THE DAILY NEWSLETTER - THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 2022

Media Winners & Losers

MEDIA WINNER:
CNN's MJ Lee

CNN White House correspondent MJ Lee pressed White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki about a remark President Joe Biden made to reporters on a Texas tarmac Tuesday.

As the president posed for photos upon his arrival at Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base in Westworth Village, Texas on Tuesday, he responded to one reporter’s queries about rising gas prices by saying: "Can’t do much right now. Russia is responsible."

At Wednesday’s White House press briefing, Ms. Lee asked Ms. Psaki about that exchange, and contrasted it with the president’s remarks on mitigating the price increases from earlier that day. Psaki chalked that contrast up to the rushed setting for the question, and reiterated Biden’s earlier remarks:

"The president said yesterday, 'I’m going to do everything I can to minimize Putin’s price hike here at home.'” And then hours later as he was getting off the Air Force One, he said, I 'can’t do much about that right now,'" said Lee. "'Can’t do much right now.' That was the exact words from the president."

"For anyone that might have been confused seeing the two statements from the president within a couple of hours, what would be your explanation? Does the president believe there is action that he can take to address gas prices, or does he believe there’s not much that can be done?" she asked.

Psaki argued that you can't expect a comprehensive answer from the "short gaggles" as he goes from place to place. She said, "But the oil markets — oil markets are global. Right? And it is all about meeting the supply demands that are out there."

This is the kind of question at the briefing that a reporter, in today's environment, can get hassled for asking. Much media coverage has been dedicated to "fact-checking" the idea that the Biden administration has any ability to affect fuel prices or even inflation.

But it's exactly the kind of question that average Americans want to hear asked of the White House. It was a short pair of comments from the president, but Lee noticed the apparent discrepancy and didn't let it go. This is what accountability questions are all about.

MEDIA LOSER:
Fox's Tucker Carlson

Bryce Mitchell, the UFC fighter who has been celebrated by Tucker Carlson for his comments on Ukraine, believes school shootings are staged by the U.S. government.

The star fighter known as “Thug Nasty” recently drew the attention of social media for voicing his thoughts on the Russian invasion of Ukraine during a UFC press conference. Journalist Glenn Greenwald, a regular guest on Tucker Carlson Tonight, shared the clip on Twitter.

The clip features Mitchell saying he won't go anywhere to fight wars for politicians, but that if the war comes to Arkansas, he will "will dig my boots in the Arkansas soil, and I will fight for the people that I love."

Carlson praised Mitchell’s comments on Monday night, and the fighter appeared on his show on Tuesday, where he reiterated his pledge to not go to Ukraine and fight in its war against Russia.

“How do you get to be so honest when everyone else is afraid to say what they think?” Carlson asked Thug Nasty.

Mitchell went on to accuse “our leaders” and “a lot of these elites” of treason. He did not elaborate, but such conspiratorial thinking isn’t new for the MMA fighter.

Last month, ahead of his fight at UFC Vegas 49 against Edson Barboza, Mitchell appeared for an interview on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani.

There, the two got onto the subject of school shootings.

“My number one explanation is the government is in a lot of these,” Mitchell said. “They have an agenda, they set up mass shootings and then blame the AR-15s. And say ‘Oh, now we’re coming to take your
AR-15s’.”

Previously, Mitchell said he believed the government created Covid-19.

"I think the coronavirus was made by the government. I think the good government made the damn virus. I think that they infected the people on purpose to cause some type of chaos," he said. 

"How do you get to be so honest" is what Carlson asked his favorite MMA fighter who thinks school shootings and coronavirus were staged.

We have a question, too: Really??

The A-Block

Heart-wrenching

Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner began her show Thursday with somber reporting out of Ukraine, detailing the latest Russian atrocities in the country and the suffering of the people of Mariupol.

Faulkner began by recounting the horrific events of the day before: “Just yesterday — a maternity hospital — bombed.

“Breaking news as it happened this hour and now more pictures. Children and moms who were even in labor, some of them they fear are buried beneath the rubble. It has been almost 24 hours. They can’t get to everybody but they’re trying. So far, at least three people confirmed dead, including a child,” she continued in a somber tone.

“I want the warn you now the images that have come in that you are about to see are graphic and disturbing and so we want to give everybody in a room just a chance to pull away who might be a young person that you want to protect,” she continued, before images of mass graves and dead bodies appeared on the screen.

“People in Mariupol, again, are having to bury the dead, their loved ones, their neighbors, in mass graves,” she said.

Faulkner is right that it's disturbing. And she was right to show it anyway.

In a video released on Thursday morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky promised justice against the Russian media for lying about that deadly airstrike.


🇺🇦 FOR LATEST UKRAINE COVERAGE CLICK HERE


In Other News...

Newsmax Host Goes on Insane Rant Claiming Biden, Democrats Want 'Russian Victory' in Ukraine

Trump Asks Supporters to Give Him Money For New Plane After Emergency Landing Over the Weekend

Trump Explains Why He Plays the 'Gay National Anthem' at Mar-a-Lago Parties

RATINGS: Tuesday March 8 - Don Lemon Leads Resurgent CNN in the Demo


Industry News...

MSNBC to Make Cable Opinion Shows Available on Peacock

Must See Clip

"Joe Biden or Prince John"

Seth Meyers torched Rep. Lauren Boebert for a strange remark she made on Fox News this week.

Addressing President Joe Biden’s announcement that the United States would ban all Russian energy imports, Meyers mocked Republican complaints about gas prices as “obviously cynical, hollow politics.”

“By far the dumbest example came from Colorado congresswoman Lauren Boebert on Fox News last night when she tried to slam the Biden administration but seemed to lose her train of thought,” Meyers said Wednesday night before airing the clip of Boebert.

"Here’s my sincere and honest question: What the f*** are you talking about?”

Links We Like

Biden’s Baffling MiG-29 Reversal
- Jim Geraghty, National Review
Why The Atlantic Didn’t Press MBS Harder On The Khashoggi Assassination
- Erik Wemple, Washington Post
Nice Raise. Too Bad About Inflation.
- Rani Molla, Vox
Putin is Losing the Social Media War
- Brian Karem, Salon
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