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Michael Tracey (American journalist)

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Michael Tracey
Tracey in 2025
Born
Michael Clifford Tracey[1]

(1988-08-08) August 8, 1988[2]
Other nameM. Tracey
EducationJames Caldwell High School
Alma materThe College of New Jersey[3]
OccupationJournalist
EmployerThe Young Turks (2017–18)
Political party
Democratic[a]
Websitemtracey.net

Michael Clifford Tracey[5] (born August 8, 1988)[2] is an American content creator and political commentator.

Career

Between 2017-18 Tracey worked at The Young Turks. He later employed as an independent journalist.

Reporting and views

Tracey supported Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primaries, and then advocated for "conscious abstention" in the 2016 presidential election. Tracey has been critical of Bill and Hillary Clinton. In 2020, he supported Tulsi Gabbard's democratic presidential campaign.[6]

Tracey has been critical of the Democratic Party, and of allegations of collusion between Donald Trump and Russia.[7][8] During the first Trump administration, Tracey was a skeptic of allegations that Trump had engaged the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 election.[8] According to a 2019 Vanity Fair article, Tracey "tried to quell the mob countless times", before Robert Mueller later "found no evidence of criminal conspiracy between Donald Trump and Moscow".[9]

In June 2017, Congresswoman Maxine Waters walked away from an interview with Tracey and pushed aside his hand and microphone.[7] The incident was captured on video. Tracey said that Waters had "initiated unwarranted physical contact" and "shoved" him, but that it was "not a violent shove".[7]

In 2019, Tracey criticized an article by Kevin Poulsen in The Daily Beast, which revealed the identity and criminal history of a man who had allegedly created a modified video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that made her appear drunk.[10]

Tracey was a recurring guest who defended left wing views on the Fox News program Tucker Carlson Tonight.[11]

In 2021, The Daily Dot reported that Tracey "has been referred to by some as a 'Left Heretic,' a term used for self-described liberals who oppose, among other things, what they deem to be 'identity politics'".[12] In April 2022, Justin Ling wrote in Foreign Policy that Tracey had questioned the authenticity of photos relating to the Bucha massacre as potential "war propaganda".[13] In response, Tracey described Ling's article as a "smear" that took his comments "completely out of context"; arguing that his full tweet was an expression of concern that journalists had begun repeating Ukrainian government claims as fact, before they had been independently verified.[14]

In 2024, Tracey occasionally substituted as host for journalist and commentator Glenn Greenwald's web news show System Update.

Prior to the 2024 presidential election (November 4), Tracey published an article in his newsletter in which he wrote that he had not voted for a major party candidate since 2008, which was to remain unchanged for 2024.[15] He also wrote that he does not find third parties credible.[15]

Tracey has argued that the media reporting relating to the Epstein files has been excessively "conspiratorial".[16] In the Wall Street Journal, Barton Swaim cited Tracey's coverage of an FBI memo in the Epstein Files, in which the bureau were unable to corroborate allegations that Epstein and Maxwell had involved other associates in their offending.[17]

Personal life

Raised in West Caldwell, New Jersey, he graduated from James Caldwell High School in 2006.[18] He has resided in Jersey City, New Jersey.[19]

In February 2009, Tracey was arrested while a student at The College of New Jersey after he attempted to approach Ann Coulter, who had spoken at the college's campus in Ewing. He was charged with disorderly conduct and pleaded guilty to "violating a nuisance ordinance".[20][21]

Notes

  1. Tracey has stated that he has been a registered Democrat his entire life[4] and supported Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders in presidential primaries and/or presidential elections.

References

  1. Tracey, Michael (June 24, 2025). "Follow Me for Updates from the 2025 NATO Summit". M. Tracey. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
  2. @mtracey (August 9, 2020). "While today is technically my birthday, I now self-identify with a different birthday (TBD). There's a spectrum of birthdays and I won't be held down by the birthday binary. Thank you" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  3. Hagen, Tony J. (February 26, 2009). "Amateur video shows TCNJ arrest at Coulter event". nj.com. The video, obtained Wednesday by The Times, shows College of New Jersey student Michael Tracey on the ground and screaming as officers attempt to arrest him following a speech by political commentator Ann Coulter last week.
  4. Tracey, Michael [@mtracey] (July 24, 2020). "I am not now, nor have I ever been, a conservative. I've been a registered Democrat my entire life. I will not be voting for Trump. Are there any other disclaimers I should dutifully declare in order to address whatever unintelligible point you're trying to make" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  5. Tracey, Michael (June 24, 2025). "Follow Me for Updates from the 2025 NATO Summit". M. Tracey. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
  6. Weigel, David (July 17, 2020). "Analysis | The Trailer: What we've learned from the great mask war". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved March 4, 2026.
  7. Phillips, Kristine (June 4, 2017). "Did Rep. Maxine Waters 'shove' a reporter? You decide". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved March 4, 2026.
  8. Tracey, Michael. "I Warned Early On Russiagate Would Help Trump. Now You Can See Why". Fortune. Retrieved March 22, 2026.
  9. Frank, T. A. (March 26, 2019). "The Hard Truths and High Cost of the Russiagate Scandal". Vanity Fair. Retrieved March 22, 2026.
  10. Ingram, Mathew (June 3, 2019). "Should The Daily Beast have exposed the man behind 'drunk Pelosi' video?". Columbia Journalism Review.
  11. Heer, Jeet (July 12, 2019). "Leftists Shouldn't Go on Tucker Carlson". The Nation.
  12. Thalen, Mikael (March 20, 2021). "Who is Michael Tracey?". The Daily Dot. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
  13. Ling, Justin (April 12, 2022). "Russia Is Mimicking Open-Source Intelligence Methods to Discredit Bucha Atrocities". Foreign Policy. Retrieved December 5, 2022.
  14. Tracey, Michael. "Anatomy of a Bogus "Disinformation" Smear". www.mtracey.net. Retrieved March 23, 2026.
  15. Tracey, Michael (November 4, 2024). "Why I won't vote for Donald Trump or Kamala Harris in the 2024 election". mtracey.net. Retrieved November 9, 2024.
  16. Abramovitch, Seth (March 3, 2026). "The Journalist Who Became the Face of Epstein Skepticism". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 22, 2026.
  17. Swaim, Barton (February 11, 2026). "Opinion | The Real Epstein 'Ring'". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 22, 2026.
  18. Annan-Brady, Rita (July 9, 2010). "West Caldwell man wins journalism award". The Progress. Retrieved March 4, 2026. Michael Tracey, a West Caldwell native, was presented with the award for Breakthrough Story or Series at the 2010 Campus Progress National Conference in Washington, D.C., yesterday, Wednesday, July 7.... Tracey, a 2006 graduate of James Caldwell High School, founded The Perspective at TCNJ in August 2009 and since then has helped the publication gain recognition both on campus and in state and national headlines.
  19. Tracey, Michael (May 13, 2021). "Charged with a crime for not wearing a mask!". YouTube. M. Tracey. ...and I live in Jersey City, New Jersey...
  20. Garcia, Arturo (June 5, 2017). "'Young Turks' Correspondent Says Rep. Maxine Waters 'Shoved' Him". Snopes. Retrieved March 4, 2026.
  21. "TCNJ student pleads guilty to disrupting Ann Coulter event". nj. AP. April 14, 2009. Retrieved April 10, 2022.