded by former clerks and colleagues at a memorial ceremony held at the Supreme Court on Friday – an institution she'd scarcely recognize if she were still on the bench."

Full disclosure, we here at "Riffed" do not carry legal diplomas, but we have confidence that we do not feel the late Ms. Ginsburg would appear too lost on the Court today. She had previously served with all but two justices. One new arrival sits as left as she had, and her replacement, Amy Coney Barret, clerked for Ginsburg's very dear friend on the Court, Justice Scalia.

Pre-Written Field Reports – WASHINGTON POST

There has been a call in recent years for the foremost organization in the study of birds, The Audubon Society, to change its name. This is all due to the problems seen with the personal history of the man the group is named for, John James Audubon. 

As we have come to expect, this is due to a past involving slavery. You get the approach from writer Dino Grandoni as he stated the decision to keep the name came from a result of a "closed-door vote." This, despite the fact that the society had spent a year debating the merits internally and from input from outside the group. Of course, these stories are always tough to take seriously when they are reported in a newspaper that retains the name of the slave-owning first president of our nation.