Gaslighting, Violent Rhetoric, and Other Reasons to Stay in Bed

Today’s Missive is brought to you by Daylight Saving Time and dark-as-my-heart 5:30 am.

Ripples from last week’s Trump rally incident involving his campaign manager and a conservative blogger continue to spread. ICYMI, Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski allegedly grabbed Michelle Fields of Breitbart so hard she almost fell. Later, Fields shared images of her bruises from the alleged incident on Twitter.

Then it got weird. Even thought Politico obtained an audio account of the incident, and the incident was corroborated by Ben Terris of the Washington Post, Breitbart continued to find ways to gaslight one of their (now former) reporters, ordering staffers to “stop defending” Fields, and releasing a bizarre statement on the incident.

A few days ago, Breitbart spokesperson Kurt Bardella quit, appearing on CNN and providing us with one confused Don Lemon when he unequivocally said he believed Breitbart was lying. Today, Fields and Breitbart editor-at-large Ben Shapiro - whom she said was the only staffer who supported her during her appearance on Fox’s The Kelly File - have resigned. In his resignation, Shapiro called today’s Breitbart “Trump’s personal pravda." According to Rosie Gray and McKay Coppins at BuzzFeed, there are rumors of more resignations on their way, with employees attempting to get around Breitbart’s notoriously strict non-complete employment cause.

But this is misdirection, as we’re talking about the Brietbart shitshow instead of the fact that Trump’s campaign manager hurt someone and blatantly denied it. Meanwhile, Trump’s rallies are getting increasingly violent - flames the orange menace stokes himself.

For a palate cleanser, please check out how the Japanese diet became the delicious healthy delight it now is (ht Adam.)

Is it Tuesday yet?