I like Taibbi, read all of his books but am disappointed by his recent posts. I think we got here because:
1. Taibbi holds a grudge against a lot of people that unfairly attacked him on issues like Russia-gate, the Great Awokening, twitter files, etc.
2. There is strong overlap between the people on the other side of those three issues and the Palestinian cause.
3. A lot of those people are shrill, sanctimonious, obnoxious, holier-than-thou.
4. Taibbi has an almost knee-jerk reaction to go against the popular sentiment, which often serves him well.
My issue is that people he knows personally like Lee Fang, Glenn Greenwald, Aaron Mate faced the exact same pushback on those three issues but are staunchly against the slaughter in Gaza. Of course, he doesn't have to write about it, but it is odd that he is not writing about one of the defining issues that has free speech implications, one of his core causes.
He really lost me with his dishonest comparison of Palestine supporters as deep-down antisemites to honest pro-Israel supporters, who, I suppose, will calmly and politely argue that ethnic cleansing is a good thing. It is very clear that his grudge against the wokesters really clouded his judgement on this issue.
You’re being way too harsh on someone who’s arguably the best journalist of our time. Taibbi is going harsh on the Democrats and the left because they totally dominate the narratives/contemporary culture —look no further than our schools, something Taibbi probably knows on a personal level because he has kids probably being subjected to obsession with pronouns and sexuality in elementary school. I’m disappointed in Taibbis coverage of Zionism and Gazan genocide but we can’t write off someone who has been immensely successful in educating people about the Twitter File, Russiagata and so many other issues that were obscured before he reported on them. I’m grateful to him and I hope he keeps up the great but imperfect work
"Best journalist of our time??" Dude was an edgelord who was a mediocre reporter but because he wasn't doing traditional journalism, he's viewed as being punk rock. We're seeing Matt's true skills on display right now. No expert reporting or engaging word play. It's just "lol mainstream media is stupid!"
I suggest You and Taibbi get together on Zoom or something akin to it and hash this out face to face. Rackets recent post concerning the young man nudged along to end his life by ai left me chilled to the bone. ai is in my estimation is where power brokers are going all in— so for MT and Racket to shove/smash this story in their face— somewhat crushes your argument Taibbi cow tows to the powerful. In fact— I’ve been looking and have not been able to find coverage on this young man’s story elsewhere
I suspect Tabbi’s mind has been corrupted by his new BFF Walter Kirn. Matt seems to adore Walter and gush about his “high level contacts.” I was an early subscriber to Matt’s Substack and even loved the first year or so of his collab with Walter but the perspectives they offer have taken a sharp right turn especially since the presidential election. They do actually mention Israel Palestine on occasion, but usually it’s to condemn student protestors similar to how people would criticize Vietnam war protestors. Makes me wonder if this is the same man who wrote a
Book condemning divisive media. Racket news is probably just a factual description rather than an ironic joke.
I am strongly critical of Israel and also think student protests are mostly ignorant cosplayers with childish Manichean views. Musa Al-Gharbi shows how one can be anti-Zionist, critical of Israel, but also think performative and disruptive clueless protest on campuses both simplistic and counterproductive. https://www.compactmag.com/article/behind-the-ivy-intifada/
Like you I followed and admired Taibbi's writing for years. Read his books, listened to his podcasts and defended him against my centrist Democrat friends. But I too have noticed the same change you have. There is simply a paucity of criticism against the Trump Administration that I found strange. Trump no matter what you think of him, is a transformative president. Things now will never be the same in this country. Taibbi generally ignores Trump's behavior and instead focus's on that dead horse formally known has the Democrats. I agree with Taibbi they are awful, but why the tepid criticism for Trump? I can only assume its because he doesn't see much to criticize. Really? OK. But this is not the same guy of 20 years ago.
And his simple refusal to talk about Palestine because its complicated and he doesn't know much about it, is disingenuous. Genocide isn't complicated.
I used to subscribe to Racket. I’m no Democrat, but his shift was noticeable enough for me to cancel. Now I read him just so I don’t live in any echo chamber. Disappointing though.
I defended Taibbi both to you and to Leighton Woodhouse. I don't regret it, even though I got on the wrong end of Taibbi in his comments section in the second article. I was fine with Taibbi not talking about Israel. He writes about what he writes about. He doesn't want to write about Israel, I can kind of figured out the reason (either he agrees or he thinks he will anger the people who pay his way), but fine. If I gave up every writer I disagreed with about Israel, I'd be living in a very small bubble.
Now I didn't know how long "not talking about Israel" could go on, given that the issue is so pervasive and is likely to have such an impact on our political system in 2026 and 2028, if not going forward, because the issue of US support of Israel is the crystalization of everything that has gone wrong with government in America: a special interest with a lot of power hijacks the US government to do its bidding even if its interests are diametrically opposed to the interests of the US population at large, even to the point of getting us involved in a genocide (or what Taibbi called in his comments a "magic word").
I did not know about The Exile article until I saw someone link to it in a comment on TwiX. So, yes, I am now forced to admit this is probably a case of audience capture, and either Taibbi is forcibly maintaining his own ignorance or molding his views to fit what makes him money. It doesn't make Taibbi useless, but it does make him only as useful as any other person I read to figure out what "that group" of people is thinking, not to find out what's really going on.
The thing with Bari Weiss that got him in trouble was that you really, really, really can't talk about Bari Weiss's sale of her blog (large as it is) to CBS/Paramount without talking about Israel. You can't. And if you play down Weiss's overt almost Goebbels level propaganda, reducing it to her "politics," and pretend that her simping for a foreign country had nothing to do with the obscene price when the person who is giving her the money is David Ellison, someone who donates gobs of money to Israel and has an *American* company that won't hire anyone who has a negative opinion of *Israel* . . . well, you're going to get called on it. But the first article was not what got Taibbi in trouble. The focus of his article was the hypocrisy of the propaganda machine that is mainstream media getting angry about Bari Weiss getting a windfall. Fine and fair.
The problem was his reaction to an audience far more educated on the subject than he was. If you're not going to talk about something, then don't talk about it. But he accidentally found himself dipping a toe in the water, and he had two good choices: (1) listen and get an education, or (2) back quietly away. But he chose the third: to dive in with both feet and exhibit a level of callousness and ignorance that is inexcusable if you're going to engage in the subject at all.
On a meta-level, swinging between the COVID craziness and now the Israel craziness, one coming primarily from the "left" and the other primarily from the "right," I'm starting to think people are hardwired toward this sort of insanity, and I'm only sad that Taibbi is the rule rather than the exception to the rule.
I dislike articles where one journalist is criticizing another journalist. I read articles to learn about issues. Write about the issues of the day please, not about other journalists.
As a long-time fan of Taibbi, excellent article. You nailed it. Also, I think it's worth mentioning his getting swept into the vortex the pro--Israel The Free Press has created, his positioning on the issue seems to be more about his own financial reasons than ethics or morals, which is disappointing for someone who used to champion the underdogs and the disenfranchised. Go dawgs.
Thank you for writing this. I was a huge fan of Taibbi for years, and I agree with the general premise of his views on “woke,” the Russiagate stuff, etc. But he has become something between obsessive and a caricature. He goes on about how CNN and MSNBC are dead or dying then watches their clips and mocks them for a couple thousand words. Cable news sucks dude. Everyone knows it. I literally don’t know anyone under 60 who disagrees.
And I don’t blame him for turning on the left. Similar to Rogan et al. The left made them enemies for no actual good reason. But Taibbi seems to have taken it to such a personal degree that it’s all he’s interested in extorting about anymore. Russiagate, “the left” particularly the craziest and perennially online variant, Twitter files, and MSM.
It’s important to say I don’t even disagree with his takes on these subjects. I tend to agree. But I also don’t think they are the most pressing issues of our current moment, and in my opinion Taibbi comes across more like the Charlie Day conspiracy board meme these days than the actual hard-hitting (and very funny) journalist I used to love. Like lots of people on both sides, I think the Trump and Covid phenomena broke his brain, and it’s sad.
Having listened to Mr. Taibbi and Mr. Kirn's recent video and comparing the video to the previous commentary that Taibbi has provided over the years, up until the past couple of years. It is difficult to square his current opinions with his previous opinions. Perhaps he has changed his mind and his refusal to cover the free speech issues surrounding Israel/Palestine, beyond less than a handful of stories, has to do with this change in his opinion. But that's just speculation.
At this point we should just accept the fact that he's no longer comfortable talking about this subject nor in addressing how it intersects with other subjects he cares about and just move on. There are many others who are providing great commentary and journalism on these issues. Regarding Bari Weiss, despite his proclaimed disagreements with her, he clearly likes her and sees her as a friend. Which is obviously a relationship he cares about far more than any criticisms that Greenwald, you, or others may have of her. Is what it is.
Trump is by far the better alternative compared to the Democrats. In a binary system, "choice" boils down to selecting the lesser of two evils, and the Democrats are simply much, much worse.
It is important to understand that Trump is the symptom, not the cause. He is the personification of the pendulum swinging back. The liberal establishment attempted to forestall that reset with radical and extreme measures aimed at not only political reform but cultural transformation; now that the dam has broken, the nature of that reset is both violent and swift.
Prior to the invasion of Iraq the US government had chopped off the top third of that country and sponsored a Kurdish proto state there. It was like Canada invaded the US and allowed Washington and Oregon to secede.
Understandably Saddam Hussein was interested in doing everything he could to repel the invaders and reclaim that territory. In addition the US military presence required to protect the Kurds enraged extremists like OBL and formed a major part of his justification for the 9/11 attacks. Arguing that the war was "pointless" blithely ignores the geopolitical realities on the ground.
His bitterness over the durability of the Russiagate narrative, despite his relentless undermining of it, seems to have gotten the better of him. He comes across as very defensive and nasty, so much so that I can't even share his articles with people who subscribe to Russiagate b/c I know his abrasive tone will just make them double down. It's sad to see a talented reporter shoot himself in the foot.
I too am jealous of people in my field who are much more talented, accomplished, and frankly, discerning, than me. I get it Zaid. These feelings are natural.
I like Taibbi, read all of his books but am disappointed by his recent posts. I think we got here because:
1. Taibbi holds a grudge against a lot of people that unfairly attacked him on issues like Russia-gate, the Great Awokening, twitter files, etc.
2. There is strong overlap between the people on the other side of those three issues and the Palestinian cause.
3. A lot of those people are shrill, sanctimonious, obnoxious, holier-than-thou.
4. Taibbi has an almost knee-jerk reaction to go against the popular sentiment, which often serves him well.
My issue is that people he knows personally like Lee Fang, Glenn Greenwald, Aaron Mate faced the exact same pushback on those three issues but are staunchly against the slaughter in Gaza. Of course, he doesn't have to write about it, but it is odd that he is not writing about one of the defining issues that has free speech implications, one of his core causes.
He really lost me with his dishonest comparison of Palestine supporters as deep-down antisemites to honest pro-Israel supporters, who, I suppose, will calmly and politely argue that ethnic cleansing is a good thing. It is very clear that his grudge against the wokesters really clouded his judgement on this issue.
🎯🎯🎯
💯
You’re being way too harsh on someone who’s arguably the best journalist of our time. Taibbi is going harsh on the Democrats and the left because they totally dominate the narratives/contemporary culture —look no further than our schools, something Taibbi probably knows on a personal level because he has kids probably being subjected to obsession with pronouns and sexuality in elementary school. I’m disappointed in Taibbis coverage of Zionism and Gazan genocide but we can’t write off someone who has been immensely successful in educating people about the Twitter File, Russiagata and so many other issues that were obscured before he reported on them. I’m grateful to him and I hope he keeps up the great but imperfect work
"Best journalist of our time??" Dude was an edgelord who was a mediocre reporter but because he wasn't doing traditional journalism, he's viewed as being punk rock. We're seeing Matt's true skills on display right now. No expert reporting or engaging word play. It's just "lol mainstream media is stupid!"
You could have said he was the one of the best during Trump's first term, but not anymore. He is seriously audience captured.
I suggest You and Taibbi get together on Zoom or something akin to it and hash this out face to face. Rackets recent post concerning the young man nudged along to end his life by ai left me chilled to the bone. ai is in my estimation is where power brokers are going all in— so for MT and Racket to shove/smash this story in their face— somewhat crushes your argument Taibbi cow tows to the powerful. In fact— I’ve been looking and have not been able to find coverage on this young man’s story elsewhere
You haven't looked if you've not found coverage elsewhere.
Thought this might interest you. It appears the AI did not in fact push him to commit suicide: https://www.freethink.com/artificial-intelligence/chatbot-suicide-moral-panic
I suspect Tabbi’s mind has been corrupted by his new BFF Walter Kirn. Matt seems to adore Walter and gush about his “high level contacts.” I was an early subscriber to Matt’s Substack and even loved the first year or so of his collab with Walter but the perspectives they offer have taken a sharp right turn especially since the presidential election. They do actually mention Israel Palestine on occasion, but usually it’s to condemn student protestors similar to how people would criticize Vietnam war protestors. Makes me wonder if this is the same man who wrote a
Book condemning divisive media. Racket news is probably just a factual description rather than an ironic joke.
I am strongly critical of Israel and also think student protests are mostly ignorant cosplayers with childish Manichean views. Musa Al-Gharbi shows how one can be anti-Zionist, critical of Israel, but also think performative and disruptive clueless protest on campuses both simplistic and counterproductive. https://www.compactmag.com/article/behind-the-ivy-intifada/
Like you I followed and admired Taibbi's writing for years. Read his books, listened to his podcasts and defended him against my centrist Democrat friends. But I too have noticed the same change you have. There is simply a paucity of criticism against the Trump Administration that I found strange. Trump no matter what you think of him, is a transformative president. Things now will never be the same in this country. Taibbi generally ignores Trump's behavior and instead focus's on that dead horse formally known has the Democrats. I agree with Taibbi they are awful, but why the tepid criticism for Trump? I can only assume its because he doesn't see much to criticize. Really? OK. But this is not the same guy of 20 years ago.
And his simple refusal to talk about Palestine because its complicated and he doesn't know much about it, is disingenuous. Genocide isn't complicated.
I used to subscribe to Racket. I’m no Democrat, but his shift was noticeable enough for me to cancel. Now I read him just so I don’t live in any echo chamber. Disappointing though.
I defended Taibbi both to you and to Leighton Woodhouse. I don't regret it, even though I got on the wrong end of Taibbi in his comments section in the second article. I was fine with Taibbi not talking about Israel. He writes about what he writes about. He doesn't want to write about Israel, I can kind of figured out the reason (either he agrees or he thinks he will anger the people who pay his way), but fine. If I gave up every writer I disagreed with about Israel, I'd be living in a very small bubble.
Now I didn't know how long "not talking about Israel" could go on, given that the issue is so pervasive and is likely to have such an impact on our political system in 2026 and 2028, if not going forward, because the issue of US support of Israel is the crystalization of everything that has gone wrong with government in America: a special interest with a lot of power hijacks the US government to do its bidding even if its interests are diametrically opposed to the interests of the US population at large, even to the point of getting us involved in a genocide (or what Taibbi called in his comments a "magic word").
I did not know about The Exile article until I saw someone link to it in a comment on TwiX. So, yes, I am now forced to admit this is probably a case of audience capture, and either Taibbi is forcibly maintaining his own ignorance or molding his views to fit what makes him money. It doesn't make Taibbi useless, but it does make him only as useful as any other person I read to figure out what "that group" of people is thinking, not to find out what's really going on.
The thing with Bari Weiss that got him in trouble was that you really, really, really can't talk about Bari Weiss's sale of her blog (large as it is) to CBS/Paramount without talking about Israel. You can't. And if you play down Weiss's overt almost Goebbels level propaganda, reducing it to her "politics," and pretend that her simping for a foreign country had nothing to do with the obscene price when the person who is giving her the money is David Ellison, someone who donates gobs of money to Israel and has an *American* company that won't hire anyone who has a negative opinion of *Israel* . . . well, you're going to get called on it. But the first article was not what got Taibbi in trouble. The focus of his article was the hypocrisy of the propaganda machine that is mainstream media getting angry about Bari Weiss getting a windfall. Fine and fair.
The problem was his reaction to an audience far more educated on the subject than he was. If you're not going to talk about something, then don't talk about it. But he accidentally found himself dipping a toe in the water, and he had two good choices: (1) listen and get an education, or (2) back quietly away. But he chose the third: to dive in with both feet and exhibit a level of callousness and ignorance that is inexcusable if you're going to engage in the subject at all.
On a meta-level, swinging between the COVID craziness and now the Israel craziness, one coming primarily from the "left" and the other primarily from the "right," I'm starting to think people are hardwired toward this sort of insanity, and I'm only sad that Taibbi is the rule rather than the exception to the rule.
I dislike articles where one journalist is criticizing another journalist. I read articles to learn about issues. Write about the issues of the day please, not about other journalists.
As a long-time fan of Taibbi, excellent article. You nailed it. Also, I think it's worth mentioning his getting swept into the vortex the pro--Israel The Free Press has created, his positioning on the issue seems to be more about his own financial reasons than ethics or morals, which is disappointing for someone who used to champion the underdogs and the disenfranchised. Go dawgs.
Good piece. Wokeness broke a lot of rational brains on both sides and Taibbi’s was one of them. He’s cooked. Used to love him back in the day too
Thank you for writing this. I was a huge fan of Taibbi for years, and I agree with the general premise of his views on “woke,” the Russiagate stuff, etc. But he has become something between obsessive and a caricature. He goes on about how CNN and MSNBC are dead or dying then watches their clips and mocks them for a couple thousand words. Cable news sucks dude. Everyone knows it. I literally don’t know anyone under 60 who disagrees.
And I don’t blame him for turning on the left. Similar to Rogan et al. The left made them enemies for no actual good reason. But Taibbi seems to have taken it to such a personal degree that it’s all he’s interested in extorting about anymore. Russiagate, “the left” particularly the craziest and perennially online variant, Twitter files, and MSM.
It’s important to say I don’t even disagree with his takes on these subjects. I tend to agree. But I also don’t think they are the most pressing issues of our current moment, and in my opinion Taibbi comes across more like the Charlie Day conspiracy board meme these days than the actual hard-hitting (and very funny) journalist I used to love. Like lots of people on both sides, I think the Trump and Covid phenomena broke his brain, and it’s sad.
Having listened to Mr. Taibbi and Mr. Kirn's recent video and comparing the video to the previous commentary that Taibbi has provided over the years, up until the past couple of years. It is difficult to square his current opinions with his previous opinions. Perhaps he has changed his mind and his refusal to cover the free speech issues surrounding Israel/Palestine, beyond less than a handful of stories, has to do with this change in his opinion. But that's just speculation.
At this point we should just accept the fact that he's no longer comfortable talking about this subject nor in addressing how it intersects with other subjects he cares about and just move on. There are many others who are providing great commentary and journalism on these issues. Regarding Bari Weiss, despite his proclaimed disagreements with her, he clearly likes her and sees her as a friend. Which is obviously a relationship he cares about far more than any criticisms that Greenwald, you, or others may have of her. Is what it is.
Trump is by far the better alternative compared to the Democrats. In a binary system, "choice" boils down to selecting the lesser of two evils, and the Democrats are simply much, much worse.
It is important to understand that Trump is the symptom, not the cause. He is the personification of the pendulum swinging back. The liberal establishment attempted to forestall that reset with radical and extreme measures aimed at not only political reform but cultural transformation; now that the dam has broken, the nature of that reset is both violent and swift.
Prior to the invasion of Iraq the US government had chopped off the top third of that country and sponsored a Kurdish proto state there. It was like Canada invaded the US and allowed Washington and Oregon to secede.
Understandably Saddam Hussein was interested in doing everything he could to repel the invaders and reclaim that territory. In addition the US military presence required to protect the Kurds enraged extremists like OBL and formed a major part of his justification for the 9/11 attacks. Arguing that the war was "pointless" blithely ignores the geopolitical realities on the ground.
His bitterness over the durability of the Russiagate narrative, despite his relentless undermining of it, seems to have gotten the better of him. He comes across as very defensive and nasty, so much so that I can't even share his articles with people who subscribe to Russiagate b/c I know his abrasive tone will just make them double down. It's sad to see a talented reporter shoot himself in the foot.
I too am jealous of people in my field who are much more talented, accomplished, and frankly, discerning, than me. I get it Zaid. These feelings are natural.