Former conservative reporter-turned-far-left authoritarian prick Oliver Darcy wrote Thursday night in his newsletter Status that “dishonest MAGA commentator Scott Jennings” of CNN and fellow Trump supporter Jillian Michaels were examples of “political arsonists…whose contributions amount to provocation, misinformation, and hijacked conversations” and thus unjustly given a voice on Wednesday’s CNN NewsNight.
So, yes, Darcy did that bit liberal journalists love to engage in where they show no regard for the First Amendment rights of others, but will fight like hell for their own.
Despite correctly referring to the show we like to call CNN Thunderdome “a circus,” Darcy whined the reason it’s that way is because, well, people who make him feel icky are allowed to exist.
Darcy dubbed it so because of “unserious guests and manufactured conflict” with Michaels the latest because “the fitness trainer” gave “a bizarre defense of Donald Trump on slavery.”
He never fully explained her position about poor white Americans shouldn’t having to be labeled beneficiaries of slavery, but he instead framed it as Michaels and “dishonest MAGA commentator Scoot Jennings” ruining host Abby Phillips’s show:
Michaels ranted about Smithsonian exhibits portraying “white people [as] bad” and declared that “less than 2% of white Americans owned slaves,” among other things. Phillip, clearly taken aback, told her, “Jillian, I’m surprised that you’re trying to litigate who was the beneficiary of slavery.” In another segment, dishonest MAGA commentator Scott Jennings complained about supposedly “fake” jobs data, prompting another fact check from Phillip. And when Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky argued that Republicans’ crime rhetoric was hollow after Trump pardoned January 6 rioters who beat police, Jennings dismissed her point as “a silly argument” and derailed the discussion, overtly sneering at her.
Instead of stopping at the simple conclusion of the show being a rhetorical “food fight,” Darcy called Jennings and Michaels the cancers who have to be cut off, even suggesting Jennings be fired:
Night after night, the show gives airtime to political arsonists like Michaels and Jennings, whose contributions amount to provocation, misinformation, and hijacked conversations. The result is spectacle, not substance—all at a time when democracy is under threat and international crises demand serious debate. That CNN, under chief Mark Thompson, continues to treat its prime time platform as a stage for clowns rather than serious voices is disheartening, to put it gently. What does the audience actually gain from the circus? Even Phillip has seemed exasperated lately. Who can blame her?
Unsurprisingly, this was the latest attempt by Darcy to drum up support to have CNN fire the man whose appearances draw millions of eyeballs to social media clips of CNN segments and arguably have kept Phillip employed. It squares with the man who has tried to pressure cable companies to drop Fox News, Newsmax, and One America News.
Elsewhere in his Thursday airing of grievances, he lamented “PBS will slash its budget by 21% after Congress eliminated roughly $500 million in federal funding for public television and radio” and swooned like a millennial at a stop on the Jonas Brothers 20 tour for….Hunter Biden?
Yes, dear readers. Darcy is praising Hunter Biden for telling Melania Trump to pound sand after her attorney sent him a cease-and-desist letter for spreading the conspiracy theory that Jeffrey Epstein introduced her to now-President Trump (click “expand”):
In a video published Thursday morning, Hunter Biden sat in the shade of a large tree, facing YouTuber Andrew Callaghan with a lake stretching behind them…The title of the video, “Hunter Biden Apologizes,” teased a mea culpa—though it delivered anything but.
“We’re here, maybe, to give you the platform to apologize to the first lady for your statements you made about her possible connection to Jeffrey Epstein,” Callaghan said, referring to a cease-and-desist letter Biden had received from Melania Trump’s attorney, Alejandro Brito. The letter accused the former president’s son of making “false, disparaging, defamatory, and inflammatory statements” when he claimed Epstein introduced Melania to Donald Trump. Brito denied the claim, noting journalist and author Michael Wolff was the source, who he referred to as a “serial fabulist.”
But Biden, dressed in a dark purple T-shirt, jeans, and camouflage cap, didn’t appear intimidated. “Fuck that,” he shot back, when given the opportunity to respond to the first lady’s demand for an apology. “That’s not going to happen.” He went on to defend his remarks, saying they were based on reporting from others—particularly Wolff—and making clear he saw no reason to retract them.
Back on Wednesday night, Darcy opened the newsletter by trying to make readers feel bad for far-left Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah, who allegedly has been crying uncle over the supposedly MAGA newspaper (trust us, it’s not) publishing an op-ed from U.S. Attorney for Washington D.C. Jeanine Pirro (click “expand”):
[H]er future at The Post looks uncertain. As [new opinion editor Adam] O’Neal indicated during their meeting, her work seems at odds with its emerging editorial direction, and it’s hard to imagine she’s long for his world.
Indeed, while O’Neal’s vision for the newspaper’s opinion arm has been remarkably opaque, this week delivered a few clues about the direction he seeks to take it. On Tuesday, O’Neal published two pieces from Trump administration officials. The first, by National Institutes of Health director Jay Bhattacharya, argued that the Health and Human Services decision to “wind down its mRNA vaccine development activities” was a “necessary” move—a stance that I’m told triggered reader blowback.
The second was more eyebrow-raising. Amid alarm over Donald Trump’s seizure of Washington, D.C.’spolice force, O’Neal published an op-ed from former Fox News host–turned–district attorney Jeanine Pirro, touting “the fight to make D.C. safe and beautiful.” The piece effectively justified Trump’s militarization of the capital and painted the city as a crime-infested area. While not quite as incendiary as Tom Cotton’s infamous New York Times op-ed calling to “send in the troops,” its timing and framing were jarring for a paper that still claims “Democracy Dies in Darkness.”
(….)
For now, staffers like Attiah now face a stark choice: adapt to O’Neal’s vision or risk their future in the opinion section. Either way, The Post’s opinion pages are headed for certain transformation.
