Mak’s Misfire Hits the Target. Levin Swipes a Page From Carlson’s Playbook. Facebook Goes Meta. | Winners & Losers in Today’s Green Room

Sarah RumpfOct 29th, 2021, 1:52 pm
 

THE DAILY NEWSLETTER – FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2021

MEDIA WINNER: Tim Mak

Next week, NPR’s Washington Investigative Correspondent Tim Mak will release his new book, Misfire: Inside the Downfall of the NRA. The website promoting the book describes “the result of a four-year investigation” into the infamous gun rights lobbying organization, in which Mak “scoured thousands of pages of never-before-publicized documents and cultivated dozens of confidential sources.”

Vanity Fair published the first excerpt from the book, and it’s loaded (pun totally intended) with wild and bizarre anecdotes about NRA chief Wayne LaPierre.

Mediaite’s Caleb Howe picked out the five weirdest details from the excerpt, which painted a picture of Pierre as a man who is “extremely and unfailingly odd in all things” — but remember, also running a well-funded behemoth organization that has had a substantial influence on American politics at both the state and federal level.

Misfire is getting a lot of early buzz, and it’s easy to see why. The excerpt shows a thorough investigation into an important topic, told via well-crafted and entertaining writing.

MEDIA LOSER: Mark Levin

It seems that Mark Levin might have been getting jealous of all the attention his Fox News colleague Tucker Carlson has been getting lately for his “batsh*t” conspiracy mongering, because he piped up on Thursday evening with his own serving of tin foil hattery.

Just days ahead of the vote in the race for Virginia governor, Levin peddled a conspiracy theory on his syndicated radio program, The Mark Levin Show, that Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe was plotting to “steal the election.”

“And I will tell you now that Terry McAuliffe is preparing to try and steal the election,” Levin said, mentioning a Fox News article saying that McAuliffe had hired a law firm founded by Marc Elias, an attorney who has been involved in a number of prominent election challenges over the years.

Hiring a law firm that has represented clients in election contests is not “stealing” an election, but that didn’t stop Levin from trying to scare his listeners. Funny how he doesn’t seem to think former President Donald Trump’s dozens of baseless suits contesting the 2020 election were a problem.
Read the full Mediaite Green Room Newsletter here, including the latest on Facebook’s attempt to rebrand as “Meta.”

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Sarah Rumpf - Contributing Editor

Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah's writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law&Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe. Follow Sarah on Threads, Twitter, and Bluesky.