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Is the little known foreign policy advisor potential trouble for Trump?
If you wanted the day's end right-of-center take on the Paul Manafort indictment, you could do no better than click on Breitbart.com last evening.
‘House of Cards’ Star Kevin Spacey Hit with Additional Accusations of Sexual Misconduct" was the lead story and headline. Huh? For a moment, I figured that Spacey confronted not just the misconduct accusations but alleged links to laundering money from Ukraine ("House of Cards Kiev"?). Oops, no, it was just the unseemly personal stuff.
But the saga exemplifies the lack of homogeneity in analyzing Robert Mueller's first salvo in his Russia investigation. And it capped a day in which Fox's morning hit, "Trump & Friends," displayed rather poor timing in covering (if it was even an act of reporting) a Google burger emoji controversy while cable news rivals went whole hog on the Manafort saga.
By and large, the conservative press tended to downplay the indictments of Manafort and his partner, Rick Gates, while giving precious little coverage to what some folks deemed the ultimately more significant charges against a lower-level Trump foreign policy advisor, George Papadopoulos, who's already pleaded guilty. It by and large, but not entirely, dismissed him as a non-entity.
Rush Limbaugh was resolute in largely looking at the matter as a question of whether Manafort colluded with the Russians to help the Trump campaign (as most noted, most of the alleged money laundering predated his campaign involvement). "We still don’t have any of that evidence. I mean, it’s not there, and this indictment of Manafort doesn’t produce anything."
There were divisions, for sure, not just among conservative media but within the same organ. For example, National Review's Andrew McCarthy dumped on the whole Mueller endeavor ("much ado about nothing"), while its David French said "It does raise serious questions, and it does demonstrate how little we truly know about the Mueller investigation."
And The Weekly Standard, which has not been any shill for Trump, underscored the indictment of Papadopoulos, who's admitted his guilt in lying to the FBI. It concludes he "could prove an even bigger headache for the Trump administration."
One of the more notable divisions among the conservative ranks is seen in Commentary deriding a Wall Street Journal op-ed that had urged blanket pardons by Trump. Commentary contends, "These contributions to the opinion landscape play a reckless game with remarkably high stakes," in part since Commentary contends that sabotaging Mueller could let some Democrats off the hook.
On "Trump & Friends" this morning, there did not appear to be a significant follow-up to the burger emoji flap. As for the indictments? Its leading story ("Great news!" said co-host Brian Kilmeade after an opening minute of Halloween chatter) was Navy SEALs capturing an alleged Benghazi militant involved in the 2012 attack there.
It was only then that it turned to the events of yesterday, downplaying the charges against Manafort and partner, as well as those about "a fellow named George Papadopoulos." Co-host Ainsley Earhardt chided Mueller's team as "mostly Democrats."
An exit at The New Republic
Writes The Daily Beast: "Hamilton Fish V, the publisher of The New Republic, is taking a leave of absence from running the century-old magazine pending an investigation into allegations that he behaved inappropriately with female staff members. In an email sent by the magazine’s owner, Win McCormack, Fish’s leave 'concerns relate specifically to interactions between Ham Fish and a number of women employees.' McCormack pledged an 'immediate' investigation into the allegations."
The New Republic was also long-time home of Leon Wieseltier, who recently apologized for past "offenses" against female colleagues and saw a new magazine project killed by the owner, Laurene Powell Jobs.
The Horowitz take
"Amid the general jubilation over the arrest of Paul Manafort on Monday, millions of Americans reported extreme disappointment that the first person arrested from Robert Mueller’s Russia probe was not Jared Kushner."
That was from The New Yorker's Andy Borowitz, a funny guy. We spoke right after the indictments about the challenges of extracting humor out of Trump, as well as whether or not comics give a pass to certain issues, groups and individuals — such as Black Lives Matter and Colin Kaepernick — on ideological grounds. And on other matters right here.
Anatomy of a killer Facebook post
Let's call it "Anatomy of a Killer Post," with its vague "Law and Order SVU" air. In fact, it's an assessment of 210,000 Facebook posts, what works and thus how best to game Facebook. No surprise, keep posts short, snappy and going 24/7.
Ingraham's new gig
Laura Ingraham premiered on Fox's 10 p.m. slot with a populist "What is America?" essay before the news of her opening night, namely an interview with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly. She promised her show will impact all her viewers' lives and their families, and “hold those in power accountable, and that includes you, Mr. President.”
Kelly didn't make huge news as he claimed scant knowledge of the Manafort indictments and suggested there's less than meets the eye with any alleged Trump campaign ties to Russia. He was unbowed in his criticisms (some factually incorrect) of a Florida congresswoman. He chided North Korea without offering much of a game plan for that mess.
Pushed by Ingraham on relations with a dictatorial China, he was shaky, including articulating some foggy notion of our not necessarily considering them a competitor (huh?). He wasn't much better on the slow pace of filling administration vacancies, including ambassadorships. And, in what may have been a first such query to a West Wing official, Ingraham asked what he'd want to be for Halloween (in theory). His response: a Marine sergeant, or infantryman. You weren't thinking Wonder Woman, Winnie the Pooh or the Last Jedi Porg Toddler, were you?
Oh, Ingraham's opening riff had one pretty good line as she derided the political establishment and politicians who left us "with a border more open than Harvey Weinstein's robe."
A post-Manafort morning
The Washington Post scores by disclosing key figures identified but not named in the charges against George Papadopoulos. They are "campaign supervisor" Sam Clovis, Trump’s national campaign co-chairman, and "high-ranking campaign official" Corey Lewandowski.
At CNN's "New Day, there was the most comprehensive post-mortem of its competitors, with lots of legalistic chatter as co-host Chris Cuomo played law school professor cum devil's advocate on various matters, suggesting the bar was still high in proving any Trump campaign ties to Russia. At his side were The New Yorker's Jeffrey Toobin, who correctly strayed from grandiose declarations about what may come, an inhibition as usual not afflicting garrulous and regular national security pundit Phil Mudd ("hold on, cowboy," Toobin said to him at one point).
At "Trump & Friends," Papadopoulos was derided as a nothing-burger and the show quoted the Wall Street Journal as editorializing that Trump's biggest sin might have simply been hiring Manafort. The paper writes, "Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort for tax fraud on Monday, and the main charge against Donald Trump is poor judgment for hiring the notorious Beltway operator."
MSNBC's "Morning Joe" was not quite on its anti-Trump A-game and somewhat predictably in sync in divining dark days ahead for Trump himself. But it gave some free publicity for The New York Daily News as Joe Scarborough held aloft this morning's cover, "Smashing Trumpkins." It suggested, with unclear sourcing, that the White House is far more anxious about Manafort's indictment than Trump & Co. suggests.
Home runs
Major League Baseball's records for homers were smashed this season, and the World Series, which continues tonight in Los Angeles, has seen more hit in five games than ever in a seven-game series. For many months, there's been lots of debate about what's up. Reasons thrown out include a "juiced" ball (which the league denies), new batting approaches by hitters (conscious of so-called launch angles), less of an onus in swinging fiercely and striking out, and relief pitchers relying heavily on fastballs, etc.
Paul Sullivan, baseball writer for the Chicago Tribune, says there's no consensus. Dan Bernstein, a talk host on Chicago's all-sports WSCR-AM, says, "Players swing for launch angle, in large part due to defensive shifting turning ground balls into outs. No stigma to striking out anymore, and the value of the home run justifies an all-or-nothing approach. Everybody in the lineup, 1-9, is now capable of home runs and is trying to hit them."
Interestingly, you don't often hear suggestions that maybe, just maybe, illegal use of drugs might be in the mix. There's the reference to the "steroids era," as if that's way in the past, and no mention of the history of athletes in many sports being one step ahead of most testing. So guys lunge at a pitch and hit it out of the park with one hand and nobody wonders, "Ah, uh, how did he do that?"
David Israel, a Hollywood producer-writer and former star sports columnist, cites different hitting philosophies; smaller ballparks; pitching analytics "run amok" and subsequent heavier reliance on relief pitchers who are by and large inferior to starting pitchers and largely reliant on one pitch (the fastball).
"As for the hitters, they all have uppercuts. The rationale is there are six defenders — four infielders, the pitcher and the catcher — working the confined space of the infield, and there are three outfielders working the vast spaces of the outfield, so lift the ball and there is more space for it to fall. Also, with smaller ballparks and weight training, players who in the past would just be hitting lazy fly balls are now able to reach the first or second row of the seats instead of the warning track. Mostly because the first or second row of the seats are where the warning tracks used to be."
"Every new ballpark since (Baltimore's) Camden Yards is an easier place to hit homers than the one it replaced except Petco in San Diego, and, maybe, Target Field in Minneapolis. Philly, Texas, San Francisco, Houston, Miami, Washington, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Milwaukee, St. Louis, the new Yankee Stadium, Citi Field — they are all cozier than their predecessors."
"So, no, I don’t think it is the baseball. I think it is the way the game is being managed, taught and played."
The Atlantic on Joan Didion
Megan Garber writes about a new documentary on Didion:
"Didion’s confessions are controlled, always, and extremely strategic about what they share and what they keep hidden from view. More than admitting, they imply — Montaigne, definitely, but also Monet: Didion is an essayist who is also an impressionist. The words smear and splash and streak and — through precision and, you have to assume, a bit of magic — conspire to make the whole. ('When I talk about pictures in my mind,' Didion said, 'I am talking, quite specifically, about images that shimmer around the edges. … Look hard enough, and you can’t miss the shimmer. It’s there.')"
Journalists and social media
It's an old debate that predates the internet and social media. Should the supposedly neutral City Hall reporter be allowed to go on social media and call the mayor an idiot? In its current form, Mathew Ingram made the case for making opinions known (and thus disputing such moves to limit social media by journalists) in a Columbia Journalism Review piece, And now, Northeastern University journalism professor Dan Kennedy defends an older school of thought on WGBH-TV's website. He argues, "Providing tough, fair-minded coverage is a discipline that is undermined once you disclose your own biases."
Hannity's Christian movie opening
Variety notes, "Atlas Distribution’s faith-based 'Let There Be Light,' executive produced by Fox News’ Sean Hannity and directed by Kevin Sorbo, opened solidly in 11th place in limited release with $1.8 million at 373 screens. The story centers on an atheist who has a near-death experience." Hannity himself was exultant last evening, even offering numbers claiming that on some apples-to-apples basis (since he opened in very few theaters), he fared well compared to the Matt Damon–George Clooney "Suburbacon" opening.
Mueller Time
Trevor Noah was rather droll in envisioning the special counsel entering rooms of miscreants and announcing, "It's Mueller Time!" Meanwhile, here's one missed by the mainstream press:
"After issuing indictments against former Trump campaign associates Paul Manafort and Rick Gates on Monday, a teary-eyed Robert S. Mueller III reportedly whispered, 'I’ll make those bastards pay,' into a locket containing a photo of James Comey. 'I’ll never forget what those sons of bitches did to you,' said the special counsel, his voice trembling as a teardrop fell upon the small silver case that held a black-and-white photo and lock of hair from the former FBI director."
Missed it? It's in The Onion.
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And, with that, Happy Halloween. Have a good evening. I can attest that on one block in Chicago, business will be so brisk, we've got 2,000 pieces of candy ready to go — and should be depleted by 7:30. Will anybody dress as Paul Manafort or Robert Mueller? Any Melania Trumps?
Corrections? Tips? Please email me: jwarren@poynter.org. Would you like to get this roundup emailed to you every morning? Sign up here.
