The Associated Press Stokes Racial Division, Smears Trump

The Associated Press wages a daily battle against the Trump administration on behalf of the Democratic Party. Its bias is manifest and unconcealed, but rarely do we see a hit job as outrageous as this one: Minorities hear division in Trump call for unity. It is an article about Trump’s State of the Union speech, but it doesn’t quote a single word from the speech. You can tell from the title that the president said something about unity, but the AP doesn’t tell you what it was.

President Donald Trump’s call for American unity in his first State of the Union address struck an us-versus-them tone for many minorities, raising questions as to what extent Americans are put off by a leader who continually draws criticism as bigoted and xenophobic.

Really? From whom? The AP, of course.

For many people of color, Trump’s address before Congress on Tuesday night hardly reflected a shift in his ideology or his bruising style of governance. It was not lost on them that the president simply softened what he’s been saying all along, particularly when it comes to immigration, and sought to add a veneer of tolerance by using the stories of people of color to illustrate his points.

Is that what “many people of color” think? I have no idea; the AP story quotes no one except a series of Democratic Party race activists.

In taking credit for a drop in black unemployment, Trump showcased a black welder’s journey from unemployment to a meaningful career.

The AP implies that there is something wrong with this. But what?

And he conflated immigration with urban gun violence by highlighting two Long Island families who were victimized by gang members who were in the country illegally.

Again: the AP suggests this is bad, but why? This is the very next sentence:

The result was a rhetorical throwback to mean-spirited race baiting of the past, said Brookings Institute research fellow Andre Perry.

How on God’s green Earth do hailing the lowest black unemployment rate in history and opposing gang violence by illegal immigrants constitute a “throwback to mean-spirited race baiting of the past”? As so often happens when reading Associated Press stories, one can only wonder: are these people crazy?

The AP goes on to quote Democratic Senator Cory Booker, Democratic Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman, and Andre Perry of the liberal Brookings Institution. It even cites the fact that Democrats John Lewis of Georgia, Maxine Waters of California and Al Green of Texas boycotted the State of the Union as evidence of its awfulness. Do you remember when the AP covered one of Barack Obama’s State of the Union speeches by quoting no one except his Republican critics, and then endorsing their partisan point of view? No, I don’t either.

The AP concludes with smears and outright misrepresentations:

The president has denied that he is a racist.

The AP just brought this up. It doesn’t have anything to do with the State of the Union.

However, soon after his inauguration, he signed an executive order banning people from several Muslim countries from coming to America, prompting protests nationwide.

This is, of course, a non sequitur, starting with the fact that Islam is not a race. And the AP doesn’t deign to mention the rationale for Trump’s perfectly proper exercise of his constitutional and statutory powers.

To kickoff Black History Month last February, he clumsily referenced 19th-century abolitionist Frederick Douglass as if he were still alive.

This is a stupid meme that Democratic Party outlets tried to push a year ago. This is what President Trump said:

Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is getting recognized more and more, I notice.

Seriously? This is the kind of small-minded malice that now characterizes the Associated Press. I am pretty sure Trump knows that Frederick Douglass, along with all other major 19th-century figures, is dead.

He defended white supremacists after they rallied in Charlottesville….

This is simply false. Trump did no such thing.

…blaming “both sides” for deadly violence there.

Both sides, including antifa, were in fact to blame.

And he has repeatedly labeled immigrants as criminal and targeted so-called sanctuary cities who refuse to aid federal law enforcement.

I’m beginning to think you have to fail a test to become an AP reporter. It is more trouble than it is worth to untangle the ignorance on display here, but: 1) Trump has talked about criminal illegal immigrants, not immigrants; 2) the criminals Trump has referred to are, in fact, criminals, like MS-13 gang members; and 3) sanctuary cities are ILLEGAL and it is the president’s duty under Article II of the Constitution to “target” them.

I am so old, I can remember when the AP was a respected news service. Those days are long gone.

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