I was incredibly stoked to have my friend and Substack compatriot Matt Taibbi on today for a chat about the mainstream media’s implosion, the new administration, spending cuts and the unique opportunity this administration has to shatter the Orwellian path the nation has been put on by the establishment and legacy media.
Few voices in journalism today have been as incisive and unfiltered as Matt Taibbi’s. Once a staple of Rolling Stone, Taibbi has become one of the most vocal critics of mainstream media, corporate influence, and the failures of American journalism.
Now, as one of the leading voices on Substack, he has watched firsthand as the landscape of media and politics undergoes tectonic shifts.
The Exodus to Substack: "A Universe is Healing" Moment
The conversation opened with an amusing yet telling observation: Jim Acosta, once a CNN mainstay and vocal critic of independent platforms, had landed on Substack after his unceremonious departure from CNN. Taibbi couldn’t help but note the irony.
"Most of us who came to Substack early came here either because we were purged from mainstream media organizations, or in my case, I just sort of read the writing on the wall and felt like it was going to be a better move for me career-wise," he said.
Acosta’s arrival, along with other legacy media figures like Jennifer Rubin and Norm Eisen, signals a broader shift, he said. Once dismissive of independent platforms as "grifters and losers," these same journalists are now scrambling to find an audience in a media world that no longer guarantees them a corporate paycheck.
"I mean, I won't be surprised to see Joy Reid here in a few weeks," Taibbi quipped.
