"Rogue." That's Fox News's word this weekend for the two Republican senators holding up Todd Blanche's nomination for attorney general: "Trump blasts rogue GOP senators for blocking Blanche nomination."
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Quick reminder of what the rogue behavior actually is. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis want the Justice Department to put in writing that a $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund โ created in a settlement of Trump's own IRS lawsuit, money that could have flowed to people charged over January 6 โ is really, truly dead. That's the mutiny. They asked for a receipt.
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"Rogue" is a fun word. It's for cops who go off-book, spies who burn their handlers, elephants that flatten a village. It is not usually for senators requesting paperwork from a department whose same settlement, per NPR's reporting, also included a sweeping immunity deal for the president, his family and his businesses on past tax audits. That detail didn't make Fox's headline. Headlines are small, we get it.
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But here's the best part: the man Fox is being furious on behalf of isn't furious. Trump, talking to reporters at his Camp David cabinet meeting, on Cornyn: "I don't really blame him, to be honest with you. I endorsed his opponent." That's the whole feud, per Trump himself โ a primary grudge he admits he started. Fox's headline is angrier than the guy it's defending.
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When your framing outruns your own source material, you're not covering the fight anymore. You're the guy at the window yelling "let them fight" while both boxers are shaking hands.
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NPR headlined the same saga: "Trump says he 'may' pull Blanche AG nomination temporarily." Flat? Sure. But every word of it survives paragraph nine, which is where you learn Cornyn and Tillis are both leaving office in January anyway โ these are two guys on their way out the door asking for one piece of paper on their way past the desk.
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Two Republican senators asked for a written guarantee before making the president's former defense lawyer the country's top law-enforcement officer. There are lots of words for that. "Rogue" is the one that makes the asking the scandal.
โFox's headline is angrier than the guy it's defending.โ
Comments (5)
deadline_dan
trump refusing to be mad was not on my bingo card for this year
7h ago
media101prof
Note the mechanics: the conflict frame requires an antagonist, so one was manufactured โ and then the supposed victim declined the role.
10h ago
CorkCynic
'rogue' is such a telling word. two lads voted their conscience and its framed like a heist film
18h ago
SkepticalSue
So Fox invented a rebellion that Trump himself says doesn't exist? Plus catholique que le pape.
20h ago
BiasBingo
Fox being angrier than Trump about Trumps own nomination is a genuinely funny data point. Rogue, for asking for a receipt.