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.
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April 9, 2022
....former Trump national security adviser John Bolton: "If Trump had been re-elected, Putin would be in Kyiv already."....Russian Defense Ministry on photos and video of slaughter in Bucha: "Another hoax, a staged provocation by the Kyiv regime for the Western media."....conspiracy theorist Alex Jones: "The Ukrainians have a very sophisticated movie-propaganda system...They've been caught staging all these fake massacres and these fake events."....Trump: "They say that in Russia the people don't even know they're having a war because they have rigged press. We have the same rigged press. Maybe not quite as severe."....Rep. Matt Gaetz to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin: "I'm embarrassed by your leadership."....Trump adviser Peter Navarro: "It was a tragedy that Mike Pence decided to be a traitor to the American Caesar of Trump."....NH Gov. Chris Sununu on Trump: "He's f***ing crazy...I don't think he's so crazy that you could put him in a mental institution, but I think if he were in one, he ain't getting out!"....Sen. Rand Paul on Dr. Anthony Fauci: "This is more like what you'd see from a Mafia don that from a government bureaucrat."....Sen. Ron Johnson on the Bidens: "The most corruption I've ever seen in the U.S. federal government."....Rep. Lauren Boebert: "The only thing Jen Psaki did as press secretary was prove to America how much better Kayleigh McEnany was."....Newt Gingrich on House January 6th committee: "It's basically a lynch mob."....Colorado congressional candidate Tim Reichert on abortion: "Fuel for the demonic, because it is the sacrifice of a child at the altar of Baal."....Rep. Lisa McCain on southern border crossers: "Terrorists, convicts, murderers, and rapists."....Trump on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson: "Was unbelievably disrespectful to Republican senators....She had total disdain and even hatred for them."....Sen. Lindsey Graham on Jackson: "She gets the outcome she wants no matter how the law's written."....Sen. Tom Cotton on Jackson: "Has...shown real interest in helping terrorists."....DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison on Cotton: "The lowest of the low...A little maggot-infested man."....GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger on his party: "We are being governed by a bunch of children, by a bunch of people that are not serious about running the United States of America."....Anne Applebaum on Fox News' Tucker Carlson: "He is literally a useful idiot...He is acting as a conduit for Russian propaganda."....Sen. Ted Cruz on Biden gaffes: "He would have been better off simply throwing up on foreign leaders."....Rep. Liz Cheney: "I think that Senator Cruz is somebody who knows what the Constitution calls for, knows what his duties and obligations are, and was willing, frankly, to set that aside."....Rep. Lauren Boebert: "Biden is not playing some sort of 4-D chess...He has no idea what he's saying."....venture capitalist Peter Thiel on Warren Buffett: "A sociopathic grandpa."....Trump on GA Gov. Brian Kemp: "A turncoat, a coward, and a complete and total disaster."....Trump on GA gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams: "A socialist, extremist, and racist lunatic."....Mary Trump on her uncle: "The most colossal and fragile ego on the planet."....Ann Coulter's new book: "Adios, America! The Left's Plan to Turn Our Country Into a Third World Hellhole."....comedian Adam Carolla on what's wrong with America: "It used to be 'bring us the best and the brightest.' Now it's 'bring us the least-Whitest.'...It's a constant obsession in 2022 of a problem that has essentially been solved years ago."....
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March 26, 2022
US Army vet and Ukraine volunteer James Vasquez: "When I need to amp myself up for battle, I just think about the most punchable face on the planet -- Tucker Carlson."....George Will on Carlson: "Vaudevillian-as-journalist. Speaks like an arrested-development adolescent."...Charlie Kirk on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson: "Their Affirmative Action pick for the Supreme Court."....Donald Trump Jr. on Jackson's nomination: "Democrats really doing their best to secure the pedophile vote."....Rex Huppke on Sen. Ted Cruz asking Judge Jackson if babies are racist: "The collective eye roll was so intense the Earth briefly tilted off its axis."....Biden on Putin: "A war criminal."....Rep. Elise Stefanik: "Biden has played directly into Putin's hands."....Sen. John Kennedy: "Weakness invites the wolves...In too many critical respects, President Biden has been Bambi's baby brother...I think it's clear that the leader of the free world is President Zelensky."....Sen. Lindsey Graham: "Putin owns Biden...The Biden administration looks at Putin as a partner for climate change and an Iran dealmaker, rather than a war criminal."....Sen. Ted Cruz: "What got us in this mess is Biden is afraid of Putin."....Candace Owens on Ukraine conflict: "WE are at fault."....Mother Jones' David Corn: "Top conservatives and GOP officials have practically pinned 'I'm-with-Vlad' buttons onto their lapels."....Bill O'Reilly on Corn: "Is in the vile human being hall of fame."....Putin on anti-invasion Russians: "Scum and traitors."....Russian state TV host Vladimir Solovyov on sanctions: "You took our money, you're the thieves. Our talk is short with you: a bullet to the head...If you think we're going to stop with Ukraine, think 300 times."....Zelensky chief of staff Andriy Yermak: "It is impossible to listen to how Russian TV reporters around the clock publish absolute bullshit."....Newt Gingrich on Kamala Harris: "The dumbest person ever elected Vice President."....Fox's Dagen McDowell on Harris: "Her husband got COVID and she didn't because even COVID doesn't want to have anything to do with her."....Erick Erickson: "Unfortunately, it seems clear now that Kamala Harris was not a choice for diversity, but a choice to forestall the Twenty-Fifth Amendment."....Samantha Bee on Putin: "All this suffering can be laid at the manicured feet of one deranged man-baby."....Garrison Keillor on Putin: "The only decent thing about him is that he doesn't appear in public with his daughters or his girlfriend, he spares them the shame."....Stephen King: "The more I listen to Donald Trump, the more appalled I am. Not as a Democrat; but as a human being. He's a genuinely nasty man."....Trump on Sen. Mitch McConnell: "Stupid, corrupt."....Trump on NATO: "A paper tiger."....Trump on George Conway: "A stupid son of a bitch."....Trump on Rep. Adam Schiff: "His head is shaped like a watermelon."....Joe Scarborough on Trump: "This is a guy who worked for four years to try to disembowel NATO."....Jimmy Kimmel: "Trump as president was a Russian invasion -- of us."....Howard Stern on Trump: "It was absolutely absurd that this guy got to be the president of the United States."....Jeremy Newberger: "Tucker Carlson was created in a Russian biolab. They mixed 100 lbs of frozen fish sticks, a shitty bow tie, and a dump truck full of bullshit."....
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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."....
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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?'"....
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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."....