When Matt Taibbi was at Rolling Stone, he was often compared to Hunter Thompson, and for good reason. He's not the comic stylist that Thompson was, but that's a high bar. He's a much better reporter, a more dogged media critic, and a very astute reader of Thompson's work. I haven't followed him on Substack or read all the books, but I liked this assessment, which filled in some blanks for me.
I've selected an image for The Divide, which I reviewed favorably for Truthdig a while back. Here's that essay.
2 comments:
I was a big fan of Taibbi, who was very much as you described him: HST but a better, more fact-based reporter. Now, I agree with my friend Doug Henwood, who is quoted in that Intelligencer piece: "Now I just don’t know what the hell he’s going on and on about. He’s obsessed with stupid shit.”
I saw Taibbi spend a lot of time on Twitter dealing with trolls, which is an uphill climb to the bottom, but I would need to hear more of what Doug H. has in mind before I could respond directly to that. I read Taibbi's stuff on the Rittenhouse case and Virginia election, and though Doug might not care for it, I thought it was very worthwhile. Taibbi has become a media scold, but the criticisms I've seen are on point. And though few in the mainstream outlets will say it out loud, his Russiagate position is looking better and better.
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