A Rolling Stone interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd from last week began trending on Twitter Thursday as its rediscovery led readers back to his admission he was “naive” about the GOP and Trump administration’s disinformation campaigns.
When asked about Sean Spicer’s lies during his time as the White House’s press secretary, Todd, moderator of “Meet the Press,” confessed he “really believed they wouldn’t do this” at the time.
He called his 2017 line of thinking “just absurdly naive in hindsight.”
Todd went on to say he wasn’t alone in the naïveté: “I think we all made the mistake of not following Toni Morrison’s advice, which is when people tell you who they are, believe them.” The quote was followed by an editor’s note more accurately attributing the quote to Maya Angelou.
Though the interview was six days old as of Thursday, it was reanimated online, maybe as people sat at home catching up on the week’s reading after the holidays.
“Three years after Kellyanne Conway introduced the doctrine of ‘alternative facts’ on his own program, a light went on for Chuck Todd,” Jay Rosen wrote. “Republican strategy, he now realized, was to make stuff up, spread it on social media, repeat it in your answers to journalists — even when you know it’s a lie with crumbs of truth mixed in — and then convert whatever controversy arises into go-get-em points with the base, while pocketing for the party a juicy dividend: additional mistrust of the news media to help insulate President Trump among loyalists when his increasingly brazen actions are reported as news.”
The New York University professor went on to say that Todd’s description of himself as naive was “an astounding statement that cast doubt on his fitness for office as host of ‘Meet the Press,'” and he wasn’t alone.
“After ChuckTodd‘s revelations, why is he the host of MEET THE PRESS one of the most influential news programs that allegedly holds politicians accountable? Why is the bar so low? It’s so painful for the rest of us who have actual skin in the game & so damaging for our democracy,” wrote New York Times op-ed writer Wajahat Ali.
A representative for NBC News did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
World Series 2019: Celebs Cheering for the Washington Nationals, From Bill Nye to Jon Bernthal (Photos)
The Washington Nationals are a fairly young team, only being in existence since 2005 when they moved to the city and changed their name from the Expos. Turns out there aren't a ton of celebrities who followed the team from Montreal! In fact it's become something of a meme with how quickly fans are jumping on the bandwagon, with this viral video circulating of a guy saying he's been a fan of the Nats "since today." Yet beyond the large amounts of D.C. Beltway fans that follow this team, there are a few celebrities like Bill Nye and Jon Bernthal who will for sure be singing along with "Baby Shark" when Gerardo Parra comes to the plate against the Houston Astros in the World Series.
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Bill Nye
Bill Nye "The Science Guy" grew up a Washington Senators fan back when he was a kid, and as he's moved around, he's thrown his support behind the LA Dodgers and the Seattle Mariners. But he was immediately drawn back into the team when they moved back to D.C. in 2005. Since then he played in a charity softball game during MLB's All-Star week while sporting the Nationals logo.
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Jon Bernthal
"Ford v. Ferrari" actor Jon Bernthal was born in Washington D.C. and has done little but tweet about the Nats in the last week or so, showing his support during their so far dominant playoff run.
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Mitch McConnell
Mitch McConnell has been a senator almost as long as the Washington Nationals have been a team. And in that time, he's recommended that the Nats trade former closer Jonathan Papelbon, predicted Stephen Strasburg would win the 2016 Cy Young (it went to fellow Nationals ace Max Scherzer) and this year said he'd rather watch baseball than the democratic primary debates.
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Harry Reid
Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell rarely agreed on much, but they do share a love for their D.C. baseball club, with Reid even pleading at the start of the season that the team's former MVP Bryce Harper might one day come back to the team.
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Charles Krauthammer
The late political commentator Charles Krauthammer was a massive devotee of the Nationals and would on occasion dedicate his column inches to writing about the team. When he passed away in 2018, the team honored his memory by calling him "one of baseball's greatest fans."
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George Will
George Will famously roots for the Chicago Cubs, as he's written a book about the team, but he has a love of the Nats too and made the team American history flashcards back in 2012.
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Chuck Todd
Over the weekend, the "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd closed out his Sunday show by saying "Houston, you have a problem," as he awaits the Astros coming to town.
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David Gregory
There's actually a history of "Meet the Press" hosts repping the Nats, as David Gregory served as master of ceremonies on opening day in 2009 and was even caught on the Jumbotron in 2010.
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Paul F. Tompkins
Here's a newcomer to the bandwagon. Comedian Paul F. Tompkins couldn't believe he was writing it as the Nationals swept the Cardinals to make the World Series. "Forgive me, I’ve never said these words out loud before, so I hope I’m pronouncing this correctly," he wrote on Twitter. "Go... Nats?"
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D.C. politicians and Beltway journalists like David Gregory, Chuck Todd and Mitch McConnell all hope the team can beat the Houston Astros
The Washington Nationals are a fairly young team, only being in existence since 2005 when they moved to the city and changed their name from the Expos. Turns out there aren't a ton of celebrities who followed the team from Montreal! In fact it's become something of a meme with how quickly fans are jumping on the bandwagon, with this viral video circulating of a guy saying he's been a fan of the Nats "since today." Yet beyond the large amounts of D.C. Beltway fans that follow this team, there are a few celebrities like Bill Nye and Jon Bernthal who will for sure be singing along with "Baby Shark" when Gerardo Parra comes to the plate against the Houston Astros in the World Series.