Message to the mullahs
“The mullahs should be very worried,” Sean Hannity said on his Fox show last night, highlighting the reports that US military action in Iran “could happen as early as this weekend.”
“This is the largest accumulation of American firepower in the Middle East since the start of the Iraq war,” Hannity said in his usual braggadocious way. “And I do have a little advice for the radical leaders in Iran. You may want to get on that plane to Russia sooner than you think. Sooner than later. Now would be a good time.”
As I listened, I wondered, did Hannity come up with that “advice” on his own… or did he speak with President Trump before the telecast? Does Hannity know something the rest of us don’t?
It’s not a far-fetched question. Back during Trump 1.0, Hannity was known as Trump’s “shadow chief of staff,” and Trump was Hannity’s shadow producer. The relationship is just as tight today.
So it’s worth keeping a close eye on Fox’s commentary as Trump nears a decision about a possible military strike. CNN’s story says “Trump has yet to make a final call.”
“He is spending a lot of time thinking about this,” a source told CNN.
Which means his Fox friends are especially influential right now.
Here’s the ‘staggering thing’ |
Major newsrooms have pivoted toward the US military buildup near Iran in the past 24 hours. Axios opened eyes with a Wednesday morning Axios AM email titled “Brink of war,” featuring Barak Ravid’s statement that Trump “is closer to a major war in the Middle East than most Americans realize.” CNN’s Tal Shalev reported that Israel had “raised its alert level and is stepping up military preparations amid growing indications of a potential joint US-Israel attack on Iran.” CBS reporters Jennifer Jacobs and James LaPorta published a scoop about the timeline. Still, by the end of the day, Philip Bump was directionally right when he said on MS NOW that “no one is paying attention to this, and that’s the staggering thing.” He acknowledged that Trump might be bluffing, but the military buildup is extraordinary. Yet the Trump administration hasn’t “articulated what this potential war is supposed to accomplish, what its ends would be, what success would mean, whether they intend it to be regime change,” Michelle Goldberg said on MS earlier in the evening. “I never in my life thought that I would feel nostalgic for being lied to by George W. Bush in the run-up to the Iraq war, but this is an administration that doesn’t even feel the need to propagandize the population, because it doesn’t feel like it needs the consent of the governed at all.” Flip back over to Fox, though, and you’ll see that Trump’s America is definitely hearing preemptive justifications for overthrowing the Iranian regime. Trump is already being hyped as a hero by commentators who want him to strike. Hannity’s rah-rah banner last night was “TRUMP PROJECTS STRENGTH ON THE WORLD STAGE.” |
This has never happened in our lifetimes: Britain’s former Prince Andrew “was arrested Thursday morning, becoming the first senior British royal in modern history to be arrested,” CNN’s team reports. As far as I can tell, the BBC broke the news of the arrest this morning, shortly after police activity was reported at the home. >> A reminder about how these things work in the UK: “The information that is allowed to be made public about criminal cases is extremely limited from the moment a person is charged with the crime. This is to avoid prejudicing a trial by influencing how jury members think about the case,” this TBIJ explainer notes. |
>> Like every other morning show, “Today” led with the arrest, but it’s noteworthy for “Today” because it was the first day the show has not led with Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance. (It was only a matter of time, and today it was the right call.) >> Recent news coverage of the Epstein files propelled Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s book “Nobody’s Girl” back to #1 on the NYT Best Sellers list this week. Giuffre repeatedly claimed that she was forced to have sex with the then-prince while underage. She died by suicide before the book was published. >> You’ll recall that Andrew stepped down from royal duties in 2019 in the aftermath of a disastrous BBC interview. The broadcaster recently assembled this excellent review: “How Andrew’s BBC interview compares to what Epstein emails tell us now.” >> If you’ve never seen “Scoop,” the 2014 film dramatizing that BBC interview, today’s the day. It’s streaming on Netflix. |
Colbert moves on… for now |
Stephen Colbert is under the weather, and viewers can hear it in his voice, but he’s still showing up for work; after all, he only has about 40 more episodes of “The Late Show” before the show ends. Colbert didn’t keep up his war of words with CBS over “equal-time” drama last night, but his guest, Sen. Jon Ossoff, did work it into the conversation. (Ossoff is running for reelection, but is not technically a “legally qualified candidate” yet, and thus his appearance is not subject to FCC scrutiny.) Colbert asked about Ossoff’s past life running a company that made documentaries about foreign corruption. Ossoff responded: “We worked with people who smuggled the truth out of repressive societies with authoritarian governments: Places where opposition figures were rounded up and arrested; places where journalists critical of the government faced official persecution; places where TV hosts had to deal with official censorship.” The audience ate up that reference, and Ossoff turned to his point: “And I’ll just say that, more and more, Donald Trump’s America reminds me of those places and those societies, and that should chill us all to the bone.” Here’s the full segment. |
Brendan Carr’s clever game |
“There was no censorship here at all,” FCC chair Brendan Carr said at his news conference yesterday. He’s right, and that’s why this episode is so interesting. The government didn’t take any action against CBS; the network intervened on its own to avoid government action. Parent company Paramount’s business interests before the Trump administration seem paramount (pardon the repetition). Thus, Carr is playing a clever game, or at least he thinks he is. He went on Fox with Laura Ingraham last night and played it straight — “we’re going to enforce the law” — knowing that the practical effect is to put pressure on broadcast TV’s Trump critics. Talking with Kaitlan Collins, I said this is all about power; using regulatory power to reshape the culture in ways that Republicans want. Right-wing complaints about late-night becoming too political, too liberal, predated Trump, after all. But don’t be fooled: The FCC’s “equal-time” push is almost all bark, no bite. The enforcement possibilities are “minimal, in terms of real jeopardy,” public interest lawyer Andrew Jay Schwartzman told me. Even the paperwork involved is minimal, “so the attorneys’ fees are not huge compared, say, to a merger or antitrust matter,” he added. Here’s my full explainer for CNN.com… |
In response to a question from The Guardian’s Jeremy Barr, Carr confirmed that the FCC has started an “enforcement action” over a possible equal-time violation by ABC’s “The View.” On Abby Phillip’s “NewsNight,” I said ABC has admirably insulated “The View” from the FCC’s pressure. One of the other panelists was Ana Navarro, and she confirmed: “I can tell you as a co-host of ‘The View,’ if there’s an inquiry and investigation and enforcement, whatever the hell they’re calling it, we don’t know about it, we, as co-hosts. And I’m glad that we don’t know about it because we want to go out there and we want to do our job.” >> Yes, but… The FCC’s new approach means you can “say goodbye to most appearances by political candidates on daytime and late night talk shows,” THR’s Winston Cho predicted in this piece yesterday. |
Zuckerberg on the defensive |
In court yesterday, Mark Zuckerberg “argued he aims to build a product that has long-term appeal, not one that gets people hooked in the short-term and makes them feel bad about themselves.” CNN’s team listed the top takeaways from the testimony here. Afterward, one of the plaintiff lawyers accused Zuckerberg of “wordsmithing” on the stand… >> The trial resumes at noon ET. CNN’s Clare Duffy tells us that two former Meta employees are expected to take the stand today. |
🔌: Today at 11 a.m. ET, I’ll join Laura Coates, Dr. Sanjay Gupta and host Sara Sidner on a live-streaming special, “Social Media Trial: The Cost of Connection.” CNN All Access subscribers can stream the conversation here. |
Tucker ‘detained’ in Israel, or not |
Tucker Carlson flew on a private jet to Tel Aviv yesterday to tape an interview with Ambassador Mike Huckabee after the ex-colleagues fought online over Israel’s treatment of Christians. Carlson never left the VIP terminal — he filmed the interview and went home. Shortly thereafter, a Daily Mail story claimed Carlson and his staff were “DETAINED” by Israeli officials, quoting Carlson as saying airport officials “took our passports, hauled our executive producer into a side room and then demanded to know what we spoke to Ambassador Huckabee about.” The Mail called it the start of a “diplomatic firestorm,” but it doesn’t appear so. A US embassy spox said Carlson “received the same passport control questions” as anyone else, including Huckabee. The Israel Airport Authority echoed that statement. >> Gang’s all here: Another ex-Fox host, Melissa Francis, was in town for the interview. She told the Times of Israel that Carlson and Huckabee had an “emotional” but “professional” chat. She said that she urged Carlson to do the interview and that Trump personally “asked [Carlson] to rein in the fight within the Republican Party over Israel.” |
>> In the Nancy Guthrie mystery, “rampant speculation is like ‘salt on the open wound,’” a friend of the family’s told Reis Thebault. (NYT) >> Scott Nover’s report: “The Atlantic’s essay about measles was gut-wrenching. Some readers feel deceived.” (WaPo) >> CJR spoke with Ali Breland, an Atlantic writer focused on the far-right, who says the mainstream influence of fringe media figures like Nick Fuentes “is here, and it will be here for a long time.” (CJR) >> Bari Weiss pulled out of a UCLA lecture scheduled for later this month over security concerns, a source told the LA Times. The event was expected to draw a large student protest. (LAT) |
Notable Polk Award winners |
ProPublica, the NYT, The Boston Globe, Texas Monthly, and The New Yorker were among this year’s Polk Award winners. “60 Minutes” won a Polk for last April’s segment, “The Prisoners,” revealing how a majority of Venezuelans deported by the Trump admin to El Salvador had no criminal record, despite the government’s claims. Business Insider won a Polk for the first time. The NYT has a recap here… >> New York mag received a Polk for photojournalist Stephanie Keith’s work inside 26 Federal Plaza, showing migrants suddenly detained by federal officers. Check out this Q&A with Keith… |
Entertainment notes and quotes |
>> Casey Wasserman is being pulled back into court in an ongoing lawsuit, thanks to revelations about “a $15,000 ticket that Jeffrey Epstein bought for Hollywood PR maven Peggy Siegel” to attend a 2013 Hollywood gala. (Deadline) >> A person allegedly targeted in Shia LaBeouf’s Mardi Gras brawl alleges the actor committed a hate crime. (THR) >> Bad Bunny has snagged his first leading role, starring alongside Edward Norton and Javier Bardem in an “epic Caribbean western” titled “Porto Rico.” (Variety) |