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.

  • March 10, 2022

    Putin on the West: "Empire of Lies."....Russian government statement: "The full responsibility for the destruction and innocent victims lies with the regime in Kiev."....Ukrainian Holocaust survivors in video message: "Putin, I hope you die! Leave us alone, you bastard!"....U.S. general on Russian invasion of Ukraine: "Shock and yawn."....Putin: "The way the battle is going shows we are fighting neo-Nazis."....Zelensky on Russian soldiers: "They are not warriors of a superpower. These are confused children who have been used."....military historian B.A. Friedman on Russian military: "This isn't a good army executing a bad plan. It isn't a good army executing outdated or out-of-context tactics. It's a bad army!"....Trump: "The problem is not that Putin is smart -- which of course he is smart. But the real problem is that our leaders are dumb. Dumb. So dumb."....former Trump national security adviser John Bolton on Trump: "He barely knew where Ukraine was."....Maureen Dowd on Trump: "Was always a faux tough guy who bragged about grabbing women and loved all things military except serving in it. Cadet Bone Spurs."....MSNBC's  Chris Hayes on Trump: "[Putin's] ultimate gift, doing everything Putin himself wanted to do: Elevating Russia, denigrating NATO, delegitimizing Ukraine."....former AG William Barr on Trump: "Stopped listening to his advisers, became manic and unreasonable, and was off the rails."....Trump on Barr: "The Radical Left Democrats...broke him just like a trainer breaks a horse."....George Will on Trump: "Foundering...Looks increasingly like a stray hair to be flicked off the nation's sleeve.".....Sean Hannity on Biden: "America, the world needs a leader, not a grandpa who is up way past his bedtime."....Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Biden: "Is totally compromised...because every world leader has contents from Hunter Biden's laptop and much more to blackmail him. So it's no wonder America is weak...He is literally serving Russia, China, and the world...Joe Biden, you are not a president. You are a piece of s***."....Ben Shapiro: "Joe Biden is the Kurt Cobain of politics. He put a shotgun in the mouth of the American body politic and then pulled the trigger. And the brains are on the wall."....AFPAC host Nicholas Fuentes on Dems: "Now they're going on about Russia, and Vladimir Putin is Hitler -- and they say that's a bad thing."....Sen. Mitt Romney on AFPAC attendees Rep. Greene and Rep. Gosar: "Morons. I have morons on my team."....FL Gov. Ron DeSantis to high school students: "You do not have to wear those masks. Please take them off...We've got to stop with this COVID theater....This is ridiculous."....FL Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo: "People across the political spectrum, including doctors, think [COVID-19 masks] are saving lives. These are not saving lives...People need to unbelieve it."....

  • March 2, 2022

    ....Putin on Zelensky government: "Neo-Nazi junta."....Ukrainian Orthodox Church bishop Yevstratiy Zoria: "Putin is really not messiah, but really anti-Christ of our current time."....defiant Ukrainian soldiers on Snake Island to invaders: "Russian warship: Go f*** yourself."....Ukrainian soldier: "Only Ukraine will win. F*** Russia. It's our land."....Laura Ingraham on Zelensky pre-invasion video: "A really pathetic display...Essentially imploring Vladimir Putin not to invade his country."....House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Putin: "Reckless, evil, and dangerous."....Mike Pence on Biden: "Weakness invites evil."....Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Biden and Harris: "A senile man and an imbecile."....Rudy Giuliani: "Putin is an evil man, but Putin is a brilliant man...He said, 'Let's test [Biden]. He looks like a weakling. He's always been a weakling.'"....Trump: "The problem is not that Putin is smart, which of course he's smart, but the real problem is that our leaders are dumb. Dumb. So dumb."....Sen. Mitt Romney on Republicans praising Putin: "It's unthinkable to me. It's almost treasonous."....Maureen Dowd on Trump remarks: "Nauseating praise of this murderer."....Charlie Sykes: "The GOP's foreign policy is now less a coherent set of principles than a single slogan. And the slogan is: 'Let's Go Brandon.'"....Russia expert Nina Khrushcheva on Putin: "He's a small man of five-six saying he's five-seven."....former Sen. Al Franken: "Dubya looked into Putin's eyes and saw his soul. Trump looked and saw Trump Tower Moscow. Biden looked and saw an evil f***."....Madeleine Albright on meeting Putin: "So cold as to be almost reptilian."....Susan Glasser on GOP: "Literally enabling a pro-Putin president for four years and refusing to stop him even when he literally blackmailed Ukraine with millions in security aid to help Ukraine fight Russia."....Bill Kristol: "Trump is not fit to shine Zelensky's boots. That Trump's actions were taken as the American head of state should make us deeply ashamed."....Max Boot on Trump: "He's more about Russia First than America First."....Matthew Dowd: "Every single Republican needs to be asked every day if they renounce Putin's greatest global enabler, Donald Trump."....Bernie Sanders on GOP: "It should concern us all that Putin is exactly the kind of leader Trump would like to be, and that so few Republicans have the courage to say this out loud."....Ohio senatorial candidate J.D. "Hillbilly Elegy" Vance: "I don't really care what happens to Ukraine."....Gen. Barry McCaffrey: "J.D. Vance is a shameful person unsuitable for public office. His comments are those of a stooge for Russian aggression."....Vance in response: "Your entire time in military leadership we won zero wars...Oh, by the way, how much do you stand to gain financially from a war with Russia, Barry?"....Ohio senatorial primary candidate Josh Mandel on Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib: "Terrorist spokesmen."....Rep. AOC on Congress: "A daily s*** show."....Tucker Carlson on Ukraine, 2/24/22: "A highly complicated conflict in an obscure part of Eastern Europe where we have no national interest."....William Saletan on Carlson: "Racial animus, betraying the United States and its values, serving the interests of a hostile foreign power....This is what he is."....Liz Cheney on AFPAC: "As Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green and Rep. Paul Gosar speak at this white supremacist, anti-Semitic, pro-Putin event, silence by Republican Party leaders is deafening and enabling. All Americans should renounce this garbage and reject the Putin wing of the GOP now."....Jimmy Kimmel on Trump: "It takes a special kind of a son of a bitch to see innocent people fleeing their homes and think, 'How can I make this about me?'"....

  • February 14, 2022

    Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Baltimore: "One of the worst places in the western hemisphere. It's a little bit of Haiti in the mid-Atlantic."....former WH official on Trump: "He never stopped ripping things up. Do you really think Trump is going to care about the Records Act? Come on."....Maureen Dowd: "Nixon had the plumbers. Trump's the one who needed them."....Rep. Hal Rogers, asked by a colleague to wear a face mask on the inter-building Capitol shuttle: "Kiss my ass."....Joe Rogan on himself: "If you're taking vaccine advice from me, is that really my fault? What dumb s*** were you about to do when my stupid ideas sounded better?"....Sen. Marco Rubio: "Biden is sending free meth and crack pipes to minority communities in the name of 'racial equity.'"....Sen. Ted Cruz on Biden administration: "[Kamala Harris] has done a really poor job as VP...They can't stand her."....Rep. Adam Kinzinger on Sen. Josh Hawley: "One of the worst human beings, and a self-aggrandizing con artist."....Donald Trump Jr. on Sen. Lindsey Graham: "A RINO...a weak establishment Republican."....former Pence chief of staff Marc Short on Trump: "...Had many bad advisers, who were basically snake oil salesmen..."....Bret Stephens on the Senate minority leader: "McConnell is part of the Cowardly Lion wing of the GOP, that sometimes pretends to be appalled by the Trumpsters but always pulls its punches when it counts."....Trump supporter at rally in Texas: "This midterm election and the following in 2024 -- it's no longer about Republicans and Democrats, it's a race between patriots and traitors."....demonstrator Ryan Nichols outside the Capitol on Jan 6: "Cut their head off!...If you voted for treason, we're going to drag your ass through the streets."....Rep. Madison Cawthorn on "Deep State": "I believe we have some high-ranking, very vile, evil unpatriotic officials in our Federal government."....Politico's Jack Shafer: "Electing Trump was like appointing a mob boss the chief of police."....John Bolton: "I think in a second Trump term, the Russians would already be in Kyiv...I think he would have given Ukraine away, basically."....Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Biden Supreme Court promise: "The most racist thing. I thought we were done with racism in this country?"....Rep. Lauren Boebert: "Should the Buccaneers promise to replace Tom Brady with a woman of color?"....Fox News' Jason Chaffetz on Biden: "He can't even recite lines that are on teleprompter, and it's a gaffe a day...Foreign policy was great under Trump, the world was a safe place, and now it's not."....Neb. GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Pillen: "Biden is as lost as last year's Easter egg. And Fauci? Don't get me started."....House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in fundraising letter: "Don't let Fauci CANCEL your freedom again!"....Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sen. Rand Paul: "Kindles the crazies."....John Dean on recent Trump assertions: "This is beyond being a demagogue to the stuff of dictators."....Jonathan Pie on Eton, Boris Johnson's alma mater: "A sort of Hogwarts for wankers."....Stephen Dedalus on history: "A nightmare from which I am trying to awake."....

  • January 30, 2022

    ....Trump on the U.S.: "Our country and our elections are corrupt."....CNN's Brianna Keilar on disinformation and Fox News: "The mothership."....ex-Fox host Gretchen Carlson on changes at the network: "There's a big difference between having a conservative opinion and having one that supports conspiracy theories."....Laura Ingraham on Biden two-hour press conference: "It was a nightmare...About the worst that I can remember from a president, frankly."....former Trump press secretary Kayleigh McEnany: "The most delusional press conference I have ever seen."....Sean Hannity: "I don't say this with any joy -- I felt embarrassed."....Bill O'Reilly: "Joe Biden cannot run the country."....Molly Jong-Fast: "Besides racism, the only tenet of Trumpism is baiting Democrats."....conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Jan. 6 committee investigation: "The whole thing is tainted. It's like a big bowl of soup. You put one rat turd in it, it's no good. Well, this has got like hundreds of rat turds. And I ain't eating the soup."....former ambassador Nikki Haley: "If Joe Biden loved our country, he would step down and take Kamala Harris with him."....Fox's Jesse Watters on VP Harris: "I'm not saying this, but many people are saying this sounds like a typical female problem...The first female vice president comes in there, and every single article is about her feelings."....Geraldo Rivera on U.S. Senate: "Lately, it's been a Bazaar for Bozos. The low-brow rudeness displayed by senators like Paul and Marshall has remade the Upper Chamber into a Jerry Springer show."....Trump ally Roger Stone on former Trump spokesperson Jason Miller: "A scumbag...A duplicitious a**hole...in the 40 years I have been in American politics, I have never met a bigger more despicable piece of s***.".....Ann Telnaes on Justice Gorsuch: "Maskless manspreader."....Ohio GOP senatorial candidate Josh Mandel: "I do not believe in separation of church and state...I'm pro-God, pro-gun, pro-Trump, and I will fight in Washington with the Constitution in one hand and the Bible in the other."....opponent Morgan Harper on Mandel: "...Doesn't belong anywhere near the U.S. Senate."....Richard Signorelli on forthcoming Kellyanne Conway memoir: "Hard pass; I'm not reading any fiction these days until our democracy is no longer threatened by the sociopath you enabled for four nightmarish years."....Packers QB Aaron Rogers on the CDC: "How do you even trust them?....And you still have this fake White House set saying that this is 'the pandemic of the unvaccinated.'"....Sean Hannity on Biden: "A fool...Mosquitos are held in higher esteem."....

  • January 18, 2022

    ....Ann Coulter: "My housekeeper is better positioned in the party than Trump is. Trump is done."....Rep. Lauren Boebert: "We have a socialist government running our nation."....Fox News' Tucker Carlson on SC Justice Kavanaugh: "A cringing little liberal."....Trump on Sen. Mike Rounds: "I will never endorse this jerk again."....Wisconsin Capital Times editorial board on Sen. Ron Johnson: "A delusional huckster who recommends fighting COVID-19 with Listerine."....WaPo Editorial Board on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy: "Has...thrown in his lot with the enemies of democracy."....Carl Bernstein on GOP: "A party of sedition."....Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Dems: "Silencing voters who inconvenience Democrats."....DNC chair Jaime Harrison on McConnell: "Save the damn crocodile tears...We all know you are a hypocrite."....Sen. Roger Marshall to Dr. Anthony Fauci: "Every day you appear on TV you do more damage than good."....Sen. Rand Paul on Fauci: "Using government resources to smear and to destroy the reputations of other scientists..."....Fauci on Paul: "You are milking a catastrophic epidemic for your political gain."....Trump on Sen. John Thune: "Mitch's boy."....James Carville on Dems: "Quit being a whiny party."....Daily Beast headline: "Convicted Fraudster Paul Manafort Lands Deal for Whiny Book."....Eric Trump on NY Attorney General suing Trump Organization: "This is what you'd expect from Russia."....Mary Trump on her uncle: "Donald is the weakest person I've ever met in my life. And yet, he has been able to find people even weaker than he is whom he is able to bend to his will."....Trump: "All the Democrats want to do is put people in jail. They are vicious, violent, and Radical Left thugs."....Christopher "Vaccine Police" Key on Walmart pharmacists administering COVID-19 vaccine: "What they are doing is crimes against humanity."....Mexican TV news anchor Leonardo Schwebel tearing into the unvaccinated live, on air: "If you're anti-vax, you're a moron!"....Trump: "The Big Lie is a lot of bullshit, that's what it is."....