Five Quick Things: The Utter, Complete, and Glorious Evisceration of the Legacy Propaganda Press

Yes, the headline and Thing Number One are all about what Stephen Miller did to the White House Press Corps on Thursday in one of the most breathtaking takedowns of all time.

It needs very little introduction, and so I’ll not burden you with one.

1. Here It Is, in All Its Glory

The entire thing was almost cinematic — except that if it had been a scene in a movie, reviews would likely have included observations that “nah, this couldn’t happen in real life; no politician would have the stones to shred the media this badly.”

And that might have been true up until not long ago, but when Miller fully spread his wings in this second Trump administration the whole reality changed.

It’s going to be interesting to see the reverberations from Miller’s tour de force and whether it changed the standard for media relations.

If nothing else, this is such a complete 180-degree turn from the posture the George W. Bush administration took vis-a-vis the legacy corporate media. It was pretty standard procedure for the Bushies (some of whom I liked: Tony Snow was an excellent press secretary before he got sick, and who can’t like Dana Perino?) to adopt a deferential attitude toward a hostile press corps. Miller, on the other hand, will challenge the false premise of any of those questions.

As will Karoline Leavitt, who has done a great deal of work in restoring some ideological balance to that room.

None of this is going to alter the left-wing propaganda press’s coverage of the administration, of course. These are Democrat political operatives disguised as journalists, and as such, they’re going to act as the proverbial scorpion acts toward the gullible frog carrying him across the river.

The difference, as Miller’s glorious tirade makes clear, is that this administration refuses to be the gullible frog. Instead, it’s the elephant who stomps the scorpion flat on the riverbank.

2. The Euros Are Negotiating on Trade, Sort of

This sounds like movement with respect to tariff and trade negotiations…

Brussels wants to increase purchases of U.S. goods by €50bn to address the “problem” in the trade relationship, the EU’s top negotiator has said, adding that the bloc is making “certain progress” towards striking a deal.

Except…

But Maroš Šefcovic, the EU’s trade commissioner, suggested in an interview with the Financial Times that the bloc would not accept Washington keeping in place 10 per cent tariffs on its goods as a fair resolution to trade talks.

Hey Grok, what is our current trade deficit with the EU?

The most recent data available on the U.S. trade deficit with the European Union is from February 2025. In that month, the goods trade deficit was $30.9 billion, with U.S. exports to the EU at $29.9 billion and imports from the EU at $60.8 billion. For the full year of 2024, the goods trade deficit was $235.6 billion, with exports of $370.2 billion and imports of $605.8 billion. Note that these figures are for goods only and do not include services, where the U.S. typically runs a surplus with the EU (e.g., a $104 billion surplus in 2023). Monthly data beyond February 2025 is not available in the provided sources.

So they’re giving us about a 21 percent break on our goods trade deficit by letting some more of our stuff into their markets, but in exchange, we can’t charge Trump’s revenue tariff?

Hey Grok, what does a new Chevy Tahoe cost in the U.S. compared to, say, Italy or Norway?

Yeah, OK.

Let’s keep negotiating, because that offer ain’t much in the way of making a deal.

3. Kamala? Psh.

Did you even bother to watch this?

That’s a 16-minute word salad, is what that is.

I’d say it was written by AI, but…

Hey Grok, write me a segment of a Kamala Harris speech complaining about Trump’s tariffs.

Let’s be real: the tariffs being pushed by Donald Trump are hurting the very people he claims to champion. These aren’t just numbers on a page — they’re higher prices at the grocery store, heavier burdens on small businesses, and fewer jobs in places like this one. I was in Ohio last week, talking to a farmer who told me he’s losing markets overseas because of retaliatory tariffs. In Pennsylvania, I met a manufacturer who’s paying thousands more for steel, passing those costs onto consumers. And right here in Michigan, auto workers are worried about their hours being cut because car parts are getting pricier.

Trump’s tariffs — like the ones slapping 10 percent on goods from our allies in the EU — are a tax on American families. Economists estimate these policies could cost the average household $2,000 a year. Two thousand dollars! That’s money you could use for childcare, for gas, for a college fund. And what do we get in return? Not more jobs, but fewer. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce warned that these tariffs could shrink our economy by billions and kill hundreds of thousands of jobs. We’re seeing it already: supply chains disrupted, exports tanking, and our allies turning to other partners.

Now, I believe in fighting for American workers. I believe in bringing manufacturing back to places like Detroit. But blanket tariffs aren’t the answer — they’re a blunt weapon that hits us harder than anyone else. We need smart trade policies: ones that protect our workers, lower costs for families, and strengthen partnerships with nations who share our values. That means investing in clean energy jobs here at home, training our workforce for the future, and negotiating trade deals that put American labor first — not taxing our own people to the breaking point.

This isn’t about politics; it’s about people. It’s about the single mom who’s stretching every dollar. The small business owner who’s barely keeping the lights on. The worker who deserves a fair shot, not a policy that kneecaps their paycheck. We can do better. We must do better. So let’s roll up our sleeves, reject these reckless tariffs, and build an economy that lifts every American up — together.

It’s actually worse than an AI speech. At least Grok didn’t vomit out references to a “high-velocity event.”

You would have thought Kamala would go away. Kamala is not going away. Kamala can’t go away. Why not?

4. And Now, for Something Completely Similar

Kamala mentioned her bestie Jasmine Crockett, and here’s Jasmine Crockett…

Jasmine Crockett on deportations: “This is insane. How would it feel if countries sent people to our country!?” pic.twitter.com/3RuovIWJVP

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) May 1, 2025

There is supposedly a battle brewing between Crockett and AOC for the title of ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. Talk about your race to the bottom, no?

5. The Godfather of Harlem

I’m late to the party on this one, but after hearing from lots of friends that the MGM+ series starring Forest Whitaker as legendary black New York mobster Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson was a keeper, I finally took the plunge and started binge-watching The Godfather of Harlem.

And it really is a pretty good show, though you’ve definitely got to make some allowances for it.

The show is a fictionalized account of Johnson’s final years on the planet, starting with his release from Alcatraz in 1963 (he died in real life in 1968). It deals with Johnson’s struggles to control the criminal underground in Harlem, depicts Johnson’s relationship with Malcolm X — which was a real thing; the two had been friends since the 1940s, well before the latter converted to Islam and became a militant protest figure — and places Johnson in the middle of the civil rights struggle that was going on at the time.

I don’t want to throw too many spoilers into this review, especially since I’m only midway through the third season. What I will say is that the best thing about the show is the cast, especially in the first two seasons.

The key dynamic — and source of irony — is that Johnson was, in real life, and is, in the show, a heroin dealer. But he’s cast as the good heroin (in the show, they call it “doojie,” which was a new one for me) dealer in Harlem. That sounds strange, of course, but the show sells Johnson’s occupation as somewhat virtuous because at least he’s the black heroin dealer dealing to the black junkies, as opposed to the Genovese mafia family who would otherwise control the smack on the streets of Harlem.

It’s better that black gangsters destroy a black community, of course, than if white gangsters are doing it.

The inherent trouble with this dynamic doesn’t go unexplored, though, because Johnson is faced several times with the fact that while he does lots of charitable works in the community, he’s also poisoning it. The show doesn’t wholly excuse Johnson’s heroin racket. But it’s still a little jarring the way that’s treated.

It’s not like Johnson is glorified as a lovable rogue. He’s unquestionably a bad guy. But he’s nevertheless relatable, and that’s due mostly to Whitaker, who is a truly elite actor. You find yourself rooting for Johnson even as he slaughters his enemies — hey, most of them are really bad people, so it’s OK, right? — over control of the means to destroy his own community.

There’s a ton of racism in the show, and of course, it goes both ways, as Johnson and his gang hate the white people and, in particular, the Italian mobsters with whom they’ve got to contend with red-hot intensity. That’s certainly understandable, as the Italian mob bosses in the show are utterly contemptible.

And played so amazingly well by some fabulous, well-known actors.

Like Vincent D’Onofrio, who plays Vincent Gigante, the boss of the Genovese family, and who can best be described as Johnson’s frenemy.

And the late Paul Sorvino, who in his final dramatic role makes a sensational Frank Costello, Johnson’s longtime chess partner and mutual confidant.

And perhaps best of all, Chazz Palminteri, who plays the utterly evil Joseph Bonanno.

But the most entertaining of the villains with which Johnson has to alternatively contend and cooperate is Harlem’s congressman Adam Clayton Powell, who is brilliantly played by Giancarlo Esposito. Powell, if you aren’t fully up on the history, was essentially the precursor to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton — he was utterly corrupt and a shameless attention whore, though he had a bit more flair even than Jackson or Sharpton for his time. Esposito captures that and even accentuates it to make Powell the most lovable and hateable character in the series.

The Godfather of Harlem is a fictionalized history show, it’s a crime drama, it’s a black-struggle epic, and it’s a mob story. It has something for everybody, particularly if you aren’t put off by the occasionally copious quantity of blood and gore inherent in a gritty organized crime tale.

It requires a good deal of suspension of disbelief — Malcolm X is all but a saint in this series, and that’s over the top, though there is some justification for a re-examination of the slain Nation of Islam leader along the lines of The Godfather of Harlem’s treatment of him — but it does pay off the viewer in an interesting plot which somewhat tracks the story of America’s most famous black gangster.

READ MORE from Scott McKay:

Shri Thanedar’s Shameless Stunt

The Bell Is Tolling for Puffed-Up, Arrogant Propagandists at CBS

Five Quick Things: AOC 2028? Yes, Please!

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