OG "Liberal Giants" of Journalism got coopted by the Right
(C11) President Biden was everyone's favorite punching bag. But, when it comes to Trump, certain journalists are afraid to lay a glove on him. What gives?
There are plenty of sports commentators who cross over into cultural and political commentary, who were happy to pile on the Biden Presidency, yet are conspicuously silent during Trump’s second reign! Honestly, despite the chagrin of some of their more liberal readers, I’m not sure how relevant their current silence is.
However, there are a few Journalists who many consider to be media giants in their own right, who are so focused on digging up old (false) grievances, that they are too stuck in still re-litigating the 2016 Presidential Election and how RUSSIA WAS NOT INVOLVED in meddling, that they appear to be completely absent to the present.
Some people reading this might already know who that veiled shot was against. But for others who are less attuned to certain reporters who have crossed over as media celebrities, I’m talking about Matt Taibbi, the once celebrated Gonzo Journalist1 from Rolling Stone (magazine). Taibbi was often viewed as the rightful successor to the late great, Hunter S. Thompson, many moons ago.
Matt Taibbi makes a small fortune from paying Substack subscribers. He was one of the few journalistic voices that I felt was most effective at cutting through the partisan divide. Sadly, his tales have grown stale over the last few years. He appears stuck in an endless loop of talking about the lack of evidence on Russian Collusion during the Presidential 2016 election.
Of course, Taibbi writes about other things. But nothing seems quite that relevant as compared to when Taibbi wrote an incredible book on the financial housing crisis2 of 2008.
Taibbi sourced so much of that book from the deep reporting he did over the years about how the wealthy banks deliberately mislead lower-middle class homeowners, giving these home-owners balloon mortgages, that even your more financially stable/well-to-do people might have trouble paying off. Thus, creating a cataclysmic scenario, where millions of homes went into foreclosure, ruining families lives and crippling the economy at the very start of Obama’s Presidency in 2009.
I can’t recall the last time Taibbi has written anything critical of Trump.
There is no talk by Taibbi of how the Trump lead tax-cut bill puts a wrecking ball through Medicaid and Medicare. There’s no talk by Taibi how in that very tax code, Trump made sure there was a provision in it, making it harder for Judges to hold public officials in contempt of court.
One of my favorite books of Taibbi’s was “Hate Inc.: Why today’s media makes us despise one another”3.
I wrote a brief review on the book and can’t help but be disappointed with how Taibbi fails to take his own advice.
The very problems Taibbi wrote so eloquently about in that book, about our political and media landscape, is now something he is actually contributing to in a substantially destructive way.
There is a very powerful, yet harrowing movie/documentary called The Social Dilemma that shows how disconnected we actually are as a people.
It displays how devastating the news industry is in propagandizing versions of the truth, that all make us dislike and utterly distrust one another. The documentary is quite similar in its thesis, much in the same way Taibbi’s aforementioned book is.
The Social Dilemma has been on Netflix4 since 2020, and it’s also on YouTube for free.
Sadly, I know too many people that are happy to see Trump kneecap the government. While I have spoken to others who immediately regretted voting for Trump within a week of him being in office.
Quote from someone I know who is very bullish on Trump.
“One party controls the media, academics, the bureaucracies and the culture. The other is taking a machete to it”.
The same person quoted above also says the corruption within the Democratic Party goes to the bone. And when I hear this, it makes me realize why Trump being gifted a plane from Qatar worth hundreds of millions of dollars, really is only a big deal to those who oppose him.
Apparently, corruption is only called out when the opposition acts on it. Otherwise, it’s just a partisan fight. We as a country have been operating like this for decades.
Granted, with this new tax bill, and the cuts to Medicaid and Medicare potentially being devastating, many of the working-class people in Trump’s corner might feel a bit differently, once they realize what has happened to them.
Just like the legal residents who supported Trump in 2024, who had family members who are citizens who voted for him. Once your family member gets illegally deported, Trump no longer seems like such a good guy, but no-one was thinking about that on Election Day.
And it has been said enough times to make people sick, but Trump is largely a manifestation of what millions of people in America dreamed for. There were legions of conservative thinkers and strategists licking their chops waiting for a second Trump term. These people had a grand vision and plan for how to destroy the Government, and Democracy along with it.
The Nation (magazine) - had an interesting write up on Taibbi recently. Two of his best pals who also once upon a time, stood for journalistic integrity, (but are turn-coats like him), were featured in the article as well.
What’s a Rebel Pundit to Do in the Age of Trump? Supposedly contrarian journalists like Bari Weiss, Matt Taibbi, and Glenn Greenwald have a problem: The current establishment loves them.
By Eoin Higgins, THE NATION (magazine/online) March 07, 2025
As Higgins points out in his article Taibbi is now a conservative culture warrior, who has run out of new ideas. Not only that, but he contradicts himself on certain issues. When he doesn’t’ contradict himself, he now flat-out avoids certain issues that he used to have no problems weighing in on.
The evolution of *Bari Weiss5 is something to marvel at as well. Given her credentials as a former liberal journalist from the NY Times to her being a leading voice in the Zionist movement here in America, her trajectory is (sadly) not as puzzling to me.
The continuing war/humanitarian-crisis in Israel on the Gaza Strip, needs more exposure than the American Press has been giving it. (This certainly has been the case as of late). The tentacles and fall-out from October 7th, 2023, has been far-reaching in ways, few people outside of Trump’s orbit ever could have predicted.
Expect a follow-up piece soon, that touches more on the mysterious heel-turn by Taibbi, as well as the evolution of Bari Weiss, and how this all intersects with the current War in Gaza.
Until next time!
-JPJ
PS - And if you have not seen the movie The Social Dilemma yet, please do! It is a truly powerful documentary.
Gonzo Journalism - a style of reporting that places the reporter at the center of the story in a highly personal and participatory way. The gonzo journalist relays facts in a subjective manner and typically employs satire, hyperbole, scathing critique, and shocking descriptions as part of the story. The creation of gonzo journalism is credited to American writer Hunter S. Thompson, who first introduced this subjective style in an article for Scanlan’s Monthly magazine in 1970. https://www.britannica.com/topic/gonzo-journalism
Part II of "5 books I have gifted the most"
The whole idea of books being gifted was a question I got from Tim Ferriss and his very popular podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show. At the end of each episode Tim Ferriss would ask his guest which book or books they gifted the most. The logic behind his question is if you ask about a book you frequently give away as a gift, you are less likely to bring up th…
Jacobs brings his signature fire to this critique, calling out journalistic drift with the precision of a surgeon and the passion of a fan at Game 7. While his liberal lens is unmistakable, his frustration is refreshingly grounded in a desire for consistency and accountability across the board. It’s a spirited piece that reminds us: when your favorite watchdogs start napping, someone’s got to bark.