So, a lot happened last week. Not only did Facebook rebrand by putting its name in all caps, the “OK boomer” meme somehow went mainstream. (Arson Frog took off, too.) Also, the news site Bustle laid off some of its staff, and the editorial director who told writers at Deadspin to “stick to sports” resigned. What else has happened while you’ve been offline? Just this.
Tweet on, Rudy
What Happened: Rudy Giuliani sent some tweets and maybe accidentally threw President Trump under the bus.
What Really Happened: It goes without saying, perhaps, that the role played by President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has been far from invisible. Indeed, as testimony transcripts went public last week, it became even more obvious that Giuliani is at the center of the Ukraine scandal.
As the week started, things looked increasingly bad for the man once known as “America’s Mayor.” So, he decided to speak up. Or, really, tweet up.
That Giuliani was lawyering up was, in itself, news considering that just last month, he was publicly declaring he didn’t need lawyers.
But that was far from the only thing to see in those three tweets. Which might lead one to wonder why he sent them.
If Giuliani thought that he was helping matters, however, the reality is he really, really wasn’t.
You might be thinking that the name of Rudy’s new attorney sounds familiar. If so, that’s because you’ve been paying attention to this story.
The Takeaway: As the Giuliani story continues, there is one very obvious question that people are starting to ask themselves.
Get Out, the Vote
What Happened: Folks across the US hit the polls last week, and a somewhat confused national narrative took shape as a result.
What Really Happened: This past Tuesday was Election Day, which was seen as a potential bellwether for the political climate in the US. There were big races in Kentucky, Mississippi, and Virginia that a lot of people were paying attention to ahead of time, waiting to see if Republican control of certain regions was slipping away in the era of Trump. The results were … mixed?
In Mississippi, for example, Republican Tate Reeves took 52 percent of the vote to become the state’s next governor, inheriting the seat from Republican Phil Bryant. It was a disappointment for those who’d been hoping to see the state flip, but not a complete loss.
Things in Virginia, however, were far more favorable for those watching for a blue wave.
While control of the entire state government fell into Democratic control for the first time in over two decades—something that is unmistakably a big deal—perhaps the most amusing story of the night in Virginia might’ve been this particular one, at least for those with long memories.
Meanwhile, in Kentucky, everyone was paying attention to the gubernatorial race. And for good reason, as it turned out.
Surely this is all going to go fine.
The Takeaway: Isn’t it great to see democracy in action? Doesn’t it give you that warm swell in your heart seeing the system in action and everyone just join in with a shared belief that voting can change th—sorry, we’re hearing that some folks have something to say about Tuesday night’s mixed results.
Identity Politics
What Happened: Donald Trump Jr. seemingly tweeted out some rather sensitive information.
What Really Happened: As the ongoing impeachment inquiry continues, and continues to look very bad for President Trump, his supporters continue to fail to defend him on substance, preferring to argue that the entire investigation is illegitimate because of procedural matters.
Currently, it seems, one of the primary defenses centers around the fact that the whistleblower whose report started the entire thing remains anonymous, even though folks like Senator Lindsey Graham are calling for them to be outed.
Graham’s comments were followed by news that the whistleblower was willing to answer written questions while keeping their identity secret, something that President Trump and his supporters rejected. Instead, Graham demonstrated that he didn’t understand the law, revealed he wouldn’t read existing testimonies, and demanded the whistleblower be outed. Meanwhile, Senator Rand Paul joined the call to expose the whistleblower.
Few Republicans shared his view—or, at least, they wouldn’t publicly admit they did, even as efforts to unmask the whistleblower continued in secret.
Still, Graham persisted.
There were reasons to protect the whistleblower’s identity that went far beyond the argument of trying to verify the information offered by them—especially in light of subsequent testimony from others that has corroborated that information.
Amidst all this, Donald Trump Jr. seemingly tweeted out the name of the whistleblower midweek. Which was, to say the least, a really big problem.
As the name continued to be shared on social media, others pointed out why that was a bad idea.
If only someone could take Trump Jr. to task.
The Takeaway: Can someone cue Demi Adejuyigbe’s Succession theme song for Donald Trump Jr.? It feels like it might be appropriate.
#WhatTriggersConservatives
What Happened: As Michelle Obama once said, “when they go low in a hashtag on social media, we go just as low with our own version of that hashtag that then really blows up.” No, wait. That doesn’t sound right.
What Really Happened: Anyone thinking that the political rhetoric on social media could be turned down just a notch was in for a surprise last week when the hashtag #WhatTriggersLiberals started popping up in a number of posts. As Newton’s Third Law would have it, however, that hashtag resulted in an equal and opposite reaction.
This led to the obvious suggestion.
The suggestions flowed in as the hashtag started to trend. Did we say “equal and opposite”? That was wrong; the #WhatTriggersConservatives hashtag proved to be far more popular, topping Trending lists for a number of hours.
The real question, however, is whether or not the trending topic was accurate. Were conservatives triggered by the hashtag? The answer was clearly yes, judging by the number of attempts to argue otherwise.
Remember, when it comes to social media, never let ‘em see you sweat. Or, to put it another way…
The Takeaway: This seems like a relatively accurate definition of the hashtag’s reasoning.
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