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CNN host minimizes Biden insulting Fox News reporter — but had different reaction when Trump did same thing

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After President Joe Biden caused an uproar by calling Fox News reporter Peter Doocy a “stupid son of a bitch,” CNN host Brian Stelter worked overtime to minimize the insulting incident.

What happened?

As reporters were being ushered out of the East Room at the White House following a brief appearance by Biden, Doocy asked the president whether he believes inflation and growing economic woes are a political liability in the 2022 midterm elections.

With his microphone still hot, Biden mockingly said, “No, it’s a great asset — more inflation.” Biden then added, “What a stupid son of a bitch.”

How did Stelter react?

CNN media reporter Brian Stelter, also the host of “Reliable Sources,” mostly dismissed the incident as small and not worthy of news coverage.

In the Reliable Sources newsletter, Stelter went to great pains to emphasize that he does not believe the incident is worth widespread media coverage. True to character, Stelter also used the incident to swipe at Fox News.

Stelter wrote:

First, let’s stipulate that this is
not the most important thing that happened at the White House on Monday. Far from it. Second, let’s recognize that the Twitter-type excitement over Biden’s profane comment about Fox’s Peter Doocy is a reflection of the fact that people feel like they rarely hear “real” and “unscripted” remarks from politicians. And third, let’s acknowledge that Fox is milking this exchange for all its worth.

Stelter advanced the same argument on CNN Tuesday morning: The story is not that important and Fox News is going to talk about it “as if it is the most important thing in the world.” To be fair, Stelter also admitted in the newsletter and on CNN that he thinks it was “wrong” for Biden to insult Doocy.


What happened when Trump was president?

While speaking at a rally in March 2018, Trump called NBC News anchor Chuck Todd a “sleeping son of a bitch.” At the time, Stelter claimed that Trump’s comments increased risk of danger for journalists.

“Calling a journalist a ‘son of a bitch?’ It was wrong when Trump was just a candidate, and it’s even worse now that he’s POTUS,” Stelter posted in 2018. “These jabs expose journalists to threats and intimidation.”

Stelter acknowledged late Monday his comments from nearly four years ago. He called both instances “wrong.” However, now that Biden is president, Stelter urged that Biden’s insult must be understood in its “context” — a charitable attitude that he did not extend to Trump. In fact, Stelter called it “different” altogether.

“Biden doesn’t berate the media like Trump, so the context for today is different, but it’s still out of line,” Stelter wrote on Twitter.

Stelter also emphasized “context” in the Reliable Sources newsletter and described Biden’s insult as “sarcasm.”

“Context certainly matters, and the backdrop to Biden’s sarcasm — after Doocy shouted ‘do you think inflation is a political liability in the midterms?’ — is very different than the destroy-the-media context of Trump’s behavior,” Stelter wrote in the newsletter.

One thus wonders why Stelter bends over backward to contextualize Biden’s comments and extend him charity, but was seemingly unwilling to do the same for Trump. Perhaps the lack of consistency is why so few Americans trust the mainstream media.

Chief Justice John Roberts buries media narrative vilifying Neil Gorsuch for allegedly defying request to wear face mask

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Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts finally buried an attempt from NPR to tarnish Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.

In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, Roberts clarified that he did not, in fact, ask Gorsuch — or any Supreme Court justices for that matter — to wear a face mask in court.

“I did not request Justice Gorsuch or any other Justice to wear a mask on the bench,” Roberts said.

MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

Roberts was forced to release a statement after NPR reported on Tuesday that Justice Sonia Sotomayor has been teleworking, and therefore hearing cases from her chambers, because Gorsuch refused to wear a mask on the bench after Roberts asked him to do so.

“Sotomayor did not feel safe in close proximity to people who were unmasked. Chief Justice John Roberts, understanding that, in some form asked the other justices to mask up,” the story claimed. “They all did. Except Gorsuch, who, as it happens, sits next to Sotomayor on the bench. His continued refusal since then has also meant that Sotomayor has not attended the justices’ weekly conference in person, joining instead by telephone.”

The story immediately generated anger and backlash against Gorsuch.

Sotomayor and Gorsuch attempted to correct the record Wednesday by releasing a joint statement that clarified Gorsuch did not refuse a request from Sotomayor to mask up.

“Reporting that Justice Sotomayor asked Justice Gorsuch to wear a mask surprised us. It is false,” the statement said. “While we may sometimes disagree about the law, we are warm colleagues and friends.”

However, NPR did not budge, and stood by its reporting. The news outlet claimed its story was correct because the statement from Sotomayor and Gorsuch only denied that Gorsuch refused a mask-wearing request from Sotomayor — not Roberts.

“NPR stands by Nina Totenberg’s reporting. Totenberg never reported that Justice Sotomayor asked Justice Gorsuch to wear a mask, nor did she report that anyone admonished him. She did report that Chief Justice John Roberts; ‘in some form asked the other justices to mask up’ — and Gorsuch was the only one who did not,” the statement from NPR said.

NPR spokesman Ben Fishel added in a separate statement, “The statement released by Justices Sotomayor and Gorsuch does not contradict the reporting in Totenberg’s piece.”

Media tried to smear Neil Gorsuch over alleged refusal to wear face mask. But Sonia Sotomayor extinguishes the accusation.

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A prominent news outlet vilified Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch on Tuesday, claiming that he refused to wear a face mask around fellow Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who is at risk for developing complications of COVID if she were to contract the virus because she has diabetes.

But a statement released by Gorsuch and Sotomayor on Wednesday dumped cold water on the accusation.

What was claimed?

NPR reported, citing anonymous sources, that Gorsuch refused to comply with a request from Chief Justice John Roberts to wear face masks in court.

“Sotomayor did not feel safe in close proximity to people who were unmasked. Chief Justice John Roberts, understanding that, in some form asked the other justices to mask up,” the story claimed. “They all did. Except Gorsuch, who, as it happens, sits next to Sotomayor on the bench. His continued refusal since then has also meant that Sotomayor has not attended the justices’ weekly conference in person, joining instead by telephone.”

The claim about the mask preceded nearly 2,000 words about the ideological divide between justices on the court. Thus, the story attempted to frame Gorsuch’s alleged unkindness toward Sotomayor as a political issue.

In fact, the story described Gorsuch as a “prickly justice” who is “not exactly beloved even by his conservative soulmates on the court.”

But what is the truth?

The media predictably spread the story like wildfire, which resulted in Gorsuch being condemned on social media. Liberal commentator Elie Mystal called Gorsuch a “dick,” while MSNBC host Rachel Maddow questioned how Gorsuch could live with himself and Harvard Law School professor Laurence Tribe said the alleged refusal to mask up demonstrates “just what kind of jerk” Gorsuch is.

Now, it appears that the criticism was unfounded.

“Reporting that Justice Sotomayor asked Justice Gorsuch to wear a mask surprised us. It is false,” Sotomayor and Gorsuch said in a joint statement. “While we may sometimes disagree about the law, we are warm colleagues and friends.”

Anything else?

The statement came after Fox News anchor Shannon Bream, the network’s chief legal correspondent, disputed NPR’s report late Tuesday.

“I am told that is not accurate. A source at the Supreme Court says there’s been no blanket admonition or request from Chief Justice Roberts that the other justices begin wearing masks to arguments,” Bream reported. “The source further stated Justice Sotomayor did not make any such request to Justice Gorsuch. I’m told, given that fact, there was also no refusal by Justice Gorsuch. The justices are all vaccinated and boosted, and they do test before taking the bench for arguments.”

It looks like NPR needs to find better sources.

Ted Cruz explodes at reporter for one-sided questions about face masks, challenges media to stop their 'hypocrisy'

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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) exploded Tuesday at a reporter who questioned why Republican lawmakers were conducting a press conference without wearing face masks.

What happened?

At the end of a press conference from Senate Republicans, a female reporter told Cruz a “glaring visual” existed because the lawmakers were not wearing masks but media members were wearing them.

Cruz, in response, at first explained the “wild hypocrisy” regarding COVID-19 policies that he has observed from President Joe Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci.

“I think there’s been wild hypocrisy from the Biden administration when it comes to COVID policies — whether mask mandates where Joe Biden rightly said we shouldn’t have mandates, whether vaccine mandates where Joe Biden said we shouldn’t have vaccine mandates,” Cruz said. “As far as I know, everyone here has been vaccinated, double vaccinated, been boosted at some point.”

“I do know Dr. Fauci’s been all over the map about it. He’s said yes masks, no masks, he’s said, ‘Oh, I lied to the American people because they couldn’t handle it.’ You know, at some point, the American people ought to be able to exercise their own freedom and make their decision,” Cruz continued. “If you want to wear a mask, God bless you; you can wear a mask for the rest of your life — that’s your choice.”




Senate Republicans discuss challenge to filibuster

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Cruz then angrily tore into the media for refusing to question the Biden administration about its hypocrisy, twice slamming his fist on the lectern for good measure.

“And by the way, on the question of hypocrisy, you just asked, ‘You people at the podium are speaking without masks.’ Just once, I’d like to see a reporter say to Joe Biden when he stands at the damn podium in the White House without a mask, ‘Mr. President, why aren’t you wearing a mask?'” Cruz said. “Just once, I’d like to see you say to Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, when she stands at the podium with no mask, ‘Ms. Psaki, why don’t you have a mask?’”

“The questions are only directed at one side, and I’ve got to say that the American people see the hypocrisy,” Cruz pointed out.

To Cruz’s point, any time Biden administration officials — from President Joe Biden himself to White House press secretary Jen Psaki to officials in other agencies — conduct press conferences, they do so while not wearing face masks.

Reporters have not asked them about their practice of removing face masks to speak with media.

NBC Suggests There May Be ‘Very Little Evidence’ of a Gender Performance Gap in Swimming

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Students on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pa., in 2017. (Charles Mostoller/Reuters)

NBC News had a segment on the UPenn trans swimmer in which they managed to get almost every detail wrong, even the athlete’s name in the initial introduction (it’s Lia Thomas, not Lia Thompson.)

During the segment, the presenter, Hallie Jackson, claimed that “ten states have recently passed some kind of bill banning trans athletes from participating in youth sports.” The states she is referring to have done no such thing. What they did was ban athletes from competing against the opposite sex in single-sex leagues. Athletes who identify as trans are free to compete with their natal sex, as some continue to do. For instance, Iszac Henig — a female who identifies as male — still swims for the women’s team at Yale.

Jackson then introduces Jo Yurcaba, a reporter for the LGBT branch of NBC News, “NBC Out.” Yurcaba begins by saying that there are those who believe “trans women in women’s sports is unfair to cisgender women,” since they “don’t receive the advantages of higher testosterone during puberty.” However, Yurcaba claims, such voices are in contention with those who say, “there is very little scientific evidence that those advantages carry over for trans women after transition.”

Just to get a sense of how utterly ridiculous this claim is, consider the following graphics created by boysvswomen.com, comparing the swimming times of the U.S.’s top high-school boy swimmers with those of Olympic women’s finalists. Are we really to believe that a change of wardrobe and fiddling around with testosterone levels magically remove this massive gulf of a performance gap?