The Mirror

Afternoon Mirror: Male Journos Flirt And Fight About Morality And Who’s More Relevant

By TheDC

Betsy Rothstein Gossip blogger
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Quote of the Day:

“George Conway is famous not for being a lawyer or a Trump critic. But for treating his wife like dirt.” 

Will Chamberlain, editor, publisher, Human Events. (RELATED: The Mirror Questionnaire With Human Events Honcho Will Chamberlain)

MOOD: “It brings me no pleasure to report that I have read Don Jr.’s book.” — Slate’s Ashley Feinberg. Read her piece here. Among other things, Feinberg razzes Trump Jr. for how many times he mentions that his girlfriend is ex-FNCer Kimberly Guilfoyle, which is at least four times. (RELATED: Whoopi Goldberg Wouldn’t Shake Don. Jr.’s Hand On ‘The View’)

Does CNN have dementia? 

“Whether or not you can read a [sic] write could be a factor in your ability to stave off dementia as you grow older, according to a new study from scientists at Columbia University.” — CNN.

FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! 

The Fighters: Fox News’s Greg Gutfeld and The Atlantic‘s David Frum.

Start Time: Saturday morning 7:47 a.m.

End Time: Saturday afternoon 4:29 p.m.

Who started it? Frum.

Over the weekend, Gutfeld and Frum, a former speechwriter to former President George W. Bush, got into a Twitter tussle. The whole thing appears to have started when Gutfeld dismissed charges of bribery against Trump. “Life on earth is bribery,” Gutfeld said on FNC’s “The Five.”

FRUM: “One of those comments that reveals more about the speaker than the subject-matter.”

GUTFELD: “One day Frumpy you’re just gunna [sic] have to get over me. Try clawing back from your irrelevence [sic] and I’ll let you valet my car.”

FRUM: “Maybe I could valet your conscience for you instead? It seems small, nimble, and easy to park.”

Frum began sifting through old Gutfeld scripts and posting them.

FRUM: “In 2014, @greggutfeld did an author event at the George W. Bush presidential library. President Bush’s involvement with the “axis of evil” was rather greater than mine. And Greg’s principles – if that’s the word – are evidently MUCH more elastic than mine.”

FRUM: “Here’s @greggutfeld in 2013 praising George W. Bush’s Axis of Evil speech.”

Frum asked Gutfeld, “You know your scripts are searchable on line, right?”

In the thread, Gutfeld posed a question to no one in particular, “What’s it like to be so sad and bitter?”

(RELATED: David Frum Gets Himself In Hot Water, Quietly Wonders If Serena Williams Used Steroids)

NYT‘s Maggie Haberman trolls Donald Trump 

HABERMAN: “Amazing that the bestseller list is consistently the only part of our paper he doesn’t blast as fake.”

President Trump tweeted, “Congratulations Kimberley. Great book!” He’s referring to WSJ Potomac Watch Columnist Kim Strassel: Exciting news! ‘Resistance’ made the New York Times bestseller list! My humble thanks to all who helped make that happen, and my hopes plenty more get a chance to read it!”

NYT‘s culture writer Sopan Deb chimed in, saying, “For the record, I will blast it as fake if my book doesn’t make the list please don’t judge me.”

Journo drinks son’s baby milk 

“Baby son has a cold. Just accidentally drank his milk instead of my iced tea. Had both in my hands. RIP me.” — Jason Howerton, TheBlaze.

Ex-Deadspin writer now has time to sing to his wife 

“I’ve written some stories and worked on other stuff but I think what I’m proudest of since I quit my job is making my wife laugh by drowsily singing the words ‘clothing time’ to the tune of Semisonic’s Closing Time while she got dressed a couple hours before my alarm went off.” — David Roth, former writer, Deadspin.

Travel Bitches 

Traveling, vintage bag, Shutterstock.

“There is nothing worse than being seated in the middle seat on a plane with some moron playing music videos out loud on his phone (no headphones) and a sick woman coughing all over me/spitting her flem into a plastic bag. This is my Hell.” — Henry Rodgers, congressional reporter, the Daily Caller.

NYT swipes writer from The Atlantic 

“I’m so excited to share that I’m joining the New York Times as a national political reporter, covering the 2020 campaign and contributing to the Times magazine. I feel incredibly lucky.” — Elaina Plott, who previously covered the White House for The Atlantic. Read the NYT note on her announcement here.

Daily Beast reporter wanted more swearing in his book 

“Reviewing some pages of our book on Trumpworld, (preorder at the threaded tweet below, due out Feb. 2020…) & it’s striking to me how much @lachlan made me cut down on my swearing. So when u pick up the book & there’s roughly 3 dozens fewer ‘fuckings’ or ‘motherfuckings.'”

Asawin Suebsaeng, The Daily Beast. Check out the book here. It’s called Sinking in the Swamp: How Trump’s Minions and Misfits Poisoned Washington. By Lachlan Markay and Asawin Suebsaeng.

Journalist is shocked when a stranger insults him on social media

“Most times I don’t respond to tweets from trolls, but I genuinely don’t get the cruelty here. My job of 5 years ends tomorrow. I post a pic of my friends who I’ll miss dearly. So this guy, who I don’t know…shits all over my appearance? Why? To feel important ruining my day?” — Bryan Behar, TV writer, HuffPost blogger.

Gossip Roundup 

Preventative healthcare Trump style: “Visited a great family of a young man under major surgery at the amazing Walter Reed Medical Center. Those are truly some of the best doctors anywhere in the world. Also began phase one of my yearly physical. Everything very good (great!). Will complete next year.”

CNN reporters obviously thinks the whole thing is incredibly weird… Here.

Three days ago… The Atlantic covered Trump’s “cognitive decline.” The headline makes that clear: “The President’s Cognitive Decline.” But the story is really about many of the aging presidential hopefuls, their ages and varying states of neurological health. The piece says Trump can’t hold his “train of thought.” There’s also a large chunk about Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden being “slower to find words.”

For Donald Trump Jr. and Kellyanne Conway’s hubby, this is bickering 

DONALD TRUMP JR.: “A guy who routinely & publicly embarrasses his wife by attacking her boss for the purpose of getting retweets and building his own brand is giving lectures on honor, integrity & decency. I’m sure your family really appreciates it, George. You’re a disgrace.”

GEORGE CONWAY: “By the way, I’m not building a brand because I’m not selling anything. And I’m not selling anything because I’ve worked for three decades at a job that my father didn’t get me.”

Cheri Jacobus complains about access journalism 

“Many in the media should be ashamed at how you’ve protected some of Trump’s thugs because you relied on them as a source and for quotes, too lazy to do the work you’re hired to do, so you take the easy way out and get info and quotes from proven liars.” — Cheri Jacobus, pundit, #NeverTrumper.

Patrick Howley goes off on The Hill 

“Fake reporters for ‘The Hill’ and similar garbage must feel deeply embarrassed for going along with this with a straight face, typing up their dreck. Oh wait, they are incapable of feeling shame. Not smart enough.” — Patrick Howley, The Epoch Times.

And this: “Well, the lines in Conservative Civil War seem to be drawn, pitting every random progressive Hall Monitor type who scolded me for my jokes at some event against all people who are, like, conservatives trying to do interesting stuff. Pretty easy for me to NOT side with my DC peers.”

Human Rights Campaign spokeswoman says she never asked for her ‘giant dick’ 

“Sweetie, I have never claimed to be perfect and never asked for this giant dick, but I’m looking forward to a vaginal upgrade someday. In the meantime, although your obsession with my gorgeous dick is somewhat understandable, it’s neither welcome nor healthy. Happy Holidays!” — Charlotte Clymer, spokeswoman for Human Rights Campaign.

Twitter user @Christinidis wrote her, saying,  “But you have a dick.”

Speaking of dicks… 

“I don’t know who needs to hear this, but as I was walking down the street on Capitol Hill I heard a guy on his phone say, ‘Hi, Dick. It’s Dick.'” — Ali Rogin, PBS NewsHour.

Things heat up… between SNL‘s Pete Davidson, 26, and Kaia Gerber, 18. Here.

Meanwhile…Davidson’s ex-girlfriend, Ariana Grande, has a sinus infection. Here.

Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders shows off post heart attack basketball skills. Here.

Noah Schactman digs into Roger Stone 

“Worth noting that Roger Stone tried to bully, intimidate, gaslight, and demean just about every young female reporter he encountered. This went on and on, while so many men in media treated him as a lovable scamp.” — Noah Schactman, executive editor, The Daily Beast.

Note to Readers: This is not even close to being my experience with Roger Stone.

It also doesn’t appear to be Olivia Nuzzi‘s, who used to work for The Daily Beast, and who dined with Stone last week at The Palm in Washington, D.C. Here.