Good morning! We're upgrading some newsletter software, so things might look a little different around here in the coming days. Email me if you notice any hiccups. Now to today's media news... |
Trump's 'trust me' problem |
Every day, I come across some version of the following back and forth on X, Facebook, Instagram or some other social media site:
News consumer: President Trump is doing something inexplicable, inane or illegal.
Trump consumer: That's fake news. Trump said so on Truth Social.
This dynamic — tune out the news, just trust in Trump — makes real dialogue impossible. It makes sane people feel unglued. And it's happening again now as Trump tries to end a war he started in Iran.
While trying to push through a peace deal, he wants people to just take his word for it. "It's a very strong deal," he said this morning. "Nobody knows what it is, but it's very strong, and most people seem to be very happy."
Some of his MAGA media allies are very unhappy. The title of the New York Post's latest editorial sums up the mood: "Trump's Iran deal gives the Islamic Republic big wins upfront — and America nothing." Fox News host Mark Levin fumed in a lengthy X post last night, "I sure as hell hope I am misreading and mishearing things." This morning on "Fox & Friends," co-host Brian Kilmeade summed up what he's been told about the memo, calling it "very vague and concerning."
All of this reminds me of something Trump said back on June 1: "Just sit back and relax, it will all work out well in the end." The White House immediately made the quote into a rather ridiculous meme. This week's commentary suggests that "sit back and relax" won't satisfy MAGA media...
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Read a draft of the deal: |
The Trump administration's official secrecy about the deal's text has also made it difficult to debate the matter. But leaks are helping.
Last night, Bloomberg published a copy of the "14-point draft memorandum between the US and Iran." CNN also obtained the draft agreement and published it this morning. "Given both the US and Iranians' secrecy around the language, it remains unclear whether the draft text shared with CNN will reflect the exact wording of the final document due to be signed in person on Friday in Switzerland," Alayna Treene, Kevin Liptak and Mostafa Salem's story notes.
When asked by a reporter if the agreement is final, Trump said, "No, it's not final. It's a memorandum of understanding," and "if I don't like it, if they don't behave, we'll go right back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head."
Quotes like that one led The Atlantic's Tom Nichols to write that "Trump does not understand the war he lost."
"None of this makes any sense, except as desperate rationalizations from a man who cannot face facts and admit defeat," Nichols wrote yesterday. "Trump has always had a tenuous relationship with the truth, but evidence is mounting that on the most important questions of war and peace, the president of the United States seems to be losing his grip on reality itself."
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Press conference coming up... |
The president is expected to hold a press conference at the G7 soon, though some of the earlier sessions have started late... |
Vance worries about SitRoom tapes |
VP JD Vance says he is "legitimately" worried that someone may have recorded White House Situation Room meetings and leaked the tapes.
Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan's recounting of Situation Room meetings in the forthcoming book "Regime Change" is so detailed — and undisputed by the participants — that it has Trump aides fearing a "shocking breach," Axios reported over the weekend.
Axios cited anonymous sources, but Vance basically confirmed it during an interview with Megyn Kelly yesterday. He claimed last week's "Regime Change" excerpt about the White House "freakout" over the Epstein files was mostly a "nothing burger," but also said, "There were certain things in there that legitimately made me worried that people were, like, taping."
"Yeah, in the Situation Room!" Kelly said.
"Which, by the way, is like a felony," Vance said.
"Regime Change" comes out next Tuesday, and the authors will surely be asked about the existence of tapes.
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The VP's book tour is working... |
...At least in terms of book sales: His memoir "Communion" shot up to #1 on Amazon's constantly-updated list of best-selling new releases on launch day yesterday. "Regime Change" is #2, signifying huge preorder sales.
>> About the VP's visit to "The View" yesterday: While tense at times, it was a generally civil conversation between people of opposing views, something that's all too rare on TV in the Trump era. It happens on CNN's "NewsNight," but where else?
>> I thought that Vance confessing to being a "conspiracy theorist" on the subject of Jeffrey Epstein was a brilliant bit of politics, since most Americans believe there is an ongoing cover-up...
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CBS pays up for 'Linus and Lucy' |
CBS has agreed to pay Lee Mendelson Film Productions an undisclosed amount after "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" used the famed Vince Guaraldi composition "Linus and Lucy" in its May finale, Variety's Michael Schneider reports. The production company will donate the proceeds to Chef José Andrés' World Central Kitchen. Separately, Schneider notes, "the show and Colbert had donated $2.5 million to WCK and Andrés" during the penultimate episode...
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