“Morning Joe” smugness about Trump gets unbearable… Washington Free Beacon’s David Rutz has had it with Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski‘s bragging that they were the only journalists on the planet to see Donald Trump’s success long before the rest of the universe. Rutz points out that the media pair didn’t necessarily predict The Donald’s success. He lists a whole bunch of soundbites from the last few months. A sampling: “We saw it coming.” “We got it right.” And the most obnoxious of all: “We just can actually look at the Earth and see that the Sun goes down and that it’s actually not flat.” The accompanying music is perfection. Watch the video that will make you want to throw up here.
“Oh…like breakfast cereal.” — Danny Bonaduce on whether he’s taken opioids like the ones Prince took. He appeared on CNN Thursday. Host Brooke Baldwin admitted she, too, took an opioid: “I tore my ACL. I had knee surgery back when I was like 18. I took a Percocet and I swear I saw an elephant in my bed. …I had no tolerance for that at the time.”
Confessional: ‘I helped create Donald Trump’… Susan Mulcahy, former editor of NYP‘s “Page Six,” admits that in the 80s she helped create the “myth” that is Donald Trump. And she’s “very very sorry.” As she explained it, “The perfect Page Six item, we liked to say, was one that guided its readers down the corridors of power and had a very good time on the journey.” She talks about all the lies Trump told and there are so many she can barely catalog them all: “Trump seemed an ideal subject for us, as apt a symbol of the gaudy 1980s as a Christian Lacroix pouf skirt—and just as shiny and inflated. Lacroix at least used excellent materials. Trump turned out to be the king of ersatz. Not just fake, but false. He lied about everything, with gusto. But that was not immediately apparent. Not to me, anyway. ...If Trump said, ‘Good morning,’ you could be pretty sure it was five o’clock in the afternoon.” The author came to “dislike him so intensely.” Read the whole piece here.
Paul Ryan is always so damn happy… The Daily Beast‘s Olivia Nuzzi tackles the subject of how and why House Speaker Paul Ryan always appears to be so happy no matter what bullshit is going on with his party. Nuzzi writes, “Ryan is now the real life version of the meme of the dog saying ‘This is fine’ and having a cup of coffee while his kitchen is engulfed in flames.” Read the rest here.
A bunch of speechwriters explain why this season’s campaign speeches are so terrible…Slate’s Seth Stevenson spoke to eight speechwriters on both sides of the aisle — some anonymous, some friends — and deduced that we don’t have great speeches this year because voters want authenticity. In turn, the candidates lack oratory skills. At least any that will be worth remembering, explained Stevenson, who said we’ve been spoiled by President Obama‘s talent for giving speeches. — Read here.