The Aporia · Up Schmitt Creek

Up Schmitt Creek

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Catoggio, N. (2026, September 30). Up Schmitt Creek. The Dispatch. https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/boilingfrogs/paxton-schmitt-smith-unforced-errors-trump-republicans/

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Quick Summary

Nick Catoggio's newsletter, Boiling Frogs, critiques Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt's performance during an exchange with special counsel Jack Smith. Catoggio argues that critics are underestimating the severity of Schmitt’s handling of the situation, suggesting it reflects broader issues in American conservatism and political polarization.

Written by AI on 2026-09-30, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

On Tuesday, former special counsel Jack Smith testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee chaired by Senator Chuck Grassley to defend his two criminal investigations into President Donald Trump. Republicans accuse Smith of abusing authority and politically targeting Republicans, while Democrats support him for standing up against Trump's alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and mishandling classified documents. The hearing, titled "Oversight of Jack Smith’s Abuse of Authority and the Targeting of Republicans," also involves scrutiny over subpoenas issued by Smith's office, which were aimed at disrupting certification of Joe Biden's victory in 2020, ultimately leading to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Smith has insisted his decisions were made without political bias and said he would not be silenced despite threats from Trump's Justice Department.

Written for “Jack Smith Testifies Before Senate” on 2026-11-01, grounded in this article and the 34 other(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans right and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.

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“The articles discuss related themes but cover different specific events and time periods regarding Jack Smith's actions.”

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“The articles discuss different topics and do not describe the same specific incident.”

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⚖️ Leans left further left than this Hedges 0 of 11 claims

“The articles discuss different aspects of political discourse and do not describe the same specific incident.”

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The Guardian

⚖️ Leans strongly right further right than this Hedges 3 of 24 claims Outlet record 66/100

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Hedges 1 of 9 claims Outlet record 66/100

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61/100

The Dispatch's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

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Analyzed 2026-09-30 · how these are computed

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The Dispatch · 404 article(s) · 1 correction(s) detected

Running correction rate · 1 correction(s)

2026-10-06

What We Got Wrong in September

Who wrote this

Nick Catoggio

33 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction

🔮 This year’s campaign will be remembered for some truly horrendous strategic decisions.

2026-10-29 · assertive framing · Maximum Stigma

🔮 I seldom feel nostalgic for the old right-wing blogosphere, but watching an outrage jamboree form in real time on social media over something Barack Obama said will do the trick.

2026-10-26 · assertive framing · ‘Cheesecake’ Populism

🔮 One way to understand the home stretch of the midterm campaign is as an experiment to see how much s--t Reaganite conservatives are willing to eat in the name of partisanship.

2026-10-14 · assertive framing · Something Like Sabotage

🔮 No rule of thumb is foolproof but this one will seldom fail you: If you run across someone on social media with an image of Greek antiquity as his avatar, his politics trend fascist.

2026-10-08 · assertive framing · Greece-ing Palms

🔮 If I told you that Americans are less likely to trust mass media now than they were in 2020, would it surprise you?

2026-10-05 · assertive framing · Credibility Gap

🔮 It’s hard to do justice to his exchange yesterday with former special counsel Jack Smith, the man who would have prosecuted Donald Trump for multiple crimes if Americans hadn’t handed control of federal law enforcement over to the suspect.

2026-09-30 · assertive framing · Up Schmitt Creek

🔮 We might call that “Hegseth’s paradox” in honor of our defense secretary, who’s forever complaining about the low-T softness of those who serve under him when he’s not tongue-bathing the Florsheims of the man under whom he serves.

2026-09-24 · mixed framing · The Red’s Carpet

🔮 How racist can a party’s voters be if they’re willing to nominate a guy named “Vivek Ramaswamy” to be governor of Ohio?

2026-09-14 · assertive framing · To Hell With Assimilation

🔮 The last time it happened before this week was November 2021, when William Burns felt obliged to warn the Kremlin in person that we knew what it was planning for Ukraine.

2026-08-28 · assertive framing · World War 2.5

🔮 For instance, next month the president will roll out the red carpet for a nuclear-armed Asian communist dictator whose political enemies routinely end up in gulags.

2026-08-26 · assertive framing · He Went to Jared

Also by Nick Catoggio

Friends and Foes

2026-10-30 · The Dispatch

Maximum Stigma

2026-10-29 · The Dispatch

The Missing Emergency

2026-10-28 · The Dispatch

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2026-10-27 · The Dispatch

Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

All 33 articles by Nick Catoggio →

Topics

American Americans Missouri

Subjects

American NORP · 1× Americans NORP · 1× Donald Trump PERSON · 1× Eric Schmitt PERSON · 1× Jack Smith PERSON · 1× Missouri GPE · 1× Nick Catoggio’s PERSON · 1×

Narrative

It’s hard to do justice to his exchange yesterday with former special counsel Jack Smith, the man who would have prosecuted Donald Trump for multiple crimes if Americans hadn’t handed control of federal law enforcement over to the suspect.

framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-30

2026-09-30 · The Dispatch

Up Schmitt Creek · assertive framing

Claims (2 extracted, 0 hedged)

You’re reading Boiling Frogs, Nick Catoggio’s daily newsletter featuring sharp, introspective commentary on populism, polarization, and the gradual erosion of American conservatism. asserted

You → read → conservatism

Americans → ’ → suspect