Posted on August 15, 2026 by Bill Glahn in Fake News

“They framed Nixon”

I occasionally see a clip on the interwebs of comedian Bill Murray appearing on the Joe Rogan Podcast talking about his friend John Belushi.

The appearance occurred in early 2025. Murray was describing to Rogan his reaction after having read the first five pages of the Bob Woodward biography of Belushi, Wired (1984),

Oh my God, they framed Nixon.

I’ll let Variety describe the exchange,

If he did this to Belushi, what he did to Nixon is probably soiled for me too. I can’t take it.

Over the past two decades I’ve been directly involved in politics and/or media. I’ve been lucky/had the misfortune to be a direct witness to newsworthy events and then to read/see the media coverage of those same events. If you’ve had that experience, you understand where Murray is coming from. He knew Belushi, personally, they were friends and co-workers. He did not recognize the Belushi that appeared in Woodward’s book.

If they could frame Nixon, who else did they frame? Joe McCarthy? What else have we been told in our history books that just isn’t true?

On the other side of the coin,

During one stretch in my years in politics, I had the task of going around Minnesota giving speeches on the topic of energy. I gave one such talk to a small audience circa 2009 in the Twin Cities metro area. During Q&A I heard from an audience member, a lady older than me at the time, say,