The Daly Weekly (6/13)

Terry Moran, Benjamin Netanyahu, Gavin Newsom, and more!

Hi everyone.

Welcome to this week’s Daly Weekly, where I answer whatever questions you throw at me.

Let’s get right to it…

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I hope you're enjoying your vacation, John. A dapper dude named Bernie's doing a pretty good job filling in for you so far. 😉

Curious what you're take is on the now-deleted social media post by the now-former ABC News employee, Terry Moran, who of course is now on Substack. Do you think him calling Miller and Trump "haters", really that beyond the pale? Bernie certainly thinks so.

But I have seen even supposed "straight news" type reporters lettin' it rip on social media for awhile now, and rarely getting any public discipline at all from their employers, much less effective termination. Taylor Lorenz immediately comes to mind. She had to literally start endorsing assassinations of CEOs before she finally got booted out of polite media company.

I am sure committed Resistance types think that Moran did nothing wrong and that ABC obviously just caved to MAGA. Are the rules the "newsmen" from Bernie's generation once followed about NOT widely sharing their private opinions about the people they cover, obsolete? Or did ABC make the right call? — Aylene W.

Hi Aylene. The vacation is indeed going well. Utah has some amazing national parks.

If a political commentator had tweeted what Terry Moran did, I doubt anyone would have batted an eye. But Moran was an active journalist for a major news organization, so I do think he crossed a line. For me, a suspension would have been appropriate. Parting ways with him entirely may have been excessive, but there was probably more to the decision than the public knows. I thought Moran crossed the line a number of times during the Bush administration as well (granted, not as brazenly), so, being that he’s a longtime repeat-offender, I don’t feel terribly sorry him.

You bring up a good point with other “hard news” types getting away with this sort of thing, but I think it’s to the discredit of their respective news organizations. I think ABC News added to their credibility by disciplining Moran.

A couple thoughts: Voters excuse and are okay with geezers of their own tribe as long as they vote their way. Are young tribal sycophants any better than wrinkled ones? Trump’s mad at anyone and everyone not 100% subservient 100% of the time is no surprise. Everyone knows that promoting based upon cult leader loyalty leads to quality outcomes! Experience teaches that embarrassing and berating someone in public is the best way to win that person's trust. The paradox of tolerance is interesting to see play out regularly. Is there anyone who could not foresee that two wealthy jackholes with massive egos couldn’t possibly share the same space for long. Remember, just a few months ago when Trump turned the White House into a Tesla dealership? — Scott K.

You’re preaching to the choir, Scott. At the center of American politics is a personality cult. Integrity, competence, and sound policy suffer as a result.

Do you think online discourse would improve if social media platforms and website comment sections required users to post under their actual, verified names? — Ben G.

Absolutely! Since anonymity insulates individuals from accountability for their words, a lot of people feel emboldened to say nasty things, under a pseudonym, that they would otherwise never say in public. I’m not arguing in favor of such a requirement, but yes - I do think it would improve online discourse.

Hi Sir John. I hope you and Sir Bernie will discuss the L.A. riots on the next NO BS Zone. It appears that the rioters don’t care about illegal immigrants as much as they care about causing chaos and destruction simply because they hate America and western values to begin with. I suspect that Soros is the one funding these hooligans in one way or another. What I don’t understand is WHY democrat politicians like Gov. Newsom, Mayor Karen Bass and Hustler Maxine Waters are either actively supporting or actively denying all the criminal mayhem and destruction occurring in their city & state. I highly doubt that the Clintons, the Kennedys, and possibly even Obama & Biden would ever have supported such lawless behavior as recently as 2010. What changed that made the Democrat party not only so gutless but also currently supportive of this nonsense!? I get why gutless Republicans don’t have the gumption to stand against Trump’s bad behavior; it’s because of the massive support he has from the MAGAs. HOWEVER, I have a difficult time believing that the far left anarchist crowds outnumber any common sense democrats in the way the MAGAs appear to outnumber the common sense Republicans. So how and why did all this support of lawless anarchy come to the democrat party and politicians? I would actually like to hear both your thoughts and those of Sir Bernie. —“Camp Crystal Lake” regards from The Emperor

I haven’t followed this closely since I’ve been on a road trip, Emperor, but I suspect that California Democratic leaders 1) don’t want to lend credence to the terrible things happening locally on their watch, and 2) don’t want to cede political ground to Trump (some have even blamed Trump for the riots). This, as you point out, does not reflect well on them.

It would be fantastic if both sides of the political aisle, in no uncertain terms, condemned rioting and supported legal punishment for rioters, but that’s unfortunately not the political era we live in.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Trump told Netanyahu not to attack Iran. Netanyahu did it anyway. Does this surprise you? — Alex D.

No. I think we’re losing our influence with a number of allies, unfortunately. That said, Israel did the right thing.

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Thanks everyone! You can send me questions for next week by leaving a comment in the comment section.