đ Programming note: A quick update on what to expect from WTFJHT as we head into the holidays... Iâll be publishing Monday, Dec. 29 and Tuesday, Dec. 30, before returning to my regular MondayâThursday schedule on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026. As always, if something truly WTF-y happens, Iâll be here. Otherwise, this is a short pause to recharge and spend some time with family. Thanks for reading, sharing, and supporting this project. It means a lot and Iâm glad youâre here. -MATT
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WTF Just Happened Today? is a sane, once-a-day newsletter helping normal people make sense of the news. Curated daily and delivered to 200,000+ people every afternoon around 3 pm Pacific.
Day 2: War on media.
1/ Photos comparing Trumpâs inauguration crowd to the Womenâs March (CNN)
2/ White House press secretary Sean Spicer attacked media for accurately reporting inauguration crowds. âThis was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period,â Spicer said, contradicting all available data. Aerial photos have indicated that former president Barack Obamaâs first inauguration attracted a much larger crowd. Nielsen ratings show that Obama also had a bigger television audience. Spicer, at times almost yelling while reading a prepared statement, took no questions. (CNN)
3/ Trump used his first full day in office on Saturday to unleash a remarkably bitter attack on the news media, falsely accusing journalists of both inventing a rift between him and intelligence agencies and deliberately understating the size of his inauguration crowd. (NY Times)
4/ Trump says he has ârunning warâ with media, criticizes the âdishonest media,â gets facts wrong, in CIA speech. (CNN)
5/ At CIA headquarters, Trump denies feud, lashed out at critics, boasted of his magazine covers, and exaggerated the size of the crowd at his inauguration. (Politico)
6/ Trumpâs real war isnât with the media. Itâs with facts. He needs to delegitimize the media because he needs to delegitimize facts. (Vox)
A political newsletter for normal people
WTF Just Happened Today? is a sane, once-a-day newsletter helping normal people make sense of the news. Curated daily and delivered to 200,000+ people every afternoon around 3 pm Pacific.
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