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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 14, 2020

    ........................Trump on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: "Not operating with a full deck."....Trump on Rep. Adam Schiff: "You little pencil neck..."....Laurence Tribe: "All roads from Trump or McConnell -- and I'd add Kevin McCarthy -- lead to Putin...Our descendants will wonder why we insisted on so narrow a definition of treason."....Donald Trump Jr.: "It would be nice if the Democrats running for president were as in sync with hard working Americans as they are with a murderous and totalitarian regime in Iran."....Sen. Mike Lee on classified briefing on Iran: "Insulting and demeaning...Probably the worst briefing, at least on a military issue, I've seen in my nine years...Telling us that we need to be good little girls and boys and run along and not debate this in public. I find that absolutely insane."....Fox News' Lou Dobbs on Lee: "[A] Benedict Arnold impression...Having something of a snit fit."....Fox News' Sean Hannity on Dems: "They have decided in their insanity and psychosis and rage to abuse [the power of impeachment] and bring up what is a non-case."....Sen. Ron Johnson on impeachment charges: "Pretty thin gruel."....Trump on Soleimani: "He's been called a monster, and he was a monster. And he's no longer a monster. He's dead."....Sen. Tammy Duckworth: "We all know this president has zero impulse control."....GOP strategist Rick Wilson: "The assertion by Lindsey Graham that today's bizarre performance by Sniffles the Clown was on par with 'Tear Down This Wall' is part of the Saddamificaton of the GOP."....Rep. Doug Collins on Dems: "Are in love with terrorists. We see that they mourn Soleimani more than they mourn our Gold Star families."....Preet Bharara on Collins: "I don't know what Doug Collins has ever done for America except preen and sound stupid."....former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley: "The only ones mourning the loss of Soleimani are our Democrat leadership."....Rep. John Rutherford on Rep. Pamila Jayapal: "You and your squad of Ayatollah sympathizers are spreading propaganda."....Colin Kaepernick on killing Soleimani: "There is nothing new about American terrorist attacks against Black and Brown people for the expansion of American imperialism."....Sen. Lindsey Graham on Kaepernick: "A loser on and off the field...He's a racist. If you're looking for racism in America, Mr. Kaepernick, look in the mirror."....Rand Paul on Graham: "He insults the Constitution and the Founding Fathers."....Piers Morgan on criticism of killing Soleimani: "Pathetic two-faced liberal bleating."....radio host Mark Levin on Nancy Pelosi: "No moral compass."....Trump on Pelosi: "She will go down as perhaps the least successful Speaker in U.S. history!"....George Conway on Trump: "It's outrageous that the United States has a president who is so dumb that he doesn't know how to spell 'outrageous.'"....Meat Loaf on Greta Thunberg: "She's been brainwashed into thinking that there is climate change, and there isn't...She's been forced into thinking that what she is saying is true."....Outgoing GOP Gov. Phil Bryant: "If Mike Espy and the liberal Democrats gain the [Mississippi state] Senate we will take that first step into a thousand years of darkness."....Rose McGowan to Iran: "We want peace with your nation. We are being held hostage by a terrorist regime. We do not know how to escape. Please do not kill us."........................

  • January 7, 2020

    ........................Trump on impeachment: "In many ways the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on our country...It's become a laughingstock all over the world."....former GOP strategist Steve Schmidt on Trump: "An inept, selfish, boorish, incompetent President."....Paul Krugman on Trump foreign policy: "He imagined that he faced a world of Lindsey Grahams, willing to abandon all dignity at the first hint of a challenge."....Sen. Mitch McConnell on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: "A sort of pre-trial hostage negotiation."....Trump on Pelosi: "She's all lies. Most overrated person I know."....Trump on bird-flipping protester at his rally on impeachment night: "A real slob...A disgusting person...She'll get hell when she gets back home with Mom."....Gen. Soleimani's daughter Zeinab on Trump: "Crazy."....Thomas L. Friedman on Soleimani: "Possibly the dumbest man in Iran and the most overrated strategist in the Middle East."....Trump on impeachment: "To be spending time on this political Hoax at this moment in our history, when I am so busy, is sad!"....Dana Milbank: "In other words: They can't hold my impeachment trial because I'm busy fighting the war I just started."....Financial Times' Philip Stephens on Trump foreign policy: "Looking for a framework is like searching for symmetrical patterns in a bowl of spaghetti."....GOP strategist Stuart Stevens: "Republicans are now officially the character-doesn't-count party."....Michelle Goldberg on Trump presidency: "There are no more adults in the room."....Trump on Rep. Gerry Nadler: "Incompetent."....Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on Trump: "Has no respect for international law...This is state terrorism...He has been fed misinformation. He needs to wake up and apologize."....Michael Moore on Trump-voting white men: "These are not good people."....Sen. Elizabeth Warren: "The president has become bolder with his lies and more brazen in his law-breaking...Meanwhile, the Republicans in Congress have turned into fawning, spineless defenders of his crimes."....Sen. Steve Daines on impeachment: "Sham."....Stephen King on Sen. Susan Collins: "When the chips are down, watch her fall in line behind Moscow Mitch."....Trump on CNN's Chris Cuomo: "He is Fake News, will always be Fredo to us."....Rush Limbaugh: "When Trump meets the press, it's all of them lined up on the driveway at the White House shouting like a bunch of Romper Room six-year-olds...Half the CNN roster and 75% of the MSNBC roster is in the competiton for dumbest person on TV."....Linda Ronstadt on Trump's 2016 candidacy: "I said 'It's gonna be like Hitler, and the Mexicans are the new Jews.' And sure enough that's what he delivered...Find a common enemy for everyone to hate."....former WH ethics chief Richard W. Painter on William Barr: "The most dangerous attorney general in U.S. history."....Biden on Trump assassination of Soleimani: "Just tossed a stick of dynamite into a tinderbox."....Garrison Keillor: "The theme of this presidency from the very beginning has been: 'Nothing matters.' You have to admire the civil servants to whom it matters deeply, but the odds are against them."........................

  • December 31, 2019

    ........................Trump on former FBI director James Comey: "Scum!"....Trump on chairman of House Judiciary Committee: "No Nads Nadler."....Trump on political opponents: "Band of thieves...do not like our military...witch hunts...maniacs...betrayed the American people...socialism and blatant corruption."....Patti Davis, daughter of Ronald Reagan, on Trump: "His cruelty really is limitless, his sense of decency nonexistent."....Fox News host Neil Cavuto on Trump: "To fact-check him is to be all but dead to him and his legion of supporters...There are no grays. No middle ground. You are either all-in or you're just out. Loyal on everything or not to be trusted on anything."....Elizabeth Warren on Trump: "The most corrupt president in history."....Sen. Lindsey Graham on Dems: "Have buyer's remorse about impeachment...They know their case is falling apart in the eyes of the American people."....Trump on Dems: "Their case is dead, their poll numbers are horrendous!"....Jerry Falwell Jr.: "I predict the 2020 election will be Hiroshima and Nagasaki for the Dems."....Rudy Giuliani on George Soros: "Soros is hardly a Jew. I'm more of a Jew than Soros is...He doesn't go to religion -- synagogue...He's an enemy of Israel. He's elected eight anarchist DA's in the United States. He's a horrible human being."....Dana Milbank on Trump impeachment-night speech: "An alarming blend of instability and rage."....Trump on impeachment: "Illegal, unconstitutional...lawless, partisan...depraved...A disgrace...the antithesis of what it means to be an American."....George Conway on Trump: "IMPOTUS (Impeached President of the United States)."....Trump on news photographers filming his rally: "These guys are a part of the Democrat Party."....Trump: "Crazy Nancy Pelosi should spend more time in her decaying city and less time on the Impeachment Hoax!"....Trump: "New York City and State are falling apart...Gov. Cuomo has lost control, and lost his mind."....Dave Barry on Trump tweets about his Ukraine phone call: "Sounds increasingly like a derelict arguing with himself in an alley next to a convenience store, but not as coherent."....Donald Trump Jr. in 2016: "Dear Clintons, You know what's deplorable? Being Impeached!!!"........................

  • December 18, 2019

    ........................Trump in letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: "More due process was afforded to those accused in the Salem Witch Trials."....former GOP strategist Rick Wilson on letter: "Six pages of pure crazy, weapons-grade nuts."....Trump in letter: "You are violating your oaths of office, you are breaking your allegiance to the Constitution, and you are declaring open war on American Democracy."....Trump biographer Tony Schwartz: "Read Trump's letter to Pelosi as if he were writing it entirely about himself...Pure projection...An utterly desperate cry to be excused for a life of lies and hatred."....Pelosi on letter: "Ridiculous...It's really sick."....MSNBC's Ari Melber on letter: "Hyperbolically stupid."....Chris Matthews on letter: "He gets a big load of coal in his stocking."....Trump on Nancy Pelosi: "She's the worst."....Tucker Carlson on Potomac River: "It has gotten dirtier and dirtier and dirtier and dirtier. I go down there and that litter is left almost exclusively by immigrants, who I'm sure are good people."....Trump on former FBI director Comey: "Sleazebag...One of the dirtiest cops our nation has ever seen."....Trump on FBI leaders: "Totally incompetent and corrupt."....former Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz on impeachment: "We are here because the president of the United States has treated the Constitution like toilet paper."....Trump on Dems: "The Party of lies and deception!"....Trump on Pelosi: "You view democracy as your enemy!"....former Gov. Bill Weld on Trump: "A one-man crime wave."....Trump on Fox News: "Only pro-Trump Fox shows do well. The rest are nothing."....Thomas Friedman: "The fact that his spokesman only goes on Fox News, and that he only goes on Fox News...they are in a bubble. They don't realize the danger they are in."....Trump on CNN and MSNBC: "Commiecast...Have totally tanked. Their ratings are terrible. They have zero credibility."....Maureen Dowd on Trump: "He did not come to Washington to clean up the tainted system; he came to bathe in it."....John Cleese: "If a Democrat is president, lying about a blow-job is grounds for impeachment. If a Republican is president, betraying his country's defense policy against Russia...isn't. What am I missing here?"....Trump on his impeachment: "The greatest con job in the history of American politics!"....Sen. Josh Hawley on impeachment: "This whole thing is a joke...There's nothing there."....Sean Hannity: "A toxic political stunt."....historian Douglas Brinkley on being impeached: "It makes you part of the Loser's Club of history."....Trump on Pete Buttigieg: "I mean, you have Alfred E. Neuman who's running. Who likes this guy?"....Steve Silberman on Mitch McConnell: "Proof that in America, any ambitious white nerd can grow up to be a Russian asset, the greatest traitor in U.S. history, and personally responsible for the coming misery of millions who will die with no access to health care."....Susan Glasser on impeachment hearings: "A fact-checker's nightmare of half-truths and Trumpian talking points."....Rob Reiner on GOP: "Perfectly fine with Trump pissing all over Democracy."....Trump on Sen. Elizabeth Warren: "She opened that fresh mouth of hers."....Trump on France's president Macron: "A pain in the ass."....Michael Tomasky on Attorney General William Barr: "A clear and present danger...When you believe godless Democrats are hell bent on destroying the country, everything is permitted to re-elect Trump."....former AG Eric Holder on Barr: "Unfit to serve as attorney general."....Sen. Bernie Sanders: "Like the swindler that he is, the president used charity money for veterans to pay off his own debts...The most corrupt president in modern history. Now even Mr. Trump has admitted his corruption."....Robert De Niro on Trump: "A dirty player."........................

  • December 9, 2019

    ........................Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner on Dems: "You have made Joe McCarthy look like a piker."....Trump on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: "Unhinged."....Trump on Rep. Adam Schiff: "A corrupt politician and a criminal...A stone-cold loser. Has been almost all his life."....Newt Gingrich on impeachment: "A modern day lynch mob."....WH attorney Pat Cipallone to House Judiciary Committee chairman Nadler: "As you know, your impeachment is completely baseless."....Rush Limbaugh on Dems: "They're making no bones about the fact that they really don't care about the American people."....Donald Trump Jr. on Twitter: "Hell, they practically boost and promote anyone who talks s*** about and hates America."....Ann Coulter on GOP senators Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, and Mitt Romney: "Legendarily feckless old ladies."....Sen. Lindsey Graham on impeachment: "The whole thing is a joke."....HRC: "I don't know what's happened to Lindsey Graham...It's like he had a brain snatch, you know?"....Donald Trump Jr. on Dems: "Care much more about trying to hurt Donald Trump than they do helping Americans."....Mike Murphy on Rudy Giuliani: "Going to be on the cover of Fall From Grace magazine."....Sen. Elizabeth Warren: "Donald Trump embarrasses America on the world stage, and he does it repeatedly."....Trump on Democrats: "You almost question whether or not they love our country and that's a very serious thing. Do they love our country?"....Trump on impeachment: "A joke."....Trump on Fox News: "Panders. Pathetic!...Fox should stay with the people that got them there, not losers!"....Trump on impeachment inquiry: "The whole thing is a hoax. Everybody knows it."....Kellyanne Conway: "It's not just a hoax -- what is the process?"....FL congressional candidate George Buck on Rep. Omar, Rep. Tlaib, and AOC, in fundraising letter: "We should hang these traitors."....Ted Cruz on Ukraine: "Blatantly interfered in the [2016] election."....Rick Wilson on Tucker Carlson: "A pro-Putin shill on a network that looks away from their pet president's grotesque subservience to the Russian leader who helped elect him."....David Rothkopf: "Trump, his administration, and the GOP have made a conscious choice to align themselves with Putinism. It is not unwitting."....Fox News' Tucker Carlson on Dems: "The irony, of course, is that Putin, for all his faults, does not hate America as much as many of these people do."....Ambassador Michael McFaul: "You are wrong, Mr. Carlson. Putin does hate America. You (I assume unwittingly) help his anti-American objectives with these ill-informed rants. Be a patriot. Stop attacking Americans and defending Putin."....Trump on Dems: "Have thrown a wrecking ball at our Democracy."....Rep. Mike Quigley: "This is a president that has never been held accountable for anything he has done."....Trump on Dems: "Haven't come up with a smocking gun.".....NK senior official Kim Yong Choi on Trump: "A heedless and erratic old man."....Trump on impeachment: "Shouldn't even be allowed."........................