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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November 26, 2024
Sen. Tammy Duckworth on SecDef nominee Pete Hegseth: "Inordinately unqualified."....former GOP chair Michael Steele on Sen. Matt Gaetz: "A hot, controversial figure that no one likes."....Rep. MTG on NPR: "Democrat propaganda."....Trump on Jan 6 and classified docs cases: "Empty and lawless."....Tucker Carlson: "I used to think Tony Blinken was running the White House. Now I think it is Satan himself."....Kellyanne Conway on Meghan McCain: "A years-long resident Mean Girl on 'The View' and Bravo, where her mouth was a spigot of vile and bile..."....John Bolton: "Sebastian Gorka is a con man...He displays fealty, and that's what Trump wants."....Lawrence O'Donnell on Trump: "The laziest and stupidest president in history by far."....Elon Musk on AG Merrick Garland: "An unprincipled douchebag."....Joe Rogan to Musk: "If you buy MSNBC I would like Rachel Maddow's job. I will wear the same outfit and glasses, and I will tell the same lies."....Donald Trump Jr.: "I'll mimic Lawrence O'Donnell...minus the castration of course."....Jeanine Pirro: "We've been operating without a president for a long time."....Nikki Haley on Tulsi Gabbard: "[The DNI] is not a place for a Russian, Iranian, Syrian, Chinese sympathizer."....War Room's Grace Chong on JD Vance and Marco Rubio missing votes: "You guys better show up and do your fricken job!"....Vance on Chong: "A mouth-breathing imbecile."...Mary L. Trump on Rep. Nancy Mace: "Just another thug who has signed up to be a foot-soldier in Donald Trump's war on basic human decency."....Trump on NYT journalist Maggie Haberman: "A third-rate writer and fourth-rate intellect, writes story after story, always terrible."....NY Post on RFK Jr's ideas: "A head-scratching spaghetti of what we can only call warped conspiracy theories, and not just on vaccines."....Tina Brown on Gaetz: "Reminds me of the Tasmanian Devil in Looney Tunes cartoons, his face twisted with opportunism and low intent."....Stephen Colbert on Trump: "Continuing to shovel steaming piles of nominee into his cabinet."....Jon Stewart: "Republicans are playing chess, and the Democrats are in the nurse's office because they glued their balls to their thigh."....
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November 2, 2024
Trump on Vice President Kamala Harris: "A very dumb individual, very dumb...Retarded...She's scum. She's garbage...Lazy as hell...A stupid person...Bitch...Does she drink? Is she on drugs?...A sleazebag...Grossly incompetent, a total trainwreck. She has destroyed everything in her path...Dumber than hell...Her message has been a message of hate and division...A low-IQ person. She's not smart...Virtually incoherent...Everything that comes out of her mouth is a LIE...A shit vice president. The worst...She's going to destroy the whole country."....Trump on Harris's campaign staff: "They're scum. And they want to take down our country. They are absolute garbage."....Trump on the US: "We're like a Third World nation...We're a nation in decline. Very, very serious decline...The US is now an occupied country...We are a country whose economy is collapsing into a cesspool of ruin...We are a failing nation...Our country is being destroyed...We're turning into a communist country in many ways...We're living in hell right now."....Trump on US autoworkers: "They don't build cars. They take them out of a box and they assemble them. You could have a child do it."....Trump on his former chief of staff Gen. John Kelly: "A total moron."...on Gen. Mark Milley: "A fucking idiot."....on Milley and Kelly: "Weak, stupid people."....on MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle: "A dumb-as-a-rock bimbo."....on NYT columnist Bret Stephens: "A Trump-hating loser."....on networks: "NBC is no good. ABC is no good. CBS is no good."....on Bill Maher: "A befuddled mess."....on former Rep. Liz Cheney: "She, like Kamala, is a stupid person."....on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: "An enemy within."....on CA Gov. Gavin Newsom: "'Newscum' I call him."....on Rep. Adam Schiff and the Pelosis: "These people are so sick and evil."....on Sen. Chuck Schumer: "If Kamala loses you can still have a chance to become the first woman president."....Maureen Dowd on Trump: "Brazenly projecting every bad thing he does onto his rivals, and boldly hawking sneakers, Bibles and cologne like a late-night cable huckster, has no shame."....Sen. Mitt Romney: "He is unquestionably mentally unstable, and he is racist, bigoted, misogynistic, xenophobic, vulgar, and prone to violence."....Geraldo Rivera: "A sore loser who cannot be trusted to honor the Constitution."....Mark Cuban: "You never see him around strong, intelligent women. Ever."....CNN's Bob Costas: "A bubbling cauldron of loathsome traits. You have to be in the throes of some sort of toxic delusion and in a toxic cult to believe that Donald Trump has ever been in any sense -- emotionally, psychologically, intellectually, or ethically -- fit to be president of the United States."....Obama on Trump: "You would be worried if your grandpa was acting like this."....Trump on Bob Woodward: "He's lost his marbles."....Woodward on Trump: "He has this idea that he knows things he doesn't know." Trump: "I know more about drones than anybody...I know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me...Nobody knows more about technology than me...Nobody knows more about construction than I do...Nobody knows more about taxes than I do...Nobody knows more about campaign finance than I do...Nobody knows more about environmental impact statements than me...I know more about renewables than any human being on Earth...I know more about courts than any human being on Earth...Nobody knows more about polls than me...Nobody knows more about banks than me...Nobody knows more about trade than I do...I understand the power of Facebook, maybe better than almost anybody...I understand money better than anybody...Nobody knows more about debt than I do...I know more about contributions than anybody...I understand politicians better than anybody...I understand things. I comprehend very well. OK? Better than, I think, almost anybody...I know a lot...I know more than I'm ever going to tell you...The truth is I'm actually a modest person, very modest...I think I am, actually, humble. I think I'm much more humble than you would understand."....James Fallows: "As best as I can tell, and as of mid-afternoon on the day after Navalny's killing, Donald Trump has never once, in any way, in any venue, at any time dared to criticize Vladimir Putin."....retired Army General Mark Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Trump and Biden, on Trump: "We don't take an oath to a king, or a queen, or to a tyrant or dictator, and we don't take an oath to a wannabe dictator...He is the most dangerous person ever."....
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October 17, 2024
Trump on the US: "We are a country whose economy is collapsing into a cesspool of ruin."....Biden on Trump: "He's a loser in everything he does...Remember when Trump told them if I got elected the stock market would crash?...If he meant the stock market would crash through record highs, he was actually right."....Trump on new 'Apprentice' movie: "Pile of garbage...[made by] human scum."....Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung on Bob Woodward's 'War': "An angry, little man...This trash book...either belongs in the bargain bin of the fiction section of a discount bookstore or used as toilet tissue. Woodward is a total sleazebag who has lost it mentally, and he's slow, lethargic, incompetent, and overall a boring person with no personality."....Trump on Woodward: "He's a storyteller. A bad one. And he's lost his marbles."....Gov. Tim Walz on Trump: "We just found out Trump had his branded Bibles printed in China. This dude will even outsource God."....Trump on Democrats: "It is the enemy from within and they're very dangerous. They are Marxists, communists, fascists...a guy like Adam Schiff...the Pelosis, these people are so sick and so evil."....Elon Musk on Harris: "She'll say whatever is on the teleprompter...It's whoever controls the teleprompter who is in charge."....Trump on Harris: "We're not going to let her destroy our country, that dummy."....Trump on undocumented immigrants: "They raped our country."....Trump: "The wind is bullshit, I'll tell you. It's horrible, so expensive."....Trump on Harris: "She doesn't know what the hell she's talking about. There's something wrong with her."....Trump on Mike Pence on J6: "He couldn't cross the line of doing what was right."....Geraldo Rivera on Trump: "Sore loser."....Trump on Harris: "Dumber than hell...Virtually incoherent."....Fred Trump III: "Every family has their crazy uncle. My Uncle Donald is atomic crazy."....Bob Costas: "You have to be in a toxic cult to believe that Trump has ever been emotionally, psychologically, intellectually, or ethically fit to be POTUS."....former national security adviser Susan Rice on Trump: "The Neville Chamberlin of the Republican Party. He's an appeaser. He's a surrender monkey. And that's what we're seeing in his approach to Ukraine."....former Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull: "When you see Trump with Putin, as I have on a few occasions, he's like the 12-year-old boy that goes to high school and meets the captain of the football team. 'My hero!' It is really creepy."....Sen. Ted Cruz on Senate Democrats: "You are all traitors."....Eric Trump on Democrats: "They tried to kill [my father]."....Ohio sheriff Bruce D. Zuchowski on Harris: "When people ask me...What's gonna happen if the Flip-Flopping, Laughing Hyena wins? I say...write down all the addresses of the people who had her signs in their yards."....Trump: "It's not worthwhile doing interviews on Fox, because it all just averages out into NOTHING. Fox News has totally lost its way!"....Trump: "I watch that stupid 'View' where you have these really dumb people..."....Trump on Neil Cavuto: "Has one of the worst shows on television -- and the worst-rated on Fox News. The people on Fake News CNN are better!"....Trump on US cities: "You can't walk across the street to get a loaf of bread. You get shot. You get mugged. You get raped. You get whatever it may be."....David Corn on Trump: "He's trying to convince tens of millions of Americans that we're living in a dangerous hellhole, and imperiled by barbarians who happen to be people of color, and that the Dems are purposefully orchestrating this, and that only he can save us. This is what dictators do."....retired National Guard Maj. Gen. Randy Manner on Trump: "We have a fascist running for President of the United States."....Trump on CA Gov. Gavin Newsom: "Newscum, I call him."....Trump on Harris: "Her actions have led many to believe that there could be something very wrong with her. Also, she is slow and lethargic in answering even the easiest of questions."....Elon Musk: "Nobody's even bothering to try to kill Kamala, because it's pointless. What do you achieve? Nothing. Just buy another puppet."....Trump, upon the passing of First Lady Rosalynn Carter: "I thought to myself, 'Jimmy Carter is happy now because he will go down as being a brilliant president by comparison to Joe Biden.'"....
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October 3, 2024
Mary L. Trump: "Every time my uncle opens his mouth, something incomprehensible, delusional, or terrifying comes out of it."....Trump on climate change: "They don't ever talk about the environment anymore. You know why?...It's one of the great scams of all time."....Trump on 2020: "They rigged the election."....Trump on federal and state response to hurricane in SC: "Going out of their way not to help people in Republican areas."....Trump on Walz: "Tampon Tim...Not very bright...Low IQ!...Very much like Kamala, he is a TOTAL JOKE!"....Trump on ABC: "Perhaps the worst and most dishonorable network in broadcasting!"....Trump: "CBS is LYING AGAIN about the 2020 election...CBS IS FAKE NEWS!"....Trump on seeing Stephen Colbert interviewed on PBS: "Why would they be wasting time and the public's money on this complete and total loser?...He is not funny. He is not wise...He is very boring."....Trump: "Neil Cavuto, Fox's Lowest Rated Anchor, is one of the WORST on Television. I actually prefer the losers at CNN and MSDNC!"....Trump: "OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM IS CORRUPT AND DISCREDITED."....Trump on Harris: "Lyin' Kamala just put out a request for another Debate because they lost so badly."...Donald Trump Jr. on why his father won't accept: "I don't think he can have a chance at getting a fair debate. I don't think there's moderators our there that would do that."....Stephen Miller on Walz: "A full-blown, radical-left communist...with his fake, smug smile, his fake phony nonexistent charm...Tim Walz's job is to be the Jack Kevorkian for America...to be the assisted-suicide doctor, to lean over charmingly by the bedside of America and give it a fatal injection."....Fox host Greg Gutfeld on members of Jan 6 committee: "Put those jerks behind bars."....Rep. James Talerico: "I think if Donald Trump and JD Vance met Jesus today, they would ridicule him as a single, childless hippie."....Sen. Lindsey Graham on Harris: "I think she's a mile wide and an inch deep."....Trump: "There's something wrong and I don't know what it is but there is something missing. Kamala Harris is a stupid person...She's ruined our nation....She has no idea what the hell she is doing...A one-woman wrecking ball...She's grossly incompetent...She even wants to legalize fentanyl."....Mark Cuban: "All we've seen Trump do is hire relatives. RNC? Here comes the daughter-in-law...The family business is now the Republican Party."....Gov. Josh Shapiro: "I don't think Trump is a serious person."....Vance: "Kamala is why we have sky-high inflation."....Vance on his lying about Haitians in Springfield, Ohio eating pets: "It was the only way to get those a-holes in the media to even LOOK at this story."....Rep. Clay Higgins on Youngstown Haitians suing Vance and Trump for lying: "All these thugs better get their mind right and their ass out of the country by January 20th."....Harris spokesperson Ian Sams: "Trump has invented a dystopia which only he lives in...He spends all his time trashing the country."....Trump on California: "A symbol of our nation's decline...Crime-ridden...Ruined...She's going to do the same to the United States."....former CA State Assembly speaker Anthony Rendon: "It's hardly 'Blade Runner' here."....Charlie Sykes on Trump: "Is making the calculation that he doesn't have to talk about policy, that he doesn't have to be coherent, that he doesn't have to be decent, that all he has to do is throw out his various versions of reality and somehow that's going to be enough."....New Right activist and Vance friend Curtis Yarvin: "You need a national CEO; a national CEO is called a dictator. If Americans want to change their government they're going to have to get over their dictator phobia."....Mary L. Trump: "My uncle sees violence committed on his behalf as the ultimate sign of love and loyalty. He wants Americans to bleed -- for him."....Andrew Sullivan on Trump: "The most shameless charlatan in American political history...He is unfit in every respect to be president of the United States."....Trump on Biden, 2020: "If he's elected, the stock market will crash."....
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September 11, 2024
....Liz Cheney on Trump and Vance: "Women around this country have had enough...This is my diplomatic way of saying it: They're misogynistic pigs."....Trump on debate: "That was incredible. So many things I said were debunked, totally debunked."....Trump on ABC: "The most dishonest news organization, and that's saying a lot...They ought to take away their license."....Joe Scarborough: "It's rich for Republicans to blame the ref when they can't make a single shot."....Gov. Josh Shapiro: "I'm a sports guy, and I think any time a team is whining about the refs, it's because they lost."....Trump on Harris: "People don't go to her rallies -- there's no reason to go -- and the people that do go, she's busing them in and paying them to be there."....Trump on 2020 election: "Rampant cheating and skullduggery."....Trump on the U.S.: "I would like to think God thinks I'm going to straighten out our country. Our country is so sick...Horrible...Our country is going to hell...We are a failing nation. We are in serious decline...We are laughed at all over the world. We are going to end up in a third world war. We have a nation that is dying."....Gov. Tim Walz: "My God, every time I hear Donald Trump give a speech, it's like the next screenplay for Mad Max or something. They are rooting against America."....Trump adviser Tim Murtaugh on follow-up debate: "We have another one already on the books to be hosted by NBC on September 25. We'll see if Kamala Harris shows up to that."....Eric Trump on Harris's debate strategy: "Lots of generic talk about absolutely nothing."....J.D. Vance: "The American people are smart, and Kamala Harris talks to them like they're children."....Heather Cox Richardson on Trump in debate: "He ran down every rabbit hole and appeared unable to finish a thought."....Rev. Al Sharpton: "He had the nightmare of his life that he had to shake hands with a black woman as an equal, and he couldn't get it back together after that."....Michelle Cottle: "He sounded like your unhinged grandpa."....Jonathan Meacham: "Do you want to give the nuclear codes back to the "dog-eating" guy?"....Matt Labash: "Even if Harris had stumbled out drunk and dribbled down her blouse, Trump still might have lost the debate for himself."....Michael Beschloss: "After this night -- not simply a debate but a demolition derby -- it would make sense for Trump to begin making serious plans for retirement."....Erick Erickson: "Trump lost the debate, and whining about the moderators doesn't change it...He lost because of his own performance while his lips were moving, not theirs."....John Heilemann on Trump in debate: "That is someone who has Lost His Marbles."....Chris Christie on Trump debate team: "Whoever prepared Donald Trump should be fired."....Kamala Harris: "Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people. So let's be clear about that, and clearly he is having a very difficult time processing that."....former Trump fixer and attorney Michael Cohen: "When you see the accordion hands start going, what that means is that he's lying."....Trump on E. Jean Carroll: "I should be suing her for defamation."....Trump on immigrants: "Our country is being poisoned...They're going into the classrooms and taking disease, and they don't even speak English. It's crazy."....Trump on January 6th committee: "Liz Cheney and the others should be prosecuted for what they did, but Comrade Kamala is even worse!"....Mehdi Hasan: "On the one hand, Dick Cheney should be on trial at The Hague. On the other hand, EVEN Dick fricking Cheney recognizes that Trump is an existential threat to American democracy as we know it. This is not a left-right issue."....Werner Herzog on the U.S.: "You are waking up, as Germany once did, to the awareness that 1/3 of your people would kill another 1/3, while 1/3 watches."....Fox host Greg Gutfeld: "How can you not be in favor of Trump?...This is a moment you've got to ask yourself: Are you going to join the pirate ship or the pontoon of pansies?"....Fmr. Navy admiral Steve Abbott on Trump: "He is not a disaster waiting to happen, he's a disaster which has already happened. He puts the country at substantial risk."....Robert Gates, defense secretary under Obama and George W. Bush: "I believe Mr. Trump is beyond repair."....9/11 memorial service attendee to Trump, the morning after debate: "Where were you for 20 years? I've been here. Where were you?"....