I doubt anyone care, but I’m the resident Matt Taibbi observer, so AMA.

tldr; Walter Kirn is a big lolbertarian anti-Covid lockdown and suck-up of Jay Bhattacharya, the current director of NIH and anti-lockdown “doctor” (he’s an economist and does not practice medicine). Matt Taibbi’s substack “Racket News” hired a Emily Kopp - a reporter that’s too crazy for even the current MAHA movement. She’s digging into the ongoing gain-on-function research at NIH even under the current administration. Being a MAGA suck-up Walter disagree with Matt Taibbi’s substack challenging the current administration and their grift podcast is no more.

  • micnd90 [he/him,any]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
    4·
    2 months ago

    Yes, it’s a shame. Matt Taibbi did great on financial reporting and was THE journalist for 2008 crash. I still like his work afterwards as well. He’s one of the few Russiagate skeptic who were proven right. He was a fantastic as on the field reporter for 2016 Democratic primary. Even his early work on Racket, I like when he and Walter covered short stories like Dostoevsky, Gogol, Tolstoy, etc. I even still liked Racket during the early 2024 primaries, as they provided an alternative populist POV when the media was so full on cheering for Biden. I stopped listening to their podcast after October 7th, I can’t stand his both side’ism, hypocrisy on how they are supposedly free-speech absolutist but cheering against and making fun of college students who are protesting for Gaza. During peak 2024 election season apparently Walter Kirn went full on unhinged MAGA. I still kinda follow Matt like a lolcow, it’s still funny that he’s cancelled by a fictional character, made “why I left the Left” video, embarrassed himself in #TwitterFiles, and now his podcast and friendship with Walter imploded over disagreement over Covid and gain-of-function research, like literally who cares it’s 2026. Matt thinks he’s Hunter Thompson but he’s just a rich kid who went to bourgie liberal arts college and ended up as lolcow journalist.