Archive

Mudline Archive

STICKS, STONES, BROKEN BONES

During the 2000 Bush-Gore presidential race, we began collecting negative soundbites and posting them weekly on a MUDLINE ticker, as a temporary election feature. But in the aftermath of that tumultuous contest we realized that the tone of public discourse was unlikely to improve, and elected to continue the feature. Unfortunately, we were right; two decades later, incivility is hotter than ever. If you just can’t get enough snark on social media, this mud’s for you.

  • November 22, 2022

    Eric Trump on appointment of special counsel: "This is communism."....Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene: "IMPEACH MERRICK GARLAND!"....Mike Huckabee on Garland: "Partisan tool."....evangelical leader Mike Evans: "Trump can't save America. He can't even save himself. He used us to win the White House."....James Robison of Life Outreach on Trump: "Sir, you act like a little elementary school child..."....commentator Everett Piper on Trump: "If he's our nominee in 2024, we will get destroyed."....Michael Wolff: "Mr. Trump's main goal isn't victory. It's holding the spotlight."....Michael Beschloss on Trump announcement: "I've heard funeral orations more cheerful and energetic than that speech."....Lawrence O'Donnell: "The triple-grand-jury candidacy."....radio host Mark Levin: "Joe 'Gotti' Biden of the Biden Crime Family."....Paul Krugman: "DeSantis's major achievement as governor; the unnecessary death of around 20,000 Floridians."....Trump on Ron DeSantis: "If he runs he could hurt himself very badly. I will tell you things about him that won't be very flattering. I know more about him than anybody other than perhaps his wife."....Rick Wilson: "Donald Trump would rather Joe Biden be president for a thousand years than Ron DeSantis be president for five minutes...He is a political suicide bomber."....Kari Lake on the media: "The right hand of the devil, the scourge of the Earth."....Donald Trump Jr. on John Fetterman: "That guy's brain dead. A United States senator should not have mush for brains."....Tim Young: "Fetterman just shattered the glass ceiling for vegetables."....Charlie Sykes: "Turns out the Red Wave is just ketchup on the walls at Mar-a-Lago."....GOP strategist Stephen Lawson: "Trump just keeps throwing boomerangs."....Ann Coulter on Trump: "You had your chance, with a Republican House and Senate...You handed foreign policy to your son-in-law and a country that gave your son-in-law #2 billion. Shut the f*** up, forever."....former Trump WH communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin: "We've got to just finally speak out and say, 'This man is a loser.' He lost 2020..."....Rep. Ronny Jackson: "Masks are just a BIG lie. They don't work. NEVER have...Covid is OVER."....Donald Trump Jr.: "The left has indoctrinated our children for decades now, by having some seven-hair-colored multiple-weirdo freak that doesn't even want to ever have kids become the head of the school board and the PTA."....Kari Lake to reporters: "I'm going to not only be governor for four years, I'm going to do two terms and I'm going to be your worst fricking nightmare for eight years...We're going to make you guys into journalists again."....Senate Republicans tweet: "In Biden's first two years...he divided the nation."....Proud Boys founder Stewart Rhodes in recording shortly after Jan. 6 attack: "If [Pence] is not going to do the right thing, and he's just going to let himself be removed illegally, then we should have brought rifles. We could have fixed it right then and there. I'd hang f***ing Pelosi from the lamppost."....Mike Pence on Trump: "His words endangered me and my family and everyone at the Capitol building."....Jonathan Alter on Republicans: "After January 6th, their position on the Capitol Police was: Back the blue -- unless it's a coup."....Trump: "Nothing good is happening in our country."....Tom Nichols: "Elon Musk's skin is thinner than filo dough."....James Carville on Herschel Walker: "He needs to have a brain scan. He's not right."....

  • October 28, 2022

    Admiral Mike Franken: "If you listen to Tucker Carlson these days, you'll see a show that might as well have been written and produced by Russian state media."....Trump on judge ruling that he knew his voter fraud claims were false when he made them: "Please explain to this partisan hack that the President Election of 2020 was Rigged and Stolen."....former Trump attorney Michael Cohen on Trump and 1/6: "The man does not want to be President of the United States, he wants to be an autocrat, supreme leader, a dictator. And watching these people doing this on his behalf was exciting for him."....AZ gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, before primary: "If we don't win, there's some cheating going on. And we already know that."....Kari Lake on Biden: "He lost the election, and shouldn't be in the White House."....Kari Lake to CNN reporter: "The people don't like what you're peddling. It's just propaganda."....Fox host Tucker Carlson on the Democratic party: "It's a religion. It's a child sacrifice cult."....Sen. Ted Cruz on Dems: "Have been undermining the Constitution and undermining democracy."....Eric Trump on Biden administration: "They haven't accomplished anything in two years and frankly have been a laughingstock."....Rep. Matt Gaetz: "Joe Biden did everything he could to take a hatchet to the booming Trump economy."....Pete Buttigieg on Congressional Republicans: "Can anybody name the top five things they've suggested to fight inflation? Can anyone name three? How about one?"....Trump on Ohio senatorial candidate J.D. Vance: "J.D. is kissing my ass, he wants my support so much."....Vance's opponent, Rep. Tim Ryan: "Ohio needs an ass kicker, not an ass kisser."....Bob Woodward: "50% roughly of the Republicans would walk off the cliff for Donald Trump. Now I think at least 20% want to push him off the cliff."....Tucker Carlson on MSNBC host Tiffany Cross: "Can barely speak a coherent sentence."....Ye: "I'm going death con 3 ON JEWISH PEOPLE."....Howard Stern: "F*** this mental illness defense...Kanye used to be fun crazy. Now he's like Hitler."....Ye on Stern: "Now you're just a sad old man, Howard. This is the first time anyone's said your name in years. Your own family doesn't say your name unless they're calling to get their bills paid."....Arizona congressional candidate Jerone Davison, speaking at Kari Lake rally, on Dems: "Bind up the hands of the wicked ones, the wicked party, and cast it back to the pits of hell."....

  • October 10, 2022

    George Conway on Trump suing CNN for defamation: "Local lying liar who lies claims reputation was damaged by news report saying he lied."....Trump on the FBI executing a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago: "An assault that could only take place in broken, third-world countries...[The U.S.] has now become one of those countries, corrupt at a level not seen before."....Sen. Tommy Tuberville on Dems: "They're not soft on crime, they're pro-crime. They want crime."....Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson: "Democrats are communists, okay? And that's what this new United States Supreme Court Justice is -- she's a communist."....former Trump national security adviser Mike Flynn on Democrats: "See themselves as 'This is how we can rule the world, this is how we can control societies, this is how we can control humanity.'"....Aaron Rupar: "Satan himself could run as a Republican in a red state and be guaranteed to get at least 45 percent of the vote."....Donald Trump Jr. fiance Kimberly Guilfoyle on NY AG Letitia James: "She has an ' I ' after her name: Incompetent...She should actually prosecute herself, because she's nothing but a stalker of Donald Trump."....Trump on Letitia James: "She should focus on murder and crime in New York, where they walk into stores with axes and start swinging the axes at people."....Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavroc on Ukraine: "Has finally turned into a Nazi-style totalitarian state where standards of international humanitarian law are trampled underfoot with impunity."....exiled Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky on Putin: "A cowardly sheep cannot command an army of lions."....Donald Trump Jr. on PA senatorial candidate John Fetterman: "Soft on crime and soft in the head."....Dr. Oz on Fetterman's hoodie: "When he dresses like that...he's kicking authority in the balls. He's saying, 'I'm the man. I'll show those guys who's boss.'"....Twitter-poster Exasperated Human: "'Kicking Authority in the Balls' may be the greatest campaign slogan ever."....Fox host Tucker Carlson: "If men want to stay male, they must be fascist, and also gay -- that's what the media tells us."....Maureen Dowd on Trump: "The Wizard of Id."....Trump on Sen. Mitch McConnell: "He has a DEATH WISH."....Derf Backderf: "The basic flaw with social media, one that can never be overcome, is that people in 2022 basically suck."....

  • September 21, 2022

    FL Gov. Ron DeSantis on CA Gov. Gavin Newsom: "His hair gel is interfering with his brain function."....Sen. Ted Cruz: "It wasn't until 50 illegal immigrants interfered with teatime in Martha's Vineyard that liberal billionaire elites and the media finally took notice of the Biden Border Crisis."....Fox host Tucker Carlson: "The Vineyard is going to have to construct shantytowns for all these new people. But we can't call them shantytowns, obviously that's demeaning...They can occupy Barack Obama's compound...Build a soccer field on the lawn, an outdoor goat barbecue by the back lawn -- and bingo -- you've got affordable housing!"....Sen. John Kennedy: "Inflation loves Biden like the Devil loves sin."....Rep. Jim Jordan: "If you fly the American flag, wear the wrong t-shirt, or express doubt about big government, then you too could be labeled a domestic terrorist by Joe Biden's Justice Department."....Trump: "We are a nation that no longer has a free press, and has no fair press any longer. Fake News is all you get, and they are truly the enemy of the people. We are a nation where free speech is no longer allowed."....Donald Trump Jr. on enemies of the U.S.: "When they look at Joe Biden and they say, "You know what? We should attack now.""....Eric Trump on Biden: "The most incompetent president this country has ever had."....Trump on DOJ: "They leak, lie, plant fake evidence, allow the spying on my campaign, deceive the FISA Court, raid and break into my home, lose documents, and then they ask me, as the 45th President of the United States, to trust them."....Trump on FBI: "Very dishonest, sick people."...Sarah Huckabee Sanders, 2016: "When you're attacking FBI agents because you're under criminal investigation, you're losing."....Dahlia Lithwick on Trump: "The great greased watermelon."....Trump on Dr. Oz opponent John Fetterman: "Supports taxpayer-funded drug dens and the complete decriminalization of illegal drugs, including heroin, cocaine, crystal meth, and ultra-lethal fentanyl. By the way, he takes them himself."....Jack Schafer on Trump: "Abandoning all rationality, he continues wearing his red baseball cap like a crown and expounds on issues like a monarch. His most ardent followers' minds have become pudding as they predict and re-predict his restoration like a messianic cult or a doomsday sect."....Joe Biden on Trump, in speech: "You can't love your country only when you win."....Trump on Biden speech: "The most vicious, hateful, and divisive speech ever delivered by an American president...The enemy of the state is him and the group that controls him."....Gov. Mike Huckabee: "Sad. Rantings of an old man."....Sen. Josh Hawley: "Hate-filled and menacing rhetoric...disgraceful."....Monica Crowley: "Satanic."....Ben Shapiro: "The most demagogic, outragous, and divisive speech I have ever seen from an American president."....Tucker Carlson on Chuck Todd: "If you want to know what the Biden administration is really thinking, listen to the guy with the combover in the anchor chair at MSNBC."....Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Dr. Anthony Fauci: "I think that man belongs in jail."....Trump on FBI search-warranted seizure of government documents at Mar-a-Lago: "One of the most shocking abuses of power we have witnessed from any administration in American history."....Trump AG William Barr: "People say this [raid] was unprecendented -- well, it's also unprecedented for a president to take all this classified information and put them in a country club, okay?"....Tucker Carlson on VP Kamala Harris: "What the hell are you talking about, you freaking lunatic?"....Trump on Biden: "Like the devil."....Frank Bruni on GOP candidates: "They're taking baby steps away from the world's biggest baby."....Andrea Junker: "The way I see it: The only person Trump ever hired who was actually qualified to do her job was Stormy Daniels."....Trump on the Lincoln Project: "Perverts and Lowlifes...The Perverts should not be allowed to "false advertise," and Fox News should not allow it to happen. See you all in Court!"....Anthony Citrano on Trump: "It's almost impossible to believe he exists. It's as if we took everything that was bad about America, scraped it up off the floor, wrapped it all up in an old hot dog skin, and then taught it to make noises with its face."....Trump, on the Bidens' seating at the Queen's funeral: "If I were president, they wouldn't have sat me back there...This is what's happened to America in just two short years."....Garrison Keillor on Trump: "Cornwallis surrendered. He didn't claim the battle was fraudulent and that he was the true winner, nor did he slip out of Yorktown a day early to avoid having to hand over his sword. He handed it over."....

  • August 24, 2022

    ....Dr. Oz on Senate race opponent: "If John Fetterman had ever eaten a vegetable in his life, then maybe he wouldn't have had a major stroke."....Rep. Lauren Boebert on FBI seizing classified documents at Mar-a-Lago: "This is nothing short of a coup...Under Garland's watch, the DOJ resembles the Gestapo."....Trump on the FBI: "Has a long and unrelenting history of being corrupt."....Rep. Paul Gosar: "We must destroy the FBI."....Newt Gingrich: "The Constitution as a working document has ceased to exist."....Michael Flynn: "We have no rule of law in America."....Sen. John Kennedy: "The FBI and Department of Justice are going to give Trump a fair and impartial firing squad."....Trump Jr. fiancé Kimberly Guilfoyle: "This wouldn't be happening if President Trump was still in office."....Rob McElhenney: "How dare the FBI barge in like that. Donald Trump's golf courses are sacred burial grounds for his ex-wives."....Donald Trump Jr.: "This is an ultimate life hack: Become a Democrat, then you can do whatever you want with no accountability, no legal action, they'll just leave you alone."....Sen. Rick Scott: "The modern wacky left Dems have never read George Orwell. They don't know they're making his predictions come true."....Trump on Sen. Mitch McConnell: "A broken-down hack politician."....Charlie Sykes on Trump: "Disgraced, twice impeached, defeated, chronically lying narcissist."....FL Gov. Ron DeSantis: "These ruling leftist elites in our country, they consider us to be subjects to be ruled over."....Rep. Lauren Boebert: "Biden's America is Woodstock 1999."....Chelsea Handler on Boebert: "One of the biggest MAGA morons ever elected to public office."....Sen. John Kennedy on Biden: "Would be better off selling catheters on late-night TV than serving as President of the United States."....Sen. Chuck Grassley, on IRS seeking additional employees: "Are they going to have a strike force that goes in with AK-15s already loaded, ready to shoot some small-business person in Iowa?"....Sen. Ted Cruz on same: "Shadow army [coming to] hunt you down and take your money."....radio host Mark Levin: "If there is a civil war, I would say that Liz Cheney is on the wrong side of it. More Jefferson Davis than Abraham Lincoln."....Trump, six years before taking the Fifth 450 times in a deposition with the NY Attorney General: "The mob takes the Fifth. If you're innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?"....Eric Trump on NY AG Letitia James: "The most corrupt Attorney General in the United States. I want to remind everyone of exactly who this evil woman is."....Trump online fundraising message to supporters: "You're a traitor. You abandoned Trump...This is your final chance to prove your loyalty or be branded a deserter...We're giving you one final chance to stand with Trump. You only have 17 minutes..."....