16 Comments
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Joseph Mangano's avatar

We need adversarial journalism like this in the current moment, not just repeating the Trump administration's false claims verbatim. Glad to see someone is still willing to challenge them on the merits (or lack thereof) of their arguments.

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Rick Massimo's avatar

It’s extremely depressing that the last example of this kind of interview was nine years ago.

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SteveB's avatar

Aren't you just filled with anticipation for the next time it happens, in 2034?

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SteveB's avatar

Similar moment in a federal courtroom yesterday, Judge Tanya Chutkan repeatedly pressed lawyers for the EPA: What actual evidence of fraud do you have that would justify cancelling $20 billion in grants for climate change work?

That went about as well for the Trump administration as this interview went.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/13/epa-grants-trump-judge-tanya-chutkan

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SteveB's avatar

So annoying, how people are always demanding "proof" and "facts" and "evidence" from us. You just gotta BELIEVE, man.

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Whipstitch's avatar

Trust me bro.

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SteveB's avatar

Dear NPR, you know exactly what to do next pledge drive, right? Just play this interview, the subscriptions will come rolling in. It'll be like PBS with The Civil War.

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defineandredefine's avatar

I'd up my sustaining membership if it got me more of this. Though I should say that Michel Martin is one of the bright spots of NPR.

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DrBDH's avatar

Journalists also need to stop reporting Republican statements as if they were facts, and rebuttals as if they were just different opinions. After years of Trump’s 30+k lies, journalists should adopt a default attitude that anything he or his defenders say is a lie, unless they can provide evidence of its truth.

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SteveB's avatar

After Mahmoud Khalil's disappearing, Trump announced there would be many more like it. Following my general principle of Every Word He Says Is A Lie, this was the most reassuring thing I had heard all day.

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Susan Linehan's avatar

This purported attack was, of course, on BIDEN's foreign policy. It would be cool if he made this statement: "We appreciate this administrations attempted defense of my own administration's foreign policy. We did not, at the time, find that Khalil did anything other than exercise everyone's right to freedom of speech. Speaking loudly does not abrogate that, nor does handing out pamphlets. He simply disagreed. Nor did we find his actions to be violent or harassing of Jewish or other students. "

Doubt he'll do that, but it would be nice. And such a chance to put trump in a snit for defending his bete noir's policies.

It is important to realize that the Immigration Act has TWO sections that might be involved in Khalil's protest, and only ONE allows any kind of unilateral action by the Secretary of State. That one involves the question of adverse consequences to overall foreign policy. The section about supporting terrorists does NOT include that unilateral action, and the secretary's "personal beliefs" about such actions in this section have no more weight than mine or yours without actual evidence. I go into this in detail on my own Substack, https://linehan.substack.com/p/on-the-role-of-rubio-in-deporting?utm_source=activity_item

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defineandredefine's avatar

"EDGAR: Let me put it this way, Michel, imagine if he came in and filled out the form and said, 'I want a student visa.' They asked him, 'What are you going to do here?' And he says, 'I'm going to go and protest.' We would have never let him into the country."

This might be one of the dumbest things I've ever read. Khalil graduated! He did the thing he came here to do with his student visa! Clearly, this ridiculous narrative that edgar put forth is quite far from the truth of the situation and can't reasonably be considered a justification for Khalil's arrest!

It's so irritating how bad they are at this. The only thing worse is many MAGA lap dogs eat this shit up.

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Gavin Ostrom's avatar

More of this please!!

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Ryan Michael's avatar

Keep at it!

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Pamela's avatar

Exactly!

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Jennifer's avatar

100%. Exactly this.

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