Splashy Palmeri Premiere, Bad Banderas Assumption | Winners & Losers in Today’s Green Room

We do enjoy a splashy debut, and the premiere of Tara Palmeri’s new column for Puck was the textbook definition thereof.

The former Politico national correspondent dished plenty of the sort of juicy info she’s made her trademark in the column, called The Washington Mall, offering an inside look at the happenings of Washington D.C. and, specifically, the White House.

She had plenty of drama to report, including intrigue involving White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, who she described as having become “irrelevant on Capitol Hill.” The main reason? According to Palmeri, it’s a lack of talent in the flattery department and clashes with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), the moderate Senator who’s blocked a number of key Biden administration agenda items.

Palmeri also detailed the palace intrigue of numerous White House officials vying for Jen Psaki’s role as press secretary as she transitions to her new gig at MSNBC.

Karine Jean-Pierre is taking on the position, but White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield had fought for it, according to the column, though she’d never admit such a thing, Palmeri claimed.

Other bold-faced names featured in Palmeri’s column include former President Donald Trump, aspirational Twitter owner Elon Musk, and a bit describing potential 2024 rivals Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) as “two male dogs in a room and one bowl of food.”

Original reporting plus well-crafted writing — that’s a winner in our book.

Fox News host Julie Banderas declared — without evidence– the man who was brutally beaten after allegedly attacking Dave Chappelle was driven by “woke” outrage over trans jokes and “got what was coming to him.”

Isaiah Lee was charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon after he tackled the comedian on stage at the Hollywood Bowl. Security chased Lee after he tackled Chappelle — who was not injured in the attack — and footage later showed Lee being loaded into an ambulance with some grim injuries, including a battered face and an arm bent the wrong way.

On Wednesday’s episode of Outnumbered, the hosts acknowledged the motive in the attack had not been established, but Banderas nonetheless claimed with certainty, “This is the woke going broke. This was someone who was standing by, angry about his Netflix special where he made jokes about trans people. He’s a freaking comedian!”

Chappelle briefly spoke to Lee after he was arrested, and asked him what his motive was for the attack. According to Chappelle, Lee said his grandmother had just been forced out of her Brooklyn neighborhood and he wanted to raise awareness about gentrification. The comedian also said that Lee appeared to be mentally ill.

Chappelle didn’t deserve to be physically assaulted on stage, and his security team had to act quickly for his safety. But it’s a terrible look for a news host to falsely assume a motive before the facts were known, especially considering the possibility Lee was dealing with mental issues.