Even you concede that he reputational hits Matt took were bogus or related to the Russiagate hoax. If the left are against him for Russiagate opposition and a hoax, surely they have left him. I feel very much the same. I can't bring myself to say men are women. Which supposedly makes me a bigot.
Having said that, Israeli influence is so powerful in the US that being openly critical is dangerous. Others have spoken out and I think both Matt and Walter Kirn should discuss more.
"The left" is a murky term in the hands of ex-liberals like Matt. I do not see any similarities between liberal leftism and socialism, for example, although I suppose there are crossover topics. However, no one would confuse the politics of Joe Manchina and Bernie, even though both were under the liberal Democratic umbrella at one point.
You are right about the dangers of criticizing Zionism, which makes it all the more curious that two independent "risk takers" like Matt and Walter have bitched out over it.
I’m guessing you feel the same way about Glen Greenwald as you feel about Matt. He also fell into wrong think for questioning the “always empathetic” position of far leftists. The elimination of freedom of speech shifted into high gear when people began questioning the safety and efficacy of the vaccine so yeah, those crazy anti vaxxers opposed a forced medical procedure without informed consent (so much for leftists honoring the Nuremberg Code
concerning medical ethics). I, like you (probably) believe Jan 6 was worse then 9/11, Pearl Harbor and the Civil War but for very different reasons. On Jan 6, I believe the right to protest the government for redress of grievances was unceremoniously slaughtered by a weaponized intelligence community, weaponized mainstream media and duped leftist.
Thank you for at least confirming that, as I was already aware, Matt’s new audience is drawn from the anti-vax/anti-contrail/anti-fluoride community. I would love to see Matt address this openly, and I encourage you to ask him to write more about the communist conspiracy to fight tooth decay.
I have no interest in Glenn—too reactionary. I do find it funny how often your lot uses the word “empathy” as a negative though, as if Trump’s defining characteristics of narcissism, venality, aggression, deceit, vengeance, humorlessness and, above all, an utter lack of humility, can possibly lead anywhere good.
The reason empathy was in quotes is because the left truly believes it is empathetic when in fact a complete lack of self awareness results in a belief they are empathetic when they are the exact opposite. Forcing an experimental “vaccine” into people, under threat, shows a callous disregard for individual freedom and caring for others.
I also believe your description of Trump’s defining characteristics of narcissism, venality, aggression, deceit, vengeance, humorlessness and, above all, an utter lack of humility, fits Barack Obama perfectly.
I thought Matt called out the genocide occurring in Gaza, which is an extremely disturbing situation which Trump is allowing to happen, however; whoever was controlling the presidency during the Biden administration was also supporting the horrific genocide being conducted by Israel, and I believe Kmala would have allowed it as well.
You (and folks like you) keep acting as if I have somewhere written positively about Biden and Obama, to snare me with a charge of hypocrisy. Not only do I not fancy the Democrats, but by saying that Trump is only as bad as the people YOU hate, you leave yourself with no excuse for his shittiness. The hypocrisy, then, is on you.
You make some very salient points but I did not accuse you of hypocrisy nor did I suggest any of the attributes you assign to Trump are false. Until we are presented with anything other than a choice between the lesser of 2 evils, we will always have evil controlling our government. Collectivism is the antithesis of the Constitution’s suggestion the individual Is sovereign. Leftists, in violating individual liberties and freedoms by imposing mandates for “the greater good” will have me supporting conservatism over liberalism every time. I am, as I believe Matt is, an old fashioned liberal who has seen liberalism corrupted into a big government big business forever wars belief system that is willing to use censorship and coercion against individuals pointing this out.
We always HAVE a choice to not support either party, and many choose not to. If you choose to confine yourself to the duopoly, that is still on you.
When was "liberalism" not in league with every force you condemn? Government has never been "small" in my lifetime, nor have conservatives ever tried to shrink it. Which party has ever stood against "forever wars"? And if you think Trump is charting a new course... well, let's see him break with Bibi over this Iran horseshit. Then we'll talk. And as I have already made crystal clear: Trump is completely on board with whatever censorship suits him. If you voted for him, congrats! You've let a fox into the henhouse.
Trump is an arsehole and more of everything you say but he is talking to Russia and stepping back from the "50/50 chance" of provoking nuclear annihilation. If that's not a reason for voting for him nothing is.
Whatever you say, Chat GPT. As for my pseudonym, many great people have written under an assumed name… typically one that is pretentious and Latiny. How am I doing??
You’re not writing fiction. You’re being political. And it’s therefore useful for people to know whether you’re real or not. In politics, anonymity is for pussies and cowards.
Taibbi, in an attempt to explain himself, actually said something along the lines that he avoids commenting on Trump because he’s never really clear on what Trump and his admins intentions are. Weak.
Here’s the quote: I admit to not always understanding why people in the Trump administration do what they do, and this lack of understanding is often why I take extra time before weighing in on what they do
I appreciate this post, (and your response to my comment over on Racket that brought me here), but disagree with a few of your points here.
The frustration over the lack of backbone on the Israel/Palestine issue is one that gets under my skin on the daily, for almost all public figures- not just American journalists. Where I lose you is on the idea that "even Taibbi haters gave him the benefit of the doubt back when"... no, no they didn't. All my "good liberal friends" had him pegged as a IDW bastard/grifter since 2020. The fact that you didn't read or understand the gravity of the Twitter files- which were covered so extensively in the first year of America This Week convos- is odd. I doubt you watched the Weaponization of Government hearings in which Taibbi was attacked exclusively (and in bad faith) by Democrats, as I can't imagine coming to this perspective as someone who's followed him for years and have a little more confidence.
I watched him with Katie Halper on Useful Idiots before there was America This Week, and just as you and I feel frustrated over the lack of civil liberities for Pro-Palestinian voices now, I felt the same during the pandemic when all my Taibbi/Greenwald/BadFaith/Halper/Vanguard left refused to have backbone for civil liberties of people who didn't take the lockdown/vaccine mandates lying down. It's not audience capture so much as an awareness that they are "saying something controversial" and do not in fact "know" if they will be proven right in the long run. The weight of being wrong is very costly to credibility, not just popularity.
Yes, I wish I could make Brie Joy Gray or Greenwald or Taibbi into my spirit animal journalist who always takes exactly the right position- from the start!- on all the things that matter most to me. But I think that the recent "timeline" posts on Racket are (at least in part) an attempt to present these very real issues in a voice that's unbiased as possible.
I do not need Matt Taibbi to turn into a shrieking left "oh the humanity" voice on the genocide so much as I want him to provide transparent and factual stories about the who-what-when-where. Just like watching the bbc doc The Settlers, Israel doesn't need bleeding heart defenders of Palestinians to discredit it- it only needs unfiltered coverage of what they admit to. Our problem here is the average person (I'm sure Taibbi and Kirn included) REALLY doesn't know about Gaza, due to immense amounts of propaganda. Their opinion of Gaza is just as off-base as Sotomayor thinking "100k children" were hospitalized and many on ventilators, when minuscule numbers were the reality. They don't understand the apartheid in the West Bank, the settler violence, the total blockade and power over the in/out of goods and people they exert- prior to Oct 7th. They think Israel is either fighting insurgents in the dessert or bombing it's neighbor who elected terrorists for a government and "mass raped" their innocent concert goers. Zero concept of the prison/occupation that is, because just like covid, accepting reality means you've been SO VERY lied to that it's hard to get your head around it.
I think these 'do your own research' and "timeline" stories are precise step in the right direction to opening eyes to see for themselves, rather than digesting stories through a left/right audience lens.
“ ‘Even Taibbi haters gave him the benefit of the doubt back when’... no, no they didn't. All my "good liberal friends" had him pegged as a IDW bastard/grifter since 2020.”
In fact, I said that there was a time that Taibbi haters COULD give Matt the benefit of the doubt for staying mum on Israel, not that all did. And I was speaking only about Israel specifically, not all the issues that a former fan of Taibbi might take issue with him over.
“The fact that you didn't read or understand the gravity of the Twitter files- which were covered so extensively in the first year of America This Week convos- is odd. “
Since you read my article, you know why: The Twitter Files are dense and boring. But I will give you this opportunity to digest them for me and tell me, in a few sentences (if you can) your top two or three most important takeaways. I have yet to hear Taibbi do this: to make them accessible or to give his audience a real hook.
“I doubt you watched the Weaponization of Government hearings in which Taibbi was attacked exclusively (and in bad faith) by Democrats, as I can't imagine coming to this perspective as someone who's followed him for years and have a little more confidence.”
I have seen Matt’s appearances before Congress, and while I find the Democrats as defensive as you do, I can’t help thinking that Matt whines a lot about it for a guy who has been gifted with repeated opportunities to sit before the powers-that-be and make his arguments on topics that concern him, a privilege few of us morlocks ever receive. And lets also remember: the Republicans at the table are all on his side… though their protection of him is entirely cynical, which I think is what really grinds Matt.
“I watched him with Katie Halper on Useful Idiots before there was America This Week, and just as you and I feel frustrated over the lack of civil liberities for Pro-Palestinian voices now,”
Okay… well? As a fan, Are you going to nudge Matt to finally open his yap or not? Matt appears to be obsessed with freedom of speech… it is his entire leit motif of the past few years. Yet the most significant 1A issue that is in the air daily and not buried in the strata of the “Twitter Files” is also the one speech issue that Matt Taibbi can’t muster a paragraph for.
Just as the Snowden reporting provided confirmation of 4th amendment violations that we were being lied to about, the primary revelation of the Twitter files were confirmations that the federal government (and its agents) were violating the 1st amendment to censor political speech of US Citizens AND news organizations- during an election season, as well as during a polarizing/devastatingly consequential pandemic. They had whole systems to do it, and the social media companies weren't willing so much as coerced. All while the news media spouted fake stories the government did favor, about everything from Covid to Hamilton 68 twitter bots and “Russian disinformation”. The Twitter files were also the nail in the coffin to discredit much of that bogus Russiagate content, because they proved media were essentially making shit up from data Twitter didn’t have and told them wasn’t accurate at the time, but they reported it anyway and Twitter did nothing.
People are often dismissive of the constant data collected in violation of privacy laws, but silencing speech- whether via demonetizing/banning or and shadow-banning from view- the viewpoints that the government doesn’t want you to hear, is next level domestic manipulation. The censorship equivalent of this with Israel/Palestine would be like if (in addition to the NYTs constant lying with its mass-rape hoax stories and Israel-friendly framing of everything under the sun) every single graphic report from Palestinian journalists that contradicts Israeli talking points were being taken down from Twitter/facebook/youtube. If calling it ‘genocide’ got your account suspended and your pod show demonetized, and every video that mentioned Palestine came with EMBEDDED warning banner from the “IDF authorities” displayed to counter with authoritative truths about the terrorist organization Hamas, less you believe the pro-Palestinian voices you are watching. If Dave Smith and Doug Murray debating Israel/Palestine resulted in a campaign to have JRE taken off Spotify for espousing “anti-semitic” views.
My point is, Matt was NOT covering censorship over Covid UNTIL the Twitter files proved what was happening. Those of us living it, or watching people demonetized/banned (at the Biden government's behest) for true social media posts, felt just as frustrated then as we do now with the lack of coverage about Rubio's war on non-citizen visa/green card holders over their anti-Israel speech. In fact, that time period was still far worse than the 1st amendment attacks going on now, since it was impacting the civil liberties/health/economic well-being of basically the entire citizen population of this country.
I’m all for Matt covering more of the attempts to prohibit speech of our non-citizens (no one wants to travel here if we don't), attack academic freedom, and to try and pass laws that violate the 1st amendment. I just don’t think the framing of “Matt is either afraid or wants money” is a good angle to do it. I don’t even want him to simply talk more about the “israel/palestine” conflict or even suffering of the Palestinian civilians- just the speech attacks here and US media lies here, because propaganda is far less successful when speech isn’t chilled/prohibited. Afraid or A fraud is a good line, I’ll give you that- but just feel it misses the mark.
Racket does cover some of this too, so I also take issue with generalizing that as “Matt can’t give a single paragraph to”: https://www.racket.news/p/timeline-the-case-of-rumeysa-ozturk . You can see, the top comments are disgusting, but I blame the left far more than the Taibbis of the world- for failing to focus on the actual issue of free speech- because they’ve already ceded this to the right as a dirty word. The Lefts seems to still only want 1st amendment rights for their poor marginalized non-citizen pro-Palestine students, but not if you ended up in the ICU after your Moderna shot that your employer forced upon you (against their will, to stay open for business), or if you think Lia Thomas shouldn’t bring her intact male genitalia into a women locker-room.
Kate, I’ve taken pleasure in reading your reasoned critiques and find myself agreeing with essentially everything you have said here.
I feel exactly the same about my disappointment in Taibbi explicitly not covering free speech issues under the Trump admin. I also have dropped any expectation of either of them speaking up about Israel, frankly, as Kirn seems to support Israel and it isn’t in their collective “lane.” So, whatever. Disappointing to a degree but not really the issue with Racket News.
The issue with Racket News is the amount of “slopulism” they push, particularly in their podcast and livestream. Under the Biden admin I enjoyed this show because they were serious about challenging power.
Now “their guy” is in power and instead of reporting on the administration they report even more on how bad the media is, the Luigi musical, and how bad democrats are.
It’s just turned into partisan tripe that I find no value in. Really, I mean zero value. It’s sad, but I don’t think it’s going to change.
I think Taibbi and Kirn are both captured by partisan thinking for different reasons.
Thank you. I feel pretty in agreement with your post as well, and despite the long-winded ranting on my end, HAVE stopped tuning in as much (certainly don't look forward to Walter waxing poetic about Luigi theories rather than blatant government censorship).
There's a reason why I followed the author here to discuss, though, I also wish I knew the effective appeal to make in terms of AtW/Racket. Mostly, I wish I knew because there are a looot of people like Walter, and I wish knew the effective appeal for them too...
For what it is worth, I am encouraging people to follow my Substack, which for now only covers Taibbi, to coalesce a group of his subscribers that can began to speak out in favor of Matt getting off his ass and covering these arrests. Strength in numbers!
There’s a lot to unpack here, so I will try to boil down my responses to the essentials.
“Just as the Snowden reporting provided confirmation of 4th amendment violations that we were being lied to about, the primary revelation of the Twitter files were confirmations that the federal government (and its agents) were violating the 1st amendment to censor political speech of US Citizens AND news organizations- during an election season, as well as during a polarizing/devastatingly consequential pandemic.”
I’m already in the camp of believing that the Feds did some arm-twisting to tamp down on the anti-vax craziness that Matt appears to have embraced (if only tacitly), and since those efforts were basically in response to the spread of genuine disinformation about the pandemic, I am willing to grant the government just a bit more leeway then you are given the unprecedented circumstances.
So, I guess I remain unconvinced at the malpractice you are suggesting. This may be a bit much to ask for, but can you point me to the most damning portion of the Twitter Files you can think of, the one that really blows the lid off the government’s bad behavior? You cite Snowden, so I’ll remind you that I (and many people) have a pretty high threshold for the unaddressed misdeeds of our government. What is there in the Twitter files, if anything, that amounts to a Snowden-level reveal? I’m just not hearing that from you.
“The Twitter files were also the nail in the coffin to discredit much of that bogus Russiagate content, because they proved media were essentially making shit up from data Twitter didn’t have and told them wasn’t accurate at the time, but they reported it anyway and Twitter did nothing.”
I personally think that the Mueller Report is the only nail that coffin required. I mean, hell, I was one of the people who listened to non-stop insinuations about Trump/Putin and believed some of it, but when the Mueller report landed like a turd on Chuck and Nancy’s desk, I didn’t need any further elucidation from Matt or others to understand that we had all been had.
“People are often dismissive of the constant data collected in violation of privacy laws, but silencing speech- whether via demonetizing/banning or and shadow-banning from view- the viewpoints that the government doesn’t want you to hear, is next level domestic manipulation. “
The only response I really have for that is “where is the legislation to prevent it from happening again?” I’m sorry, but if Donald-“Man-of-the-People” Trump with his complete control of Washington (the same as he had for the first two years of his first term) ain’t passing laws over this, if JD Ozempic isn’t leading the charge, then what has actually changed? When Matt starts pointing fingers at his buddies in the GOP and asks them to put up or shut up, I’ll listen. (And I’ll remind you: even Trump has not been willing to sign his name to the lab leak theory. What’s he waiting for?) Maybe you should ask Matt to criticize the GOP for a change... if he dares.
“The censorship equivalent of this with Israel/Palestine would be like if (in addition to the NYTs constant lying with its mass-rape hoax stories and Israel-friendly framing of everything under the sun) every single graphic report from Palestinian journalists that contradicts Israeli talking points were being taken down from Twitter/facebook/youtube.”
But this is hardly necessary, is it? As I point out in my piece, Israel already has the entire government/media complex in the palm of its hand. And the lobby DOES pursue radical censorship and intimidation daily, as with Ms. Rachel. The difference between the COVID story and the Genocide is that re: COVID, the government could at least make a plausible case that they were trying to prevent mass casualties caused by weaponized anti-vax cranksters. That is not an excuse, but I’ll say again: in the beginning, as the virus ran wild, we did not know exactly what we were dealing with. Public health was at stake. Now HHS Secretary Garglethroat is claiming that “anti-Semitism” is a public health threat! Please don’t tell me that Zionism isn’t as infectious as COVID.
“... If Dave Smith and Doug Murray debating Israel/Palestine resulted in a campaign to have JRE taken off Spotify for espousing “anti-semitic” views.”
I have heard pro-Israel influencers attempting to do that very thing.
“Those of us living it, or watching people demonetized/banned (at the Biden government's behest) for true social media posts, felt just as frustrated then as we do now with the lack of coverage about Rubio's war on non-citizen visa/green card holders over their anti-Israel speech. In fact, that time period was still far worse than the 1st amendment attacks going on now, since it was impacting the civil liberties/health/economic well-being of basically the entire citizen population of this country.”
I can’t grant that, only because the US response to COVID was not that markedly different than the response of the rest of the world. I think the people who are still in a tizzy over COVID really ought to move on. The fact that they won’t siphons away their energy to fight the free speech battles happening right now. (And... surprise! Look who is in charge of the country again as this is happening!)
“I’m all for Matt covering more of the attempts to prohibit speech of our non-citizens (no one wants to travel here if we don't), attack academic freedom, and to try and pass laws that violate the 1st amendment. I just don’t think the framing of “Matt is either afraid or wants money” is a good angle to do it. “
Respectfully, don’t just be “all for it”. Go on and ask Matt (in his comments section) why he won’t take this important stand. I’ve given my answer: he is the victim of audience capture. The guy won’t take the risk, and frankly, that makes me think that the lobby has Matt’s balls in their hands too.
“The Lefts seems to still only want 1st amendment rights for their poor marginalized non-citizen pro-Palestine students, but not if you ended up in the ICU after your Moderna shot that your employer forced upon you...”
I’m sorry, but was that you? How could you have gotten a bed when the ICU was filled with so many people dying from COVID?
The reality is that no vaccine of any kind, administered so widely, will not have some side effects. Did you ever see what happened to some of the early recipients of the polio vaccine? Well, COVID wasn’t polio, but neither were the consequences of the vaccines terribly significant. I’ve had the COVID vaccine three times. Every member of my family has had it, my friends too... we’re all just fine, honey. How paranoid do you expect me to be?
For the record, I am in the comments section, arguing with zionsists and calling walter/matt on weak takes as I see them.
That said, oh my, I didn't realize you were a radical covid reality denier. The ICU beds were never filled, "honey". Not even here in ground zero NYC, and certainly not anywhere by the time covid shots were rolled out. The shots were also not vaccines, they were novel immune therapeutics that did 'nothing' to help people who'd already had Covid. Some people died- from taking the shots and others from isolation/despair during useless lockdowns that also didn't positively impact covid. ANY forced risk for NO benefit = criminal. I didn't personally 'know' anyone who died from covid either, but I don't deny it happened to many other people.
In fact, it was my Mom who landed in the ICU thanks to her Moderna shots. She was a registered nurse and worked in L&D with covid positive patients, despite being in her 60s... retired early as a result of her strokes. It was me who almost lost my job after HER doctors suggested that her healthy 30 something, COVID-recovered daughter NOT get those shots because they determined those shots were what had given her blood clots in her fucking brain. They hadn't even opened shots to the under 40 cohort before I knew it was a risk not worth taking. She never worked again. And it was Trump's supreme court that saved my renting millennial ass (with employer sponsored healthcare) from being fired during a pandemic, when they ruled Biden's employer mandate unconstitutional overreach. I can say whatever I want about Israel right now, but I could NOT even describe my basic reality on Twitter prior to Musk's takeover.
I live in Brooklyn and voted Jill Stein in November. My dog has all his shots, I've had all my other shots, I only eat meat from my local grass-fed farm share, and drive an ULEV. Pro-choice, pro gay rights, pro blah blah blah. I couldn't be happier with the NIH, FDA and DNI appointments by Trump. The Trump admin not only hired two of the very-censored credible epidemiologists who opposed the lockdowns/vax mandates (at the time, not in hindsight) for his FDA and NIH roles, but also Gabbard, who seems to be putting her money where her mouth is https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/press-releases-2025/4063-pr-05-25
Rubio is cuk. He's probably going to lose on the non-citizen revocations, already did on one, but we should all be very upset about the damage to the credibility of our protections for visitors as well as the anti-semitism stuff the government keeps trying to force upon us. Biden also sent people to jail over election memes, which I have yet to see happen to any pro-Palestian US citizen under Trump.
That said- name one news outlet or journalist that's doing a "better job" than the likes of Greenwald and Racket with their consistency on free speech. I'm saying if you care like you say you do, you need to make a better case, OR focus on the core principal of speech so that they keep covering it, rather than lose ears (not money) with ideological viewpoints that aren't rooted in tangible threats. No one wants to cry wolf, given the extreme lack of credibility in media over the past decade.
Sorry about calling you "honey". (Hey... did you ever think that maybe I'm just sweet on you?) Sorry also about your mother. If you need to believe it was the "clot shot" that caused her stroke, do so. The reality is that you'll never know, and some instances of stroke are believed to be the result of COVID itself.
Yes, other Racket writers posted about Ozturk but Matt recently said that Rubio asserted her detention was about more than an op ed. He didn’t say what about. Yet this seems to be enough to make Matt wait-and-see.
On a number of occasions Matt has called himself naive and I wonder if he doesn’t have a naive blind spot when it comes to the Middle East. I know Russia and Eastern Europe were his beat, but he’d better play catchup on learning Palestine/Israel or he’ll risk being silent on the biggest free speech issue right now. And he’s the free speech guy.
Walter is the problem. I think that he has become something of a father figure to Matt and a means by which Matt has been able to blow off steam about how the left betrayed him. I’m pretty sure it’s Matt’s podcast which Walter was invited to…yet Matt can barely get a word in edgewise. It also seems as though Matt feels obligated to agree with everything Walter says (I’ve lost count of the number of “right, exactly”s I hear out of Matt.) Walter is fun to listen to but he mostly comes across as an ornery apologist for Trump; when it comes to Trump he always overinterprets and makes it sound like there’s some premeditated, Machiavellian explanation for things…when really Trump is just being a jackass again.
Even you concede that he reputational hits Matt took were bogus or related to the Russiagate hoax. If the left are against him for Russiagate opposition and a hoax, surely they have left him. I feel very much the same. I can't bring myself to say men are women. Which supposedly makes me a bigot.
Having said that, Israeli influence is so powerful in the US that being openly critical is dangerous. Others have spoken out and I think both Matt and Walter Kirn should discuss more.
"The left" is a murky term in the hands of ex-liberals like Matt. I do not see any similarities between liberal leftism and socialism, for example, although I suppose there are crossover topics. However, no one would confuse the politics of Joe Manchina and Bernie, even though both were under the liberal Democratic umbrella at one point.
You are right about the dangers of criticizing Zionism, which makes it all the more curious that two independent "risk takers" like Matt and Walter have bitched out over it.
I’m guessing you feel the same way about Glen Greenwald as you feel about Matt. He also fell into wrong think for questioning the “always empathetic” position of far leftists. The elimination of freedom of speech shifted into high gear when people began questioning the safety and efficacy of the vaccine so yeah, those crazy anti vaxxers opposed a forced medical procedure without informed consent (so much for leftists honoring the Nuremberg Code
concerning medical ethics). I, like you (probably) believe Jan 6 was worse then 9/11, Pearl Harbor and the Civil War but for very different reasons. On Jan 6, I believe the right to protest the government for redress of grievances was unceremoniously slaughtered by a weaponized intelligence community, weaponized mainstream media and duped leftist.
Thank you for at least confirming that, as I was already aware, Matt’s new audience is drawn from the anti-vax/anti-contrail/anti-fluoride community. I would love to see Matt address this openly, and I encourage you to ask him to write more about the communist conspiracy to fight tooth decay.
I have no interest in Glenn—too reactionary. I do find it funny how often your lot uses the word “empathy” as a negative though, as if Trump’s defining characteristics of narcissism, venality, aggression, deceit, vengeance, humorlessness and, above all, an utter lack of humility, can possibly lead anywhere good.
The reason empathy was in quotes is because the left truly believes it is empathetic when in fact a complete lack of self awareness results in a belief they are empathetic when they are the exact opposite. Forcing an experimental “vaccine” into people, under threat, shows a callous disregard for individual freedom and caring for others.
I also believe your description of Trump’s defining characteristics of narcissism, venality, aggression, deceit, vengeance, humorlessness and, above all, an utter lack of humility, fits Barack Obama perfectly.
I thought Matt called out the genocide occurring in Gaza, which is an extremely disturbing situation which Trump is allowing to happen, however; whoever was controlling the presidency during the Biden administration was also supporting the horrific genocide being conducted by Israel, and I believe Kmala would have allowed it as well.
You (and folks like you) keep acting as if I have somewhere written positively about Biden and Obama, to snare me with a charge of hypocrisy. Not only do I not fancy the Democrats, but by saying that Trump is only as bad as the people YOU hate, you leave yourself with no excuse for his shittiness. The hypocrisy, then, is on you.
You make some very salient points but I did not accuse you of hypocrisy nor did I suggest any of the attributes you assign to Trump are false. Until we are presented with anything other than a choice between the lesser of 2 evils, we will always have evil controlling our government. Collectivism is the antithesis of the Constitution’s suggestion the individual Is sovereign. Leftists, in violating individual liberties and freedoms by imposing mandates for “the greater good” will have me supporting conservatism over liberalism every time. I am, as I believe Matt is, an old fashioned liberal who has seen liberalism corrupted into a big government big business forever wars belief system that is willing to use censorship and coercion against individuals pointing this out.
We always HAVE a choice to not support either party, and many choose not to. If you choose to confine yourself to the duopoly, that is still on you.
When was "liberalism" not in league with every force you condemn? Government has never been "small" in my lifetime, nor have conservatives ever tried to shrink it. Which party has ever stood against "forever wars"? And if you think Trump is charting a new course... well, let's see him break with Bibi over this Iran horseshit. Then we'll talk. And as I have already made crystal clear: Trump is completely on board with whatever censorship suits him. If you voted for him, congrats! You've let a fox into the henhouse.
Trump is an arsehole and more of everything you say but he is talking to Russia and stepping back from the "50/50 chance" of provoking nuclear annihilation. If that's not a reason for voting for him nothing is.
Meanwhile, in the Middle East...
Maybe you’d get more than 8 subscribers if you had the sack to use your own fucking name.
Yeah, like “James Claydon” isn’t AI generated.
It is a great name. James Edward Claydon. Toronto. Don’t be such a pussy.
Whatever you say, Chat GPT. As for my pseudonym, many great people have written under an assumed name… typically one that is pretentious and Latiny. How am I doing??
You’re not writing fiction. You’re being political. And it’s therefore useful for people to know whether you’re real or not. In politics, anonymity is for pussies and cowards.
Tell that to Publius, DeepSeek.
Taibbi, in an attempt to explain himself, actually said something along the lines that he avoids commenting on Trump because he’s never really clear on what Trump and his admins intentions are. Weak.
Here’s the quote: I admit to not always understanding why people in the Trump administration do what they do, and this lack of understanding is often why I take extra time before weighing in on what they do
Excellent article, btw. I think you nailed it.
Thanks!
I appreciate this post, (and your response to my comment over on Racket that brought me here), but disagree with a few of your points here.
The frustration over the lack of backbone on the Israel/Palestine issue is one that gets under my skin on the daily, for almost all public figures- not just American journalists. Where I lose you is on the idea that "even Taibbi haters gave him the benefit of the doubt back when"... no, no they didn't. All my "good liberal friends" had him pegged as a IDW bastard/grifter since 2020. The fact that you didn't read or understand the gravity of the Twitter files- which were covered so extensively in the first year of America This Week convos- is odd. I doubt you watched the Weaponization of Government hearings in which Taibbi was attacked exclusively (and in bad faith) by Democrats, as I can't imagine coming to this perspective as someone who's followed him for years and have a little more confidence.
I watched him with Katie Halper on Useful Idiots before there was America This Week, and just as you and I feel frustrated over the lack of civil liberities for Pro-Palestinian voices now, I felt the same during the pandemic when all my Taibbi/Greenwald/BadFaith/Halper/Vanguard left refused to have backbone for civil liberties of people who didn't take the lockdown/vaccine mandates lying down. It's not audience capture so much as an awareness that they are "saying something controversial" and do not in fact "know" if they will be proven right in the long run. The weight of being wrong is very costly to credibility, not just popularity.
Yes, I wish I could make Brie Joy Gray or Greenwald or Taibbi into my spirit animal journalist who always takes exactly the right position- from the start!- on all the things that matter most to me. But I think that the recent "timeline" posts on Racket are (at least in part) an attempt to present these very real issues in a voice that's unbiased as possible.
I do not need Matt Taibbi to turn into a shrieking left "oh the humanity" voice on the genocide so much as I want him to provide transparent and factual stories about the who-what-when-where. Just like watching the bbc doc The Settlers, Israel doesn't need bleeding heart defenders of Palestinians to discredit it- it only needs unfiltered coverage of what they admit to. Our problem here is the average person (I'm sure Taibbi and Kirn included) REALLY doesn't know about Gaza, due to immense amounts of propaganda. Their opinion of Gaza is just as off-base as Sotomayor thinking "100k children" were hospitalized and many on ventilators, when minuscule numbers were the reality. They don't understand the apartheid in the West Bank, the settler violence, the total blockade and power over the in/out of goods and people they exert- prior to Oct 7th. They think Israel is either fighting insurgents in the dessert or bombing it's neighbor who elected terrorists for a government and "mass raped" their innocent concert goers. Zero concept of the prison/occupation that is, because just like covid, accepting reality means you've been SO VERY lied to that it's hard to get your head around it.
I think these 'do your own research' and "timeline" stories are precise step in the right direction to opening eyes to see for themselves, rather than digesting stories through a left/right audience lens.
You write:
“ ‘Even Taibbi haters gave him the benefit of the doubt back when’... no, no they didn't. All my "good liberal friends" had him pegged as a IDW bastard/grifter since 2020.”
In fact, I said that there was a time that Taibbi haters COULD give Matt the benefit of the doubt for staying mum on Israel, not that all did. And I was speaking only about Israel specifically, not all the issues that a former fan of Taibbi might take issue with him over.
“The fact that you didn't read or understand the gravity of the Twitter files- which were covered so extensively in the first year of America This Week convos- is odd. “
Since you read my article, you know why: The Twitter Files are dense and boring. But I will give you this opportunity to digest them for me and tell me, in a few sentences (if you can) your top two or three most important takeaways. I have yet to hear Taibbi do this: to make them accessible or to give his audience a real hook.
“I doubt you watched the Weaponization of Government hearings in which Taibbi was attacked exclusively (and in bad faith) by Democrats, as I can't imagine coming to this perspective as someone who's followed him for years and have a little more confidence.”
I have seen Matt’s appearances before Congress, and while I find the Democrats as defensive as you do, I can’t help thinking that Matt whines a lot about it for a guy who has been gifted with repeated opportunities to sit before the powers-that-be and make his arguments on topics that concern him, a privilege few of us morlocks ever receive. And lets also remember: the Republicans at the table are all on his side… though their protection of him is entirely cynical, which I think is what really grinds Matt.
“I watched him with Katie Halper on Useful Idiots before there was America This Week, and just as you and I feel frustrated over the lack of civil liberities for Pro-Palestinian voices now,”
Okay… well? As a fan, Are you going to nudge Matt to finally open his yap or not? Matt appears to be obsessed with freedom of speech… it is his entire leit motif of the past few years. Yet the most significant 1A issue that is in the air daily and not buried in the strata of the “Twitter Files” is also the one speech issue that Matt Taibbi can’t muster a paragraph for.
Just as the Snowden reporting provided confirmation of 4th amendment violations that we were being lied to about, the primary revelation of the Twitter files were confirmations that the federal government (and its agents) were violating the 1st amendment to censor political speech of US Citizens AND news organizations- during an election season, as well as during a polarizing/devastatingly consequential pandemic. They had whole systems to do it, and the social media companies weren't willing so much as coerced. All while the news media spouted fake stories the government did favor, about everything from Covid to Hamilton 68 twitter bots and “Russian disinformation”. The Twitter files were also the nail in the coffin to discredit much of that bogus Russiagate content, because they proved media were essentially making shit up from data Twitter didn’t have and told them wasn’t accurate at the time, but they reported it anyway and Twitter did nothing.
People are often dismissive of the constant data collected in violation of privacy laws, but silencing speech- whether via demonetizing/banning or and shadow-banning from view- the viewpoints that the government doesn’t want you to hear, is next level domestic manipulation. The censorship equivalent of this with Israel/Palestine would be like if (in addition to the NYTs constant lying with its mass-rape hoax stories and Israel-friendly framing of everything under the sun) every single graphic report from Palestinian journalists that contradicts Israeli talking points were being taken down from Twitter/facebook/youtube. If calling it ‘genocide’ got your account suspended and your pod show demonetized, and every video that mentioned Palestine came with EMBEDDED warning banner from the “IDF authorities” displayed to counter with authoritative truths about the terrorist organization Hamas, less you believe the pro-Palestinian voices you are watching. If Dave Smith and Doug Murray debating Israel/Palestine resulted in a campaign to have JRE taken off Spotify for espousing “anti-semitic” views.
My point is, Matt was NOT covering censorship over Covid UNTIL the Twitter files proved what was happening. Those of us living it, or watching people demonetized/banned (at the Biden government's behest) for true social media posts, felt just as frustrated then as we do now with the lack of coverage about Rubio's war on non-citizen visa/green card holders over their anti-Israel speech. In fact, that time period was still far worse than the 1st amendment attacks going on now, since it was impacting the civil liberties/health/economic well-being of basically the entire citizen population of this country.
I’m all for Matt covering more of the attempts to prohibit speech of our non-citizens (no one wants to travel here if we don't), attack academic freedom, and to try and pass laws that violate the 1st amendment. I just don’t think the framing of “Matt is either afraid or wants money” is a good angle to do it. I don’t even want him to simply talk more about the “israel/palestine” conflict or even suffering of the Palestinian civilians- just the speech attacks here and US media lies here, because propaganda is far less successful when speech isn’t chilled/prohibited. Afraid or A fraud is a good line, I’ll give you that- but just feel it misses the mark.
Racket does cover some of this too, so I also take issue with generalizing that as “Matt can’t give a single paragraph to”: https://www.racket.news/p/timeline-the-case-of-rumeysa-ozturk . You can see, the top comments are disgusting, but I blame the left far more than the Taibbis of the world- for failing to focus on the actual issue of free speech- because they’ve already ceded this to the right as a dirty word. The Lefts seems to still only want 1st amendment rights for their poor marginalized non-citizen pro-Palestine students, but not if you ended up in the ICU after your Moderna shot that your employer forced upon you (against their will, to stay open for business), or if you think Lia Thomas shouldn’t bring her intact male genitalia into a women locker-room.
Kate, I’ve taken pleasure in reading your reasoned critiques and find myself agreeing with essentially everything you have said here.
I feel exactly the same about my disappointment in Taibbi explicitly not covering free speech issues under the Trump admin. I also have dropped any expectation of either of them speaking up about Israel, frankly, as Kirn seems to support Israel and it isn’t in their collective “lane.” So, whatever. Disappointing to a degree but not really the issue with Racket News.
The issue with Racket News is the amount of “slopulism” they push, particularly in their podcast and livestream. Under the Biden admin I enjoyed this show because they were serious about challenging power.
Now “their guy” is in power and instead of reporting on the administration they report even more on how bad the media is, the Luigi musical, and how bad democrats are.
It’s just turned into partisan tripe that I find no value in. Really, I mean zero value. It’s sad, but I don’t think it’s going to change.
I think Taibbi and Kirn are both captured by partisan thinking for different reasons.
Thank you. I feel pretty in agreement with your post as well, and despite the long-winded ranting on my end, HAVE stopped tuning in as much (certainly don't look forward to Walter waxing poetic about Luigi theories rather than blatant government censorship).
There's a reason why I followed the author here to discuss, though, I also wish I knew the effective appeal to make in terms of AtW/Racket. Mostly, I wish I knew because there are a looot of people like Walter, and I wish knew the effective appeal for them too...
For what it is worth, I am encouraging people to follow my Substack, which for now only covers Taibbi, to coalesce a group of his subscribers that can began to speak out in favor of Matt getting off his ass and covering these arrests. Strength in numbers!
There’s a lot to unpack here, so I will try to boil down my responses to the essentials.
“Just as the Snowden reporting provided confirmation of 4th amendment violations that we were being lied to about, the primary revelation of the Twitter files were confirmations that the federal government (and its agents) were violating the 1st amendment to censor political speech of US Citizens AND news organizations- during an election season, as well as during a polarizing/devastatingly consequential pandemic.”
I’m already in the camp of believing that the Feds did some arm-twisting to tamp down on the anti-vax craziness that Matt appears to have embraced (if only tacitly), and since those efforts were basically in response to the spread of genuine disinformation about the pandemic, I am willing to grant the government just a bit more leeway then you are given the unprecedented circumstances.
So, I guess I remain unconvinced at the malpractice you are suggesting. This may be a bit much to ask for, but can you point me to the most damning portion of the Twitter Files you can think of, the one that really blows the lid off the government’s bad behavior? You cite Snowden, so I’ll remind you that I (and many people) have a pretty high threshold for the unaddressed misdeeds of our government. What is there in the Twitter files, if anything, that amounts to a Snowden-level reveal? I’m just not hearing that from you.
“The Twitter files were also the nail in the coffin to discredit much of that bogus Russiagate content, because they proved media were essentially making shit up from data Twitter didn’t have and told them wasn’t accurate at the time, but they reported it anyway and Twitter did nothing.”
I personally think that the Mueller Report is the only nail that coffin required. I mean, hell, I was one of the people who listened to non-stop insinuations about Trump/Putin and believed some of it, but when the Mueller report landed like a turd on Chuck and Nancy’s desk, I didn’t need any further elucidation from Matt or others to understand that we had all been had.
“People are often dismissive of the constant data collected in violation of privacy laws, but silencing speech- whether via demonetizing/banning or and shadow-banning from view- the viewpoints that the government doesn’t want you to hear, is next level domestic manipulation. “
The only response I really have for that is “where is the legislation to prevent it from happening again?” I’m sorry, but if Donald-“Man-of-the-People” Trump with his complete control of Washington (the same as he had for the first two years of his first term) ain’t passing laws over this, if JD Ozempic isn’t leading the charge, then what has actually changed? When Matt starts pointing fingers at his buddies in the GOP and asks them to put up or shut up, I’ll listen. (And I’ll remind you: even Trump has not been willing to sign his name to the lab leak theory. What’s he waiting for?) Maybe you should ask Matt to criticize the GOP for a change... if he dares.
“The censorship equivalent of this with Israel/Palestine would be like if (in addition to the NYTs constant lying with its mass-rape hoax stories and Israel-friendly framing of everything under the sun) every single graphic report from Palestinian journalists that contradicts Israeli talking points were being taken down from Twitter/facebook/youtube.”
But this is hardly necessary, is it? As I point out in my piece, Israel already has the entire government/media complex in the palm of its hand. And the lobby DOES pursue radical censorship and intimidation daily, as with Ms. Rachel. The difference between the COVID story and the Genocide is that re: COVID, the government could at least make a plausible case that they were trying to prevent mass casualties caused by weaponized anti-vax cranksters. That is not an excuse, but I’ll say again: in the beginning, as the virus ran wild, we did not know exactly what we were dealing with. Public health was at stake. Now HHS Secretary Garglethroat is claiming that “anti-Semitism” is a public health threat! Please don’t tell me that Zionism isn’t as infectious as COVID.
“... If Dave Smith and Doug Murray debating Israel/Palestine resulted in a campaign to have JRE taken off Spotify for espousing “anti-semitic” views.”
I have heard pro-Israel influencers attempting to do that very thing.
“Those of us living it, or watching people demonetized/banned (at the Biden government's behest) for true social media posts, felt just as frustrated then as we do now with the lack of coverage about Rubio's war on non-citizen visa/green card holders over their anti-Israel speech. In fact, that time period was still far worse than the 1st amendment attacks going on now, since it was impacting the civil liberties/health/economic well-being of basically the entire citizen population of this country.”
I can’t grant that, only because the US response to COVID was not that markedly different than the response of the rest of the world. I think the people who are still in a tizzy over COVID really ought to move on. The fact that they won’t siphons away their energy to fight the free speech battles happening right now. (And... surprise! Look who is in charge of the country again as this is happening!)
“I’m all for Matt covering more of the attempts to prohibit speech of our non-citizens (no one wants to travel here if we don't), attack academic freedom, and to try and pass laws that violate the 1st amendment. I just don’t think the framing of “Matt is either afraid or wants money” is a good angle to do it. “
Respectfully, don’t just be “all for it”. Go on and ask Matt (in his comments section) why he won’t take this important stand. I’ve given my answer: he is the victim of audience capture. The guy won’t take the risk, and frankly, that makes me think that the lobby has Matt’s balls in their hands too.
“The Lefts seems to still only want 1st amendment rights for their poor marginalized non-citizen pro-Palestine students, but not if you ended up in the ICU after your Moderna shot that your employer forced upon you...”
I’m sorry, but was that you? How could you have gotten a bed when the ICU was filled with so many people dying from COVID?
The reality is that no vaccine of any kind, administered so widely, will not have some side effects. Did you ever see what happened to some of the early recipients of the polio vaccine? Well, COVID wasn’t polio, but neither were the consequences of the vaccines terribly significant. I’ve had the COVID vaccine three times. Every member of my family has had it, my friends too... we’re all just fine, honey. How paranoid do you expect me to be?
For the record, I am in the comments section, arguing with zionsists and calling walter/matt on weak takes as I see them.
That said, oh my, I didn't realize you were a radical covid reality denier. The ICU beds were never filled, "honey". Not even here in ground zero NYC, and certainly not anywhere by the time covid shots were rolled out. The shots were also not vaccines, they were novel immune therapeutics that did 'nothing' to help people who'd already had Covid. Some people died- from taking the shots and others from isolation/despair during useless lockdowns that also didn't positively impact covid. ANY forced risk for NO benefit = criminal. I didn't personally 'know' anyone who died from covid either, but I don't deny it happened to many other people.
In fact, it was my Mom who landed in the ICU thanks to her Moderna shots. She was a registered nurse and worked in L&D with covid positive patients, despite being in her 60s... retired early as a result of her strokes. It was me who almost lost my job after HER doctors suggested that her healthy 30 something, COVID-recovered daughter NOT get those shots because they determined those shots were what had given her blood clots in her fucking brain. They hadn't even opened shots to the under 40 cohort before I knew it was a risk not worth taking. She never worked again. And it was Trump's supreme court that saved my renting millennial ass (with employer sponsored healthcare) from being fired during a pandemic, when they ruled Biden's employer mandate unconstitutional overreach. I can say whatever I want about Israel right now, but I could NOT even describe my basic reality on Twitter prior to Musk's takeover.
I live in Brooklyn and voted Jill Stein in November. My dog has all his shots, I've had all my other shots, I only eat meat from my local grass-fed farm share, and drive an ULEV. Pro-choice, pro gay rights, pro blah blah blah. I couldn't be happier with the NIH, FDA and DNI appointments by Trump. The Trump admin not only hired two of the very-censored credible epidemiologists who opposed the lockdowns/vax mandates (at the time, not in hindsight) for his FDA and NIH roles, but also Gabbard, who seems to be putting her money where her mouth is https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/press-releases-2025/4063-pr-05-25
Rubio is cuk. He's probably going to lose on the non-citizen revocations, already did on one, but we should all be very upset about the damage to the credibility of our protections for visitors as well as the anti-semitism stuff the government keeps trying to force upon us. Biden also sent people to jail over election memes, which I have yet to see happen to any pro-Palestian US citizen under Trump.
That said- name one news outlet or journalist that's doing a "better job" than the likes of Greenwald and Racket with their consistency on free speech. I'm saying if you care like you say you do, you need to make a better case, OR focus on the core principal of speech so that they keep covering it, rather than lose ears (not money) with ideological viewpoints that aren't rooted in tangible threats. No one wants to cry wolf, given the extreme lack of credibility in media over the past decade.
Sorry about calling you "honey". (Hey... did you ever think that maybe I'm just sweet on you?) Sorry also about your mother. If you need to believe it was the "clot shot" that caused her stroke, do so. The reality is that you'll never know, and some instances of stroke are believed to be the result of COVID itself.
(But good for you for voting for Jill!)
Yes, other Racket writers posted about Ozturk but Matt recently said that Rubio asserted her detention was about more than an op ed. He didn’t say what about. Yet this seems to be enough to make Matt wait-and-see.
On a number of occasions Matt has called himself naive and I wonder if he doesn’t have a naive blind spot when it comes to the Middle East. I know Russia and Eastern Europe were his beat, but he’d better play catchup on learning Palestine/Israel or he’ll risk being silent on the biggest free speech issue right now. And he’s the free speech guy.
Did I miss a sex tape release? A lot of masturbating on Substack about Matt.
People are starting to notice how conspicuously silent Matt has been when free speech intersects with Israel.
Walter is the problem. I think that he has become something of a father figure to Matt and a means by which Matt has been able to blow off steam about how the left betrayed him. I’m pretty sure it’s Matt’s podcast which Walter was invited to…yet Matt can barely get a word in edgewise. It also seems as though Matt feels obligated to agree with everything Walter says (I’ve lost count of the number of “right, exactly”s I hear out of Matt.) Walter is fun to listen to but he mostly comes across as an ornery apologist for Trump; when it comes to Trump he always overinterprets and makes it sound like there’s some premeditated, Machiavellian explanation for things…when really Trump is just being a jackass again.
Babble.
Profound commentary.
wow you are a serious assclown, get a fucking life
Am I wrong to have expected a Matt Taibbi fan to be more articulate than a Matt Walsh fan?
You sound like a jilted lover but I suspect you actually just hate Jews
Well, THAT was an inevitable first take.