Politico’s Ben White Gets Dragged For Saying We All Secretly Miss Trump Twitter: ‘You Want Him Tweeting Those Tweets’
Politico financial journalist Ben White took heavy criticism for a Colonel Nathan Jessup-themed tweet in which he said that everyone secretly missed suspended former President and current Twitter user Donald Trump’s social media posts.
On Friday evening, White posted a message patterned after Jack Nicholson’s oft-quoted monologue from A Few Good Men.
“Deep down in places you don’t talk about at cocktail parties you want him tweeting those tweets. You miss him tweeting those tweets,” White wrote, and added “… And the sweet rush of outrage that followed. If you say you don’t you are lying.”
Deep down in places you don’t talk about at cocktail parties you want him tweeting those tweets. You miss him tweeting those tweets. … And the sweet rush of outrage that followed. If you say you don’t you are lying.
— Ben White (@morningmoneyben) January 22, 2021
Things started off mildly enough with CNN editor Dan Berman joking “What’s a cocktail party?” and other colleagues registering mildly-expressed agreement/disagreemment or riffing on the premise.
What’s a cocktail party?
— Dan Berman (@DHBerman) January 22, 2021
nah. i really don’t. i don’t need that anxiety.
— David Atkins (@DavidOAtkins) January 22, 2021
I guess the kind of person who casually references “cocktail parties” and the 20th century people who presumably attend them might believe this, yes.
— Adam L Brinklow (@AdamLBrinklow) January 22, 2021
We’re terrible human beings
— Matt Wuerker (@wuerker) January 22, 2021
I got tired of hearing that I couldn’t handle the truth and figured maybe they were right.
— Doug Heye (@DougHeye) January 22, 2021
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) January 22, 2021
That didn’t last long, as White began to take incoming from media, political, celebrity, and other personalities, with White dipping in to engage now and then.
You’ve never been more wrong about anything in your life. And you’ve been wrong about a lot.
— Jack Shafer (@jackshafer) January 22, 2021
Ben, the media giants miss Trump. He launched Tweet bombs several times a day that drew eyeballs to Fox, CNN, MSNBC and more. Biden isn’t going to replicate it, thank goodness…but the media is gonna miss him…and the haul of ratings cash.
— Jim Clancy (@ClancyReports) January 22, 2021
I guess your vibe is what, the naughty bad boy of financial media or something?
— Danny Chun (@dannychun) January 22, 2021
Two of my friends are dead, Ben.
— Angus Johnston (@studentactivism) January 22, 2021
I’m sorry, I really can’t say I do. One of these tweets invalidated the honorable service of 15,000 transgender service members. It’s just not a game to me. At all.
— Charlotte Clymer 🏳️🌈 (@cmclymer) January 22, 2021
If you blow the quote, you don’t get to be sanctimonious about people not knowing it.
The interesting thing is that there’s a subset of people like you who have in their mind that the line is “cocktail parties” and I’m curious what that says about y’all.
— Daniel Fienberg (@TheFienPrint) January 23, 2021
Petition for white guys to just not https://t.co/eSPzafXjfF
— ⚖️Imani Gandy ⚖️ (@AngryBlackLady) January 23, 2021
GTFWOHWTMFBSHNS https://t.co/BGveXaFR1s
— 𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐨𝐩𝐞 (@exavierpope) January 23, 2021
Nice try, but nope. Not at all. https://t.co/BCjK1b6GNK
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) January 22, 2021
did politico playbook write this
oh actually https://t.co/4SVZL9AD0B— Matt Negrin, HOST OF HARDBALL AT 7PM ON MSNBC (@MattNegrin) January 22, 2021
Absolutely not https://t.co/YLTF4V7xAf
— Stephanie Ruhle (@SRuhle) January 23, 2021
Man there are so many deeply humorless people on this web site.
— Ben White (@morningmoneyben) January 23, 2021
FYI to those upset this was a joking reference to this “A Few Good Men” rant from Nicholson. https://t.co/bqdK455Qao https://t.co/e3boSDKM5x
— Ben White (@morningmoneyben) January 23, 2021
Well yeah. Part of the point. https://t.co/VhWBQhyXOo
— Ben White (@morningmoneyben) January 23, 2021
To elaborate a bit – I’m a bit surprised at the fact that Twitter remains interesting, and life on regular and social media is still exciting. I half expected it to leave a hole as you suggest. Turns out, fir me, it’s just less shitty.
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) January 23, 2021
Enjoy the weekend Ben.
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) January 23, 2021
If that’s what you think or feel, just say it. But don’t put that shit on other people based on some silly fantasy scenario in your head.
— Steve Mullis (@stevemullis) January 23, 2021
Ben…you have lost your frigging mind.
— Kurt “Masks Save Lives” Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) January 23, 2021
Too. Soon. Dude. I’m burying my sixth relative this year.
— Michelle Wilson (she/her) (@MichelleLWil) January 23, 2021
Maybe your joke was bad
— John Hodgman (@hodgman) January 23, 2021
No. Shit!
— Brad Woodhouse (@woodhouseb) January 23, 2021
— Saeed Jones (@theferocity) January 23, 2021
Ben, respectfully, it’s not even a faithful reference to the quote itself, which is partly why it fell flat. “You need him… you *want* him…” would be the cadence. But even so, it’s just not funny in light of how awful Trump was to marginalize folks. You have to get that.
— Charlotte Clymer 🏳️🌈 (@cmclymer) January 23, 2021
I won’t bc I didn’t view them as a game https://t.co/H9lppy2l5v
— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) January 23, 2021
Spoken like a true white dude cuz NAH I’M GOOD LUV❤️
— Alicia Lutes (@alicialutes) January 23, 2021
“You had me at MAGA”
DUDE I WAS QUOTING A FILM ERGO THIS IS HILARIOUS YOU HUMORLESS PRICKS ::flounceslam::
— Dr. Melissa Hillman (@bittergertrude) January 23, 2021
But see, here’s the thing: terrible media coverage is one of the reasons Trump got elected in the first place. So much of the damage done in the past four years had been the result of people in media going, “Yes, but it’s exciting!”
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) January 23, 2021
Speak for yourself and your deep down places.
— Bill Weir (@BillWeirCNN) January 23, 2021
Trump was suspended from Twitter for inciting a violent insurrection that resulted in 5 deaths, and for fear he would incite more violence. Read the room.
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