It was a magical run, but Bill Kristol fell short in Ruthless's #hackmadness Tournament as The Bulwark's 'editor-at-large' fell to CNN's Chris Cuomo in the Establishment Region Final. Seeded No. 5 by the selection committee, Kristol pulled off a signature win in the Round of 32, knocking off MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. In the regional semifinal Kristol dispatched Jeffrey Toobin, whose masturbation scandal allowed him to become the first No. 16 seed ever to advance to the Sweet 16. Kristol seemed to lose steam on his social media account in recent days, his most viewed post this week retweeted a post from Vox Editor Aaron Rupar from a year ago where he attacked Dr. Deborah Birx, who is much more of a doctor than Dr. Jill Biden. That momentum allowed Rupar to cut down the nets at the Way Too Online region. Rupar now faces Chris Cuomo in a national semifinal tol be contested in front of 80,000 empty seats at Los Angeles's SoFi Stadium, as ordered by California Governor Gavin Newsom. Powerhouse No. 1 seeds own the other side of the bracket, the Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin rolled through the Liberal Activists region like the Gonzaga Bulldogs, culminating with earning 86 percent of the vote over CNN's Ana Navarro. Rubin now takes on CNN's Brian Stelter, in a rematch of the 2020 #hackmadness final. Stelter, who bears an amazing resemblance to the Joker, easily won the Fake News bracket, earning 70 percent of the vote in his regional final.
While major conferences such as CNN, MSNBC and WaPo earned many at-large bids, The Bulwark has emerged as a formidable mid-major. The Bulwark Conference is headlined by Kristol and No. 11 seed Tim Miller. Those snubbed by the Ruthless selection committee include Amanda Carpenter (currently taking aim at South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem) and podcast host Charlie Sykes, who started to lean left after spending more than two decades playing second-fiddle to Mark Belling in the Milwaukee radio market.
The program bills itself as being conscientious, and civil - well except for Sykes swearing like a longshoreman from time to time. A marquee matchup many want to see on Ruthless's regular season 'King of the Hill' feature would involve Jennifer Rubin and her stable of cats against Sykes and his dogs, large enough to rival the Green Bay Packers offensive line. The latest Ruthless podcast with complete analysis of the tournament drops first thing on April Fool's Day.
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