S.V. Dáte at HuffPost:

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s White House is now “bothsidesing” – literally ― Russia’s bloody and ongoing attacks on Ukraine. In one of her periodic briefings, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday essentially equated dictator Vladimir Putin’s near-nightly slaughter of Ukrainian civilians in their homes with Ukraine’s retaliatory strikes against Russia’s oil production infrastructure. “Perhaps both sides of this war are not ready to end it themselves,” she said. Leavitt had been asked whether Trump had a response to Russia’s massive attack Wednesday night, using hundreds of drones and missiles, on residential areas of Kyiv, which killed some 20 civilians, including children.

By mid-afternoon, Trump’s lack of a statement condemning Putin stood in stark contrast to those coming from the leaders of Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, the European Commission and others. “Six-hundred twenty-nine missiles and drones in a single night over Ukraine: this is Russia’s idea of peace. Terror and barbarism. More than a dozen dead, including children,” French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on social media. “Full support to the Ukrainian people, and deepest compassion for all the grieving families.”

“The intense attacks on Kyiv this night demonstrate who stands on the side of peace and who has no intention of believing in the negotiating path,” added Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Leavitt, though, did not join in that chorus. “He was not happy about this news, but he was also not surprised. These are two countries that have been at war for a very long time. Russia launched this attack on Kyiv. And likewise, Ukraine recently dealt a blow to Russia’s oil refineries. They have taken out, as a matter of fact, 20% of Russia’s oil refinery capacity over the course of their attacks throughout the month of August,” Leavitt said. “The president wants it to end, but the leaders of these two countries need it to end and must want it to end as well.” Her comments echoed Trump’s own statements in recent weeks that once again blame Ukraine for being invaded.

“You know, [Ukrainian President Volodomyr] Zelenskyy is not exactly innocent either, OK?” the president said during Wednesday’s marathon Cabinet meeting. “They go in, I’m sure that Ukraine thought they were going to win. There’s going to be ― you know, we’re going to win, you’re going to beat somebody that’s 15 times your size.”

Stephen Robinson at Public Notice:

Donald Trump is consistently incoherent these days, but even when he makes sense, he’s unhinged and malicious. Last week, Trump posted an absolutely deranged Memorial Day message, wishing a “Happy Memorial Day to all, including the scum that spent the last four years trying to destroy our country through warped radical left minds.” Despite the commander-in-chief seemingly suffering an all-caps mental breakdown, the media reaction was muted. A headline from The Washington Post read, “On Memorial Day, Trump honors fallen soldiers and celebrates political wins.” From CNN: “Trump honors veterans at Arlington National Cemetery after lashing out at political opponents in Memorial Day post.” And The New York Times: “Trump Praises Military, and His Return to Office, in Memorial Day Remarks.”

Over the weekend, Trump turned the insanity up to 11. On Saturday night, he shared a Truth Social post from a conspiracy theory account claiming that Joe Biden was “executed in 2020” and replaced by some sort of robot. Needless to say, if Joe Biden posted anything close to that nuts, Sean Hannity and Jake Tapper would be roused from bed to anchor special coverage on their networks. But for Trump, this level of compete and utter batshittery is just another Saturday night. The president spreading bonkers conspiracy theories and unleashing vicious personal attacks against his political opponents is certainly more newsworthy than when he manages to read prepared remarks. But major media also ignored how he often fails to execute that bare minimum task. [...] The media not only didn’t ignore that Biden was old, they never shut up about it. There was exhaustive coverage when Biden fell off his bike in 2022 or tripped over a sandbag in 2023. Neither of those stories were buried within larger coverage of Biden performing normal presidential duties or even successfully behaving like a functioning adult. Falling off a bike could signal more serious health issues, but it might just mean the president is no different than people decades younger who suffer mishaps or trip over things. Despite the endless handwringing about Biden Old, a sitting president acting like a cross between a 4Chan thread and Q truly is a major concern — one the mainstream media actively minimizes. [...]

Asymmetric coverage

Biden’s age was an easier target for the media because it was something they could criticize him for without opening themselves up to accusations of bias. Although Trump’s extreme instability is more relevant, especially now that he’s president, stating the obvious might seem partisan. Who are they to tell voters that perhaps they should worry about middle-of-the-night hate rants from the guy with the nuke codes? Democrats are also more willing to take seriously criticism of their leaders. Sure, they might push back or resort to talking points, but in Biden’s case, no one ever pretended he was 40. Democrats acknowledged he was old but argued that he was still up for the job, or at least more up for it than Trump. Voters might have disagreed, but Democrats still engaged with reality. Republicans, by contrast, insist their Dear Leader is the world’s greatest dealmaker even as he makes no deals, personally enriches himself while in office, and singlehandedly hobbles the economy with tariffs. And yet the media continues to demand more accountability from Democrats who defended Biden than Republicans who actively support and enable a criminal president. Fresh off turning CNN into a QVC-like informercial for his book about the alleged Biden cover-up, Jake Tapper went on Piers Morgan’s show last week and described it as “worse than Watergate” because “Richard Nixon was in control of his faculties when he wasn’t drinking.”

Rebecca Solnit at The Guardian on why the pundit class is calling for Joe Biden to suspend his campaign but not Donald Trump to also do the same (07.06.2024).

Judd Legum at Popular Information:

The biggest lie in media is the one that it tells about itself. Journalists at many mainstream media publications insist that their coverage is objective and unbiased. This isn't true. Two of the biggest purveyors of this lie are Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei, the co-founders of Axios. The Axios audience "Bill of Rights" promises that "all employees are asked to refrain from taking/advocating for public positions on political topics." The document also pledges that Axios will "never have an opinion section." Axios seeks to garner trust by positioning itself as neutral on all political topics. VandeHei has promoted this view repeatedly in his public commentary. In a December 2024 speech, VandeHei advocated for a "clinical" approach to journalism, one that is detached from any ideology. In a May 2024 CNN interview, VandeHei said that the best way for reporters to restore trust is to keep their opinions to themselves and "stop popping off in ways that make people distrust the work that you do."

John Harris, who started Politico with Allen and VandHei, wrote that the pair "cleave to a scientific ideal of journalistic detachment, the way a surgeon cannot tolerate even the slightest bacteria on his instruments." So, how did Allen and VandeHei cover the first six months of Trump's presidency? "President Trump, in terms of raw accomplishments, crushed his first six months in historic ways," the pair wrote in a piece published last Wednesday. Allen and VandeHei listed Trump's "wins": "Massive tax cuts. Record-low border crossings. Surging tariff revenue. Stunning air strikes in Iran. Modest inflation." They describe the last six months as "the very best chapter of his presidency." But Allen and VandeHei are puzzled that, despite all this success, Trump's approval ratings are very low. They offer this explanation: Americans "seem tired of all the winning." Ultimately, they blame Trump's unpopularity on the fickleness of voters who can't figure out what they want. "[V]oters demand change," Allen and VandeHei argue, "then flinch when it arrives too fast or too hard."

[...] Indeed, VandeHei and Allen have political opinions and express them publicly. VandeHei simply redefines his right-wing ideology as patriotism. "The American miracle rests on untamed democracy, the animal spirits of capitalism, the magic of unrestrained innovation, and the soft power of a vigilant and vibrant free press," VandeHei wrote in a December 2, 2024, Axios column. "I'm a believer in — and beneficiary of — all four."

[...] VandeHei and Allen have beliefs, but claim to be objective because they consider their right-wing beliefs, particularly on economic issues, to constitute fundamental truths. People with differing conceptions about the role of the free market and the regulatory state, on the other hand, are dismissed as biased or misguided.

AJ McDougall at The Daily Beast:

Elon Musk, the billionaire king of bad takes, came up with a new one to cement his reign on Sunday night. Responding to a second potential assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life, the X owner questioned why no one was trying to kill the Democratic president and vice president.

“And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala,” he posted, adding a thinking-face emoji. A near-instantaneous firestorm of criticism predictably followed, with several people telling him to “delete your account” and others tagging the U.S. Secret Service’s X account. “This is literally incitement,” the grassroots action group DemsMight wrote, while others pointed out that the post was grounds for the revocation of Musk’s government contracts, including a pair of NASA contracts worth roughly $4 billion that his company SpaceX won in 2021. [...] The incident in question began Sunday afternoon when a gunman, named in reports as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, allegedly snuck onto the grounds near Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, with an AK-47 style rifle.

Despicable right-wing assclown Elon Musk crassly responded to the 2nd assassination attempt against Donald Trump with “And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala.”

Kayla Gogarty at MMFA:

In their discussion after Vice President Kamala Harris’ October 23 CNN town hall, the network’s anchors admitted — but then dismissed — that mainstream media are holding Harris to a “different standard” than her Republican opponent Donald Trump.  Trump and Harris held one debate on September 11, after which Trump refused further debates. Due to this, CNN invited both Harris and Trump to participate in individual town hall events, an invitation Harris accepted but Trump declined. On October 23, Harris participated in a CNN town hall with undecided Pennsylvania voters. Following Harris' town hall, CNN anchors engaged in what journalist Aaron Rupar called “theater criticism” of Harris' performance without even acknowledging that Trump refused to even show up to take questions from voters until roughly 10 minutes into their post-event discussion. While a focus group CNN gathered overall had positive reactions, CNN immediately criticized Harris’ performance, even admitting — and dismissing — that they are holding Harris to a “different standard” and “it's inherently unfair.”