President Trump and his campaign team are displaying brilliance as they look ahead to the tough 2020 election. Earlier this week, Trump suggested that he could skip debates hosted by The Commission on Presidential Debates. Trump understands that this group is biased, and stacked with Trump haters, but said there were other options for facing off against the eventual Democratic nominee. This makes sense to anyone who’s paid attention over the last three years.
Of course, this news was greeted by the left-wing press with scorn and ridicule. The AP, in what was supposed to be a report on the story, couldn’t help but editorialize as they claimed Trump “complained, without evidence” about the commission’s bias.
Rolling Stone, demonstrating their grasp of all things political, pondered whether Trump was afraid to debate. USA Today couldn’t help but take a shot at the president, too. In reporting the news about the debate question, they also editorialize saying, Trump “provided no evidence to back up his complaints about intentional bias by the commission.”
The media, in this case, is ridiculously out of touch and blinded by bias and hate. There has never been a president who has faced attacks, lies, and garbage from the media as much as President Trump has. Here’s a quick reminder.
The Wall Street Journal began a March 2019 editorial with this provocative sentence. “Robert Mueller’s investigation is over, but questions still abound. Not about collusion, Russian interference or obstruction of justice, but about the leading lights of journalism who managed to get the story so wrong, and for so long.”
Who are these “leading lights of journalism” the WSJ is referencing? The New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, The Washington Post. They all wanted to get Trump, and all got it wrong. The WSJ opines, “From CNN to the Times and the Post, from esteemed and experienced reporters to opinion writers and bloggers, everyone wanted a share of the Trump-treason beat.”
The mainstream press has become a joke. They are not in the business of sharing the news. They’re in the business of shaping the news. Jack Shafer, in Politico, writes of the media prior to 1980, “most articles confined themselves to verifiable facts and a modicum of background information.” That changed, though, when “reporting the news stopped being so much about the communication of events to readers and more about their interpretation.”
The conclusion of Shafer’s 2018 article is bearing out. “The media has changed drastically since the days when it was almost universally trusted, and there’s basically no chance it will revert to its stenographic and pliant ways.”
Who is it that’s now leading the chorus for impeachment? The editorial boards of major newspapers across the country. Never mind that’s there’s no crime, no quid pro quo, and no bribe. It’s just the latest attempt to get rid of Trump. It’s being led by the media and the Democrats in Congress. Broadcast journalism is no better. There’s not an on the air journalist at NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, or MSNBC who’s been fair about the impeachment process. There are a few at Fox who’ve made some attacks on the president.
If the president were to agree to a debate sponsored by The Commission on Presidential Debates, who could they put forward as an objective journalist? It’s hard to answer that, isn’t it? Personally, I’d like to see one debate moderated by Tucker, Laura, and Hannity. A second one could be moderated solely by Rush. Wouldn’t that be great? Won’t happen. The elites won’t let it.
But that’s the issue. Why do the elites have to get their way? With President Trump, they haven’t. That’s why they’re so angry. So, for what it’s worth, I support the president’s reluctance to go one-on-four (the Democrat and three moderators) in the debate cycle. He’s the president and gets to set the terms. I hope he and his campaign do just that. I’m tired of the Candy Crowleys of the world “fact-checking” our people. The Democrats’ challenger to President Trump will already have a complicit media to fawn over his/her every move. I’m okay if Trump refuses to let them attack him and us.
