The Destructionists, page 46
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based its Russia probe on information: Charlie Savage, “How a Trump Decision Revealed a G.O.P. Memo’s Shaky Foundation,” The New York Times, July 22, 2018.
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“shithole countries”: Ali Vitali, Kasie Hunt, and Frank V. Thorp, “Trump Referred to Haiti and African Nations as ‘Shithole’ Countries,” NBC News, January 11, 2018. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-referred-haiti-african-countries-shithole-nations-n836946.
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“excellent health”: Dan Merica, “Dr. Ronny Jackson’s Glowing Bill of Health for Trump,” CNN, January 16, 2018. https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/16/politics/dr-ronny-jackson-donald-trump-clean-bill-of-health/index.html.
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“there was in fact no collusion”: Alan Neuhauser, “Barr Says Mueller Report Found ‘No Collusion,’ ” U.S. News & World Report, April 18, 2019. https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2019-04-18/attorney-general-barr-says-mueller-report-found-no-collusion.
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“public confusion”: Joshua Barajas, “Read Mueller’s Letter to William Barr About Russia Report: ‘There Is Now Public Confusion,’ ” PBS NewsHour, May 1, 2019. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/read-muellers-letter-to-william-barr-about-russia-report-there-is-now-public-confusion.
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“democracy can’t work”: Katelyn Polantz, Veronica Rocha, Meg Wagner, and Brian Ries, “Paul Manafort Sentenced,” CNN, March 13, 2019. https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/paul-manafort-sentencing-dc/h_c3686eb818d9f27b5c4471a94d057884.
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“policy of separating families at the border”: “DHS Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen Denies Family Separation Policy Exists, Blames Media,” CBS News, June 18, 2018. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dhs-sec-kirstjen-nielsen-denies-family-separation-policy-exists-blames-media/.
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“scrambling to reverse-engineer policies”: Philip Rucker and Ashley Parker, “ ‘In the Service of Whim’: Officials Scramble to Make Trump’s False Assertions Real,” The Washington Post, October 23, 2018.
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“unknown Middle Easterners”: Linda Qiu, “Trump’s Evidence-Free Claims About the Migrant Caravan,” The New York Times, October 22, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/22/us/politics/migrant-caravan-fact-check.html.
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White House officials doctored a video: Christopher Brito, “White House Accused of Sharing ‘Doctored’ Video of CNN Reporter, Intern Exchange,” CBS News, November 8, 2018. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jim-acosta-sarah-sanders-cnn-reporter-white-house-intern-video-doctored/.
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“I’m going to punt on that”: Jonathan Topaz, “Walker ‘Punts’ on Evolution Question,” Politico, February 11, 2015. https://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/scott-walker-avoids-evolution-question-115117.
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“based more on exaggerations, personal agendas”: “Lamar Smith Says He Won’t Be Seeking Reelection,” Associated Press, November 2, 2017. https://apnews.com/article/e5e2431549984746939bbd39f46a7845.
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“take your guns”: Celine Castrunuovo, “Cawthorn: Biden Door-to-Door Vaccine Strategy Could Be Used to ‘Take’ Guns, Bibles,” The Hill, July 9, 2021. https://thehill.com/homenews/house/562372-cawthorn-biden-door-to-door-vaccine-strategy-could-be-used-to-take-guns-bibles.
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“KGB-style”: Jason Smith, Twitter, July 17, 2021. https://twitter.com/jasonsmithmo/status/1416559177737064451.
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impose mask mandates: Shawna Chen and Oriana Gonzalez, “DeSantis Issues Order Barring Florida Schools from Mandating Masks,” Axios, July 30, 2021. https://www.axios.com/covid-masks-florida-schools-desantis-1ed7d9c7-817a-47a9-8b62-06f2f056030d.html.
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“tyrannical”: Leah Willingham, “Mississippi Governor Calls Biden Vaccine Mandate ‘Tyranny,’ ” Associated Press, September 10, 2021. https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-health-coronavirus-pandemic-mississippi-tate-reeves-546dfb92122b16daa903622c59e92032.
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osteopath Sherri Tenpenny: Andrea Salcedo, “A Doctor Falsely Told Lawmakers Vaccines Magnetize People: ‘They Can Put a Key on Their Forehead. It Sticks,’ ” The Washington Post, June 9, 2021.
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Tucker Carlson: Charlotte Alter, “Talking with Tucker Carlson, the Most Powerful Conservative in America,” Time, July 15, 2021. https://time.com/6080432/tucker-carlson-profile/.
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“force people to take medicine”: Tiffany Hsu, “Despite Outbreaks Among Unvaccinated, Fox News Hosts Smear Shots,” The New York Times, July 11, 2021.
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Pew Research Center: Alec Tyson et al., “Majority in U.S. Says Public Health Benefits of COVID-19 Restrictions Worth the Costs, Even as Large Shares Also See Downsides,” Pew Research Center, September 15, 2021. https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2021/09/15/majority-in-u-s-says-public-health-benefits-of-covid-19-restrictions-worth-the-costs-even-as-large-shares-also-see-downsides/.
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Fox News viewers: Harry Enten, “How Fox News Viewers Are Less Likely to Get Vaccinated,” CNN, July 26, 2021. https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/25/politics/fox-news-viewers-analysis/index.html.
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September 2021 analysis: David Leonhardt, “U.S. Covid Deaths Get Even Redder,” The New York Times, November 8, 2021.
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“don’t trust”: Caitlin Owens, “Prominent Republicans Find New Enthusiasm for COVID-19 Vaccines,” Axios, July 22, 2021. https://www.axios.com/republicans-coronavirus-vaccines-resistance-trump-a02544f7-c3ee-443a-a2f7-ab9c83e86c98.html.
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“Three Million Votes”: Dana Milbank, “Trump’s ‘News’ Source: Alien Lizards, Fluoride Mind Control and Voter Fraud,” The Washington Post, November 28, 2016.
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“Gitmo prisoners”: Jenna Johnson, “Trump’s Split Screen: A Two-Hour Virtual Conversation Between the President and ‘Fox & Friends,’ ” The Washington Post, March 7, 2017.
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“silence conservative voices”: Ashley Hoffman, “Donald Trump Said He Doesn’t Watch Cable News. His Tweets Show He Does,” Time, December 11, 2017.
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school shooting survivor: John Kruzel, “School Shooting Survivor Claims CNN Asked Him to Read ‘Scripted’ Question,” PolitiFact, February 23, 2018. https://www.politifact.com/article/2018/feb/23/school-shooting-survivor-claims-cnn-asked-him-read/.
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Trump appeared: Dana Milbank, “Sean Hannity, Trump’s Spin ‘Doctor,’ ” The Washington Post, August 22, 2016.
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private jet: Dana Bash and Dylan Byers, “Sources: Sean Hannity Flew Gingrich to Trump Meeting,” CNN, July 13, 2016. https://www.cnn.com/2016/07/13/politics/newt-gingrich-sean-hannity-fox-news-donald-trump/index.html.
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“destroying everything”: Dartunnoro Clark, “Fox News Hosts, Donald Trump Jr. Asked Meadows to Get Trump to Call Off Rioters, House Panel Reveals,” NBC News, December 13, 2021. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/fox-news-hosts-texted-meadows-jan-6-saying-trump-needed-n1285921.
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“hurting all of us”: Clark, “Fox News Hosts, Donald Trump Jr. Asked Meadows to Get Trump to Call Off Rioters, House Panel Reveals.”
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“people to leave”: Nicholas Wu and Kyle Cheney, “ ‘He’s Got to Condemn This…,”: “Panel Releases Urgent Jan. 6 Texts from Donald Trump Jr., Lawmakers and Fox Hosts,” Politico, December 13, 2021. https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/13/hes-got-to-condemn-this-shit-panel-releases-urgent-jan-6-texts-from-trump-jr-lawmakers-524188.
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“mostly peaceful”: Adam Serwer, “Fox Hosts Knew—and Lied Anyway,” The Atlantic, December 16, 2021. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/12/mark-meadows-january-6-texts-fox-news-anchors/621032/.
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simply declared: Dana Milbank, “In Trump’s Mind, It’s Always ‘Really Sunny,’ and That’s Terrifying,” The Washington Post, January 27, 2017.
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“This was the largest audience”: Glenn Kessler, “Spicer Earns Four Pinocchios for False Claims on Inauguration Crowd Size,” The Washington Post, January 22, 2017.
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“truth isn’t truth”: Rebecca Morin and David Cohen, “Giuliani: ‘Truth Isn’t Truth,’ ” Politico, August 19, 2018. https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/19/giuliani-truth-todd-trump-788161.
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“their impression”: Christal Hayes and Courtney Subramanian, “GOP Dismisses First Impeachment Hearing as Boring: ‘Everybody Has Their Impression of What Truth Is,’ ” USA Today, November 13, 2019. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/11/13/trump-impeachment-hearing-meadows-gop-dismiss-boring-testimony/4180459002/.
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“really sunny”: Donald Trump, “Remarks by President Trump and Vice President Pence at CIA Headquarters,” The White House, January 21, 2017. https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-vice-president-pence-cia-headquarters/.
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Trump famously redrew a government weather map: Matthew Cappucci and Andrew Freedman, “President Trump Showed a Doctored Hurricane Chart. Was It to Cover Up for ‘Alabama’ Twitter Flub?,” The Washington Post, September 5, 2019.
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“Lying is second nature to him”: Jane Mayer, “Donald Trump’s Ghostwriter Tells All,” The New Yorker, July 18, 2016. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-tells-all.
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“My net worth fluctuates”: Dana Milbank, “Trump’s Not a Liar. He’s a Madman,” The Washington Post, May 29, 2018.
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“paranoid style”: Dana Milbank, “The Great American Crackup Is Underway,” The Washington Post, July 17, 2020.
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Democrats were in cahoots: Dana Milbank, “Trump’s ‘News’ Source: Alien Lizards, Fluoride Mind Control and Voter Fraud,” The Washington Post, November 28, 2016.
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deep state: Dana Milbank, “A Dispatch from Deep State Command,” The Washington Post, October 6, 2017.
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“conduct a campaign”: Transcript, “Fiona Hill and David Holmes Testimony in Front of the House Intelligence Committee,” The Washington Post, November 26, 2019.
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“to Moscow for July 4th”: Dana Milbank, “Opinion: Eight Republicans Pick the Worst Possible Place to Celebrate July 4,” The Washington Post, July 6, 2018.
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Quinnipiac University: Philip Bump, “Three-Quarters of Republicans Trust Trump over the Media,” The Washington Post, July 25, 2018.
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social media’s susceptibility: Craig Silverman, “This Analysis Shows How Viral Fake Election News Stories Outperformed Real News on Facebook,” BuzzFeed News, November 16, 2016. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/viral-fake-election-news-outperformed-real-news-on-facebook.
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“work with my brother man”: Dana Milbank, “Donald Trump Is the Monster the GOP Created,” The Washington Post, July 8, 2015.
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“the comic book version of a presidential campaign”: Elliot Smilowitz, “CNBC Anchor Asks if Trump Is Running ‘Comic Book Version’ of a Campaign,” The Hill, October 28, 2015. https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/gop-primaries/258482-cnbc-anchor-trump-running-comic-book-version-of-a-campaign.
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Post’s “Fact Checker”: Michelle Ye Hee Lee, Glenn Kessler, and Leslie Shapiro, “100 Days of Trump Claims,” The Washington Post, February 21, 2017.
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“I have a gut”: Philip Rucker, Josh Dawsey, and Damian Paletta, “Trump Slams Fed Chair, Questions Climate Change and Threatens to Cancel Putin Meeting in Wide-Ranging Interview with the Post,” The Washington Post, November 27, 2018.
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“healthiest individual ever elected”: Dana Milbank, “This Is What Happens When a Stable Genius Leads a Stupid Country,” The Washington Post, November 19, 2018.
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“conceal the truth”: Anne Gearan and Carol Morello, “Rex Tillerson Says ‘Alternative Realities’ Are a Threat to Democracy,” The Washington Post, May 16, 2018.
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Russell Vought walked into the White House briefing room: Dana Milbank, “Meet the Trump Saboteur in Charge of Undermining Biden—and America,” The Washington Post, December 31, 2020.
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“coronavirus will magically, all of a sudden, go away”: Tara Law, “Eric Trump Claims Social Distancing Is a Democrat ‘Strategy’ and COVID-19 Will ‘Magically’ Disappear After Election,” Time, May 18, 2020. https://time.com/5838104/eric-trump-coronavirus-disappear/.
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Reuters-Ipsos: Dana Milbank, “Mr. President, Lock Us Up!,” The Washington Post, March 10, 2020.
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Wall Street Journal/NBC poll: Mark Murray, “Sixty Percent Believe Worst Is Yet to Come for the U.S. in Coronavirus Pandemic,” NBC News, March 15, 2020. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/sixty-percent-believe-worst-yet-come-u-s-coronavirus-pandemic-n1159106.
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“powerful people”: Amy Mitchell, Mark Jurkowitz, J. Baxter Oliphant, and Elisa Shearer, “Most Americans Have Heard of the Conspiracy Theory That the COVID-19 Outbreak Was Planned, and About One-Third of Those Aware of It Say It Might Be True,” Pew Research Center, June 29, 2020. https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2020/06/29/most-americans-have-heard-of-the-conspiracy-theory-that-the-covid-19-outbreak-was-planned-and-about-one-third-of-those-aware-of-it-say-it-might-be-true/?utm_content=buffer1fe05&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer.
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virus had been exaggerated: “The Economist/YouGov Poll,” March 8–10, 2020. https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/vrbl9mmctz/econTabReport.pdf.
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“biggest game changers”: Colin Dwyer and Joe Neel, “FDA Warns Against Wide Use of the Drugs Trump Hailed as ‘Game Changers,’ ” NPR, April 24, 2020. https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/24/844212806/fda-warns-against-wide-use-of-the-drugs-trump-hailed-as-game-changers.
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best prepared: Dana Milbank, “Other Countries Are Winning Against the Virus. We Are Quitting,” The Washington Post, May 8, 2020.
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“Don’t be afraid of Covid”: “The Latest: Trump Video Tells Supporters, ‘Don’t Be Afraid,’ ” Associated Press, October 5, 2020. https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-donald-trump-health-archive-af2bcc4b75f0a9a08355e4e47af77b3d.
