Media

Former Obama staffers launching anti-Trump site called ‘Crooked Media’

by Joe Concha - 01/09/17 11:02 AM ET

Three former staffers to President Obama are launching an anti-Donald Trump media site called “Crooked Media.”

Tommy Vietor, Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett, who served as spokespeople and speechwriters for Obama, say the site’s aim is to go around traditional media to reach millennial Democrats.

“I think the lesson for [Democrats] is that if you’re solely filtering your message through the media, you’ve already lost,” Vietor told Time magazine. “[Trump] has Breitbart and Twitter and he’ll just swamp you. We need to do a better job of connecting directly and activating people.”

{mosads}The name itself is pulled from Trump’s own words — he frequently bashes news outlets, reporters, and the media in general.

The three say they will not hide their opposition to the Trump administration.

“We’re not journalists, we’re not unbiased, we’re not always serious and we’re certainly not always right,” Vietor, Favreau, and Lovett explain in Crooked Media’s mission statement. “But we promise a no-bulls–t conversation about politics where you can laugh, cry, scream, ridicule us daily, share your ideas, and hopefully decide that you want to help fix this mess too.”

Vietor, Favreau and Lovett, along with former White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer, hosted a biweekly podcast called “Keepin’ It 1600,” on The Ringer website. It has since been retitled as “Pod Save America,” following Trump’s victory in November.

Tags Donald Trump