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Thursday, January 22, 2026 |
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TGIT! Here's the latest on TikTok, "Sinners," the Washington Post, The AP, Jimmy Kimmel, Jane Fonda, Politico, and much more... |
Once a reality TV host, always a reality TV host.
President Trump "took world leaders at the World Economic Forum on a roller coaster" yesterday, as the NYT's Sam Sifton put it. Announcing a "framework" of a deal with NATO over Greenland was his way of getting off the ride. France 24 called it "The Apprentice, Davos edition" last night.
This morning, he started a new episode: "Board of Peace." He played to the cameras as he held a signing ceremony (attended by fewer than 20 countries).
Stoking conflict. Sounding tough. Claiming to make a deal. Coming up with a tidy conclusion to the episode. Trump puts the show in showmanship. And it helps audiences to analyze it accordingly.
It can be disorienting — destabilizing, even — when a man who governs like he's producing a reality-TV show forces the rest of the world, including longstanding allies, to play along.
So I have long agreed with what TV critic James Poniewozik wrote in 2019: "The 'Donald Trump' who got elected president... is a decades-long media performance. To understand him, you need to approach him less like a psychologist and more like a TV critic."
As Poniewozik wrote: "The taunting. The insults. The dog whistles. The dog bullhorns. The 'Lock her up' and 'Send her back.' All of it follows reality-TV rules. Every season has to top the last." This column has really aged well...
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Coverage notes and quotes |
>> Fox News hosts generally took yesterday's twists and turns at face value, sometimes expressing excitement bordering on glee about all the news, and rarely injecting much skepticism. "This was classic Trump!" Byron York said on "Special Report."
>> On MS NOW, James Clapper said the man whose best-known book was titled "The Art of the Deal" could write another titled "The Art of Distraction."
>> "Remember the Weekly World News? Trump is following a tabloid playbook while indulging authoritarian goals," Trump biographer Tim O'Brien wrote in his latest Bloomberg column.
>> Longtime TV critic Bill Goodykootz concluded, "It's all about appearances and reviews" with Trump, which is "fitting for someone who owes his job to reality TV, even though at times what went on Wednesday seemed unreal. But not unusual."
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Denying what we all heard him say |
This happened almost 24 hours ago, but I still want to note it, lest we all get totally numb to it. Karoline Leavitt attempted to deny reality after Trump's Davos speech, telling a NewsNation reporter on X that Trump "didn't" repeatedly refer to Greenland as Iceland, even though we all heard him do it. "His written remarks referred to Greenland as a 'piece of ice' because that’s what it is," she wrote.
"Yes, he did refer to it as a piece of ice. He also referred to it as Iceland," Kaitlan Collins said on CNN last night. "What was in his written remarks is not always what generates the headlines, as we know..."
More on all this in a moment...
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Credit where it's due: The Associated Press obtained a highly sensitive ICE memo showing that "immigration officers are asserting sweeping power to forcibly enter people’s homes without a judge's warrant." Read Rebecca Santana's full story here. The revelation about the memo steered news coverage back toward Minnesota last night and into this morning.
>> Mike Rothschild, who has written two books about conspiracy theories, wrote on X, This literally "used to be the far right's worst nightmare: federal agents empowered to kick down anyone's door for any reason."
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'China, US sign off on TikTok US spinoff' |
That's the headline on Semafor's scoop just now. "The US and China have signed off on a deal to sell TikTok's US business to a consortium of mostly US investors led by Oracle and Silver Lake, capping off a yearslong battle between the social media app and the two superpowers," Liz Hoffman and Reed Albergotti report...
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'Sinners' sets an Oscar noms record |
The Academy just announced this year's Oscar nominations, and "Sinners" just set a record. With 16 noms, it is "the most nominated film in Academy Awards history. That's two more than Titanic, All About Eve, and La La Land," The Ringer's Sean Fennessey noted. "One Battle After Another" was close behind with 14 noms. CNN has the full list here...
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