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.
-
October 8, 2019
........................Trump: "The Fake News Media nowadays not only doesn't check for the accuracy of the facts, they knowingly make up the facts...They have gone totally CRAZY!!!!"....Trump on House Intelligence Committee chairman: "Lyin' Shifty Schiff!...A shifty, dishonest guy."....Trump on House Impeachment Inquiry: "A totally compromised kangaroo court, where Republican rights have been taken away, and true facts are not allowed out for the public."....Trump on Schiff: "A sick man."....Trump on Pelosi: "She hands out subpoenas like they're cookies."....Trump on Mitt Romney: "Never knew how to win. He is a pompous 'ass.'"....Trump on Schiff: "He's a low-life. He should be forced to resign."....Trump: "Everything the Washington Post does is fake. It's a fake newspaper."....Trump on Dems: "They are lying and cheating like never before. They and the Fake News Media are Dangerous and Bad."....Trump: "By the way, the Bidens were corrupt!"....Trump on Schiff: "That guy couldn't carry [Pompeo's] jock strap."....Trump: "The press has gone crazy."....Trump on Schiff: "A lying disaster for our Country. He should resign!"....Trump: "The media may be even more corrupt than the Bidens."....Trump on Trump: "The very thing that they are accusing President Trump of doing (which I didn't do), was actually done by Joe Biden."....Eric Trump: "The only corruption worse than Biden's is that of the media."....Donald Trump Jr.: "Who wants to bet that the 'whistle-blower' is going to turn out to be a total partisan hack with close ties to disgruntled even more partisan deep state hacks???"....Trump: "The truth is we have a nation that is disgusted with the FBI."....Trump on Dems: "Inexplicably and without foundation, they choose to hate America."....Trump: "The media is deranged. They have lost their minds."....Trump on Dem presidential candidates: "These are maniacs."....Trump on Schiff: "He lied to Congress and attempted to defraud the American Public."....Trump: "What happened in 2016 is a disgrace to this country."....Trump on 2020: "Democrats want to steal the election."....Trump on NYT's reporting on Justice Kavanaugh: "It is a false hoax."....Trump: "Believe it or not I watch my words very carefully."........................
-
October 2, 2019
........................Trump on reporters: "Many of them are scum...Just terrible dishonest people."....Lou Dobbs on impeachment inquiry: "An outright premeditated effort to subvert and overthrow the president of the United States...There must be a countervailing force against these acts of evil."....Newt Gingrich: "This has nothing to do with impeachment. It has nothing to do with the rule of law. It has nothing to do with the facts...This is a coup d'etat."....Sen. Lindsey Graham: "The Salem Witch Trials had more due process than this."....Rush Limbaugh: "It's not just about getting rid of Trump. It's about getting rid of us, this show, talk radio, Fox News, and our freedom to vote. They are fed up with having opposition."....Hillary Clinton on Trump: "A corrupt human tornado."....Sean Hannity on Biden: "Sleepy, creepy, crazy Uncle Joe."....Robert De Niro on Trump: "He's worse than I ever could have imagined... This guy is like a gangster."....Cindy McCain on GOP: "Not the party that my husband and I belonged to."....Donald Trump Jr.: "The Democratic Party hates you. The Democratic Party hates democracy."....Jeffrey Toobin: "There is a cancer on this presidency."....Trump on Joe Biden: "Dumb as a rock."....Trump on Hunter Biden: "He's a stiff, he knows nothing."....AOC on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy: "A bumbling, sloppy, dishonest mess, and his mediocrity is accepted as a matter of course."....Donnie Deutsch on Trump: "He would set the country on fire if it would in any way help him."....Seth Meyers: "The only thing stopping our system from just collapsing is that everyone just ignores him. We've all gotten to the point where we have to treat the president of the United States like a guy taking a s*** in the subway car. At some point, everyone's just gonna move to the other end of the country."....The Volatile Mermaid: "Calm down, everyone. Trump is just calling for a civil war. It's not like he did anything really divisive like Obama did by being black."....Trump: "I would never donate to any charity that helps sharks. I hope all the sharks die."....Mark Twain: "It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled."........................
-
September 24, 2019
........................Trump: "Almost all the stories the New York Times has done are inaccurate and wrong...The NYT should close its doors and throw away the keys."....George Will on Trump: "We have to clear the ground and remove this awful presence from our lives."....Beto O'Rourke on Trump: "The most dangerous president the United States has ever had."....Trump on O'Rourke: "Dummy."....former Gov. William Weld on Trump Ukraine phone call: "That's not just undermining democratic institutions. That is treason. It's treason pure and simple."....Maureen Dowd on Trump: "Is literally acting like an international mobster."....Trump on NYT: "They've taken the Old Grey Lady and broken her down, destroyed her vrtue and ruined her reputation...They are sick and desperate, losing in so many ways."....former publicist Alan Marcus on Trump: "If he's not in a fight, he looks for one. He can't stop."....former Trump Organization executive Barbara Res: "Trump thinks he's always going to win -- he really does believe that -- and he fights very, very, very dirty."....Anderson Cooper on former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski: "He still wants to please Daddy."....Australian Guardian editor, after being on the road with Trump: "Full and alarming incoherence."....former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich: "The world is in danger...The President of the United States is seriously, frighteningly, dangerously unstable. And he's getting worse by the day."....former Gov. William Weld: "Trump is like every dumb criminal defedant I've ever prosecuted. They all think, 'If it's not in writing, they can't prove anything.' That's not true -- circumstantial evidence is more powerful than eyewitness testimony."....Trump: "Joe Biden and his son are corrupt...If a Republican ever did what Joe Biden did, if a Republican ever said what Joe Biden said, they'd be getting the electric chair right now."....Rep. Tulsi Gabbard: "Trump awaits instructions from his Saudi masters. Having our country act as Saudi Arabia's bitch is not 'America first.'"....Seth Meyers: "The president is obsessing over a map he doctored to defend an embarrassing mistake that he is now lying about."....Joy Behar: "Just sleeping with someone named 'Stormy' doesn't make you a weather expert."....Trump on his primary adversaries: "The three people are a total joke...A laughingstock...I don't know them...They have no credibility."....Anthony Scaramucci on Trump: "He's a clear and present danger to the society now."....Trump at rally: "The radical Democrats want to dismantle, demolish and destroy everything you've gained. And they will do it."....NYT editorial board on members of the Trump administration: "They are charged with serving the public interest, not the president's ego."....Trump on Federal Reserve leaders: "Boneheads."....Trump on Dems: "Are hurting our Country, and getting nothing done."....House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell: "Why don't you go ask him if he has any regrets for all the people who died because he hasn't acted?"....Jimmy Carter: "It will be a disaster to have four more years of Trump."....Matt Taibbi: "America is the first country to ever elect a Mad King, and the way things are going, we may be dumb enough to do it twice."....Trump to White House reporters: "You people ought to be ashamed of yourselves...You've got a lot of crooked journalists. You're crooked as hell."........................
-
September 3, 2019
........................Trump on Comey: "Crooked cop."....Comey on Trump: "Narcissism is not leadership."....Ted Cruz: "Gun control doesn't work. Look at Chicago."....Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot in response: "Sixty percent of illegal firearms recovered in Chicago come from outside it -- mostly from states dominated by coward Republicans like you who refuse to enact commonsense gun legislation. Keep our name out of your mouth."....GOP challenger Joe Walsh on Trump immigration policy: "Absolute incompetence."....Trump on CNN host Chris Cuomo: "A total out-of-control animal."....former Defense Secretary James Mattis on Trump: "Limited cognitive ability...Generally dubious character."....Trump on Puerto Rico: "One of the most corrupt places on Earth."....Juan Cole on Trump: "Surely the most scandal-ridden presidency in history."....ocean-crossing teen activist Greta Thunberg on Trump: "My message to him is just to listen to the science, and he obviously doesn't do that."....former WH communications director Anthony Scaramucci on Trump: "It's like a hostage crisis inside the [White House]. They absolutely hate the guy's guts, but they're scared out of their minds...He's completely unhinged...Melting down like a nuclear reactor."....Trump: "I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty."....Frank Bruni on voters: "What many of them want is release from the incessant drumbeat of that infernal syllable: Trump, Trump, Trump. They'd like a new mini-series with a different cast."....Marianne Williamson on Trump: "We have a little bit of a mad King George in charge of this country right now."....Trump on GOP rivals Mark Sanford, Joe Walsh, and William Weld: "Can you believe it? I'm at 94% in the Republican party, and have Three Stooges running against me."....Jennifer Rubin: "When he's not lying, Trump sounds crazy."....China Institute for WTO Studies director Tu Xinquan: "We used to have expectations for Trump...Now it seems his degree of rationality is far below our expectations. Constantly changing...We have no expectations now and don't expect him to make the right responses and decisions."....former U.S. diplomat Jeff Moon on Trump: "An undisciplined, tactical thinker who deals with issues and events one-by-one and is guided by no fixed principles or long-term strategic vision."....Trump on NYT columnist Bret Stephens: "Lightweight...Loser."....Esquire's Jack Holmes on Trump: "Is quite adept at convincing himself of something as he makes it up with the intent of convincing others."....CNN's Jim Sciutto on Trump remarks at G-7: "A parade of lies."....Rolling Stone bureau chief Andy Kroll: "Because nothing says free markets and liberal democracy quite like a head of state ordering private businesses to follow his orders."....former federal prosecutor William Weld: "Using a serious meeting of world leaders to promote his golf resort is just the latest in many failures to distinguish between Trump World and the real world."....toy company president Jay Foreman: "We are on Mr. Trump's Wild Ride. Never have we experienced such an unhinged practice of governance. It's out of control and outrageous."....Andrew Sullivan on Trump: "It's not only that he will never get better, but it is certain that he will get worse. There has never been a malignant narcissist in power whose pathology improved, or even remained stable. They always deteriorate, and often rapidly, as they become drunk on (what they see as) now unlimited power and adulation."....Trump on head of Federal Reserve: "My only question is, who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powell or Chairman Xi?"....WaPo's Greg Sargent: "Jacob Levy and Jack Balkin have demonstrated that Trump's lying has crossed over into a form of autocratic disinformation and propaganda that is deliberately designed to render shared agreement on facts and reasoned deliberation impossible."....Trump: "The LameStream Media has gone totally CRAZY! They write whatever they want, seldom have sources (even though they say they do), never do 'fact checking' anymore...They are now beyond Fake, they are Corrupt."....Trump: "The Mueller Report showed No Collusion, No Obstruction!"........................
-
August 20, 2019
........................Trump on Dayton, Ohio mayor Nan Whaley's post-shooting news conference: "A fraud."....Whaley on Trump: "A bully and a coward."....former CIA Director John O. Brennan: "In 2020, we need to elect someone to safeguard and strengthen democracy, not trample it."....Trump on the Wall Street Journal: "They understand nothing about trade or business. Nothing."....Bill O'Reilly on Joe Biden: "A swamp creature..."....Trump on Biden: "A pretty incompetent guy...He's such a disaster."....Soledad O'Brien on Sen. John Cornyn: "Is so much more stupid than I ever gave him credit for."....Sen. Amy Klobuchar on Trump: "He's been treating farmers like poker chips at one of his bankrupt casinos."....WA Gov. Jay Inslee: "I see something and I'm saying something: It's time to get white nationalism out of the White House."....former GOP congressman Joe Walsh: "[I want to] apologize for the role that I played in putting an unfit conman in the White House."....Trump on media: "Doing everything they can to crash the economy because they think it will be bad for me and my re-election."....Public Citizen president Robert Weissman: "What's now become very clear is that a very substantial portion of the Trump fortune is due to tax evasion, including his evasion of taxes on his daddy's wealth."....former WH communications director Anthony Scaramucci on Trump: "Let's face it, he's gone off the rails...He's sounding more and more nonsensical...Fracturing the institutions and all the things that the country stands for...Loyalty is not blind obedience unless you're supporting a demagogue, okay?"....Trump on Scaramucci: "A highly unstable 'nut job.'"....NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio: "Such a charade. Too much of the time what Fox and News Corp do is try and take people's minds off the fact that they are being screwed economically by the one percent."....Sean Hannity on de Blasio: "You drive me crazy."....Rachel Maddow on Trump: "Trying to make America into a whole new country we have never been before in all of the 243 years that we have existed."....CNN anchor Chris Cuomo to guy who called him 'Fredo': "I'll f***in' ruin your s***. I'll f***in' throw you down these stairs."....Trump on Cuomo: "He shouldn't be allowed to have any weapon. He's nuts!...I thought Chris was Fredo also. The truth hurts."....WaPo opinion editor James Downie: "Funny how employer audits almost completely dried up after a president whose companies employ undocumented immigrants entered office."....Jake Tapper to Customs and Border Protection head Mark Mogran: "It seems like you guys are turning a blind eye to this crime being committed by the president's own companies."....Trump on Bill Maher: "So many lies."....Trump on biographer Timothy L. O'Brien: "A world-class loser."....Trump on Biden: "Sooo boring."....Beto O'Rourke to Trump: "Twenty-two people in my hometown are dead after an act of terror inspired by your racism."....Trump on O'Rourke: "Should respect the victims and law enforcement -- and be quiet!"...Jay Inslee on Trump: "Selling out the vital interests of the American people to the well-paid lobbyists and the special interests."....Maureen Dowd: "The shining city on a hill is an ugly pile of rubble."....Trump: "Never has the press been more inaccurate, unfair or corrupt!...We are fighting the seriously dishonest and unhinged Lamestream Media. They have gone totally CRAZY. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"....Laurence Tribe on Trump: "This presidency shames and disgraces the office every minute of every hour of every day."....Trump: "So funny to watch Little Donny Deutsch on TV with his own failing show."....Trump on 'Morning Joe' co-host Mika Brzezinski: "[Joe Scarborough's] angry psycho wife."....then-CA Gov. Ronald Reagan on watching 1971 UN vote to recognize the People's Republic of China (on a recently-released Nixon tape): "Last night, I tell you, to watch that thing on television as I did. To see those, those monkeys from those African countries -- damn them, they're still uncomfortable wearing shoes!"....Louis Menand: "Apart from being alive, baby boomers had almost nothing to do with the nineteen-sixties."........................