My immediate reaction to seeing this story was, “They only found 12”?

Indeed, the media was a target-rich environment this past year. MAGA hat rage, Jussie Smollett, the dud Mueller report, “collusion” meltdown; the list could be endless.

Grabien, which has specialized in these “video montages” of idiotic media moments, outdid themselves this year with “The 12 Most Mortifying Media Moments of 2019.”

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A lot of these media flubs are of the “Don’t you wish you knew what we know now” variety,” like Jussie Smollett.

The media’s unfortunate habit of stepping on rakes shaped like fake hate crimes continued apace into February. When TMZ first reported that actor Jussie Smollett was the victim of a vicious hate crime, it sounded almost impossible to believe. Upon leaving a Chicago Subway sandwich shop circa 2 AM one sub-zero night in late January, two masked men recognized him as the openly gay black actor starring in Fox’s ‘Empire,’ hurled racist and homophobic slurs at him, beat him to the point of breaking his ribs, doused him with bleach, tied a noose around his neck, before pronouncing “This is MAGA Country!” and fleeing. Making such astonishing claims, the national media owed it to their viewers to give this story the circumspect coverage responsible journalism demands. If only.

Yes, if only. If only the media had used some common sense and stopped to think, they might not have made asses of themselves by accusing the president of the United States of being a treasonous lout.

BRENNAN: “He is going to be delivering what I think are going to be his indictments, the final indictments.”

CICILLINE: “This is suborning perjury, I think there’s no question it’s an impeachable offense.”

NAVARRO: “And at that point we are in high crimes and misdemeanors and we are in impeachment territory.”

UNKNOWN: “The spirit of what Trump did is clearly treasonous.”

UNKNOWN: “There’s outright treason.”

DEUTSCH: “I think he’s feeling the noose around his neck.”

WINE-BANKS: “The noose is tightening.”

BRINKLEY: “He feels the noose is tightening.”

AVENATTI: “The noose is tightening.”

BRZEZINSKI: “People might go to jail.”

SCARBOROUGH: “You’re exactly right.”

BRZEZINSKI: “For the rest of their lives.”

GRIFFIN: “I think they’re all going to jail.”

BEHAR: “Well, I think they’re all going to end up together in prison, and maybe that’s a good thing.”

SCARBOROUGH: “He has no idea that he’s going down.”

MATTHEWS: “The investigation is over and according to a senior DOJ official there will be no further indictments. How can they lead Trump off the hook?”

My favorite segment is the media defending Antifa.

Members of the left-wing political activist group, Antifa (ostensibly named for “Anti-Fascism”), Portland assaulted reporter in June, the latest in long series of attacks the group’s waged against members of the media. Journalist Andy Ngo was hospitalized after coming under attack while reporting from an Antifa protest. Normally a group like Antifa that’s avowedly opposed to media transparency would come under criticism from the media itself, yet somehow reporters at CNN, MSNBC, and elsewhere have become Antifa boosters. CNN’s Chris Cuomo calls Antifa “a good cause.” Cuomo’s CNN colleague, Don Lemon, said the group should be thought of as their name suggests — “anti-fascist” and therefore on the right side of these street clashes. On the specific question of Antifa’s embrace of violence, Lemon said: “ ‘No organization is perfect.” CNN contributor Michael Eric Dyson likened Antifa to a cancer treatment that’s trying to preserve “the fabric of America.” Turning political differences into violent clashes to save America? It’s a bold strategy, Cotton.

What would have been your choices for a “Most Mortifying Media Moment”?