Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray”
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Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray”
@ryanjreilly.com
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@nbcnews.com Senior Justice reporter, ebike guy.

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Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray” @ryanjreilly.com · Nov 25
Subtitle holds.
ryanjreilly.com
“You guys may not be following the internet the way I do.”

Five years ago today, in the lead up to Jan. 6:

www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/ryan-...
Donoghue, the acting no. 2 at DOJ, was back in New York for Christmas and was at his home in Long Island when he got the call on his government cell phone on Dec. 27 about another conspiracy theorist who had reached a breaking point and was lashing out. Rosen was calling, and Trump was on the other line. "We've been on for about thirty minutes. He's talking about some of this election stuff," Rosen said. They joined a conference call. The country was up in arms over corruption, Trump bellowed. The president tossed around some nonsense he'd been told, like there were 205,000 more votes than voters in Pennsylvania. The president thought it was clear fraud. "We're like a Third World country," Trump said. "He had this stream of allegations, which were clearly being fed to him by a number of people, that he would keep referring our way," Donoghue said. The president referred to Ruby Freeman, a Black poll worker in Georgia receiv ing death threats because of misinformation, as a "huckster" and "election scammer" "You guys may not be following the internet the way I do,” Trump said. "Just say that the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressman," Trump told them. He wanted them to hold a press conference; Donoghue and Rosen shut that down. Trump kept at it. Dead people are voting, he said. "Indians are getting paid to vote," Trump said, which Donoghue interpreted as a reference to Native American reservations. Most of the stories Trump was telling Justice Department officials were just things that "people are telling him and/or he's seeing on TV or whatever," Rosen said. "There's not new information there," Rosen said. "News flash: President Trump doesn't, accept the election result" Donoghue told Trump flat out that the information he was getting was false and not supported by the evidence. The facts didn't matter.
December 27, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Reposted by Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray”
adamhsays.com
I missed the AP story when it ran earlier this month. It included this photo of Jo Ann taken by Bethany Mollenkof on the day she and I sat at her table in her LA home in 2019.

I was working on a project interviewing those who desegregated America’s schools. Not the laws, the people.
December 27, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Reposted by Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray”
katestarbird.bsky.social
Good article, but I think we could add that many of the current government officials & influencers spreading political point-scoring falsehoods during crisis events HAVE BECOME gov officials & influencers BECAUSE of their bullshit-spreading talents. System effects of rotten attention dynamics.
Government Officials Once Stopped False Accusations After Violence. Now, Some Join In.
www.nytimes.com
December 27, 2025 at 12:46 AM
ryanjreilly.com
“Today’s algorithmically driven, attention-hungry information ecosystem does more than distort reality. It also stokes anger that divides society along political or social lines.” www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/t...
Government Officials Once Stopped False Accusations After Violence. Now, Some Join In.
www.nytimes.com
December 27, 2025 at 12:26 AM
Reposted by Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray”
gabrielmalor.bsky.social
Christmas Eve Drop:

Fed. judge quashes yet another attempt by Trump's DOJ to get the personal data of trans patients and former patients, and does so in sarcastic and angry fashion calling out the administration's ill-intent and lack of good faith.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Assuming the United States has any legitimate need for the information sought ‒ and that it likewise requires longitudinal data ‒ the solution is, and always has been, as plain as the nose on one’s face. Longitudinality may be preserved by anonymization of patients.
December 25, 2025 at 2:45 AM
Reposted by Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray”
robertscotthorton.bsky.social
GOP operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, convicted election fraudsters, were paid $960,000 in the second quarter to secure a pardon for a former nursing-home operator who defrauded the government of $38 million. Trump pardoned the man, Joseph Schwartz, last month.
Inside the New Fast Track to a Presidential Pardon
Even some of the president’s closest advisers have been surprised by a number of the recent series of pardons.
www.wsj.com
December 25, 2025 at 10:35 PM
ryanjreilly.com
Scrolled over a photo and was like “I think that’s a J6er” and sure enough it was Russ Taylor. www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...
December 26, 2025 at 2:24 PM
ryanjreilly.com
Jimmy Kimmel says it's been a 'great year' for fascism

www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/...
Jimmy Kimmel says it's been a 'great year' for fascism in an alternative U.K. Christmas message
The comedian has skewered Trump since returning to the air after ABC indefinitely suspended his show amid criticism from the administration.
www.nbcnews.com
December 25, 2025 at 11:49 PM
ryanjreilly.com
Merry Christmas, hope your dreams come 100 percent true!
December 25, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Reposted by Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray”
pbump.com
Your president is spending 11% more days at his private company’s properties and 25% more days playing golf than at this point in his first term.
www.pbump.net/o/an-officia...
Trump has visited a Trump Organization property on 123 days of the 340 days of his second term in office. He has likely played golf on 85 days. That is a visit to a property on 36.2 percent of all of the days he's served since Jan. 20, 2025, and a likely round of golf on 25.0 percent of days. At that pace, he would likely play golf on 366 days by Jan. 20, 2029, bringing his two-term total to 625 days. He has visited a Trump property on 78.1 percent of weekend days during his second term, with a likely round of golf on 70.8 percent of weekend days. At this point in his first term, he had visited a Trump Organization property on 111 days and likely played golf on 68 days.
December 25, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Reposted by Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray”
bencollins.bsky.social
Bullshit Newborn Not Even Christ
READING, PA—Saying the snot-nosed brat sure as hell better not expect any damn frankincense or myrrh, sources confirmed Friday that a bullshit newborn wasn’t even Jesus Christ, the Son of God. “There’...
theonion.com
December 25, 2025 at 5:59 PM
ryanjreilly.com
“I’m 84 years old. Threats against my life expectancy are kind of hollow. I don’t have much time anyway. I’m more concerned that our democracy is at risk because of the trends against the rule of law.” www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...
Judges who ruled against Trump say harassment and threats have changed their lives
More than 100 pizzas were delivered to the homes of judges and their families this year, some with signs of foreign involvement. Judges say the message is clear: We know where you live.
www.nbcnews.com
December 24, 2025 at 2:46 PM
ryanjreilly.com
Judges who ruled against Trump say harassment and threats have changed their lives

@lawrencehurley.bsky.social:

www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...
Judges who ruled against Trump say harassment and threats have changed their lives
More than 100 pizzas were delivered to the homes of judges and their families this year, some with signs of foreign involvement. Judges say the message is clear: We know where you live.
www.nbcnews.com
December 23, 2025 at 8:15 PM
ryanjreilly.com
Do me a favor and watch this. www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWC8...
Filmed in Gaza: Two NBC News journalists on what it is like to cover the war from inside Gaza
YouTube video by NBC News
www.youtube.com
December 23, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Reposted by Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray”
drewharwell.com
New: We obtained thousands of internal chat messages from the ICE team creating viral videos of raids and "EPIC takedowns."

A scramble to satisfy the White House and "feed the beast" spawned a new "propaganda" machine, current and former officials told us.

"It's a war!"

wapo.st/4s6YnC5
‘It’s a war’: Inside ICE’s media machine
Thousands of internal ICE messages show how its public affairs team has coordinated with the White House to satisfy Trump administration demands for viral arrest videos
wapo.st
December 23, 2025 at 11:28 AM
ryanjreilly.com
"Sasse... was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial on charges he incited an insurrection. Just three of those Republicans — Maine's Susan Collins, Alaska's Lisa Murkowski and Louisiana's Bill Cassidy — remain..." www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...
Former Sen. Ben Sasse says he was diagnosed with stage-four pancreatic cancer
Sasse wrote in an X post that he learned about the diagnosis last week, calling it a "death sentence."
www.nbcnews.com
December 23, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Reposted by Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray”
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
“.. More than 42 million Americans hold student loans.”

@cnbc.com
www.cnbc.com/2025/12/23/s...
December 23, 2025 at 3:43 PM
ryanjreilly.com
An FBI email from five years ago today, when we were still mid-Covid and everyone was really phoning it in for the holidays after a shit year:

"Hope everyone has a great holiday and some rest before 1/6"

www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/ryan-...
Sedition Hunters
The January 6th attack is an unprecedented crime in American history. Sprawling and openly political, it can't be handled by the traditional rules and norms ...
www.hachettebookgroup.com
December 23, 2025 at 3:38 PM
ryanjreilly.com
White House rebuffs Catholic bishops' appeal for a Christmas pause in immigration enforcement
www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
White House rebuffs Catholic bishops' appeal for a Christmas pause in immigration enforcement
An appeal was issued by the Miami Archbishop, and signed by seven other members of the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, asking to pause immigration enforcement activities during the Christmas h...
www.nbcnews.com
December 23, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Reposted by Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray”
cooperlund.online
Bari Weiss really fucked up by stepping in it on the slowest news week of the year. We've got nothing to talk about and no work to do!
December 22, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Reposted by Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray”
premthakker.bsky.social
On a call just now, Bari Weiss tells staff she held the CECOT story because it wasn’t ready & to advance a months-old story, they need "the principals" on record.

Yesterday, CBS reporter Sharyn Alfonsi warned if they can only do stories when government responds, it “gains control” over 60 Minutes.
December 22, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Reposted by Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray”
jamellebouie.net
really cannot be emphasized enough that bari weiss has literally never done journalism. i don’t mean that in the pejorative sense. i mean that in the “has never performed the job she was hired to do” sense
alexshephard.bsky.social Alex Shephard @alexshephard.bsky.social · 5d
One explanation for Bari killing the story is that she did so as a public act of fealty to the administration. But another is that, as an inexperienced journalist, she doesn’t understand that a refusal to go on the record is a kind of comment in and of itself
December 22, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Reposted by Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray”
brandyzadrozny.bsky.social
Read my dispatch from AmericaFest and maybe I’ll get to go to more weird things.

www.ms.now/news/america...
Inside AmericaFest: Infighting, lies, and the desperate search for Charlie Kirk's heir
Turning Point USA's flagship event, once a star-spangled show of strength for the right, revealed a MAGA movement in crisis following Kirk's killing.
www.ms.now
December 22, 2025 at 1:47 PM
ryanjreilly.com
“In both pageantry and policy, Mr. Trump has established a new, more audacious version of the imperial presidency that goes far beyond even the one associated with Richard M. Nixon, for whom the term was popularized half a century ago.” www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/u...
Trump Takes America’s ‘Imperial Presidency’ to a New Level
www.nytimes.com
December 21, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Reposted by Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray”
skepchick.org
Occasionally Instagram tricks me into clicking on Threads. This is the first time EVER I’ve seen something there that delighted me
a guy posted a pic of a house that put its numbers on sideways and wonders if it is 8011 or 1108. someone replies saying it’s the philly phanatic and it IS it’s a visual joke I’m sorry
December 19, 2025 at 4:25 PM