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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September 20, 2016
Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Donald Trump:"Thin-skinned, temperamental...Willfully ignorant about the rest of the world...Unqualified and unfit to be commander-in-chief...Beyond repair."....Trump on Gates: "A nasty guy...An absolute clown."....Congressional Black Caucus chairman G.K. Butterfield on Trump: "A disgusting fraud."....Harry Reid on Trump: "A human leech who will bleed the country... Would turn America into a big scam, like Trump University."....Trump on Reid: "Should go back and start working out again with his rubber work-out pieces."....Maureen Dowd on Trump: "I think of him as a toon. He's just drawn that way."....Trump on Dowd: "A neurotic dope."....Charles M. Blow on Trump: "Lies with a ferocious abandon...The truth shifts beneath Trump like sand."....NYer editor David Remnick on Trump: "Does not so much struggle with the truth as strangle it altogether...A pathological liar of a kind and quality that we have not seen in recent presidential politics and perhaps ever."....Trump: "Why isn't President Obama working, instead of campaigning for Hillary Clinton?"....George Takei in response: "As commander-in-chief, he is sworn to protect us from threats both foreign and domestic. You, sir, are the latter."....Green Party candidate Jill Stein on Trump vs. Clinton: "Death by gunshot or death by strangulation."....pro-Trump super PAC head Alex Castellanos on HRC: "Nana Clinton."....Bill Maher on Trump: "Orange Hitler.".... -
September 14, 2016
Keith Olbermann on Donald Trump: "A demonic messiah in Oompa Loompa's clothing."....Trump on Hillary Clinton: "An unstable person."....Mike Pence: "[Vladimir Putin] has been far more a leader than our president."....Trump on 'Art of the Deal' ghostwriter Tony Schwartz: "Irrelevant dope!"....Colin Powell on Trump: "A national disgrace."....Nicholas Kristof on Matt Lauer: "An embarrassment to journalism."....Samantha Bee on Lauer: "A human Splenda...Maybe this Halloween he could dress up as a journalist."....Hillary Clinton: "You can put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the Basket of Deplorables."....NY woman attacking two Muslim women and their children: "Get the f*** out of America, bitches. This is America -- you shouldn't be different from us."....Ann Coulter on Humayun Kahn: "A snarling Muslim."....Cher on Trump: "A f***ing idiot."....Don Cheadle on Trump: "Truly a P.O.S."....Mike Huckabee on Colin Kaepernick: "I think we ought to take a certain NFL quarterback, ask him where he'd like to go, and send him there with all these liberals who somehow resent the country."....Trump on Kaepernick: "Maybe he should find a country that works better for him."....Wayne Newton on Kaepernick: "Get the hell out."...Kid Rock: "F*** Colin Kaepernick."....Alabama pastor and high school football announcer Allen Joyner over loudspeaker: "If you don't want to stand for the National Anthem, you can line up over there by the fence and let our military personnel take a few shots at you, since they've been taking shots for you.".... -
September 9, 2016
Donald Trump on Barack Obama: "Putin's been a leader, far more than our president has been a leader."....Romney strategist Stuart Stevens on Trump's Putin remarks: "A nominee of a major party is praising a thug who kills journalists, invades neighbors, and steals billions...Is Trump really an American?"....Trump on U.S. military: "I think under the leadership of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton the generals have been reduced to rubble. They have been reduced to a point that's embarrassing for our country."....Sen. Harry Reid on Trump: "An American nightmare."....Trump on Clinton: "Putin looks at her and he laughs."....Michael Tomasky on Trump: "I-don't-give-a-crap pride in his own ignorance."....Trump on the U.S. military: "It is sadly depleted."....Emily's List on Trump: "Dangerously clueless on how to keep our country safe."....Chelsea Clinton on Trump: "Sad, misogynistic, sexist rhetoric."....West Deptford, NJ township committee candidate Mike Krawitz to Daily Beast writer Olivia Nuzzi, following her posting of a story about Trump: "I. Hope. Somebody. Rapes. You. Today."....Trump on the U.S.: "We're losing our jobs like we're a bunch of babies."....Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte on U.S. ambassador Philip Goldberg: "That gay son of a bitch. He annoys me.".... -
September 2, 2016
Former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe on Trump: "We have a psychopath running for president. I mean, he meets the clinical definition, okay?"....Trump on Clinton: "Believe me, folks, she's crooked."....Former Fox News host Andrea Tantaros on Fox News: "A sex-fueled, Playboy-Mansion-like cult."....Fox News on Tantaros: "All the hallmarks of the 'wannabe.'...Tantaros is not a victim; she is an opportunist."....Maine Gov. Paul LePage voicemail for Democratic Rep. Drew Gattine: "You little son-of-a-bitch socialist ****sucker...I want you to record this and make it public, because I am after you."....Rudy Giuliani on Beyonce and other performers at the VMAs: "I save more black lives than any of those people...".... Tina Brown: "The Trumps are the Bizarro World version of the Kennedys."....Ice Cube: "I will never endorse a Motha***** like Donald Trump! Ever!"....John Oliver on Ryan Lochte: "America's idiot sea cow.".... -
August 26, 2016
Donald Trump on America: "It can't get any worse than what it is right now."....Retired Rear Admiral John Hutson on Trump: "You're not fit to polish John McCain's boots."....Trump on the Clinton Foundation: "The most corrupt enterprise in political history."....Sen. Mark Kirk on President Obama: "Acting like the drug dealer in chief."....Trump on "Morning Joe": "Sad and irrelevant...Two clowns!...Unwatchable."....Trump on Mika Brzezinski: "A neurotic and not very bright woman."....Joe Scarborough on Trump: "Neurotic and not very bright? Look in the mirror."....Trump rally audience shout-outs on Hillary: "Hang the bitch!...Kill the bitch!"....Former Sec. of State George P. Shultz on a Trump presidency: "God help us."....Trump on Clinton: "Lacks the mental and physical stamina to take on ISIS."....HuffPo on Trump: "A serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther."....Jerry Falwell, Jr. on Obama and Clinton: "Neville Chamberlains of our time."....Former Reagan spokesman Doug Elmets: "I knew Ronald Reagan. I worked for Ronald Reagan. Donald Trump, you are no Ronald Reagan."....