Not since at least Barry Goldwater has the media been so hostile to a major party presidential candidate as they were last year to Donald Trump. However, once the election was over, such blatant partisanship should have ended.
Instead, the media have treated the 2016 election as if it were some bizarre outcome that must be reversed as quickly as possible. The Washington establishment must be restored to power, with Trump either removed or deprived of all power.
A recent example, The Washington Post on Sunday, May 28, shows the anti-Trump campaign at work. One front page story spoke about the “escalating Russia crisis that threatens to consume his presidency” while just below it was a hatchet job on Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner. A review of Trump’s trip to the Middle East found much to criticize and nothing to praise, while laying a foundation for blaming Trump for anything that may go wrong it that troubled region. Trump was attacked in other articles for failing to continue Obama’s war on energy and for owning a golf course near Washington. Paul Kane’s column – in the news section rather than opinion – offered helpful comments to Democrats on what they should do the win control of the House in the 2018 election. Eight establishment “experts” described why they don’t like Trump’s Federal budget. Op-eds blamed Trump for bureaucratic visa delays and the scuffle between Greg Gianforte and a reporter, while another blasted Trump for wanting to do something about illegal drugs.
This was just two days after The Post broke the “story” that Jared Kushner had allegedly tried to set up a secure communications channel between the President-elect and the Russians. It claimed that government investigators were looking into the accusation as part of their “probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election” – even though this took place in December, the month after the election ended. If it turns out to be at least partly true, it seems the real story would be why the President-elect may have found it necessary to look for a way to avoid being spied on by his own government.
The media have given generous coverage to the threatening and sometimes even violent protests at Congressional town hall meetings – coverage which surely encourages the protestors to continue and even escalate their threats. Trump must have GOP support in Congress to enact much of his agenda, and the media hope to intimidate Republican congressmen into abandoning that agenda. They may well believe that they can even use the protestors to bring about a serious push for impeachment.
The media’s treatment of ObamaCare has been a case study in one-sided reporting, and will no doubt be repeated on issue after issue for the rest of Trump’s time in the White House. The gradual collapse of ObamaCare, as insurers exit one region after another, gets little attention. The need for ever-increasing taxpayer subsidies to prop up the system is treated as a non-story. Hard-working people losing their insurance right now is ignored while the possible future loss of government-subsidized insurance is front and center. The CBO’s figures are printed as gospel, despite the CBO’s remarkably poor record at projecting coverage over the past few years.
The major news media can no longer make any claim to being impartial observers and reporters. They have chosen sides, making their “reporting” nothing but thinly disguised editorials.
FedUp PAC will continue to provide more accurate news, both here and on Twitter. Tell your friends about us and encourage them to come here for the truth.
