The Bubble: Nunes memo as 'thin as Trump's coif,' liberals say

William Cummings | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Nunes memo: FBI, Justice Department abused surveillance The controversial Nunes memo is out. It claims the FBI and the Justice Department abused their surveillance authority on Trump's 2016 Presidential campaign. Democrats say the memo is misleading.

Each week, USA TODAY's OnPolitics blog takes a look at how media from the left and the right reacted to a political news story, giving liberals and conservatives a peek into the other's media bubble.

This week analysts, pundits, and talking heads from the left and right debated the significance of the "Nunes memo" — a newly declassified document written at the direction of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., alleging that the FBI abused its authority in setting up surveillance of members of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Liberal commentators argued the memo, which was released Friday, was much ado about nothing and said it may have backfired on Trump. But most conservatives thought the memo proved that anti-Trump bias was rampant in the FBI and that the warrants granted under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to spy on Trump campaign officials were not honestly obtained.

Last week: SOTU reactions show liberals don't care about America, conservatives say

Conservative bubble: Memo more damning than expected

After concerns that memo would be seen as a "dud" in the face of so much hype and high expectations, Rush Limbaugh thought, "if anything, the contents of this memo were underplayed."

"Now that I know what’s in this memo, you know what’s even more curious to me is that the FBI and the DOJ and the swamp didn’t make a greater effort to suppress this," Limbaugh said.

"I thought that since we’ve discussed it so much and pretty much informed you everything in it, I didn’t think I could be surprised. But I have been," he said. The dossier compiled on Trump by former British spy Christopher Steele formed an "essential part" of the FISA warrant obtained to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, but the court was not told the dossier was a fundamentally political document, Limbaugh said.

Columnist: Nunes memo exposes abuse of power

Liberal bubble: The memo 'as thin as Trump's coif'

"Donald Trump will destroy this entire country — its institutions and its safeguards, the rule of law and the customs of civility, the concept of truth and the inviolable nature of valor — to protect his own skin," Charles M. Blow wrote in The New York Times.

But far from discrediting the Mueller investigation into the Trump campaign's contacts with Russians, "the memo seemed to bolster the credibility of that investigation," Blow said.

The tantalizing possibility that this memo would contain actual, accurate damning evidence that the investigation was corrupt just vanished. The contents of that memo are as thin as Trump’s coif. His attempts to smear the truthseekers with lies are failing. Sure, some die-hards — millions of them actually — will continue to believe, but the truth is a funny thing: It will not forever be hidden. Everything eventually finds its way to the light.

Nunes memo release: What you need to know about the controversial document

Conservative bubble: Trump's right, the memo vindicates him

"Whatever the media and Democratic detractors say, the memo released by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee Friday that revealed how the FBI and Justice Departments abused their powers to spy on the Trump presidential campaign is breathtaking," wrote Robert Charles for Fox News Opinion.

Saying average Americans "were betrayed" and calling Nunes "one of the most daring whistleblowers in modern American history," Charles concluded Trump was right in his tweet that claimed the memo "vindicates" him in the Russia probe.

It is "beyond understanding" why Democrats on the Intelligence Committee aren't more upset, Charles said. "Like the Sept.11, 2001 terrorist attacks and even more than the Watergate scandal, Friday’s revelations should shake us."

More: How the Nunes memo links Carter Page, Chris Wray and Rod Rosenstein

Liberal bubble: The memo worked

The Nunes memo and its release are straight out of the "playbook of contemporary disinformation campaigns," wrote Mother Jones CEO Monika Bauerlein.

"In the absence of a credible case, Trump’s protectors are left with the 'doubt is our product' strategy — create so much chaos that at least some portion of the population will conclude you just can’t figure out where the truth is," Bauerlein said, comparing it to the tobacco industry's decades-long campaign to confuse the public about the dangers of smoking.

And the memo — with the help of countless Russian bots crying #ReleasetheMemo on social media — worked, because while there have been "233 stories a day about the Nunes memo for the last two weeks" how "many about Russian interference in congressional elections?"

More: Trump said Nunes memo 'totally vindicates' him in Russia probe

Conservative bubble: FBI effort to block memo was 'scandalous'

No secret information was revealed in the Nunes memo, despite the FBI's efforts to block the release of the memo, ostensibly because it was classified. So, "what was the real reason the FBI opposed the memo's release?" Marc A. Thiessen wondered in The Washington Post.

Government officials can't make something classified simply because it is embarrassing or politically biased, Thiessen said.

The real threat to national security came not from the memo's release, but from the FBI effort to suppress it ... Democrats and the FBI should be able to offer their versions of story. But trying to keep this information from the public is corrupt, undemocratic, and arguably unlawful. Let the American people see the evidence and decide who is right.

Analysis: With Nunes memo release, Trump barrels toward showdown with Mueller

Liberal bubble: The memo was a dud

The Nunes memo was a "massively overhyped" dud that may not only have disappointed Trump, but also led him to needlessly antagonize the FBI and "added to the perception that he is obstructing the Russia probe, with little political payoff," wrote Abigail Tracy in Vanity Fair.

"While Memo-gate may now fizzle, the long-term implications of the episode could be dire," Tracy said. "Wray’s tenure at the F.B.I., however long he remains, is now dented, the latest casualty in Trump’s long, drawn-out version of a Saturday Night Massacre—a slow chipping-away at the D.O.J. that has claimed Comey, prompted McCabe to resign, and targeted Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions."