Crooked Media - What A Day: The Associated Mess

BY MATT BERG
& CROOKED MEDIA

WEDNESDAY
FEBRUARY 19, 2025

“Inflation's back ... I had nothing to do with it.”

— Donald Trump, the “I’m going to fix inflation” guy.

BRAZIL NUTS

Donald Trump is taking his war on free speech global to make Elon Musk happy and boost his right-wing buddies. How sweet.

President Donald Trump’s assault on the media has grown to unprecedented proportions in his second term. While he loves the spotlight more than anything, he reacts violently to bad press. It’s a trait he shares with his co-president, Elon Musk, who has become the most vocal anti-media voice in the new administration — in a bout of stunning hypocrisy given everything Musk has said about the importance of free speech. The most jarring example: Musk is now publicly claiming that 60 Minutes journalists “deserve a long prison sentence” — for doing nothing more than journalism.

The threats are more serious than Trump’s first term, more widespread — and in plenty of instances, simply more unhinged. Today, Trump’s media company sued a Brazilian Supreme Court justice, accusing him of illegally censoring right-wing voices on social media. In a remarkable coincidence of timing, the suit has been filed at a moment when that very same judge is deciding whether to order the arrest of authoritarian leader and Trump fanboy Jair Bolsonaro, who was indicted for allegedly attempting to stage a coup. Another total coincidence: It’s also the same judge who temporarily suspended Musk’s X platform in the country last year due to far-right accounts and misinformation.

Together, Trump and Musk form a dynamic duo of falsehoods, half-baked conspiracy theories, self-serving lies, and attempts at media intimidation. The Trump administration has elevated right-wing outlets that regularly spread conspiracy theories, while threatening the Associated Press, ABC News, NPR, PBS, and CBS News and numerous other outlets. Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered embassies abroad to cancel subscriptions to outlets including the Economist, the New York Times, Politico, Bloomberg News, the AP and Reuters. Meanwhile, Trump and Musk are like busted fire hydrants of misinformation. A recent analysis by Newsguard found that 28 false claims by Musk on X received 825.2 million views and 4.8 million likes. None of this is good for press freedom, to say the least — or even simply sorting out the truth from fiction.

Back in the United States, Trump’s newest tactic involves simply ignoring journalists, despite his administration’s pledges to be transparent.

A few days ago, a friend at the New York Times texted me a screenshot of an “unhinged” message from Katie Miller, a top Trump spokesperson. Miller said she wouldn’t respond to his request for comment on a story… because he included pronouns next to his name.

So, I added pronouns next to my name and sent her a comment request for yesterday’s newsletter — and I received the same exact response: “As a matter of policy, I don’t respond to people who use pronouns in their signature as it shows they don’t have an understanding of basic scientific facts,” wrote Miller, who’s married to Jeff Bezos doppelgänger Stephen Miller, one of Trump’s closest and shiniest-headed advisers. Being transphobic is, weirdly, more important to them than commenting on Trump’s foreign policy.

The Trump administration has yet to begin regular briefings at agencies, and Trump’s own press people remain in the dark about when they might start, according to a spokesperson who works for the Trump administration (but not in the White House). The lack of briefings “does worry me,” the person told What A Day.

Meanwhile, Trump’s team is trying to hide what it’s doing. Here’s a superb explainer about why the list of education contracts that DOGE recently canceled, exclusively obtained by What A Day, wasn’t meant to be public.

DEI, EPA, WTF?

Donald Trump’s attacks on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs and environmental protections are putting disadvantaged communities at long-term risk of contaminated air and water, Climate Correspondent Anya Zoledziowski reports.

Nearly 200 staffers working for the EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights were put on paid administrative leave earlier this month amid the Trump administration’s agency-wide shakeups. Another 1,100 EPA staffers were told that they could be let go on a dime.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Marie Owens-Powell, president of the union representing more than 8,500 EPA employees, who has worked at the agency for over three decades.

This is a big deal because the EPA does a lot that you may not know about. For instance, the EPA makes sure those cleaning solutions under your kitchen sink are safe to use. It also sets rules and regulations, and monitors compliance, for big industries — think: oil and gas or petrochemicals — to curb climate and environmental pollution (that’s often toxic!).

The environmental justice office, specifically, helps those who are most vulnerable to climate change impacts and environmental harm, such as Black, brown, Indigenous, and low-income communities. It's part of a broader theme in this administration: Reducing support for historically marginalized communities.

That means the U.S. is at risk of dirtier air and water, with disadvantaged people likely to bear the brunt of those harms — like higher rates of cancer or asthma. (In a dark twist of irony, that includes low-income white communities that overwhelmingly voted for Trump.)

“What we're losing here is a strong ally in being able to protect our communities across the nation against this major villain,” said Jasmine Gil, the environmental and climate justice lead at HipHop Caucus, a nonprofit aimed at engaging young people in activism.

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WHAT ELSE?

Donald Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenkyy a “dictator without elections” today, ramping up his attacks against the leader while cozying up to actual Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. Ukraine hasn’t held elections in three years because it’s under martial law… because it was invaded by Russia.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered top officials to develop plans to cut 8 percent of the DOD budget annually for five years. The Pentagon budget has increased steadily over the past decade, reaching about $850 billion currently. The U.S. spends way more on defense than any other country, so this isn’t an inherently bad idea imo… but you know these guys. They’ll find a way to make it bad, or weird, or both.

DHS Secretary and known dog-killer Kristi Noem warned employees that they could face lie detector tests to find out if they’ve been leaking to the media. Polygraphs were an obsession of Trump’s during his first term, but TBD on whether they’ll actually be used. Nothing says “freedom of speech!” like subjecting all employees to polygraph tests.

Trump’s executive order to lower the costs of IVF doesn’t actually change policy or make the treatment free, as he promised on the campaign trail. Shocker!

The Department of Agriculture said it accidentally fired several employees who work on the government’s response to the bird flu. The agency is trying to quickly reverse those firings. DOGE’s plan to cut waste and fraud is going sooooo well.

Trump admitted that “inflation is back,” but added, of course, “I had nothing to do with that.” Reminder: Trump pledged to bring down prices on Day 1, and there’s no sign that inflation is going down soon. Americans’ approval rating of Trump dipped slightly since he took office, driven by economic concerns, according to a new poll.

Donald Trump raised around $500 million during his presidential transition by hosting glitzy dinners with health care and pharmaceutical industry executives, who paid millions of dollars to attend, according to the Wall Street Journal. “Everybody who is anybody went down,” to Florida to meet with Trump, a New York City executive told the outlet. “It was a proactive effort to not be a target.” Another promising sign for democracy, love it.

With President Elon Musk in office, Trump has found a lot of time to golf — spending over $10 million in taxpayer money hobbling around the green, according to HuffPost. There has been a golf trip every weekend since he took office, and he’s played nine times on his own properties already, the outlet reports. This must be why he tolerates having Elon around.

Famed sports commentator Stephen A. Smith put Democrats on blast for being out of touch with average voters. “It is an utter embarrassment to the Democratic Party that I am a candidate in people’s eyes,” Smith told Pod Save America, referencing rumors that he might run for president (he’s not gonna). It would be fun to see him debate Trump, though…

LET'S MEET, IRL

We just added 12 new live shows in Los Angeles from March through May! Joined by some very special guests, Lovett will be breaking down the biggest and dumbest stories in politics to help you keep up with and laugh at the news, even in these bad/bleak/oh god times. Don't miss tomorrow's show at the Dynasty Typewriter in LA, with special guests Tom Green & Nori Reed. Get tickets now at crooked.com/events!

Rapper A$AP Rocky was found not guilty on two felony counts of assault with a gun. He faced up to 24 years in prison if convicted. “Thank y’all for saving my life,” he told jurors, after diving into the arms of his girlfriend, Rihanna.

An underweight baby seal was rescued from the streets of Connecticut and is recovering at an aquarium, where it’s being fed as much fish as it wants. “We assumed he was here to try the clam pizza but I can’t confirm that, we’re just happy he’s safe,” a New Haven police officer said, referencing Pepe’s famous white clam pie. I bet the seal would love that, too! Give it a slice!