A prominent New York Times “journalist” deletes a telling tweet. A popular, false quote about U.S. voters gets at something right. A Biden official’s prediction proves prophetic. That and more in today’s newsletter.
In a broken media landscape, it can feel impossible to find the truth. So here’s a simple fact following last night’s highest profile election: Residents of New York City will now live under a president who is making anti-democratic, dictatorial moves on the far right and a mayor who has vowed to make anti-democratic, dictatorial moves on the far left. Nothing about that sentence is an opinion.
As the Horseshoe Theory shows, the political extremes are extremely similar. Deborah Lipstadt, Biden’s special envoy fighting global antisemitism, is among the many who have discussed this:
“Antisemitism is a hatred that can be described as a horseshoe where the far-left and the far-right are closer to one another on the issue of antisemitism than they are to the center… Rather than the right-left dichotomy, a more accurate predictor of antisemitic worldviews is the adherence to conspiratorial worldviews, anti-hierarchical aggression, and a preference for authoritarianism. This, of course, can describe someone at either end of the political spectrum.”
Given how the mainstream media has failed to make this clear, I’m grateful that Newsweek asked me to weigh in on the unsurprising-yet-awful election of Zohran Mamdani as the next NYC mayor. (See what I wrote in full here.)
After tracing readers through my coverage of his disturbing candidacy, celebration of convicted terror funders, and frequent antisemitic libel, I ended with this:
Every public official who supported Mamdani has lost the right to complain when Trump or any other right-wing leaders engage in unconstitutional behaviors or trade in antisemitism.
When voters make terrible decisions, people often share what they think is a quote from Winston Churchill. It involves Americans doing the right thing “after exhausting other possibilities.”
In fact, according to The Quote Investigator, the saying came from Abba Eban, and did not refer specifically to Americans. “Men and nations do behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives,” the Israeli statesman said.
NYT: Oops, we did it again
As I’ve reported throughout this race, the New York Times has done all it can to serve as a pro-Mamdani propaganda outlet — ignoring basic facts; hiding his long history of antisemitism; and framing him as a victim. Last night, the Times’ mask slipped. yet again.
The paper’s U.N. Bureau Chief Farnaz Fassihi posted in celebration:
She later pulled it, replacing her note with the more subdued “Zohran Mamdani mayor elect.” But why bother? She’s part of the big pro-Mamdani cheering section at the Times. At this point, the paper’s mask has slipped so often that it’s not worth even trying to put it back on. We all know what’s underneath.
In the episode coming tomorrow, I’ll share new details on how the media got to this point, failing epically to protect democracy from dangers on the left while screaming about dangers on the right.
What are you seeing in the coverage? Supporters: share thoughts, questions, and links.
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