29 October 19
FOCUS: Matt Taibbi | Baghdadi Story Reveals Divided - and Broken - News Media
Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone
Taibbi writes: "Donald Trump was correct when he tweeted Saturday night that something 'big' had happened, but from there, America received two almost completely different versions of the story of al-Baghdadi's pursuit and suicide."
Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone
Taibbi writes: "Donald Trump was correct when he tweeted Saturday night that something 'big' had happened, but from there, America received two almost completely different versions of the story of al-Baghdadi's pursuit and suicide."
EXCERPT:
Apparently, the salient facts about the death of al-Baghdadi included:
- Trump didn’t “inform some key Democrats” about the operation;
- Trump “notified Russians… before telling congressional leaders”;
- The Baghdadi raid was “complicated” by Trump’s plans to withdraw from Syria, happening “in spite of” Trump, not because of him;
- The raid was a “victory built on factors Trump derides” (i.e., it was a win by intelligence agencies Trump has criticized);
- Trump’s gloating tone contrasted with the more “measured” tone of Barack Obama after the bin Laden operation;
- The operation was like watching a movie, except “there was no live audio” (this was the New York Times where the “whimpering and crying” detail came from);
- Trump is going to “milk” the political benefit of Baghdadi because he needs to, because of impeachment and other problems;
- Trump’s situation room photo appeared more “staged” than Obama’s, experts said. In fact, they were taken before the raid even happened!
That last story – that Trump’s situation room photo was taken nearly two hours after the raid happened, undercutting the notion that Trump was “watching a movie” – flew around the Internet for hours before it turned out to have been based on an error. Actual news outlets noted the presence of unplugged Ethernet cables, like moon landing conspiracists pointing out suspicious shadows. It should be noted that similar absurdities directed toward Obama rocketed around the Internet after the bin Laden news broke.
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