"Platner’s Rise and Fall Revives Old Questions About ‘Bernie Bros’ and Women."

A NYT piece by Patricia Mazzei and Kellen Browning.

I have to stop and remember what "Bernie Bros" were... other than name-calling coming from — if I remember correctly — the Hillary Clinton camp.

I see I have a tag "Bernie Bro," and the main post, quite helpfully, is "Where did it come from — this myth of 'Bernie bros'? It's from February 9, 2016. I wrote:

I'm seeing articles like "Bill Clinton Accuses Bernie Bros of Sexism." But what are "Bernie Bros"?

So this is precisely what I want to read before ingesting that new NYT piece.

Glenn Greenwald reanimates Charlie Kirk to oppose the war in Iran.

Charlie Kirk, in June of 2025, explaining why a massive US war against Iran, and an attempt to facilitate regime change, as pushed by people like Lindsey Graham, is "pathologically insane":pic.twitter.com/nusMqOWOUM

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 28, 2026

"He is not the Word made flesh but the triumph of word over flesh, over color, over despair."

It's obviously laughable to pay Ezra Klein $40-70k to hear his vapid, DNC-donor-pleasing, liberal clichés.

That said, I would pay him some substantial portion of that fee to come to a wedding or birthday party to perform a dramatic reading of this hilarious passage he wrote: https://t.co/q0fX4EL2S8 pic.twitter.com/isZtqbNkRs

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 28, 2025

I don't know what irritates me more — the capitalization of one "word" but not the other, or the italics for "over." So he's not the Messiah but his excellent speech conquers... well, everything... or something. 

ADDED: I think Klein deserves this fee. He's a well-known figure who embodies the idea of moderation and civility and he will have to set aside his regular work to travel to and from your event. That's going to cost you at least $40,000. There must be all these Democrats fretting about how to not look so awful and the calming stately presence of Ezra Klein might help them believe there will be an answer.

"The fallout from the trade disruption will hurt the United States, which relies on China for all sorts of manufactured goods, but will do more damage to China..."

"... aid Wang Yuesheng, the director of the Institute of International Economics at Peking University. 'The impact on China is mainly that Chinese products have nowhere to go,' Mr. Wang said. That will ravage export-oriented companies making things like furniture, clothing, toys and home appliances along China’s eastern seaboard, which largely exist to serve American consumers. 'These companies will be hit very hard,' Mr. Wang said.... Beijing’s strategy now is to push back at the United States and hope that Mr. Trump succumbs to domestic pressure to reverse course, said Evan Medeiros, a professor of Asian studies at Georgetown University who served as an Asia adviser to President Barack Obama. 'They know that if they give in to pressure they will get more pressure,' he said. 'They will resist it with the belief that China can withstand more pain than they can.'"

I'm reading "For U.S. and China, a Risky Game of Chicken With No Off-Ramp in Sight/Neither side wants to look weak by backing down on tariffs. But if their trade relationship collapses, the global consequences could be profound" (NYT).

The off-ramp is free trade!

Until then, it's a test of who "can withstand more pain." I can see thinking Americans will give up first, but the pain is worse for China. They have all this junk they made for us — furniture, clothing, toys and home appliances — and we'd just be saving money and going without a lot of extra items we might be better off without — all that "fast fashion," all the plastic toys, all the home redecorating madness. We may even learn that life is better without so many cheap consumer goods. Less waste. Less damage to our soul from the slave labor.

They need to break before we learn to live without them. But if they don't, we pocket in the money from the tariffs.

Why aren't progressives on Trump's side here?

Glenn Greenwald waves a cranky goodbye to Jennifer Rubin.

Given Jen Rubin finally quit the WashPost -- to start a blog called "The Contrarian" with @NormEisen, Senior Fellow of the Brookings Institution, totally known for contrarianism -- here's my absolute favorite TV clip from the Queen of Partisan Dreck:👑pic.twitter.com/s4QtI1mHnd

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 13, 2025

The funeral for President Jimmy Carter.

The NYT is live-blogging the service at the National Cathedral, here. Excerpts:

It is unusual for five living presidents to be together in one place. Before 1991, there was only one other period in United States history, around 1861, when more than five presidents were even alive at the same time....

President-elect Trump has been talking almost nonstop to former President Barack Obama since the two sat down next to each other a few minutes ago. The conversation seems to be mostly one sided, with Obama listening and responding with shorter answers.

Joe and Jill Biden have arrived and taken their seats in the front row next to the vice president and Doug Emhoff.

While the cathedral is largely full, the congressional section has a lot of empty seats.

ADDED: There are 5 living Presidents and the oldest is the current President!

AND: We've all been trying to frame this joke:

Former President Barack Obama casually and amiably chats with Adolf Hitler as the latter is set to assume power in 11 days, end American democracy, and impose a white nationalist dictatorship. https://t.co/4tbj46yVk8

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 9, 2025

PLUS: There is nothing to be sad about here and there is no need to forbid humor.

ALSO: The only missing spouse of a President is Michelle Obama. Fortunately, Town & Country has the explanation: 

According to journalist Jeff Zeleny, speaking on CNN, she had scheduling conflicts. "I'm told by her advisors that she has scheduling conflicts," Zeleney said on the network's broadcast of the funeral. "She's still in Hawaii," he added.

She was scheduled to be in Hawaii! The last time I saw "scheduling conflicts" used as an excuse, it was Kamala Harris explaining why she wasn't going to do the Joe Rogan podcast. 

Perhaps they are lying in wait.

That's my answer to Glenn Greenwald's question: "Is there a single Democrat in DC politics or media remotely acting as if a New Hitler will assume power in a month?"

Look around: There are the drones, the "bird flu"... these things are in the air... circling. Something will happen, I'm afraid. Be vigilant.

"You tell me how and why corporate media constantly speaks from the same exact script this way, verbatim. #KamalaIsJOY"

Not even herd animals are this flagrant about it. You tell me how and why corporate media constantly speaks from the same exact script this way, verbatim. #KamalaIsJOY pic.twitter.com/AHSE9Im1GL

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) August 9, 2024

ADDED: Byron York has "Joy! Irrational exuberance soars to new levels" (Washington Examiner). Excerpt:

"That Tim Walz falsely believes the free speech guarantee doesn't include what he considers to be 'misinformation' or 'hate speech' will bother almost no Dem supporters, since the vast majority of them want the state to be empowered to censor dissent."

Writes Glenn Greenwald, at X, displaying this:

That Tim Walz falsely believes the free speech guarantee doesn't include what he considers to be 'misinformation' or 'hate speech' will bother almost no Dem supporters, since the vast majority of them want the state to be empowered to censor dissent.pic.twitter.com/z74vizL9HT

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) August 7, 2024

"Corporate media has spent 8 years, in consensus, branding Trump a racist and White Nationalist."

"Meanwhile, actual Black voters are migrating away from Dems/Biden to Trump in what even CNN is describing as a historic shift (following Latino voters)."

Writes Glenn Greenwald, looking at this:

Corporate media has spent 8 years, in consensus, branding Trump a racist and White Nationalist.

Meanwhile, actual Black voters are migrating away from Dems/Biden to Trump in what even CNN is describing as a historic shift (following Latino voters):pic.twitter.com/QmBi29WRmp

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 17, 2024

Biden is lost.

Anyone who denies this is extremely uncomfortable and embarrassing to watch at this point isn't being honest.

And I don't understand how Democrats and their pundits believe they can convince Americans it's not happening.

And he wants 4 more years:pic.twitter.com/j1jrzc34u8

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 13, 2024

ADDED: If you think more context would help, take a look at this:

Everyone freaking out about that Biden clip at G7.

I found the full video. The longer clip, in context, is even more horrifying. pic.twitter.com/obFINP7RNE

— Viva Frei (@thevivafrei) June 13, 2024

Overstepping.

When journalists broke the story of how the Biden Admin was weaponizing the US Security State to coerce Big Tech to censor the internet of dissent, jealous and partisan corporate journalists told everyone to ignore it all because it was a "nothing burger." Then: pic.twitter.com/KTWc0DVhAc

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 5, 2024

Predicted Electoral College vote: 312 Trump, 226 Biden.

Screen shot from Real Clear Politics.

Here's the Electoral College interactive map, where I generated the numbers used in my post title.

The demonization of Trump has not worked for Democrats. I think Glenn Greenwald put it aptly (reacting to the polls I've displayed above):

"The more Trump is indicted, the more he rises in the polls. That correlation doesn't prove causation, but what it does prove is that most Americans have so much distrust in the justice system and DOJ that even felony indictments don't undermine Trump's standing with the public." 

My advice, not that I think Democrats would or even could follow it: Fight Trump on the substantive merits of the issues. Show us that you deserve the power you seek. 

Glenn Greenwald, approving of the restoration of Alex Jones' X account and, speaking of defamation, calling somebody who's just interrupting "deranged."

I spoke to @piersmorgan about the decision of @ElonMusk to restore Alex Jones' account on X.

Piers has done a great job airing all views lately, but this is the 2nd straight time I ended up on a panel with a deranged person who couldn't control herself from ranting. pic.twitter.com/ztkqt2gM6O

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 13, 2023

Testing your commitment to freedom of speech.

This is been the single best week in years for the cause of limiting free expression and free discourse at colleges.

Anyone who claims they believe in free speech - while they cheer the union of hedge fund billionaire and DC politicians to impose speech limits - is a fraud. https://t.co/PVBoMZy9o1

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 8, 2023

This is the free speech group -- the only one -- doing what ACLU once did. I's so glad they exist.

What makes them extra impressive is that they grew because conservatives applauded them for defending right-wing students' speech, but now do the same for pro-Palestinian speech: https://t.co/aRJdBZCI3D

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 8, 2023

AND:

"Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy repeatedly challenged [Nikki] Haley to name 'three provinces in Eastern Ukraine that they [she and Biden] want to send our troops to actually fight for.'"

"Neither have said they want to send troops — Ramaswamy also falsely asserted 'these people want to send your sons and daughters to go die in Ukraine, they’ve been arguing for it for a year' — but Haley eventually mentioned these names. She missed with Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, though to be fair Ramaswamy asked her to name three provinces, not 'the three provinces' of eastern Ukraine. The third province in eastern Ukraine is Kharkiv — which Ukraine liberated in a stunning counteroffensive in 2022."

Writes Glenn Kessler, "Fact-checking the fourth Republican presidential debate" (WaPo).

ALSO:

Vivek exposed Nikki Haley for exactly what she is:

A neocon puppet of Boeing & Raytheon, with absolutely no foreign policy experience or knowledge apart from once raising her hand on command at the UN.

There's no coming back from this 👇 pic.twitter.com/NJPyldx5ge

— System Update (@SystemUpdate_) December 8, 2023

I had to check the transcript to make sure Nikki Haley said this, which is so stupid I thought maybe some devious A.I. made the video.

This is one of the funniest and dumbest stats I've ever seen.

But again: this is the crisis now being seized on by the Nikki Haleys of the world to demand even greater control over what people can say and do online. https://t.co/yN5aBBAvFD

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 7, 2023

From the transcript, here's the full context (with boldface showing the part in the video):

2 from Glenn Greenwald.

This is what you will hear from all liberal corporate outlets for the next year: no, this time we mean it! This time Trump *really will be* fascist!

These are the people imprisoning non-violent Jan 6 protesters, prosecuting Trump to win an election, censoring the internet: pic.twitter.com/t4QxWFCYjq

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 4, 2023

Amazing yet so telling that the US politician who is one of the leading proponents of torture, secret CIA black sites, kidnapping, and sending everyone to an endless array of new wars except her own family ended up hated by her own voters but beloved by liberal corporate media. pic.twitter.com/C0IZ2Et6KE

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 5, 2023

"Is Nikki Haley aware that the Federalist Papers were written by founding fathers using pseudonyms?"

Is Nikki Haley aware that the Federalist Papers were written by founding fathers using pseudonyms?

Nikki Haley may be one of the most war-mongering and authoritarian candidates for president in some time. She's completely unhinged. This is blatantly unconstitutional. https://t.co/irQwxsSTrI

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) November 14, 2023

"The more time Vivek spends around the GOP establishment, the more contempt he harbors for them, and rightfully so."

The more time Vivek spends around the GOP establishment, the more contempt he harbors for them, and rightfully so.

The neocon GOP of 2002 never went away. They just pretended to under Trump. You see that now as they're partying as if it's Sept 12, 2001:https://t.co/zCSgizB63R

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) November 9, 2023

Ha ha... "two of them." One is Haley. The other is DeSantis in his elevator boots. I thought it was a cheap joke when I heard it last night and started yelling. It's only this morning that I noticed the "two of them" swipe at DeSantis. That's absurd and subtle enough to lift the joke to a new plane and get my respect.