The Dictatorship
Bari Weiss’ town hall with Erika Kirk wasn’t journalism — it was public relations
Bari Weiss opened the CBS News town hall that aired Saturday — featuring Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk, widow of the assassinated MAGA activist and podcaster Charlie Kirk — by directly addressing the audience at home: “If you’re watching this or you’re sitting here in this room with me, you know what I know, which is that we live in a very divided country. A country where many people feel that they can’t speak across the political divide. … And one of the goals of the new CBS News is to change that.”
It was apparently with a “new CBS News” in mind that Weiss last week made “CBS Mornings” co-host Tony Dokoupil the next anchor of the “CBS Evening News,” the first major host elevation since Weiss was hired in the freshly created role of editor-in-chief by CBS’ new corporate parent Paramount Skydance. In a statement, Weiss said Dokoupil is the person to win back the public’s trust in the news media “because he believes in old school journalistic values: asking the hard questions, following the facts wherever they lead and holding power to account.”
By contrast, Weiss’ town hall with Kirk showed little of the “old school journalistic values” she so admires in Dokoupil.
There was no digging beneath the superficial edifice, just generic questions, frequently featuring strawmen bad guys in their premises.
The broadcast was entirely deferential and incurious. Charlie Kirk’s critics were painted in broad strokes as badly motivated. Kirk’s long track record of making statements such as “Islam is the sword the left is using to slit the throat of America” (which he posted the day before his killing) were ignored, while other harsh statements about marginalized groups were downplayed as “out of context,” and his peddling of conspiracy theories such as Trump’s “big lie” about voter fraud went unmentioned. The event revealed next to nothing about Erika Kirk that we didn’t know before. It wasn’t journalism, it was public relations.
Weiss — whose highly successful anti-“woke” and stridently pro-Benjamin Netanyahu site The Free Press was also acquired by Paramount Skydance for $150 million in October — was clearly impressed by Dokoupil’s aggressive questioning of author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates in October 2024 over Coates’ book “The Message,” which is highly critical of Israel. When CBS later said the interview didn’t meet its standards, The Free Press was all over the storywriting editorials and sharing leaked audio from CBS News staffers to paint Dokoupil as the victim of a woke witch hunt.
I felt the backlash against Dokoupil was overwrought and unnecessary. In his role as a television journalist, he asked a hugely celebrated author — oft-described as one of the most important intellectuals of his generation — pointed, but fair questions about his admittedly provocative book that painted Israel in an entirely unsympathetic light, and which contained zero mentions of words such as “Hamas” or “terrorism” or “Hezbollah.” One can be more sympathetic to Coates’ perspective or to Dokoupil’s skepticism, but it was a civil exchange of disagreement on live television, and Coates handled Dokoupil’s questions just fine.
But that’s not how Weiss handled her subject. There was no digging beneath the superficial edifice, just generic questions, frequently featuring strawmen bad guys in their premises.
When Weiss asked Kirk, “What do you say to the people who justified his death?” she failed to note that almost no one of prominence in politics or culture celebrated or justified Kirk’s killing — even those who correctly noted that Kirk himself had made light of political violence numerous times before. And after reading a few incendiary Charlie Kirk quotes described as “controversial,” which his widow said were taken out of context, Weiss followed up with, “Does it bother you that people are picking out those statements and drawing an entire picture of who he was?”
Weiss didn’t ask anything close to a challenging question of her subject, even when she was handed an easy opportunity by a college student in the audience who asked Kirk if, in the spirit of stopping political violence, would she “hold both parties to the same standard and expectation” and “condemn the violent rhetoric of Donald Trump, the most powerful and influential person on earth?”
Kirk dodged the question, eventually coming around to calling for parents to “step up” and not raise political assassins.
This would have been a perfect moment for Weiss to civilly push Kirk to answer the question asked of her. Instead, Weiss removed the specificity of the president of the United States and went back to generalities, asking, “Do you think our political leaders have a responsibility to turn the temperature down right now?”
Weiss didn’t ask anything close to a challenging question of her subject, even when she was handed an easy opportunity by a college student in the audience.
Kirk responded: “Well, I think everyone has a responsibility to do that and I’m doing my part. I’m not in control of other people.” That was good enough for Weiss, who said, “OK,” then pivoted to a commercial break.
Yes, Erika Kirk is a grieving widow, only three months removed from her husband’s horrific killing. But she is also a political activist and her husband’s successor as CEO of Turning Point USA, a pro-Trump organization with close ties to the administration, known for its take-no-prisoners style of activism and its “Professor Watchlist,” which the group says is intended “to expose and document college professors who discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom.” And, to be very clear, Charlie Kirk’s comments often come off even worse when placed in greater context.
It was Weiss’ job as a journalist to interview Kirk with the same level of skepticism and good-faith probing that she seemed to see in Dokoupil’s interrogation of Coates. By failing to do so, Weiss gave a preview of what to expect at the “new CBS News”: Left-wing critics of Israel will be challenged vigorously in pursuit of “truth,” while right-wing activists will be treated with kid gloves in the name of “fairness.” If the town hall is any indication, Weiss’ lofty claims about a new age of “fearless” journalism come off as empty bromides.
Anthony L. Fisher is a senior editor and opinion columnist for MS NOW.
The Dictatorship
Monday’s Campaign Round-Up, 6.22.26: Why Trump backed both Republicans in a key S.C. race
Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In South Carolina’s gubernatorial raceDonald Trump endorsed Lt. Gov. Pam Evette last month. Last week, however, ahead of this week’s primary runoff election in the race, the president published an online item telling voters that “you can’t go wrong” with either Evette or state Attorney General Alan Wilson.
If this sounds at all familiar, it’s because Trump has done this before. Around this time two years ago, for example, he endorsed both Republicans running in a congressional primary in Arizona. And two years before that, he endorsed two leading contenders in a Senate primary in Missouri.
Only the president can say for sure why he ended up endorsing Evette and Wilson in the South Carolina race, though it’s worth emphasizing for context that GOP primary voters have already ignored his direction into two gubernatorial primaries this month, and it stands to reason that he hoped to avoid a third.
* We’re one day away from a variety of notable racesincluding but not limited to South Carolina’s gubernatorial race. There are also some congressional primaries in a handful of statesincluding Maryland, New York and Utah.
* In took a while, but the ballots have been tallied under Maine’s ranked-choice systemand we now know that Democrat Hannah Pingree, the former state House speaker, will face off against Republican Bobby Charles, who worked at the State Department during the Bush-Cheney era.
* As for Maine’s closely watched congressional racestate Auditor Matt Dunlap won the Democratic nomination in the battleground 2nd District, defeating state Sen. Joe Baldacci, who enjoyed the backing of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Dunlap will run in the fall against a familiar figure: former Republican Gov. Paul LePage, who had moved to Florida a few years ago, but who returned to run for Congress.
* In California’s congressional special electiontwo Democratic candidates — state Sen. Aisha Wahab and Melissa Hernandez, a Bay Area Rapid Transit director — have advanced to an Aug. 18 special general election. The winner will fill the vacancy left by disgraced former Rep. Eric Swalwell, who resigned in April.
* In a new commercial shared first with MS NOWDemocrat James Talarico has launched his campaign’s first multimillion-dollar ad buy in Texas’ gubernatorial race. In the 30-second spot, Talarico focuses on affordability and the cost of living. The state lawmaker will face scandal-plagued state Attorney General Ken Paxton in the fall.
* And in New Jersey, Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr.who has been missing from Capitol Hill since early March, will reportedly return to work on June 30according to a statement from his spokesperson. Neither Kean nor his office have offered any public information about why he has been away.
Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
The Dictatorship
Trump tries dual endorsement in South Carolina as his pick for governor flounders in polls
After President Donald Trump’s pick for governor in Iowa lost in the Republican primary earlier this month, the president argued that he “would have endorsed the other person” if he had “the proper information.”
Trump is taking no chances in the South Carolina gubernatorial primary. Over the weekend he rescinded his exclusive endorsement of Pamela Evette, the lieutenant governor, announcing instead that he would support both Evette and her runoff opponent, Alan Wilson, the state’s attorney general.
The move put Evette’s political future in jeopardy: Even before Trump’s dual endorsement, she trailed in limited public polling and was seen by political observers in South Carolina as a weak candidate with little to show besides the president’s coveted endorsement.
“Her chief distinction from Alan Wilson was that Trump endorsed her,” said Dr. Dubose Kapeluck, a professor of political science at the Citadel Military College of South Carolina.
Trump’s dual endorsement “was a kiss of death,” he told MS NOW.
Evette, who moved to South Carolina from Ohio to found a successful payroll and HR company in 2000, has been lieutenant governor since 2019, serving under Gov. Henry McMaster, who is term-limited.
In office, she has pursued meaningful but little-celebrated policies, like a key tort reform bill, according to Gil Gatch, a Republican member of the South Carolina state House and an Evette supporter.
But voters could be forgiven for knowing little about Evette besides the fact that Trump endorsed her, which he did just days before the June 9 primary. Visitors to her campaign website are greeted with a full-screen message labeling Evette as “Trump-endorsed.” The first line in her X bio states the same. Pro-Evette television ads are quick to tout the endorsement.
An accomplishment like tort reform, while noted on Evette’s website, “maybe could have been something that was highlighted more heavily,” Gatch told MS NOW.
The political makeup of South Carolina nearly guarantees the next governor will be whoever emerges on Tuesday between Evette and Wilson. They survived a crowded primary field on June 9, and nearly every challenger who fell short of the runoff publicly endorsed the attorney general.
“She’s just not a good candidate,” Josh Kimbrell, a state senator who failed to make the runoff and has since said he’d back Wilson, said of Evette.
“She kind of assumed this was a coronation, and that was never going to go over that well,” he added.
Even some pro-Trump voters were confused by the president’s initial endorsement of Evette, whom he called “a good friend, fighter, and WINNER” in a social media post in May.
“I have no clue why Trump would endorse Pamela Evette,” Leland Lemmons, a 30-year-old Trump supporter told MS NOW as he exited a polling site in the Greenville suburb of Easley on June 9.
“She’s served, you know, a decent time. I just haven’t seen much fruition of what she’s done in office,” he added.
In a post on Truth Social Friday announcing his dual endorsement, Trump wrote, “I can’t hurt one of them by only Endorsing the other, so, therefore, I am going to Endorse, for Governor of South Carolina, both Pam Evette and Alan Wilson!”
In a subsequent statement on X, Evette said, “I was proud to come in first as [Trump’s] endorsed candidate for Governor on June 9th. Looking forward to doing it again on June 23rd.”
After The Washington Post foreshadowed the dual endorsement last Tuesday, allies of Evette were quick to denounce the possibility.
“I would guess that’s fake news,” Suzanne Pucci, a member of Evette’s finance committee, told MS NOW of the chance Trump would also endorse Wilson. “She’s probably not real worried about it.”
Another close ally and supporter told MS NOW at the time the report was “a total, fabricated lie.”
“[Trump] is invested in Pamela Evette because she invested in him. He’s a loyal guy. That kind of stuff is important to him,” added the supporter, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“With or without Trump, I think she is going to win,” they said.
On Thursday, a senior campaign aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, brushed off the idea of a dual endorsement, telling MS NOW in a statement, “Pamela Evette has earned the complete and total endorsement of President Trump. She is the only Trump-endorsed candidate in this race and we look forward to delivering a big win for the president on Tuesday.”
Roughly 24 hours later, Trump retracted the exclusive endorsement.
Will McDuffie is a reporter for MS NOW.
As last week’s G7 summit in France got underway, a reporter asked Donald Trump whether his purported deal with Iran was final. “No, it’s not final,” the president replied. Later that day — during a visit to Versaillesof all places — he signed the framework anyway.
But moments after signing his name to the memorandum of understanding, Trump offered an unsubtle hint about what he was thinking at the time. Amid applause from those around him, the American president pointed down and then up while saying“Oil down, stocks up.”
In other words, Trump’s focus had nothing to do with natural security and everything to do with the economy. What’s more, the four-word phrase was part of a larger and underappreciated pattern. The Washington Post reported:
In the more than 100 days since President Donald Trump launched a war with Iran, he has offered a shifting list of reasons for why he started the conflict. But in explaining his push for peace, he named a priority much closer to home: protecting the stock market.
“I didn’t want to see economic catastrophe,” Trump told reporters gathered in the Alpine spa town of Évian-les-Bains, France, after the Group of Seven summit.
As the summit wrapped up, the Republican similarly said“I’ve studied presidents, some good, some bad, some great. Not too many are great and some really bad. … And the one president I did not want to be was the late, great Herbert Hoover. I didn’t want that and who knows what would have happened.”
He pushed the same point in an interview with Axios, which was released over the weekend.
“If I went further, the stock market would be much lower,” the president said. “Now think of this: I have one primary wish as president, in terms of people: I never want to be the late, great Herbert Hoover.”
The comments came days after Trump similarly argued“The alternative to this deal was a global recession. There are stupid people who want to see a global recession. They are just stupid people.”
Whether the president fully appreciates the implications of his own rhetoric, this string of comments doesn’t just shed light on his motivations for accepting a defeat, it also suggests he saw his failed policy in Iran as pushing the global economy toward a dangerous cliff.
In other words, based on Trump’s own comments, the war he started was poised to create an “economic catastrophe,” which he was desperate to avoid — and which led him to accept a framework that empowered Iran to get what it wanted in exchange for effectively no concessions at all.
Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
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