Speaker Pelosi wants to Facebook and Twitter to do her bidding. She should’ve thought of that before pulling her speech-tearing stunt.
At the end of President Trump’s epic State of the Union address last week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi(D-CA) stood up and tore up the copy of the speech that she was given. Later, Pelosi said that she tore up the speech because there wasn’t anything true in it. She said, “The manifesto of mistruths presented in page after page of the address tonight should be a call to action for everyone who expects truth from the President and policies worthy of his office and the American people.”
So, the production team at Turning Point USA decided to make a point of what exactly Speaker Pelosi was tearing up. They created a video clip of President Trump introducing his State of the Union guests and their inspiring stories interspersed by Speaker Pelosi tearing the speech. It made a political point and it was incredibly effective. It also makes Speaker Pelosi look very, very bad.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 6, 2020
Once President Trump posted the video to his Twitter account and all hell broke loose.
Democrats and the Media(D) — but I repeat myself — are calling it a “doctored” or “selectively edited” video, and that it was “misinformation.” They then called on the social media giants to remove the video permanently.
Benny Johnson of Turning Point USA responded in an opinion piece in NewsWeek.
Yet, Pelosi has demanded that this factual video be removed from the internet after President Trump retweeted it. She dispatched members of her caucus to call the video “doctored,” “misinformation” and “selectively edited.” The compliant establishment media have taken Pelosi’s talking points and repeated them in headlines…
….Thankfully, no platform has given in to the totalitarian request to rip down the video simply on the grounds that it makes a member of the ruling-class look bad.
The irony here is that if social networks were to comply with Pelosi’s authoritarianism, they would be ushering in the death of media as we know it.
Taking footage of things that happened, and placing that footage together in a timeline is quite literally how you create all nightly news packages, sports highlight reels, documentaries and instant replays.
The precedent set here would be horrifying.
Speaker Pelosi’s Deputy Chief of Staff posted a tweet saying that the video was “fake” and “designed to mislead and lie to the American people.” Andy Stone from Facebook Communications (who used to work for Barbara Boxer and the DCCC,) responded by asking, “Sorry, are you suggesting the President didn’t make those remarks and the Speaker didn’t rip the speech?”
Sorry, are you suggesting the President didn't make those remarks and the Speaker didn't rip the speech?
— Andy Stone (@andymstone) February 7, 2020
Johnson also took to Twitter to explain why Pelosi’s failed attempt at censorship is so atrocious.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is using her full political power to rip down and ban – permanently – a video from the internet purely on the grounds that it makes her look bad.
That's it.
If she succeeds it will be the death of media as we know it.
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) February 9, 2020
Would you call a Super Bowl highlight reel "doctored," because the footage of the big play did not show every play before and after in chronological sequence?
Is a news segment "misinformation" when a reporter clips a small part of a politician's speech and runs it?
No. Absurd— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) February 9, 2020
Pelosi's true motivation here has nothing to do with truth. It's far more sinister and it deserves to be called out. The reason she is using her formidable powers to get this video deleted from the internet is because it makes her look bad, plain and simple.
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) February 9, 2020
There is a silver lining to Pelosi's failed censorship play. Since calling for our video to be taken down, views of the video have skyrocketed. Our video of Pelosi's disrespectful behavior at the State of the Union now has over 20 million views across platforms and growing.
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) February 9, 2020
Johnson sums up the crux of the issue well in his article. It’s the duplicitousness that should be condemned here.
So it is here: Pelosi and her foot soldiers in Congress feign outrage and call President Trump an authoritarian, when in reality it is they who cannot resist the tyrannical impulse to control, censor and silence.
But this is the digital age. Instead of burning books, they’re banning videos.
Thankfully, we live in America where we have a right and a duty to hold the powerful accountable. We must protect that.
Source: NewsWeek
Speaker Pelosi who has come down on due process, the presumption of innocence, the right to face your accuser, the legitimacy of the Senate vote acquitting the president of impeachable offenses, and wants the heavy hand of government to crack down on a video that makes her look bad is the one calling President Trump an authoritarian.
We’ve said it a million times, but if these folks didn’t have double-standards, they wouldn’t have standards at all.
