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joe alter's avatar

This is a Fantastic description of what we all saw, without getting lost in the weeds of his word soup. What I found most fascinating about watching it was observing the reactions of the world leaders in the room. They weren't just shocked, they were horrified and afraid to move. Like he might as well have been wearing a Pennywise costume, with a pack of C4 taped to his chest.

I thought of James Comey's self-described "hoping the blue in my suit would blend with the drapery".

As if they were seeing this "unhinged" aspect of him they had formerly joked about, for real, for the very first time as a real and present and immediate danger. I wasn't in the room, but that's how I felt for them as they watched it. I can only imagine the frenzied calls and consultations with embassy staff afterward, as they expressed "utmost concern" about their shared predicament.

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Tina's avatar

Yes yes and yes! To even try to find a cohesive line in his speaking is a

Sisyphean task and I’m grateful to you for cutting through the BS and calling it out for what it is.

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Robyn Boyer's avatar

Finally. This post should be printed out and thumb-tacked to the cubicles of every MSM outlet in the country. The antidote to sane washing might be boycotting the outlets or cancelling the subscriptions. It worked for Kimmel, maybe, just maybe it will work for the NYT, WaPo, and all the rest of the remaining megaphones who aren't on Substack. Thanks for the uplift.

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Gwendolyn McEwen's avatar

Well, it may be that Trump believes escalators are powered by windmills. I think the media in general need to stop covering up and report accurately on the craziness of his speeches.

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Jordan Busch's avatar

Thanks Ryan. This is so on-point.

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Carl T's avatar

Just watch the daily summary of trumps lies and bullshit on TikTok by letsdiscusssomething, among others. to get a much better feel of who's running this country than you can get in the NYT etc. Seems irresponsible for this to go on.

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Dana Strong's avatar

Ryan, do you think Reuters is as guilty of “ sanewashing” as all the others? It is the only app on my phone now and I cancelled WAPO WSJ NYT CNN last year, thanks

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