Soledad O'Brien makes a good point about why Nancy Pelosi "did what the media has not done."

[Miles Archer]

Soledad O'Brien
‏
Verified account

@soledadobrien

Soledad O'Brien Retweeted Washington Post Opinions

Because she’s not worried about access.

Link to tweet

[tanyev]

1. The thing is, how valuable is access to an individual that lies all the time?

Seems meaningless.

[Miles Archer]

5. That was my immediate reaction

They play nice, and their reward is that they get to lob softballs at him like Harris Faulkner did yesterday on Fox?

[vlyons]

26. I doubt that Pelosi will have many meetings, if any, with him next year.

He simply will not invite her to the WH. Maybe as a respectful courtesy, she will go the the WH to tell him the the House will vote to impeach him the next day.

[politicaljunkie41910]

32. If I were her, I wouldn't waste my time bothering to go to the WH,

I'd just send him a tweet.

[Capperdan]

56. He only write Tweets

He never reads the replies

[yonder]

49. If it's any consolation, she will get to burn holes into the back

of his rufous-maned, applejacked bonehead at next months State of the Union, clapfest-for-himself address. With luck, it should be her last and only opportunity to do so at that event.

[Miles Archer]

53. She will not want to join the cast of "The Apprentice."

I take her at her word when she says the meeting with her, Schumer and Trump was NOT supposed to have take place in front of the media.

I doubt she'll repeat that any time soon.

As far as meetings in general, I don't see a lot of those either.

[WeekiWater]

28. I think that publishing the lies, and asking follow-up questions,....

is extremely important. Even if not being fact checked on the spot.

[FakeNoose]

34. When she's the Speaker, she can call her own press conferences

I hope she does that on a regular basis too. Like once a week to answer any misconceptions from Cheeto's bullsh*t.

[watoos]

39. Bingo, exactly.

The game just changed for Trump, Pelosi can control the narrative.

[tanyev]

54. If they did that, yes. And maybe they're finally starting to.

But an awful lot of time went by where most media simply repeated the lies without any push back.

[Bucky]

48. When the president lies all the time, access becomes even more important

I mean, there's other ways of keeping an eye on the government, as well. But keeping a camera on him all the time is pretty important for ultimate accountability for all the little shit he does, alongside the big shit

[empedocles]

2. Just saw on MSNBC trump doing another 'revised' version of Inauguration $.

I understand trump's modus of trying to dominate media coverage on any issue, to give his base comfort. However, all these lies piling up by the 1000's have a cost.

Suspect if the legal process plays out, the cost of the lies will really hurt him. However, if trump can 'somehow' prevail in his political process manipulations - have to admit, trump can 'win'.

[malaise]

6. He will never win another election

Take that to the bank.
I'll be surprised if he's in power for much longer.

[empedocles]

7. traitortrump may have a bet, that his 'revolting' supporters can keep him in power?

[malaise]

8. They can't

Many are scurrying like rats and the rest are too fucking stupid to matter.

[LiberalArkie]

9. But we still have to worry about the vote counters.

[malaise]

20. Yes Yes. Yes

They are going down for a longtime.

[Grammy23]

51. Malaise, after all this time and the damage tRump and his lackeys have done,

I got a real sense that things shifted drastically now that Cohen has been sentenced and he is starting to sing like a bird. I watched some of the clips from the Stephanopolis interview this morning and he comes across as VERY believable. Dare I say he seemed a bit contrite and no longer under the dominance of tRump? In fact, he seemed determined to speak truthfully and is prepared to back up his assertions about who did and said what. When the documents that Cohen had squirreled away are released, we will see who the liar is — and tRump won’t be able to deny his role in the crimes any longer — although I imagine he will try.

Yes. It is a new day. The ground shifted under tRump’s brogans and he won’t accept it without a fight. It will be brutal and some of us will be watching this play out with gleeful smiles as we get to see history in the making. But most importantly, we will finally see this monster get what is coming to him. In fairness, there are a bunch of minions that need to go down with him. I’d be in favor of building a prison to hold them, if necessary. LOL. Install live streaming from the facilities so we can keep our eyes on them. Justice in action.

[empedocles]

12. I think, as you do, traitortrump will go down.

My concern is that behind the trump/ghouli/sychophants clownshows, are powerful networks of supporters - that I don't easily dismiss. Jones-Day has some double digit number of lawyers right in the WH - backed by J-D' s vast resources [largest US law firm, flocks of lobbyists with their dark arts contract resources, host of Koch-Sinclair type clients, extensive international political 'doings'], big $ supporters US and international.

[DemocracyMouse]

24. The Jones-Day law firm is full on anti-union, machiavellian. Looked them up.

On their website they show operations repressing workers throughout the US and Latin America. They even proudly celebrated slavery by US Steel:

“Our arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of client U.S. Steel has the Court questioning whether federal law guarantees that unionized factory workers receive compensation for time spent putting on and taking off safety equipment.”

I’m sick to my stomach. ALL these corporate vultures need to be controlled by progressive process. Support Nancy, Hillary, Bernie, Warren, Kamala, Alexandria, Booker, Schumer et al.... They are ALL progressive and we won’t win against this concentration of corporate-Republican power without uniting.

[empedocles]

25. Not going to see the J-D darkest deeds on the firm website.

[DemocracyMouse]

27. ....which is why their signaling *slave master pride* ON their website is all the more disturbing

[empedocles]

31. Did not realize they were so, 'out there', in public.

McGahn probably made traitortrump aware of J-D 'capabilities'.

[empedocles]

33. That is why we need 'pragmatists' - to win

[watoos]

42. See post 24.

[empedocles]

43. ?

[DemocracyMouse]

52. Do you realize that pragmatists fail without partnering with good speakers?

My point was that we need to unite a broad diversity of Democratic talents, including pragmatists.

United we stand.
United we inspire.

[empedocles]

55. I agree that we need unity and diversity.

'I realize' that Obama was a pragmatist and a good speaker.

[watoos]

40. United We Stand, Divided We Fall.

[Nevilledog]

30. Jones Day is everywhere.

They're also the attorneys of record on the Gamble case, the very misunderstood case before the Supreme Court dealing with with the issue of separate sovereign. I wonder if they're behind the disinformation campaign about its relevance to presidential pardons.

[NewJeffCT]

10. Nobody thought he could win the GOP nomination

every time he said or tweeted something outrageous, they said it spelled the end of Trump. He still won the GOP nomination.

Nobody thought he could beat Clinton, especially after the Access Hollywood tape and his miserable debates performances, but he still "won" the election.

In his first year in office, people said that Trump shouldn't be allowed to appoint a SCOTUS judge because it was his last year in office, similar to Obama the year before. He's now appointed not 1, but 2 SCOTUS judges. And, 20% of the lower courts are filled with Trump appointees.

We're now almost in his 3rd year in office. I'm not going to take anything for granted. I expect Russia to turn up their election interference several notches above 2016 to motivate GOP turnout and depress Democratic turnout.

[empedocles]

14. Agreed. Hardly anyone now, thinks trump can prevail.

However, I note my concerns above in my response to Malaise.

[llmart]

18. I have my doubts that he "won" the primary without Russian interference...

and now we all know he "won" the presidency with and by his criminal connections with the Russians.

[maddiemom]

29. Even the Russian interference did not put him in office. It was the Electoral College.

Russian interference got THEM the E.C., but not the popular vote. Can you picture three million people in one place (even Gore's half million)? A huge number who voted for the other candidate.

[llmart]

45. They knew which states to target to get the electoral college.

[malaise]

19. Blackmail

They were all involved- won't happen in 2020 - they know prison is coming.

[watoos]

44. Trump won't run in 2020.

Watch for Kasich and Nikki Haley. Haley to try to win back women.

[FakeNoose]

36. Big difference - now Pootie isn't backing him any more

No more secret Russian money from the NRA to finance their campaigns, whoopsie!
Suddenly the GOP will be very happy to dump him and save their own asses.

By the way, Maria Butina was told that if she were ever found out she should cooperate and go to jail. Putin tells all of the KGB agents the same thing, play along. They'll make a trade for her later when nobody is looking. She'll get sprung out of jail on a spy trade in a year or two. I think Pootie is almost done with Trump.

[NewJeffCT]

38. they'll find another way to get him money

another RW organization , or maybe several of them.

and, I still suspect that at least some of those individual donations that Trump received are similar to how Walter White laundered his money early on in Breaking Bad, with the Russians using old email addresses and random home addresses to make thousands upon thousands of small donations - $10, $25, $50, etc. - If Dick Deplorable had an email address on yahoo from 2000-2005, he may not use it anymore, but it's possible that Russia has hacked that old email and used it to create a Twitter account, Facebook account and also a PayPal account to funnel money to the Trump2020 Campaign and to spread online disinformation.

(Donny had some big fundraising numbers in 2016, if you recall)

[PunkinPi]

23. He didn't "win" the first one, he was illegitmately installed. nt

[smirkymonkey]

3. K&R

[MFGsunny]

4. K & R

[katmondoo]

11. Lots of Republicans on TV this morning giving excuses for trump's behavior

[Texin]

16. If they're apologizing and 'splainin, they're losing the argument.

[Roland99]

13. She's really become more vocal and visible lately

[Texin]

15. Well, her colleague, Jim Acosta had done the same consistently

to the point of losing his WH press credentials and having been banned. I would imagine Rachel Maddow not being too concerned with roughing his fragile ego either, but she's not a pool reporter either and her show's format relies on commentary as well as documenting events in the news of the day.

[calimary]

17. That was the same "disease" the press suffered during bush/cheney.

Oh MAN did they tiptoe around the truth! I still fume over that utterly PATHETIC headline that was the “best” those sycophantic cowards dared to come toward the word “liar”:

“Prevaricating President?”

They couldn’t even find enough cartilage, much less outright backbone, to call what bush/cheney did regarding all that baloney about WMD and Saddam having something to do with 9/11 and all the rest - as just more LIES!!! Just LIES! Lies, LIES, and MORE LIES!

And the best anybody could do was tiptoe toward even just the mere concept of DELIBERATE presidential deceit, dressed in hazmat suits armed with surgical tweezers. Cowards ALL.

[llmart]

21. Great post!

This isn't the first presidency that the press lost their backbone. Somehow the powers that be think our country "can't handle the truth" (said in the best Jack Nicholson voice), so they decide what's in the best interest of the citizens to know or not know. As a voter and citizen and adult I want to know the truth even if it shows the cracks in our democracy. It's my right to know.

They like to tout "in the interest of national security we can't divulge such and such" and yet look where we are now? A country that's a sworn enemy of our people was involved in stealing the election for that country's evil purposes and we're now left with trying to figure out how to fix things.

[watoos]

46. Sweet Judy Miller was complicit.

She got an article that was written by the Bush White House about the mushroom cloud etc., she then published it in the NY Times under her name.

It isn't just about courage, it's about the right wing corporate controlled M$M being complicit.

One good thing I see slowly happening with Trump, the narrative is slowly changing to the truth. I hear more and more about the Trump crime family. Once Trump loses the narrative, loses his ability to control the narrative, he will be history. Also Nancy Pelosi will be able to call press conferences where the M$M will flock to cover, she can help change the narrative. I was worried for a long time but I see a lot of rays of hope.

[calimary]

50. Yep! There's much more circulating through the national zeitgeist that is negative about trump now.

The word “impeachment” is now in common, and frequent, usage all over the place. Used to be that was “The Word That Must Not Be Uttered.” Not anymore! That cautious hesitation went right out the window last Friday when the Cohen and Flynn cases came to a head.

And as for Miss Judy Closed Eyes, she willingly operated in step with cheney in pushing the WMD talking points and lending them New York Times-level credibility.

And it was a deviously clever ploy that EVERYBODY fell for.

cheney would give her a “tip” which she could accurately peg to a “senior White House official”, and thus he’d plant a story with her sometime during some weekend. She had enough star power by then, as a “credible” reporter with bigtime “credible” sources, that her story shot straight onto the front page with big glaring headlines, above the fold, in the massive NYTimes Sunday issue. The highest-profile daily publication that EVERYBODY’s gonna see, even if it’s only during a casual Sunday morning stroll past the local newsstand where the new issue would always be prominently displayed. And then cheney would hit the Sunday talk show circuit, presumably to comment on that amazing story the NYTimes had just broken a few hours earlier, on that very same morning’s new front page. And he’d cock his head to one side in that way he had, and quietly insinuate with all slimy phony sincerity that “it’s gotta be true, after all, New York Times”, “newspaper of record”, and all that!

And OF COURSE it’s on the front page of the New York Times! YOU put it there, you damned dick!

[Ferrets are Cool]

62. Great post...they care more about their paychecks than

telling the truth.
And this may get me banned here, but telling the truth is why KO is not on MSNBC any longer.

[dalton99a]

22. There is money to be made in normalizing and propagandizing the lies

[DallasNE]

35. Translation: The Media Is Gutless

This admission of failure is a start but until the media emulates Pelosi and gets a backbone the American people will be confused about what the truth is. With the media taking an extended break it is left up to Mueller, SDNY and Pelosi to inform the American people. Earth to media, it is not about how much money you put in the corporate coffers that matter. It is standing up and being the 4th estate as intended by our Founding Fathers.

[Honeycombe8]

37. She's wrong. Just ask CNN's Acosta & other reporters that Trump tried to ban...

or that he yelled at or argued with or cut off in mid-question.

Trump CAN'T shut the Democratic leaders up. He doesn't have the power over them and the situation like he does with ordinary citizens and the press.

[progressoid]

41. Does the press want access like Hannity and Fox get? No thanks.

[watoos]

47. Look at it from Trump's point of view.

Trump would never sit down for an interview with a fair and balanced journalist.

Rand Paul thought he was the cat's ass when he got elected to the Senate. He made the mistake of doing an interview with Rachel Maddow. She tore him a new asshole, he was stuttering when the interview was over.

[LiberalLovinLug]

57. Soledad is terrific. But like Repblicans, news pundits only speak truth when they leave office

Now that she is working for a more independent news company, with her own show, she can come down hard on her former peers.

And I do have some sympathy for these reporters, and even the executives at these MSM news networks. Its a fine line, and careful dance they have to perform. They still need to make money, to pay those reporters and keep the lights on. They need eyes on the screen. So they don't want to completely p off Republican voters. At least the few left that watch them anymore.

But there comes a time when that should come second place to the security of the country's democracy.

[Erda]

58. So, what was Paul Ryan or

Mitch McConnell's excuse? Were they worried about access?

[seta1950]

59. No

Donald lies all the time , because no matter what the media is there, if they ignored him he would beg them to come back.

[Cha]

60. Exactly! That's why her red coat is so damn popular!

Link to tweet

[Ferrets are Cool]

61. Why worry about access when the asswipe tweets all day long?

Fuck access, we want TRUTH from our "so-called" news organizations.