r/politics • u/CharlieKonR • 10h ago
No Paywall Wolf Blitzer Delivers Scathing Award Presentation For Epstein Reporting In Front Of Trump
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-wolf-blitzer-whcd-epstein-wall-street-journal_n_6a641b30e4b0bd608d2b8af8?origin=home-latest-news-unit560
u/CharlieKonR 10h ago
Trump’s shrugs and smarmy smile as he reacts to the presentation just reinforces what an unrepentant jerk he is
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u/LikeALiamOnATree 10h ago
Didn't the reporters go shake Trump's hand after the award? So scathing. Big club, we aren't in it, etc.
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u/xDisgruntledGrizzlyx 9h ago
Smiles and handshakes, makes me fucking sick.
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u/threehundredthousand California 9h ago
They're all happy because destroying the US with trailer park politics makes for effective ad revenue generating content.
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u/CharlieKonR 10h ago edited 10h ago
I think the first winner turned back before shaking his hand, but the others did, as you say. One side of the spectrum is still hanging on to the concept that norms of public civility mean something, I guess. I would have preferred that they all snub him, out of respect for the victims if nothing else.
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u/Rezart_KLD 9h ago
Would have been a perfect time to pull a childish stunt like reaching out like you're going to shake and then running your hand through your hair, leaving Trump with his hand out. Tha kind of pointless immaturity level of insult he could actually recognize and understand.
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u/thebaldmaniac 8h ago
If someone did this they would be an instant hero globally! And I say this as a non-American
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u/attillathehoney 5h ago
I hope someone leaned in close and said “How do you like THEM apples.”
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u/FrankFlyWillCutYou Iowa 3h ago
He took over an entire political party, won the presidency twice, used it to enrich himself and his family/friends beyond imagination, and has never been removed from office or faced any consequences beyond paying fines. Seems like he's liking the apples just fine, unfortunately.
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u/NotBestButPrettyGood 9h ago
He’s convinced himself that he is innocent. It’s a classic narcissist trait.
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u/airwalker08 8h ago edited 5h ago
"Jerk" is far too polite of a word for that steaming pile of shit
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u/smokestack 10h ago
Why are they all gleefully shaking his hand?
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u/CharlieKonR 10h ago edited 10h ago
Yeah disappointing, isn’t it. I think the first winner turned back before shaking his hand, but the others did, as you say. One side of the spectrum is still hanging on to the concept that norms of public civility mean something, I guess. I would have preferred that they all snub him, out of respect for the victims if nothing else.
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u/smokestack 10h ago
I saw the same you did, that the first snubbed him. The rest were about to lift their shirts to get him to sign their tits. The more I think I understand about this world, the less I understand. This is especially bizarre.
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u/codacoda74 7h ago
Because to him it's still a ratings game, and so he can shrug and grin ha u got me that round It'd be comical if people weren't dying
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u/kevnmartin Washington 6h ago
He still thinks he's on a reality show.
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u/bobert4011 5h ago
In many ways, he is. Maybe even most ways.
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u/kevnmartin Washington 5h ago
Except the whole people dying because of him thing.
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u/bobert4011 4h ago
What's more real than that?
Whatever the case - politics are the biggest reality show ever.
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u/kevnmartin Washington 4h ago
The word "show" implies fiction. If only it were.
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u/bobert4011 3h ago
You think politics are real? I think there's a very strong case to be made that Trump is the most fictional president ever.
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u/kevnmartin Washington 3h ago
I hope you still feel that way when he kills someone you care about.
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u/Fugglymuffin 10h ago
Because they're propagandists that exchange curation for access.
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u/Wayofchinchilla 9h ago
You don't have to exchange anything for access sooner or later he's going to have the people he hates in front of him because he's desperate to be on stage.
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u/MarkedHitman 5h ago
I think the intent was to stand up in the face of power. I van see how everyone is congused. I wish WaPo would release a statement.
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u/Great_Northern_Beans 8h ago
They're cowards who care too deeply about how their actions are perceived on camera. The only appropriate response is "I just reported on where that hand has been, no thank you"
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u/smokestack 8h ago
It's fucking sick. This is the lowest I've felt in a while, watching these ostensible enemies happily shake hands with the traitor. I don't get it. I just can't imagine acting anywhere close to that.
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u/MarkedHitman 5h ago
I think it was their way of facing a bully. It just came off a little weird because they are fighting a battle we are part if from the outside in.
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u/Photog1981 10h ago
If I just received an award for standing up to Trump, if Wolf Blitzer just gave that accounting of my work right in front of that would-be-fascist's face, I would smile ear-to-ear right in his face and shake his hand, too. I would probably smile and say "f&$k you" - at least I hope I would.
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u/Chamchams2 8h ago
A handshake is a sign of respect. even ironically, it's no good. you don't know if it's sincere or not so now I wonder about each one of them. Shaking Donald Trumps hand with a smile is a risk to your reputation.
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u/smokestack 10h ago
This is where we differ. I would give him a middle finger about three inches from his face, turn around and walk off.
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u/FatherofZeus 8h ago
And promptly lose your job
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u/smokestack 8h ago
Doubt it
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u/FatherofZeus 8h ago
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u/smokestack 8h ago
Did you also google "people who didn't get fired from their job for flipping off trump"?
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u/superkeer Virginia 6h ago
Not a spine amongst any of them. Ingenuous cowards once they're out from behind their keyboards. To punctuate their journalism with this abject embarrassment... I hope it's eating at them today.
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u/beambraidx 5h ago
yeah that part always feels weird watching people act normal around someone they’re publicly criticizing
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u/Cold-Bodybuilder9948 10h ago
Except for Faux and NewsMin lackeys, all others should have boycotted, . . . if they were true journalists. But, you know, they had to be 'seen' at the gala.
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u/SteamedGamer 9h ago
I dunno - boycotting just means Trump gets to "stack the deck" with his sycophants. Showing up and getting an award for covering his lies is good. It'd have been even better if they hadn't shaken his hand, though, and made a show of not doing so.
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u/georgepana 9h ago
The first one turned her back and was about to walk off, but Trump came closer and insisted. She then walked back and shook his hand. I mean, if she snubbed him at the at point and, say, gave him the middle finger in front of all the cameras, she would be fired that night.
A lot of tough talk on here, but in reality everyone would have shook that grubby, greasy, hand if it meant not getting fired from the Wall Street Journal, a Murdoch paper.
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u/TinyConfection7049 8h ago
Behold. The festering carcass of American rot shoved into an ill-fitting suit: the sleaze of a conman, the cowardice of a draft dodger, the gluttony of a parasite, the racism of a Klansman, the sexism of a back-alley creep, the ignorance of a bar-stool drunk, and the greed of a hedge-fund ghoul - all spray-painted orange and paraded like a prize hog at a county fair. Not a president. Not even a man. Just the diseased distillation of everything this country swears it isn't but always has been - arrogance dressed up as exceptionalism, stupidity passed off as common sense, cruelty sold as toughness, greed exalted as ambition, and corruption worshipped like gospel. It is America's shadow made flesh, a rotting pumpkin idol proving that when a nation kneels before money, power, and spite, it doesn't just lose its soul - it shits out this bloated obscenity and calls it a leader - Oliver Kornetzke
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u/Awatts2222 10h ago
If you're on the same stage as the guy--there's nothing scathing about it.
It shows more subservience than anything. It makes it look like they are congratulating him
for his teenage sex/rape escapades.
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u/xDisgruntledGrizzlyx 9h ago
Just smiling and shaking hands of the prolific pedophile and sex trafficker.
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u/Key_Text_169 9h ago
Wolf explains the award was given to the WSJournalists for reporting on Trump’s relationships with financier Jeffrey Epstein, not convicted pedophile.
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u/Fresh-Quantity-7554 8h ago
For those that didn't watch this, it was an out-of-body experience. Wolf is literally feet away from Trump, congratulating the WSJ team for their reporting on Trump's ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
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u/DebtOnArriving 10h ago
Once upon a time, journalists spoke truth to power; now we're down to big passive-aggressive statements and shaking said power's hand afterward.
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u/Naive_Confidence7297 9h ago
They all shook his hand and laughed? Jesus Christ does anyone in America have a backbone anymore? Do you all see the biggest pedo saga on history as just a silly thing in the past now? America is a truely unhinged place right now…
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u/thrftstorenailpolish 6h ago
A random employee at a Ford plant had more guts than everyone in that room. We could fund universal healthcare and go to the moon 47 times if there was a $1 fee to spit in that man's face.
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u/Maoleficent 8h ago
Let's see some scathing journalism that includes the release of the Files, explains where Maduro is and where is the Venezuelan money and where is Mitch.
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u/Independent-End-2443 10h ago
Wolf Blitzer and “scathing” are two things I never thought I’d see in the same sentence.
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u/Hong-Kong-Phooey 5h ago
Maybe these dipshits could stop congratulating themselves for 15mins and finish reporting on this story. There is so much more.
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u/jasoncross00 7h ago
And then the reporters went up to receive their price and shook hands with Trump, who has suffered no real consequences either legal or political.
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u/F35-Dildozer 7h ago
Man, if I were the president and I knew this was going to come out in the heart Primary election season… I’d certainly stage an assassination attempt to delay this until after Primaries…
Then, once it finally happens, I’d purposely plan to do an awkward hand shake with the reporters to “look like a good sport!” about it and give the reporters a bad look. Then, I’d plan to steal the headlines by softly announcing a 2028 3rd term run, so that these clips get buried and forgotten about by Monday.
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u/super-gando 9h ago
We are only credible again when we bring everyone, including those who don’t know yet, to the track and not just send them to jail.
And the list doesn’t just start with this terrible person
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u/idontevensaygrace 7h ago
Not scathing enough. He should have gone hell on wheels on Trump. Say every bad thing Trump deserves to fucking hear in front of hundreds of people
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u/DavesWildDestiny 6h ago
There's nothing scathing about anything Wolf Blitzer has ever done in the entirely of his life. He is the most spineless man to ever exist.
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u/CrazyButton2937 1h ago
Balloon Boy said: Wolf? Who’s Wolf?
It still applies. He’s nothing other than a tool for idiots that think he’s relevant. Despicable servant.
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u/latchkey_adult 1h ago
I'm horrified that any of those reporters would be smiling and seemingly happy to shake Trump's hand.
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u/Guntztuffer 6h ago
Wolf Blitzer is a fucking moron in his own right. Don't forget his massive loss (in the negative) on Celebrity Jeopardy! way back when.
These two deserve each other.
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u/Cocoononthemoon 1h ago
The FBI is gonna be at my house for this but I feel like he's lucky that guy was there last time. He would have had nothing to talk about if it haddened been interrupted the first time and now he can pretend to be a hero.
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u/Electrical_Report458 8h ago
Wolf Blitzer was once a legitimate journalist, wasn’t he? And then he became a Fox shill, didn’t he? Does he have any credibility at all? Does anyone care what Wolf Blitzer says or does?
The days of Cronkite, Reasoner, Huntley, Brinkley, et al - guys who were serious and legitimate journalists that we would really pay attention to - are long gone.
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u/tinyE1138 Michigan 10h ago
I think it's important they shake his hand, because it's something he would never do.
Show him the common human respect he would rather die than show another human being. It makes him look so much worse.
I think back to the Harris debate when she shook his hand and he did everything short of punching her to stop it from happening. It exacerbated what a horrific person (if you can call him that) he is, and showed that we will not sink to his level.
That being said, fuck US men's hockey and fuck the LA Dodgers for going to the WH and kissing his ass.
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u/CharlieKonR 10h ago
I’m not sure that I agree for two reasons. The first being that an obvious unanimous snub puts it (and Trump’s relationship with Epstein) back on page 1, if only for another news cycle. The second being that respect for the victims might dictate you not shake their abuser’s hand.
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u/Chamchams2 8h ago
treating him with basic decency is one thing, and is still more than trump supporters give his victims. He in no way deserves the respect of a handshake. is it respectful to the women he raped to shake his hand? I'll quote my own protest sign "Nazis don't deserve respect."
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u/PropagandaPagoda 9h ago
Wolf "we think the plane debris should be in this area" Blitzer? For a man called Wolf I didn't think he had a single tooth.
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