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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.

  • January 31, 2021

    ....Fox News chyron on day after Inauguration: "BIDEN'S DISASTROUS FIRST WEEK"....Sen. Marco Rubio on Biden cabinet picks: "Went to Ivy League schools, have strong resumes, attend all the right conferences, and will be polite and orderly caretakers of America's decline."....Frank Bruni on Rubio: "A little man, at least by the yardstick of integrity, which is the only endowment that matters."....Joe Scarborough on Sen. Lindsey Graham: "Wants us to forget [that the people] who beat a cop to death were inspired by Donald Trump to do so. Ted Cruz wants us to forget because he led the sedition along with Josh Hawley...You know what these people are? These are Trump terrorists. Call them by their name."....Rep. Matt Gaetz: "Liz Cheney is just yet another in a long line of America Last politicians."....Sen. Mitt Romney on Trump support for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene: "Lies of a feather flock together."....Sen. Ted Cruz on U.S. rejoining Paris Climate Agreement: "President Biden indicates he's more interested in the views of the citizens of Paris than in the jobs of the citizens of Pittsburgh."....AOC on Sen. Josh Hawley: "You're not 'muzzled,' Hawley. You're just deeply unpopular, and aided insurrection."....William Saletan: "What Trump brought to the United States is ruthless, relentless, denialist propaganda at a scale we used to see only in dictatorships."....Newt Gingrich on Biden and Dems: "Believe if they could exterminate the Republicans, that would be one way to get unity."....Spike Lee on Trump: "Will go down in history with the likes of Hitler."....House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Trump: "It was evident all along what a disgrace he was."....Stephen Colbert: "Not impeaching Trump because he is out of office is like setting Jeffrey Dahmer free because he is full."....

  • January 19, 2021

    ....Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Biden and Dems: "Are looking for any reason to implement Communist Chinese-style spying and censorship...[Americans] shouldn't be scared into submission by Socialists who want to end their way of life."....Michelle Goldberg: "The siege of the Capitol wasn't a departure for Trump, it was an apotheosis. For years he's been telling us he wouldn't accept an election loss."....Rep. Eric Swalwell on 1/6 Trump rally: "Hate speech that inspired and radicalized people to storm the Capitol."....Sen. Mitch McConnell: "The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people."....Rep. Liz Cheney on Trump: "Summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing."....Project Lincoln adviser Ryan Wiggins: "Right now there are hundreds of brave soldiers camped out in the Capitol ready to die to protect Republican Members of Congress who are too afraid of a weak, deranged narcissist to act in the best interest of our country."....Rep. Jamie Raskin on Trump: "Is not meeting the minimal requirements of the office."....Donny Deutsch on Trump and his brand: "Fully castrated....He has no business future at all. It is over...It is going to be enjoyable to watch this loathsome lizard of a human being go down the drain."....Tim O'Brien on Trump: "An epic self-immolation...He's going to end up cornered and feral."....former AG William Barr: "Orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable. The President's conduct yesterday was a betrayal of his office and supporters."....Geraldo Rivera on Trump: "[Losing the election] made him crazy or revealed a dysfunction I had refused to see...He then unleashed a mob to make war on their own government."....Trump on the media: "The biggest problem we have as far as I'm concerned; single biggest problem."....Erin Gloria Ryan: "From the rioters who came with their moms, to the chickenshits in Congress who riled them up, to the 'most masculine' president ever, these are a sad bunch of men."....Rep. Cori Bush on storming the Capitol: "A white supremicist coup attempt."....Michael Moore: "Cop-killing terrorist mob."....Lawrence O'Brien on Trump: "A lawless criminal leader eager to lead people who are willing to break the law in his name."....Chris Christie, asked if the riot was an impeachable offense: "Oh sure."....Trump administration official on POTUS's behavior on 1/6: "He was a total monster today."....Michelle Obama on Trump: "Infantile."....Rep. Adam Kinzinger on Trump: "Unmoored not just from his duty or even his oath, but from reality itself."....former Sen. Jack Danforth on mentoring Sen. Josh Hawley, who objected to Electoral College results: "Supporting Josh and trying so hard to get him elected to the Senate was the worst mistake I ever made in my life...This guy is doing real harm."....David Remnick on Trump: "The three-minute-long speech he gave on Thursday night, calling for an orderly transfer of power, was as sincere as a hostage's gunpoint confession."....Mary Trump on her uncle: "If his only representation is Rudy Giuliani and the Pillow Guy, I don't think he's going to be making good decisions."....Michael Cohen: "I am certain that Donald Trump is psychotic right now. He would rather burn down the White House than turn over the keys."....Sarah Cooper on Trump: "What a petty bitch."....

  • January 5, 2021

    Sen. Kelly Loeffler: "Every Georgian knows that Jon Ossoff is a pathological liar. And he's a trust-fund socialist who's never had a job, other than through the Chinese Communist Party."....Tucker Carlson on Ossoff: "The sum total of your personal achievements could fit comfortably in the ashtray of a sports car."....Trump: "The 'Surrender Caucus' within the Republican Party will go down in infamy as weak and ineffective 'guardians' of our Nation, who were willing to accept the certification of fraudulent presidential numbers!"....Sen. Ben Sasse on Sen. Josh Hawley vote challenge: "Adults don't point a loaded gun at the heart of legitimate self-government."....Arnold Schwarzenegger: "There is no question about who won the presidential election, and continuing this charade is stupid, crazy, and evil."....Thomas L. Friedman on Trump followers: "A discredited, powerless minority of crackpots waiting around for Trump's latest tweet to tell them what to do, say, and believe."....Eric Trump on Biden victory: "I will personally work to defeat every single Republican senator / congressman who doesn't stand up against this fraud."....David Pflouffe in response: "Like being threatened by a bowl of Jell-O."....Thomas Friedman on Wednesday's planned vote: "A legislative attempt at a coup d'etat...It is disgusting."....Seth Abramson: "The number of Republican House members who'll publicly spit on American democracy on January 6 is going to blow people's minds."....Sen. Tim Kaine on GOP obstructors: "Their ambition is ten times the size of their backbones."....Anderson Cooper on GOP: "More afraid of their supporters than of selling out democracy."....Sen. Chris Van Hollen on Trump and GOP senators: "Essentially taking a flamethrower to our democracy when it comes to public confidence."....Laurence Tribe: "Cruz and Hawley represent two complementary flanks of the New Fascism, the greatest domestic threat we have faced in at least a century."....HRC: "What we're seeing right now is a president with nothing left to lose."....retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey on Trump: "Essentially a con man."....Sen. Kamala Harris on Trump phone call to GA secretary of state: "The voice of desperation...A bald-faced, bold abuse of power."....Richard Wolffe on phone call: "It was Meadows who was polishing the turd...The threat to our democracy is no less real for all of Trump's buffoonish attempts at autocracy."....top GA election official Gabriel Sterling on Trump's phone call: "Nobody I know who would be president would do something like that to a secretary of state."....Neal Katyal on phone call: "Donald Trump is talking like a Mafia boss, and not a particularly smart Mafia boss at that...Maybe that works in the Soviet Union."....Andrew Weissman: "Can anyone not understand now that this Georgia call, and the Ukraine call, are the tip of the Trump iceberg? More to come, surely."....former DOJ inspector general Michael Bromwich on Trump call: "This is probably the most serious political crime I've ever heard of."....Carl Bernstein: "This was something far worse than Watergate...We have both a criminal president of the United States in Donald Trump and a subversive president of the United States at the same time, in this one person."....Michael Tomasky on Sen. Josh Hawley: "His...sincerity rests in his devout pursuit to get his nose farther up Donald Trump's posterior than any other Republican senator."....George Will on the Hawley-Cruz cohort of senators: "Will violate the oath of office in which they swore to defend the Constitution from enemies 'foreign and domestic.' They ARE its most dangerous domestic enemies."....Sen. Amy Klobuchar on Cruz demanding an emergency audit of election results: "Can you please get a grip?...This is embarrassing."....Jennifer Rubin: "There must be a response to a president who exploits his office for the purpose of overthrowing an election."....James Carville on Trump GOP: "This entire thing has fallen apart in front of our eyes, and it's fun to watch."....Bret Stephens on Trump: "America's willful arsonist, the man who lit the match under the fabric of our constitutional republic."....Stephen King: "Who would have guessed that this stupid showman-cum-huckster could do so much damage?"....Jimmy Kimmel: "The 'Million Moron March' is [Wednesday]. President Trump says he will be there. Of course he will."....Lloyd Green: "On Wednesday, the Republicans' transition to the party of the Confederacy will be complete...A coup attempt in all but name, this is how democracy dies."....Sarah Cooper: "Sorry everyone, my New Year's resolution was to try to not make criminals hilarious."....Dan Rather on 2020: "A dumpster fire igniting a nuclear meltdown."....Rep. Jim Jordan: "Tomorrow, the Constitution will be defended and people will see the truth."....Trump on January 6th in D.C.: "Be there, will be wild!"....

  • January 7, 2021

    ....Sen. Mitch McConnell on seizure of U.S. Capitol: "Failed insurrection."....Sen. Mitt Romney: "What happened here today was an insurrection, incited by the President of the United States."....Rep. Liz Cheney: "The president formed the mob. The president incited the mob. The president addressed the mob. He lit the flame."....historian Michael Beschloss: "A terrorist attack...that was instigated by the President of the United States."....Chris Christie: "The president caused this protest to occur."....Rep. Jennifer Wexton on Trump: "He whipped them into a frenzy, and sicced them on the Capitol."....rioters at U.S. Capitol, to TV reporters: "Traitors!"....Rep. Linda Sanchez: "A seditious, traitorous act designed to undermine democracy."....Rep. Adam Kinzinger: "This is a coup attempt."....retired general Barry McCaffrey on Trump admin: "A criminal regime...They are dangerous people...Democracy is in peril."....Reince Priebus on Capitol attack: "Many of these folks are nothing but domestic terrorists...Pure insanity and disgusting."....Rep. Ted Lieu on Trump: "Detached from reality."....WaPo editorial board on Trump: "His continued tenure in office poses a grave threat to U.S. democracy. He should be removed."....former Trump Homeland Security adviser Tom Bossert: "This is beyond wrong and illegal, it's un-American. The president undermined American democracy baselessly for months. As a result, he's culpable for this siege, and an utter disgrace."....rioter at U.S. Capitol: "This is epic, epic. We're taking the Capitol back, thank God!"....Rep. Ayanna Pressley on Trump: "Should immediately be impeached.".....former Dubya aide Scott Jennings: "Donald Trump caused this insurrection with lies and conspiracy theories about the election being rigged against him."....Trump addressing rioters: "These are the things that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously and viciously stripped away."....NewsBusters editor Curtis Houck: "The darkest day in American history since 9/11. And the mastermind behind this terrorist attack was the President of the United States."....Sen. Chuck Schumer: "This temple to democracy was desecrated...Rioters and insurgents, goons and thugs, domestic terrorists."....Joe Scarborough: "If Donald Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani, and Donald Trump are not arrested today for insurrection and taken to jail and booked...then we are no longer a nation of laws."....Albany Times Union editorial on Trump: "Delusional or dishonest, it makes no difference. Either way, he is unfit to serve."....2016 Trump campaign official: "He screwed his supporters, he screwed his country, and now he's screwed himself."....Sen. Corey Booker: "We brought this hell upon ourselves."....Sen. Amy Klobuchar: "This is how you run for president on the Republican side in 2024. You join a coup attempt."....Stephen Colbert on Trump: "Traitor-in-chief."....Capitol rioter to police: "Next time we're coming back with rifles!"....Trump on Biden voters: "A bunch of stupid people."....

     

     

     

     

  • December 30, 2020

    ....GA Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on review of ballot signatures: "Three strikes against the voter fraud claims and they're out."....Trump: "The people who run [Georgia], from the Governor...to the Secretary of State, are a complete disaster and don't have a clue, or worse. Nobody can be this stupid."....former RNC chair Michael Steele: "The only way Trump gets to 220 is if he loses 50 pounds."....Geraldo Rivera on Trump: "Sadly he lost a bitterly contested election. S*** happens. However since he has behaved like an entitled frat boy."....CNN's Jake Tapper on WH Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany: "Lies the way that most people breathe...She can't acknowledge reality."....Trump-supporting lawyer Lin Wood: "Jake Tapper is a communist."....Paul Waldman on Trump: "Quite possibly the worst deal-maker ever to sit in the Oval Office."....Susan Glasser on Trump: "Has taken credit for a vaccine against a virus he once counselled could be beaten with bleach."....Tucker Carlson on U.S. government: "They are planning to force you to take the coronavirus vaccine. It's so safe, they have to threaten you to take it."....Donald Trump Jr. on 'Saturday Night Live': "A failing sketch comedy show."....Mueller team member Andrew Weissmann, on Trump pardons including that of Paul Manafort: "What you would expect to get if you gave the pardon power to a mob boss."....Sen. Ben Sasse on Trump pardons: "This is rotten to the core."....Claire McCaskill: "He just pardoned a sleigh full of scumbags."....Bradley Whitford: "The White House is a crime scene."....