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Julie Demaree Nikhinson/AP
TOP STORY
TRUMP TESTS THE MEDIA (AGAIN)
President Donald Trump’s handpicked board voted to shutter the Kennedy Center Tuesday afternoon, a disappointing conclusion to the president’s months-long quest to rename the institution in his honor. While there’s a lot to be said about this, our focus today is on the president’s continued ability to flummox and vex the media.
How do left-leaning outlets cover this? Do they even cover this at all? Was Trump’s Hail Mary tantrum simply another test to see if they would take the bait? After all, every media headline focused on the Kennedy Center is a headline that’s not focused on the Iran war or gas prices. And there were certainly plenty of Kennedy Center headlines in today’s stack.
THREE TAKES
Townhall, Cameron Arcand — The president turned to Truth Social to announce the closure of the Kennedy Center. As Arcand noted, “The fight over the center’s future escalated after a video of parts of the ceiling coming apart went viral earlier this month.” Since then, a federal district judge in D.C. decided Trump’s name cannot be put on the building, something the board previously voted in favor of. As Arcand also pointed out, “The president’s name was already up, then taken down earlier this year.” Arcand offered little by way of analysis, and perhaps that’s the way conservative media will continue to cover Trump’s spirals and demands: Uncritically.
The Bulwark’s Morning Shots, Bill Kristol and Andrew Egger — Of course, The Bulwark can always be counted upon for critical coverage of a Trump initiative. The Kennedy’s cause of death was “the pettiness of the president of the United States,” Kristol and Egger wrote today. The president first focused on his attempt to MAGAfy the center, and when that failed, he “turned spiteful: The building was in such a state of disrepair, he insisted, that it would need to be shuttered for years, if not for good.” The entire experience is a “microcosm” of how Trump operates: “harm the institution, claim only you can save the institution, but refuse to do so unless you get credit for it.” Take note, America.
The Poynter Report, Tom Jones — “Sometimes you can just lay out the facts, and they sound almost too bizarre to be true,” Jones said today; that’s just about it. As he put it, “If someone had told you a decade ago that we would have a president who changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario, tore up the East Wing of the White House to put up a ballroom, pardoned those who broke into a federal building like, say, the U.S. Capitol, and spent almost every day attacking the press through lawsuits, subpoenas, threats and insults, you probably would have said, ‘Come on now. Not in America.’”
TAKEAWAY:It takes a lot to laugh, it takes a train to cry, the song goes. And while Bob Dylan’s tune is mostly about emotional exhaustion and romantic longing, the idea can certainly be extrapolated to the challenge that faces the media across the political spectrum under Trump 2.0. Do you ignore the red flags and report increasingly bizarre stories as though they are common everyday news events? Do you scream warnings from the rooftops that are likely to fall on deaf ears? Is there somewhere in the middle to land? The latest coverage of the president’s increasingly unpredictable antics shows our authors are somehow still figuring that out.
TOP SCOOPS & ANALYSIS
TOP SCOOPS & ANALYSIS SCOOP 
CJR’s The Media Today, Susie Banikarim — Anna Holmes founded Jezebel in 2007 and has watched the online media landscape shift ever since. She’s also often been at the forefront of those shifts. She’s now working as an independent journalist, something she told Banikarim “makes saying no harder, because I feel more beholden.” As she put it, “I get paid if I write. I still have some trepidation about the idea of being difficult. I don’t want any editors to ever think I’m difficult, because I rely on them so much for making money.” But on the other hand… “I also just don’t care as much anymore, because the older I get, the less I give a sh*t as to whether someone deems me difficult. My problem is not that I’m being asked for things that I have to say no to in any major way.”
SCOOP The Free Press, Will Rahn — There are Americans who “still refuse to accept what happened” on 9/11 25 years ago, Rahn wrote today. That’s a reality that’s difficult for a lot of us to believe, so Rahn decided to spend the anniversary of the attacks with the 9/11 truthers this year, thinking he would find “a final remnant of the radical and conspiratorial antiwar activism of the early aughts.” Instead, what he discovered “was much darker—and leagues more absurd.”
ANALYSIS 
The Washington Sun, Evan McMorris-Santoro, Jasmine Wright, and Manuela Silva — The White House’s so-called fraud ledger may, in fact, be fraudulent, The Sun wrote today. Experts told the publication, “The White House website lists what the Trump administration calls its successes in its war on fraud in government programs, but it’s riddled with misleading claims.” Though the site offers “an agency-by-agency list of fraud detected, prevented and clawed back” it also “only offers basic definitions for those claims.” One of those claims is “JD Vance’s assertion from the Dallas convention stage that the administration has uncovered nearly $250 billion in fraud using data analytics to find anomalies.”
ANALYSIS The Bulwark’s Morning Shots, Bill Kristol and Andrew Egger — The Democrats just night flip several states in the Midwest, Kristol wrote today. That’s a stance that’s been “reinforced by (admittedly limited) conversations here” that all seem to point to the idea that “Democrats can win here and elsewhere west of the Mississippi.” He added, “Not just in Iowa and Texas, which everyone knows are in play. I wonder if the blue wave couldn’t also wash over to the Great Plains states, to Kansas and Nebraska and South Dakota.” And sure, Trump won all five of those states the last time around — but “he is roughly 13 points less popular nationally than he was on Election Day two years ago. And given the impact of his tariffs and the gas prices in Iowa, he may have fallen further out here.”
ANALYSIS TheWrap, Lucas Manfredi — What happens to Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) if the Paramount deal doesn’t go through? Manfredi pointed out that “the deal collapsing wouldn’t be fatal to Warner Bros. Discovery,” and “CEO David Zaslav would walk away with a $7 billion break-up fee that could offer some additional flexibility as an independent company.” But some experts told TheWrap that management at WBD would likely still be hesitant to “continue to go it alone long-term.” They also believe “that WBD’s management would return to its planned split in the hopes of attracting another buyer for all or part of its portfolio.”
ANALYSIS The Poynter Report, Tom Jones — This weekend ESPN’s Holly Rowe, a decades-long industry veteran, found herself at the center of a “tone deaf” controversy. First, University of Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian blew off the pair’s postgame interview, and then the team’s quarterback Arch Manning described an AI-generated video of Sarkisian slapping Rowe as “hilarious.” As Jones noted, “Manning laughed, as did some of those in the room” — Rowe’s colleagues included. “But Manning and those who laughed were quickly criticized because, well, what’s hilarious about a man slapping a woman?” he added.
ANALYSIS Noahpinion, Noah Smith — While there’s been plenty of fretting about AI this week, there’s something else we need to be paying attention to, Smith noted today. That’s the way “the wind is blowing among the GOP base” — and those winds are leaning racist and Anti-American. After “failed Texas politician” Bo French tweeted out a photo “of a bunch of Indian kids celebrating University of Texas football at a Longhorns game” and paired it “with some alarmist anti-Indian rhetoric,” tweets from other Republicans that criticized him “were heavily attacked on X.” And that’s unacceptable, Smith insisted: “What it tells us is that if you’re a nonwhite immigrant, or the child of nonwhite immigrants, it doesn’t matter what you do — the New Right will still view you as an enemy and as an invader.”
BUSINESS OF MEDIA 
Axios Media Trends, Sara Fischer — Last night, you could find Axios media news in Axios Media Trends: Axios HQ (the corporate tech section spun off of Axios Media in 2022) has now reached profitability, pulling in $20 million in annualized revenue. HQ did this by simplifying its organizational structure and—you guessed it—making a shift toward AI services. CEO Roy Schwartz says they’re anticipating margins of 20% to 25%. And wouldn’t ya know it, he and Axios co-founders Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen just released their book Simplify yesterday. Cozy little time to chat publicly about how simplifying worked out for them! QUOTE 
“The rise of AI has forced companies to confront pain points in their structures and supply chains in order to stay competitive.”
Barrett Media, Garrett Searight — The House has passed the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act, moving forward legislation that would require automakers to preserve AM radio access as standard equipment in new cars nationwide and make it clear to consumers if and when a vehicle did not have it. National Association of Broadcasters President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt hailed this as a crucial step for maintaining emergency broadcast infrastructure, but it’s not a done deal. Isn’t it wild to be alive in a time of such innovation that there was even a question about AM availability in vehicles at all? Bring this up to your oldest relative for a fun time. QUOTE “The House passage doesn’t make the legislation law. The Senate must also pass the measure before it can reach the president’s desk. NAB said the Senate version has more than 60 bipartisan cosponsors.”
Simon Owens’s Media Newsletter, Simon Owens — Meta has introduced a subscription package selling AI creation tools to creators. Basically, it’s a suite of tools creators can use to generate and modify the content they turn around and post to Meta’s platforms. The company nabs tens of billions in ad revenue from user-generated content but the creators paying for the enhancement tools won’t be sharing ad revenue. QUOTE “I can’t think of another major platform with a more ass-backwards incentive structure for creatives. What’s especially strange is how little backlash Meta gets for it. When YouTube announced new restrictions on its Partner Program, Shorts creators immediately revolted. The same thing happens whenever Spotify changes its payout structure. Yet Meta consistently seems to get a free pass.”
Breaker, Lachlan Cartwright — Some classic, straightforward media business here: Veteran CNBC reporter Alex Sherman turned down an offer from The Wall Street Journal Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker so he could remain at CNBC as Senior Correspondent for Business of Sport. Loyalty! QUOTE “The news will be seen as a blow for Tucker and Dow Jones ‘growth guru’ Scott Havens, who had tried to recruit Sherman to be the editor of their nascent sports vertical that the company first touted back in April. The other reporter the WSJ was trying to poach, the Financial Times’ Samuel Agini, has also decided to stay with his current employer.”
ADWEEK Daily, Lauren Johnson — Speaking of all things sports, ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, LA28 Chief Athlete Officer Janet Evans announced at Brandweek that organizers are offering venue naming rights for the first time in Olympic history. Considering the sheer volume of eyeballs the games attract, this could be a nice deal for quite a few brands. QUOTE “The reach of the 2028 Olympics encompasses 14 million tickets, 15,000 athletes representing their countries, 11,000 hours of content, and 5 billion viewers worldwide.”
Barrett Media, Garrett Searight — Broadcaster Howard Stern thought about hanging up his “King of All Media” crown entirely before negotiating a deal with SiriusXM to host The Howard Stern Show just one day per week. That keeps his long-running satellite radio program chugging along on his own terms, which is the news here, but check the link for Searight’s longer piece questioning if SiriusXM is “too dependent” on Stern to survive if and when he finally makes his true exit. QUOTE “It’s a soft landing for Stern…”
OTHER COOL STUFF
Morning Brew — Spotify is introducing a feature allowing parents to exclude their children’s music choices from their personal taste profiles. Is 2026 the year your Wrapped isn’t dominated by Disney? A dream is a wish your heart makes, bud.
Simon Owens’s Media Newsletter — DID YOU KNOW: Mega-popular channel Yoga With Adriene—which now boasts over 13 million subscribers—was co-created by a horror film director who pivoted to YouTube after the DVD market collapsed. (We didn’t know.)
WHAT GOT MISSED?
POLITICO Playbook, Adam Wren, Will Steakin, and Dasha Burns — YOLO Republicans who have already been voted out of office and are more willing to defy the president have gotten a lot of attention. But the increasing willingness of several embattled Democrats to buck their leadership is a story that’s going somewhat under the radar. “ Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA) and Jared Golden (D-ME) might be forming the ‘Rebel Alliance’ after once again breaking party lines to help House GOP leadership salvage their agenda for the week by boosting a procedural motion that would have otherwise failed.”
NEWSLETTER OF THE DAY
NEWSLETTER OF THE DAY Noahpinion, Noah Smith — Smith opted to take the New Right to task today, and did so admirably. We covered it above, but are using this space to expand on just why it matters.
Smith made it clear that he “can’t tell you whether the New Right — represented by French and his supporters in the right-wing media — will prevail over the Republican establishment” but wanted to drill one essential point home: the ease with which many attacked anyone who denounced racism and ethnocentricism is alarming. The evolution of the New Right also marks a shift: “It doesn’t matter whether you or your parents came to this country legally. How many times have we heard rightists shout “Illegal vs. legal!!” in response to anyone who defends immigration? Many regular Americans care about “illegal vs. legal”, but the New Right does not. Everyone in that UT photo either came to America legally, or was born to parents who came here legally. It didn’t matter to Bo French, or the people who defended him.”
For Smith, there are two reasons to cover this even if “the New Right can never be persuaded to stop thinking of brown faces as invaders” — to help “us more clearly understand the New Right as a movement” and “Coming to grips with the extremism and intransigence of the New Right also helps us understand what an unpopular fringe they really are.”
This newsletter was produced by Lindsey Ellefson.
The post Are Trump’s Kennedy Center Antics for Real, or Are They a Shiny Object Meant to Distract the Media first appeared on Mediaite.
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