When I was growing up, my mom taught me to use what she called magic words. It was a polite way to get what I wanted when I wanted it. The most important magic words I learned were PLEASE and THANKS.

PLEASE and THANKS are not the magic words when it comes to media coverage of Trump 2.0. That magic word is CLAIM and its variations. Everyone knows that Team MAGA lies reflexively. It is, however, not always clear if they’re lying at the start of an incident, so CLAIM should be in every story. That avoids media complicity in MAGA mendacity. They *should* move on to calling a lie a lie, but CLAIM is a good start.

I had my local news station WWL-TV in mind when I conceived this post. Their coverage of Trump 2.0 is all over the place because they’re based in a blue city but have many viewers in the red lands. I’m tired of yelling at the TV when I watch the local news:  PLEASE say CLAIM, CLAIMS, and CLAIMED instead of taking MAGA lies at face value. THANKS.

It’s an eventful day as Team Trump has demoted asshole thug Greg Bovino and promoted asshole crook Tom Homan to take the lead in Minnesota. Bovino’s storm troopers went too far, especially with the murder of Alex Pretti. What’s more sympathetic to mainstream America than a white ICU nurse who worked at the VA? He looked like he’d fit in with the cast of The Pitt.  Dr. Robbie weeps.

I’m not quite prepared to call this TACO Tuesday but the removal of Bovino is a good start. He seems to think he’s a character in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds. In case you forgot, TACO is a Wall Street created acronym for Trump Always Chickens Out. He just did it over Greenland.

The Insult Comedian never admits to crumpling in the face of pushback, but he does it all the damn time. PLEASE keep on pushing. THANKS.

The last word goes to The McCoys: