Tea at Trianon: Where Fake Narratives Go to Die

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, June 4, 2025

Where Fake Narratives Go to Die

From Overton:

Karoline Leavitt didn’t wait for the media to set the tone—she fired the first shot. Before a single question was asked, she went straight after The Washington Post for what she called a dishonest and manipulative headline on the fentanyl crisis. Their headline: “The mysterious drop in fentanyl seizures on the U.S.-Mexico border.” Leavitt called it what it was: spin.
“How is this mysterious?” she asked.
She pointed directly to the administration’s border policies and cooperation with Mexico as the reason for the decline.
“This administration’s strong border policies are the reason there has been a decrease in fentanyl trafficking,” she said.
“His strengthened relationship with Mexican President Sheinbaum and all of the measures he has been taking to deter illegal human and drug trafficking at our United States southern border is the reason for plummeting fentanyl seizures at the U.S. Border.”
But the issue wasn’t just the headline. It was what Leavitt described as intentional narrative engineering. (Read more.)

From The Vigilant Fox:

Karoline Leavitt came out swinging in today’s White House briefing, taking direct aim at The Washington Post, defending FEMA’s readiness, and confirming that Trump’s new 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum will take effect at midnight.
She didn’t wait for reporters to steer the conversation. Before a single question was asked, Leavitt launched into a sharp critique of the Post for what she described as a dishonest and manipulative headline about the fentanyl crisis.
The headline read: “The mysterious drop in fentanyl seizures on the U.S.-Mexico border.”
Leavitt called it what it was: spin.
“How is this mysterious?” she asked. “There is no mystery about why there is a decrease in fentanyl coming into the United States!”
She credited the administration’s policies—particularly its border strategy and strengthened ties with Mexico—for the decline.
“This administration’s strong border policies are the reason there has been a decrease in fentanyl trafficking,” she said. “His strengthened relationship with Mexican President Sheinbaum and all of the measures he has been taking to deter illegal human and drug trafficking at our United States southern border is the reason for plummeting fentanyl seizures at the U.S. Border.”
But to Leavitt, this wasn’t just about a misleading headline. She called it intentional narrative manipulation.
“This is clearly trying to intentionally manipulate the minds of Americans, and I think the American people understand why there has been fentanyl drop.”
And when the Post left out the administration’s explanation entirely?
“Our office responded to this inquiry, we provided a whole host of the reasons that fentanyl seizures have dropped at the southern border, and The Washington Post refused to run them,” she said.
“And that’s despicable.” (Read more.)