If he gets out of the second round, I can’t see anyone keeping him from the Final Four. That performance in the press conference with Stephen Miller on immigration is one that everyone in the league has studied closely, and you’ve got to give him credit for setting the model that others follow, like the Houston Astros in baseball. He’s worked it like crazy since the moment Trump was elected. The CNN conference is well-represented in this tournament, but Acosta overcame serious competition to earn his top seed. First, we’ve got to start with the imposing number 1 seed: Jim Acosta. Jay Williams: Wow, does this bracket have some incredible personalities in it. Scott: Let’s go to the next bracket-the Fake News. You can’t overestimate the value of confidence, and Boot walks into every matchup expecting to be greeted as a liberator. Jay Bilas: And I like Max Boot to pull the upset. As a hack, you can’t dwell in the past-you’ve got to move on! And no one does that better than Rubin.
She’s got a combo that most hacks would sell their friends for: max-effort vitriol together with complete disregard for anything she said or thought a minute before. Talent wins out in this league, and she has that in spades. His punditry has been subpar in the Vox era, but I think he’ll rise to the challenge of this tournament and show everyone why he was synonymous with “liberal hack” for so long. I like Harwood to come out of this bracket. Seth Greenberg: I think it’ll be tough for Boot to get past Harwood in the round of 16 Harwood is just too experienced and Boot, for all his success in his first time around the league, is still learning the ropes. What’s the first rule of success as a hack? “Never admit a mistake.” Rubin knows this, which is why she’s a number 2 seed in her first time in the liberal hack league. Jay Williams: Yes, we may have a Strange New Respect matchup in the round of eight-and from the same conference? Wow! If that matchup happens, I like Rubin’s chances: they have similar approaches but Boot admitted some weaknesses in his last book, like how he never actually understood the conservative principles he used to advocate. That could be an epic matchup, comparable to Bernie Sanders versus Elizabeth Warren. The other matchup that jumps out at me is the possibility of Rubin matching up with her Washington Post teammate Max Boot with the Final Four on the line. There are too many more consistent liberal hacks in this bracket for him to have much of a shot. Jake Tapper is just a bad matchup fit, especially in this bracket: he’s been too independent about things like covering the recent spate of antisemitic attacks in the New York area. Jay Bilas: I agree that we’re going to have a Rubin-Yglesias matchup in the Sweet 16. Scott: Jay, how do you see the rest of the bracket shaking out? If he matches up against Rubin, I expect him to confuse her easily and advance.
After so many years of taking heat from the socialist-leaning left for being too friendly towards markets, he just came out with a case for Bernie Sanders in 2020. But I think he’s still got the skills that made him such a dangerous hack in years past.
He may have suffered from a lack of visibility in recent years due to his habit of blocking everyone on Twitter, and the committee may have bought into the conventional wisdom that he’s past his hack prime. Rece: I don’t know how Matthew Yglesias only got a 6 seed. Scott: And she may draw just that opponent in the round of 16. I think Rubin is vulnerable to an opponent who can have a more flexible approach. When a pundit has success doing the same thing all the time, they lose the ability to adapt. Jay Williams: I expect Rubin to handle Wallace easily, but I’m concerned about her ability to make it to the round of eight.
She’s like a professional wrestler playing to the crowds in the Washington Post conference-and the fans love it! But despite Wallace having made her category switch earlier, Rubin has outclassed through one simple approach: uncompromising criticism of anything President Trump or conservatives do, regardless of whether Rubin supported it five minutes prior. This first-round matchup is a good example, in that Rubin and Wallace cut similar profiles-women who were formerly conservative activists.