The Media Then and Now

Several stories from President Biden's first two days in office really illustrate how differently the media treat President Biden from President Trump.

Pete Buttigieg's nomination to be Secretary of Transportation (compare to Trump's nominations) - 

The nomination and Senate hearings of Pete Buttigieg
National Guard Kicked out of Capital
Biden's 100 million vaccine goal
Biden violating his own mask mandate

Try to imagine if any of these stories occurred during Trump's presidency and how the media would have covered them. Compare to how they're being covered now. Thinking about that, it's clear that the media's approach to the Trump years consisted of the following:

1. Ignore all context. Remember the spate of "racist" Cabinet nominees? The formula was simple, find one action they committed throughout their life, that could be interpreted as racist and then call them racist full stop. Ignore everything else about their life. If someone called them a racist in their past, then they are a racist full stop. Do not under any circumstances write a full story about the sum total of their life and the counter-examples. The press repeatedly ignored context in stories about Trump to paint everything as egregious. When he moved the embassy in Israel, there was scant mention that every president had promised to do so. 

2. Interpret the story in the most negative way. For Cabinet nominees, if they only have private sector experience, lambast them for not having government experience. If they have government experience, criticize them for getting questions wrong. Ignore all the positive aspects. If one answer is wrong, then they are unqualified. The embassy story is another good example; how many people decried the move and said it meant the end of peace and imminent war? How many outlets pushed back?

3. Assume the most evil motivation. The press commonly attributed Trump's actions to evil intentions. They laid the groundwork for this by constantly claiming he was a racist and an authoritarian. Then when he would do something they didn't like or they misinterpreted, they would explain it by his being one or the other.

4. Assume that President Trump was responsible for anything bad that happened. This would apply to the story about the National Guard. There would be many stories about how awful this action was, and the assumption that Trump was directly responsible. Then they would talk about how he hates his base and he treats them like garbage. 

How many on the left blame Trump for the Covid economy? Was Trump responsible for Covid? How does he compare to European leaders? Are other European leaders blamed for their Covid economy? There's no question that Trump could have handled Covid better, but the fact that several European countries did just as bad demonstrates that Trump wasn't uniquely bad. How often do you see comparisons of US to countries that are worse? A responsible media would show how US performance compares to countries better AND worse. Not just the countries that are better. The vaccination story is similar. The US is a top-5 vaccinating country, both in absolute terms and daily. Therefore, the media don't report on that, or if they do, they compare us to Israel, which is the best.

5. Repeat the same stories that the other outlets are reporting. This will serve to amplify the story. Notice how negative stories about Biden, where they exist, are extremely isolated.

6. Point out, amplify, and ridicule every hypocrisy and mistake. Imagine if Trump had issued an order that masks be worn on federal property and then was on federal property with a group of people unmasked. How many stories would be written about that? What would be the tone?

There's no question that the corporate media treat Biden differently than Trump. Since I can't fix it, and I doubt anyone can, it's vital that we illustrate this to as many people as possible so that they're aware of how they're being manipulated.

Democrat Admits Issues with Trump Driven by Economic Policy Difference

Megan Rapinoe is not the first world-class athlete to indicate or refuse an invitation to the White House because of its current occupant, but she is the most revealing. Up to now, the refusers have claimed that they could not meet with a man who is so hateful, bigoted, and who pursues racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-trans policies. Rapinoe, however, has just exposed that these excuses are merely to conceal their true reason: that they are liberals first and don’t believe they have to or should associate with people who have different opinions on policy.



In an interview with Chuck Todd, after buttering her up by comparing her to Muhammad Ali, he asked her a terrific question. It wasn’t a gotcha question, it was a legitimate, thoughtful question.



Todd: What do you tell a Trump supporter who loves watching you? And is like, “I wish she’d go to the White House.”



This is a terrific question at odds with what the media has become. First, it is grounded her own statements: “We have to be better. We have to love more, hate less, We got to listen more and talk less.” The person who believes that should not be refusing a meeting at the White House. She should be going there and making her case. She should be using the opportunity to bring attention to her cause. Secondly, this question is a “moderating” question, in that it forces the ideological extremists to consider the opinions of the people on the other side, the opposite of what the media normally do.



Instead of answering Todd’s question directly, doubling down on her own statements about listening more, she says she would ask the person who wants her to go to the White House “Do you believe that all people are created equal? Do you believe that equal pay should be mandated? Do you believe that everyone should have healthcare? Do you believe we that we should treat everyone with respect?” Perhaps because this is the first time she was being asked a tough question about her hypocrisy she was flummoxed and was actually answering the question of why she wouldn’t go to the White House, but her answer reveals that a big part of the reason is because she has policy differences with Trump. Assuming she’s being honest, this would suggest that she would never go to the White House for any Republican president since they don’t believe “equal pay should be mandated.”



Rapinoe’s answer to Todd’s question demonstrates that this is based on economic policy and has nothing to do with “Trump’s message.” Todd asked what would have to happen for Rapinoe to visit the White House. Rapinoe responded, “There’s like, 50 policy issues.” So, then she’d go if Trump simply changed his policies? I would really like to know which policies she’s thinking about. Tax rates? Single Payer? She might as well have said she’ll visit the White House when and only when its occupant has a (D) by his or her name.

Questions the Media should have asked about Buzzfeed Bombshell

For those who don't read or watch the news continuously, there was a 24-hour explosion in the Impeach Trump saga, that started with a bang on Thursday and ended with a whimper on Friday.

It began when BuzzFeed, the vaunted news source that brought us the as yet unverified Trump dossier, published a story, from anonymous sources no less, that Trump directed his lawyer to lie to Congress.

It ended when the Office of the Special Counsel disputed, in general terms, the thrust of the BuzzFeed story.

But this was not before it was reported by everyone CNN,

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonleopold/trump-russia-cohen-moscow-tower-mueller-investigation

The core of the story can be summarized by three paragraphs:

"Now the two sources have told BuzzFeed News that Cohen also told the special counsel that after the election, the president personally instructed him to lie — by claiming that negotiations ended months earlier than they actually did — in order to obscure Trump’s involvement.

The special counsel’s office learned about Trump’s directive for Cohen to lie to Congress through interviews with multiple witnesses from the Trump Organization and internal company emails, text messages, and a cache of other documents. Cohen then acknowledged those instructions during his interviews with that office."

On Friday evening, before Mueller's team shot back, I started to ask some questions that I realized that the media should have been asking. Namely, 1) What was the motivation for leaking this story and 2) Why BuzzFeed and not the NY Times.

On Question 1, suppose you are on Mueller's team investigating this. You believe that Trump directed Cohen to lie to Congress and you believe you have the proof to back it up. Since the investigation already has what it needs, and it's still going through the normal investigative process to be followed up by the prosecutorial process, what reason do you have to tell the media? It will be given to the media in due course, as soon as Mueller finishes his report.

The most likely reason I could think of was that the sources must NOT have believed it was going to see the light of day for whatever reason. Most likely because the evidence was too weak. (This turns out to be even more likely considering the Mueller dispute).

The second question I asked was why these sources would talk to BuzzFeed instead of the New York Times or Washington Post, for example. Why not go to a much more credible and established news outlet. This information was absolutely enormous and consequential. If I thought it was important enough to get into the news, I'd go straight to the top, why didn't these sources? Again, the likely answer is that they did not want the scrutiny from those sources or they knew it would be called into question and did not want to sully either of those companies.

I admit that maybe there are good reasons I didn't think of, but my point is that these are important questions that the media should have asked, but they did not. Probably because they prefer to breathlessly report bad news for Trump than to actually do their jobs.

Update: I heard a viable reason to leak the news. The timing of the presidential election and the investigation will make it difficult to complete impeachment proceedings before election day if they wait until the investigation is complete. Leaking gives Congress a reason to begin immediately. This was suggested in the 18 hours between the initial story and the Mueller rebuttal, and so is now moot. Even if true, this shows that the leakers were trying to short-circuit the investigative process and does not explain why Buzzfeed.