Quote of the Day:

“I have configured Twitter specifically to avoid seeing what strangers say about me and I think I would be even more sure to do that if I were Bret Stephens.”

— Josh Barro, business writer, New York Mag.

MOOD: “Off Twitter for a few hours and um do I want to know why people are uh you know what forget I said anything.” — Olivier Knox, chief D.C. correspondent, SiriusXM.

Publicist got trigged by ABC’s GMA, now she’s taking up ballet 

The backstory: GMA co-host Lara Spencer offended some people when she joked about Prince George taking ballet. She has apologized for her remarks. She cracked, “I have news for you Prince William, we’ll see how long that lasts.” You can hear George Stephanopoulos laughing. Detractors said Spencer contributed to bullying.

“When I was a kid, ballet was something I really wanted to do but knew I would never be able to in my conservative environment. The recent remarks on @GMA were painful to hear + struck a personal nerve. So, I just registered for my first class at the Washington School of Ballet. I plan to fall down a lot, but I will look gorgeous while doing so. It is decided.” — Charlotte Clymer, publicist, Human Rights Campaign.

BuzzFeed reporter discusses her angst about boyfriends and bed sheets 

Please note…I added punctuation into her comments to make them easier to understand.

“I never wish I was in a relationship more than when i need to put sheets on my bed. Why can’t someone else do this for me or offer me an alternate second bed in which to sleep? Why is this my job? Would anyone like to date me? This sucks.” — Julia Reinstein, BuzzFeed. “Should I just copy and paste this tweet into my dating app bios?”

Ex-Politico reporter Peter Sterne asked, “If you’re not in a relationship, do you even need to put sheets on the bed?”

Sterne founded U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, where he is an advocacy journalist.

Kellyanne Conway’s Husband Spends The Morning Insulting Trump 

It’s only a little after 11 a.m. Tuesday, and George Conway is already going off the rails on President Trump‘s supposed mental condition.

He began at 8:02 a.m.

• “Trump’s envy is an element of his narcissism, of course.”
• He posted diagnostic criteria on narcissistic personality disorder and invited readers to look at #8. Which reads, “Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her.”
• He retweets bitter ex-Trump aide Anthony Scaramucci and writes, “This will inflict further narcissistic injury upon the malignant-narcissist-in-Chief, and thus will trigger more narcissistic rage. It’s a vicious downward spiral. @realDonaldTrump is only going to get worse.” (RELATED: Scaramucci Self-Sabotages With Major Plug For Mark Halperin’s New Book)
• He retweets an Axios article saying that Trump’s approval ratings in battleground states are plunging.
• “The ultimate difficulty for @realDonaldTrump is that his pathology causes him to do things that inflict more narcissistic injury upon him. He does crazy things, earns criticism for doing those crazy things, prompting him to behave more crazily.”
• “At the same time, apart from narcissistic rage, another of the malignant narcissist’s defense mechanisms is the creation of an alternative reality—he lies to himself and the world to convince himself of his greatness, as a salve for his deeply sensitive ego.”
• “As he spirals downward, these lies will only grow more extreme, and he will become further and further detached from reality.”

Jim Sciutto has an interesting narrative about the word ‘narrative’ 

“Let’s please ban the word ‘narrative’ from our discussion of the news and this president. There is only one version of the facts and the truth. Full stop.” — Jim Sciutto, CNN.

Andrew Egger, The Bulwark, cracked, “‘Facts don’t care about your feelings’ is a tiresome line.”

The Federalist Has An Enemy 

“Tomorrow a blog will attempt to doxx one of our supporters. Not a big one – we have no big money supporters. They will do this because they want to shut us down. We know where it came from. Very fitting to come after us this of all weekends. Says a lot.” — Ben Domenech, publisher, The Federalist.

Rolling Stone writer says she has been called worse than a ‘bedbug’ 

“Someone once found a Facebook photo of me with my then-2-month old and made a meme accusing me of raping and mutilating him and I don’t even think I reported it to Twitter, let alone emailed the guy’s boss. But yeah calling someone a bedbug is p mean tho.” — EJ Dickson.

George Bush had a do not feed order for his fat dog, Ranger

A “Do not feed me” badge is pretty rough https://t.co/9hvzR8YGTW

— Jonathan Lemire (@JonLemire) August 26, 2019

CJR writer seeks dog advice on International Dog Day 

“So I’m finishing my second book, wrapping up freelance articles, moving, and starting a new job, so I should finally get a dog, right?” — Lyz Lenz, writer, Columbia Journalism Review.

Influencer is appalled by food choices of a ‘person he respects’ 

“Just found out that someone I respect is one of those people who doesn’t mind eating food that’s cold even though it’s meant to be warm. Not talking about pizza, but many other foods! Smh.” — Yashar Ali, Twitter Cruise Director, writer, HuffPost, New York Mag.

Autistic D.C. journo asks questions for a book 

“#AskingAutistics Making another mass call to #ActuallyAutistic people for book research: What have been your experiences dealing with journalists, what are the main frustrations you have faced with media? What are your main complaints about autistic portrayals in news media.” — Eric Michael Garcia, associate editor, The Hill. 

Gossip Roundup 

“Joe Walsh on MSNBC: ‘I wouldn’t call myself a racist, but I’ve said racist things on Twitter.'” — Aaron Blake, Washington Post. (RELATED: Joe Walsh Loses His Radio Show) 

NewsBusters Managing Editor Curtis Houck: “CNN and MSNBC are SO thirsty for Joe Walsh.”

The Federalist’s publisher Ben Domenech asks, “What is the oddest interaction you ever had with a celebrity?” He’ll start: “Saw Dave Chappelle on the street in Las Vegas. Yelled ‘funniest man alive, love you, you rock’. He said ‘thanks man’. I wish I had thought of something better.”

Couple appears on CNN panel — together

“Save it for the air!” — @RyanLizza, to me, anytime I try to argue with him before we go on TV together. pic.twitter.com/4eMfknB3G0

— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) August 26, 2019

Axios Vs. the White House 

The issue: The site’s Jonathan Swan reported that Trump floated the idea of using nukes to push hurricanes away from the U.S. Trump has vehemently denied ever saying this.

President Trump at 5: 25 a.m. Monday: “The story by Axios that President Trump wanted to blow up large hurricanes with nuclear weapons prior to reaching shore is ridiculous. I never said this. Just more FAKE NEWS!”

 David Bossie, Fox News contributor, former deputy campaign manager for Trump: “Axios is working overtime to be the worst in the fake news business.”

Asawin Suebsaeng, The Daily Beast: “Not that @jonathanvswan or @margaretttalev need any backup on this, but for whatever little it’s worth, two sources with knowledge confirmed the Trump-nuke-bomb-hurricanes story to me today. Didn’t tweet or write anything yet cuz still making calls to try to advance it, but fwiw.”

Mark Dice, pro-Trump YouTube personality: “The media in America these days is worse than the grocery store tabloids. They just make up stories from their imaginations to get clicks and smear the President.”

A Q about Tomi Lahren’s gym clothing line… “Good morning @AlexoAthletica Quick yes or no question when you get a chance. Is your new Tomi Lahren “Freedom” athleisure line all manufactured here in the United States?” — Andy Lassner, executive producer, The Ellen Show. 

Bret Stephens lets the bedbugs bite. (RELATED: Thin-Skinned Bret Stephens Leaves Twitter Over ‘Bedbug’ Insult) 

WaPo opinion writer mocks Stephens: “I would welcome the opportunity for you to come to my home, meet my tiny baby, hold my tiny baby, and admire my tiny baby, and then maybe call me names and shit.” — Elizabeth Bruenig.

Yashar Ali  with a serious thought on this: “I’ve gotten literal death threats from people and I haven’t taken the time to track down and email their bosses. Threats emailed to me directly – not even a tweet!”