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Zachary Pleat

@zpleat.bsky.social
485 followers 80 following 1.5K posts

Research at Media Matters for America, currently focusing on economic misinformation. All posts are my own views but are backed by the Commissariat. www.mediamatters.org/author/zachary…

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Zachary Pleat
☠️𝔖𝔭𝔬𝔬𝔨𝔶 𝔎𝔯𝔦𝔰🦇 @freydalpishti.bsky.social · 10h
Paul Verhoeven the most vindicated guy to ever exist.
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Barb McQuade @barbmcquade.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Trump is corruptly misappropriating taxpayer funds to pay for political ads. And rather than object, his GOP allies in Congress shrink in fear. Gift link: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
washingtonpost.com
Campaign-style Trump ads use money meant for border security, memorials
The White House Office of Management and Budget added $20 million to the pot for commemorative events a day before DHS awarded an advertising contract of the same amount.
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
👇🎯 - NSF/NIH $ decimated - ongoing attacks on specific universities - Title VI/FLAS $ cancelled: new CAANN grants just illegally cancelled by Russell Vought - ongoing foreign student collapse bc of immigration restrictions - Constant lying about campus speech from the fascists Total failure
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Once again, I ask why the New York Times & every other media outlet immediately & instinctively reports on the 🇩🇪 AfD as a “far right” or “extremist” party but does not regularly cover the 🇺🇸 Republican Party as such: bsky.app/profile/mcop...
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Unprecedented corruption & constitutional crimes. Again, it all should have ended in 2017, when he began openly monetizing the presidency at his hotel two blocks from the White House. We are not a serious country.
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Asawin Suebsaeng @swin24.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The mainstream media has given lot of different people lots of reason to lose trust in it broadly speaking. However, when Republicans talk about The Media, I would like for you to look at historical polling graphs of when that plummet in their trust really began and hmm, interesting timing…
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Zachary Pleat @zpleat.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
It was inevitable that Trump's idiotic & evil policies would lead to this www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox...
mediamatters.org
Fox stands behind Trump policies that are hurting America's tourism industry
Reporting has made clear since the early days of President Donald Trump’s second presidential term that his immigration policies, as well as his trade wars and combative rhetoric against America's all...
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Zachary Pleat @zpleat.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
New: “Psyop”: The right-wing media figures claiming that midterm polls are designed to suppress conservative turnout
mediamatters.org
"Psyop": The right-wing media figures claiming that midterm polls are designed to suppress conservative turnout
As recent polling shows Republicans in serious danger of losing their congressional majorities, some in right-wing media are responding by claiming the polls are deliberately showing dismal GOP suppor...
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Even as profits soar, corporate tax payments are down 25% this year thanks to Trump and Republicans’ big, ugly bill. One of the main beneficiaries? Big Tech — which is using the tax breaks to help fuel its AI boom as it spends a fortune on the midterm elections. Remember this...
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Oliver Willis @owillis.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Trump steals tax dollars to run his old campaign ad www.dailykos.com/stories/2026...
dailykos.com
Trump steals tax dollars to run his old campaign ad
What’s old is new again—this time with the theft of your tax dollars.
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Regina Schrambling @gastropoda.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
We’re not supposed to believe our lying eyes. Congress holds the power of the purse. No need to “some say.”
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Zachary Pleat @zpleat.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Is this a joke? Trump has taken actions that made these prices higher
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Joan Alker @joanalker1.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I’m not sure I can even read this article - what more can be done by this Administration to make America unhealthier? But thank you @apoorvanyt.bsky.social and colleagues for your work.
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Zachary Pleat @zpleat.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
New election ad: Trump has closed his strait and is personally costing you hundreds in higher fuel costs.
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Whitney Curry Wimbish @whitneycwimbish.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The youngest person his pager attack killed was 9-year-old Fatima Abdullah, who had just started 4th grade. The pager was on a table when it went off and she picked it up to take to her dad. It exploded in her face and reports said it covered the room in her blood. She wanted to learn English.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 25/09/2026
really fascinating to see isgur conduct this interview as if conservative election mistrust has materialized out of nowhere or as if liberal claims of voter suppression are totally baseless. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | How Worried Should We Be About the Midterm Elections?
And how we learn to trust elections again.
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Media Matters for America @mmfa.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Right-wing media are lashing out at Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar's (R-FL) newest campaign ad criticizing Trump for going “too far” on immigration enforcement.
mediamatters.org
"RINO ALERT": Maria Salazar's new ad criticizing Trump's immigration enforcement is angering right-wing media
Right-wing media are lashing out at Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar's (R-FL) newest campaign ad criticizing the Trump administration for going “too far” on immigration enforcement, with some calling it an “...
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Zachary Pleat @zpleat.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Imagine if media outlets ever call Republicans the "law and order" party ever again
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Zachary Pleat @zpleat.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Loser shit
mediamatters.org
Fox is desperate to avoid blaming Trump for affordability concerns
With the midterm elections little over a month away, Fox News and Fox Business personalities continue to blame the Biden administration for voters’ affordability concerns translating to preference for...
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Reposted by Zachary Pleat
Media Matters for America @mmfa.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
With the midterm elections little over a month away, Fox personalities continue to blame the Biden administration for voters’ affordability concerns.
mediamatters.org
Fox is desperate to avoid blaming Trump for affordability concerns
With the midterm elections little over a month away, Fox News and Fox Business personalities continue to blame the Biden administration for voters’ affordability concerns translating to preference for...
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Kathryn Anne Edwards @kedseconomist.com · 23/09/2026
In 1990, the US had ~130 tax coupons (credits, adjustments, deductions, etc), today we have more than double that: 271. To address the debt, we should start with the coupon book that doles out $2.3 trillion in discounts each year, dwarfing Social Security. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
bloomberg.com
There’s a Secret Third Path to Escaping America’s Debt Trap
The US deficit has reached $1.97 trillion and is on track to pass 6% of gross domestic product this fiscal year, the latest milestone in a remarkable deterioration of the federal budget. With national...
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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Awful: Trump's Office of "Remigration" has just been exposed making sordid payments to authoritarian governments to take third-country deportees, leading to serious abuses. Dems tell me they will try to defund the agency if they win power. They should. 1/ New piece: newrepublic.com/article/2157...
newrepublic.com
Stephen Miller’s MAGA Terror Campaign Exposed by Damning New Leaks
Sordid revelations about the white-nationalist-themed Office of Remigration should galvanize Democrats: If they win power, they must try to shut it down.
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Zachary Pleat @zpleat.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
New from me: Fox is desperate to avoid blaming Trump for affordability concerns www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox... Trump has taken multiple actions that have worsened inflation, yet Fox still blames Biden
mediamatters.org
Fox is desperate to avoid blaming Trump for affordability concerns
With the midterm elections little over a month away, Fox News and Fox Business personalities continue to blame the Biden administration for voters’ affordability concerns translating to preference for...
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Zachary Pleat @zpleat.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I suppose the Trump administration destroying the private insurance market is one way to drive up support for Medicare For All
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Media Matters for America @mmfa.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Today in revisionist history: Laura Ingraham is trying to rewrite her mealy-mouthed acquiescence of the Iran war into opposition
mediamatters.org
Laura Ingraham is rewriting her mealy-mouthed acquiescence of the Iran war into opposition from the beginning
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Matthew Gertz @mattgertz.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Just joining the Russian economic sphere I guess.
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Andrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
an obvious and necessary step but not enough. they should refuse to host any pro trump voices and half of their segments should be attacking fox news for abandoning the first amendment in its refusal to defend them
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Micah @rincewind.run · 21/09/2026
it’s really something to see someone study the right wing grifter playbook up close and personal and make a calculated decision that she should follow it to the letter
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George Pearkes @peark.es · 18/09/2026
These are all extremely common sense steps, and opposition to them can be used as a useful filter for bad actors in the space.
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Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
In the past 19 months, Washington has lost ground to Beijing on every major front: economic, military, technology, soft power and alliances. The gap is narrowing not because China got smarter, but the US got so much dumber. My piece with @bequelin.bsky.social 👇 foreignpolicy.com/2026/09/17/c...
foreignpolicy.com
China, Not Iran, Is Trump’s Real Foreign-Policy Debacle
In 19 months, Washington has lost ground to Beijing on every conceivable front.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 18/09/2026
RFK Jr. wants people to get sick. He wants them to get sick and he thinks it is a good thing if they die, since those who live will have "natural immunity" and emerge stronger and fitter.
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Zachary Pleat @zpleat.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Maybe your idiot party shouldn't have gotten rid of the Office of Technology Assessment www.eenews.net/articles/dem...
eenews.net
Democrats may revive think tank that Gingrich killed
A conservative wave led by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich helped kill the Office of Technology Assessment during the 1990s. Now, more than two decades later,
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Zachary Pleat @zpleat.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
He promised to immediately bring down prices. He can suffer the consequences. www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox...
mediamatters.org
Fox touted Trump's campaign promise to quickly lower prices. Now both Fox and Trump are backtracking as prices increase.
Donald Trump’s supporters in right-wing media, particularly at Fox News, repeatedly hyped his oft-repeated campaign promise to quickly bring down consumer prices, and especially the cost of groceries,...
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Reposted by Zachary Pleat
A.R. Moxon @juliusgoat.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Same people who seem to think it’s bad for China to beat us at AI are perfectly fine with China beating us at high speed rail, solar energy, wind energy, shall we go on
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Matthew Gertz @mattgertz.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Fox News is the only major cable news network not to cover its own contributor Karl Rove's warning about a rising tide of racism and antisemitism within the Republican Party. www.mediamatters.org/karl-rove/fo...
mediamatters.org
Fox News hides contributor Karl Rove’s warning about the GOP’s “growing number of Bo Frenches”
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Elizabeth Spiers @espiers.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
A lot of Dems could take a lesson from this and openly acknowledge that their opponents are bigots. The resistance (mostly from establishment centrists) to stating plainly what's happening instead of using weasel words for the sake of civility is what makes voters think we're spineless.
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Dave Jorgenson @davejorgenson.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
This is super depressing but also holy shit, photojournalism is so important
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Zachary Pleat @zpleat.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
He was also wrong about egg prices, and claimed real wages are up when they in fact declined over the past year. www.bls.gov/news.release...
bls.gov
Real Earnings News Release - 2026 M08 Results
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Media Matters for America @mmfa.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
After Michigan Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers refused to appear at a televised debate with his Democratic opponent, Fox News anchor Dana Perino defended the decision, accusing the moderators of being "too biased." The debate was hosted and broadcast by a Fox-owned news station.
mediamatters.org
Fox News anchor defends Mike Rogers skipping a debate on a Detroit station owned and operated by Fox
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Jeff Stein @jeffstein.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Reporting from @almsnatalie.bsky.social on the White House fraud ledger www.washingtonsun.com/trump-white-...
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 16/09/2026
I'm just going to keep yelling this louder and louder until it clicks: weird overpaid AI nerds hand-wringing about human extinction are trying to distract you from the extremely deadly and serious harms they are causing yesterday, today and tomorrow www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Headline: "US Data Centers Set to Burn More Natural Gas Than Most Nations" above a photo of natural gas compressor towers, power lines and a crane at an industrial site, illustrating rising gas use tied to data centers.News excerpt reporting that U.S. data centers’ natural gas use is expected to grow by 15 billion cubic feet per day by 2035—amounting to more gas than every country except China, Russia, Iran and the U.S., citing the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 16/09/2026
This almost always consists of conservatives saying "people no longer trust your institution" after spending decades doing everything they can to destroy trust in the institution. True of the press, true of academia, true of public health.
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Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
The naive premise behind all this—which I think some of them sincerely believe!—is that if public trust in an institution has declined, it MUST be because that institution has done something wrong to lose that trust, and the status quo ante will be naturally restored if the mistake is corrected.
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Michael Derby @michaelsderby.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
How Trump’s economic policy agenda wrecked the future of the American auto industry. Via Reuters
reuters.com
How Trump’s war on EVs derailed America’s auto-factory revival
Since Trump returned to office, an array of automotive, environmental, trade and immigration policies has undermined auto-factory projects and employment across America’s heartland.
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Timothy Burke @bubbaprog.xyz · 15/09/2026
this is a damn good post from a U.S. Senator and I wish all of them could figure out how to talk like this
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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
NEW: Once exceptionally rare, illegal deportations — in defiance of court orders or due to ICE screw-ups — are now a routine part of President Trump's mass deportation push. It happened 3 times this past week and more at least 30 times in recent months. www.politico.com/news/2026/09...
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Zachary Pleat @zpleat.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Trump torture prison
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Asawin Suebsaeng @swin24.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I need younger generations to understand how weird it is that trump is such a unique terrible fuck up that it’s actually correct to blame the president for a demonstrably shittier economy and costs
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Zachary Pleat @zpleat.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
This was Trump's fake justification for the first round of tariffs on Canadian & Mexican imports last year
mediamatters.org
Fox parrots Trump's "drug war" justification for Canada/Mexico tariffs, even as he weakened fentanyl smuggling enforcement
Part of President Donald Trump’s justification for imposing a 25% tariff on all imports from Canada and Mexico, which went into effect on March 4 (with a one-month delay for the auto industry announce...
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Michael Derby @michaelsderby.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
WashPost: Trump Kennedy Center takeover drives institution to collapse.
washingtonpost.com
Kennedy Center could close as early as Tuesday, warns of bankruptcy, documents show
Officials said the center is facing “certain fiscal collapse” within weeks, insist that adding President Donald Trump’s name may be the only way to avoid bankruptcy.
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