Where's Hunter?: Hunter Biden wants his plea deal back, according to his lawyers, who asked a court to stop the Justice Department from abandoning the agreement. But wait, all those media experts said the deal—which would have given Biden broad immunity and probably kept him out of jail—was if anything too harsh.
On PBS, NPR Legal Reporter Claims Hunter Plea Deal 'Somewhat Harsher' Than Usual https://t.co/ztQSeRP6Qq
— NewsBusters (@newsbusters) June 27, 2023
CNN's Mariotti on Hunter getting off the hook for dozens of major felonies he thoroughly documented w/ photos & emails: Settlement is "actually harsher than the treatment that a typical person would receive" pic.twitter.com/GAUCS6zgwt
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) June 21, 2023
So why is Biden fighting to save such a supposedly bad deal? Um, orange man bad!
New York Times: "So at the heart of this deal is immunity, immunity that Hunter Biden wanted. Why did he really want immunity? Because if his father loses reelection and Donald Trump becomes president, Donald Trump has essentially said he will use the Justice Department to prosecute his political enemies."
Shot/chaser: Two moments neatly summed up the disconnect between how "Bidenomics" is widely portrayed in the media and how most Americans are experiencing the economy.
Shot: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) appeared on MSNBC to take credit, on behalf of party and president, for what he characterized as the good times.
Chuck Schumer: 'Our economy is doing so well!"
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) August 16, 2023
Chaser: An Associated Press poll found that Biden's approval rating on the economy hasn't budged from the historic low it hit soon after he took office.
Even though the pace of inflation has slowed, only 36% of U.S. adults approve of President Joe Biden’s handling of the economy. That's slightly lower than the 42% who approve of his overall performance, according to the new AP-NORC poll. https://t.co/QuyNKcu9B2
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 17, 2023
Climate files: The emerging picture of Maui's devastating wildfires is less of a natural disaster than of a man-made one, involving woke bureaucrats and green energy mandates. But that hasn't stopped the media from making it about climate change.
Now that we know the Hawaii wildfire was caused by downed powerlines, here's a fun look back at essentially all of American media immediately blaming climate change pic.twitter.com/vbH6qTbT7s
— Dylan Housman (@Dylan_Housman) August 16, 2023
For the media critics at CNN, though, the coverage didn't feature enough climate hysteria.
"News outlets went all in on Maui fire coverage. But did they miss a key part of the story?" | Great piece by @OliverDarcy, Jon @Passantino and @Liam_A_Reilly for @CNN: https://t.co/JQ0EAGVYiX
— Prof Michael E. Mann (@MichaelEMann) August 16, 2023
And when ABC News offered an unusually nuanced take, outraged activists forced a headline change.
https://x.com/ryanmaue/status/1691251330885562368
Fair and balanced: From Trump's impeachments to his indictments, Democrats and the media have often strained to maintain an appropriately somber tone about efforts to take down the former president. Hillary Clinton's giggly appearance on Rachel Maddow's MSNBC show after Trump was charged in Georgia was the latest example.
https://twitter.com/ben_kew/status/1691268218399199232
Clinton eventually composed herself and got on message: The Don must be stopped before he whacks democracy.
WATCH: Media Give Donald Trump the Tony Soprano Treatment
Lib journos are gleefully comparing Trump to "mobsters and gangsters" following the Georgia RICO indictment.https://t.co/jF1dYbNk4M pic.twitter.com/0ygf1IzHVq
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) August 17, 2023
Week's weirdest: CNN dedicated almost 2,000 words to explaining "neopronouns," words used to refer to someone who won't settle for "he," "she," or even "they."
Do your "starself" a favor, and read these excerpts:
Other neopronouns are completely original to their user–some may choose to select a noun to describe themselves, like "star" or "starself" in place of binary pronouns like "she" or "herself." These are called nounself neopronouns, but more on those later. ...
Dua Saleh, a musician and actor who’s appeared on the Netflix hit "Sex Education," uses the pronouns they and xe. Saleh told their social media followers in 2020, after xe started to use xe pronouns, that it’s "really affirming to find the pronouns that are right for you." ...
Leaf, sun, star — nounself pronouns are neopronouns that use nature and other inspirations as nonbinary or genderless descriptors. ...
For someone who uses the nounself pronoun "leaf," that may look like: "I hope leaf knows how proud we are that leaf is getting to know leafself better!" or "Leaf arrived at the coffee shop before me; I was mortified to have been late to meet leaf."
Stay safe out there, and see you next week.