* Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” brings nearly 5 million viewers a week. It also accounts for about 20 percent of Fox News’ ad revenue. But those latter numbers could change, as some prominent advertisers, notably Papa John’s, Poshmark, Walt Disney Company and T-Mobile, have been backing away from the show. A key factor: Carlson’s high-profile criticism of the unrest resulting from the police killing of George Floyd and his urging of a more severe crackdown on protests. It hardly helped when he said: “This may be a lot of things, this moment we are living through. But it is definitely not about black lives, and remember that when they come for you. And at this rate, they will.”
* Trump, as we know, has been raging about news that he trails Biden in most head-to-head polls. What has to be especially infuriating is that a recent national Fox News survey had Biden up by 12 points.
* “Without Twitter, I think we’d be lost. We wouldn’t be able to get the truth out.”–What Trump told Rush Limbaugh.
* “Stunningly uninformed.” That was John Bolton’s assessment of Trump as commander-in-chief.
* Message signing. “Defund the Police” requires context. “Demilitarize the Police” doesn’t.
* Florida recently hit another record for most single-day coronavirus cases: 9,585. Locally, record highs in both Hillsborough County (1,112) and Pinellas County (614) have been recorded. It prompted CNN to come calling, specifically Chris Cuomo of Prime Time Cuomo. He had put out requests for COVID comments to myriad Florida officials, starting with Gov. Ron DeSantis. No one responded–except Pinellas County Commissioner Ken Welch–who attributed “mixed messaging”–at both the federal and state levels–to an environment of carelessness and cluelessness resulting in rising rates of coronavirus cases.