New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker spent the morning after the midterms treating a private pre-election strategy call among Trump advisers like a scene from a spy thriller.
According to Baker, the mood was grim enough that talk turned to cyanide, complete with someone asking whether the group wanted the white pill or the black pill first.
DA DA DAAAAAA!
The problem is that “white pill” and “black pill” are long-running internet slang for optimistic versus nihilistic worldviews — terms that have been in common use for years across political Twitter (X), manosphere spaces, and everywhere in between.
Instead of recognizing the obvious metaphor, Baker and his colleagues apparently heard literal poison and ran with it as the dramatic hook for a story about Republican midterm losses.
Six days before the election, more than two dozen Trump strategists logged onto a private video call. The mood was grim. The talk turned to cyanide. “Do you want the white pill first, or the black pill first?" @ShaneGoldmacher @jonathanvswan @maggieNYT https://t.co/6HpvJ8Ts6m
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) November 5, 2026
TALK TURNED TO CYANIDE?!
Ha.
HA ha.
HA HA ha.
HA HA HA ha.
HA HA HA HA ha.
HAAAAAAA
Dude.
The internet, as usual, noticed immediately and spent the day pointing out that one of the paper’s most senior political reporters just publicly demonstrated he has no idea what half the country is actually talking about.
@peterbakernyt @ShaneGoldmacher @jonathanvswan @maggieNYT Layers upon layers of editors and fact checkers. 😵💫😵💫😵💫
— Skiandsurf (@Skiandsurf2) November 5, 2026
And not one of them caught how stupid this was. Nope.
@peterbakernyt @ShaneGoldmacher @jonathanvswan @maggieNYT https://t.co/NwJoOZuNhn
— Jarvis (@jarvis_best) November 5, 2026
We see what Jarvis did there.
@peterbakernyt @ShaneGoldmacher @jonathanvswan @maggieNYT "Journalist" so stupid he doesn't know that "white pill" is the good news.
— WhiskeySilverball (@WhiskeySlvrBall) November 5, 2026
Now now, it is The New York Times we're talking about.
@peterbakernyt @ShaneGoldmacher @jonathanvswan @maggieNYT https://t.co/pqY8HSujJz
— Tony Kinnett (@TheTonus) November 5, 2026
And fin.
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