THE DAILY NEWSLETTER - MONDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2022

Media Winners & Losers

MEDIA WINNER:
Jennifer Griffin

Fox News National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin had some sobering words for hosts of The Five who suggested the Biden administration was overhyping the crisis in eastern Europe for political purposes.

After President Joe Biden’s speech Friday afternoon, Five co-hosts Greg Gutfeld and Kennedy suggested the administration is hyping or even faking the threat of war in eastern Europe because of the Durham investigation. In that affair, conservative media has seized upon technical jargon in a motion filed in federal court in order to claim that Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign hacked and spied on former President Donald Trump. That claim is unfounded.

When Griffin joined the show from the Pentagon, she proceeded to bury the idea that the situation in Ukraine is being overplayed by the Biden administration to distract from the Durham investigation.

She smacked down the idea that this was a newly-created crisis, citing news she had personally been reporting over the past two weeks, and spoke frankly about the potentially devastating and “bloody” consequences of war.

“Right now, every American should be watching this and knowing that this is deadly serious,” Griffin said. “This is not some wag-the-dog situation."

The situation in Ukraine is complicated, and Griffin has the background and experience to accurately report on the story. She politely but firmly shut down a conversation that was floundering around in some murky conspiracies, and that's to be commended. 

MEDIA LOSER:
Tucker Carlson

Your friendly neighborhood Mediaite newsletter correspondent has joked before about retiring Tucker Carlson's jersey as Media Loser, but the Fox News host is incredibly innovative at finding new ways to earn the award yet again. It's oddly impressive, to be honest, how he repeatedly strong-arms his way past all other contenders for the daily dishonor.

Dismissively referring to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (R-NY) as "Sandy Cortez," Carlson slammed her as "neurotic and silly" in a sexist rant starting with the bizarre claim that "[n]o one has done more personally to degrade American womanhood" and then truly went off the rails by saying she wasn't actually a "woman of color." "Because she's not! She's a rich entitled White lady!" Carlson fumed. 

Is he really arguing that she's not an authentic Latina unless she's poor? 

Carlson followed that gross comment by suggesting that AOC was soliciting a booty call by posting a video that mentioned she was alone at her apartment. 

And it all came at the end of a week where yet again he whined about his critics calling him a pro-Putin propagandist, while the official propagandists in Russia applauded his rhetoric. Carlson also resurrected the Seth Rich conspiracy nonsense that already cost his network millions of dollars. 

We are fully cognizant of how very Pollyanna-ish this is to say, but we wish Carlson would respect his massive audience (and the influence that gives him) by not constantly feeding them such garbage. 

The A-Block

"This is Potentially the Largest Conflict in Europe Since 1945"

Satellite images show Russian troops gathering along the Ukrainian border as tensions continue to rise and the world braces for war.

CNN national security analyst and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper noted that these troop movements now had three-quarters of the Russian conventional military arrayed around Ukraine, and warned that not only was war probably inevitable at this point, it could be potentially the largest conflict in Europe since 1945, at the end of World War II.”

President Joe Biden addressed the country Friday afternoon, warning that his administration expected Russia to attack within the coming days, and while he didn't expect Russia to use nuclear weapons, he did believe that Putin had already made the decision to invade

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan called the likelihood of Russia invading Ukraine imminent enough that it could happen in “the coming hours or days.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin himself gave credence to these comments with a speech he gave on Monday, a portion of which was carried by multiple American cable news networks. It was a dark and ominous speech in which Putin called Ukrainian independence a "shame."

The news has all sparked a lot of contentious debate on all sides as the U.S. and NATO allies debate how to respond.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki bristled at a question from a Fox News reporter who asked if the White House was "waiting for people to die" to take action. "That's in no way a fair statement," said Psaki. 

Psaki confirmed news on Sunday that Biden had agreed to meet in person with Putin but only if Russia didn't invade Ukraine. 

GOP Senate candidate J.D. Vance saw his name trending twice over the weekend for saying he didn't care what happened in Ukraine and then getting in a Twitter spat with a retired four-star general. (Spoiler alert: Vance did not get the better of that conversation.)


In Other News...

Trump's Social Media Platform Truth Social Gets Mocked for Clunky Launch: 'A Low-Energy Effort'

Trump’s Still Raging About His Accountants Quitting, Blames ‘Radical Left Racist Prosecutors’ and Brags ‘We’re Loaded With Cash’

‘This is a Legal Mess for CNN’: Brian Stelter Paints Bleak Picture of Network’s Potential Liability as Zucker-Cuomo Saga Drags On

Michael Jordan Blatantly Ignores Charles Barkley at the NBA All-Star Game to Accentuate Their Rift

‘It Really Was Touch and Go’: Neil Cavuto Returns to Fox After Landing in ICU With Covid, Says Vaccine Saved His Life

Must See Clip

"There's no excuse for this"

Following their game in Madison, WI on Sunday, Michigan head coach Juwan Howard threw a punch at an opposing coach for the Wisconsin Badgers — sparking a wild scene.

The incident occurred during the postgame handshake line — when Howard and Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard exchanged heated words. Howard was upset that Gard called a timeout with 15 seconds remaining in the game and the outcome already decided — given Wisconsin was leading by 15. Howard confronted Gard and the two had to be separated by players and coaches from both sides.

And then it really got nuts. Watch here. 

Links We Like

Putin's Right-Wing Shills
- Charlie Sykes, The Bulwark
What the world got right during the Covid-19 pandemic
- Muizz Akhtar, Vox
America Needs a Rom-Com Bailout
- Kevin Townsend, Sophie Gilbert, David Sims, and Hannah Giorgis, The Atlantic
California's Unconstitutional 'Bacon Ban'
- Eric Boehm, Reason
‘Paper terrorism’: Parents against mask mandates bombard school districts with sham legal claims
- Tyler Kingkade and Ben Collins, NBC News
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