Why People Hate the Media, Chapter 12,186

Everyone is scandalized that Arizona Senator Martha McSally called a CNN reporter a “liberal hack” and refused to speak with him, but I think this falls into the category of a Michael Kinsley gaffe, that is, when someone tells the truth they’re not supposed to tell in Washington.

As Paul noted yesterday, CNN completely disgraced itself in the Democratic debate Tuesday with its handling of the Warren-Sanders “he said—she said” controversy about whether Sanders told Warren that a woman could not win the presidency, thus proving their total hackery in prime time.

But there are lots of other daily examples you can point to, such as this pairing of Politico headlines for the same story. Politico clearly changed the headline because the first one made Trump look too good:

And then the media wonder how it gets the reputation for “fake news.” Maybe this passage from a recent article in Vanity Fair entitled “You Won’t Believe What Trump Said About His Middle Name.”

On this week’s episode of Inside the Hive, Vanity Fair special correspondent Gabriel Sherman, who was attending the Globes for his show, The Loudest Voice, relayed a story that sums up the Trump presidency and the mess we’re currently living in. Standing near the bar, Sherman ran into Frank Luntz, the Republican pollster, and the two started chatting. Sherman asked Luntz when he last saw the President. “Last week, at the White House Christmas party,” Luntz said. Sherman asked what the two men talked about, to which Luntz replied that he had asked Trump what his middle initial “J” stands for. “Genius,” Trump responded.

There’s only one problem, which Luntz explained after:

Actually, McSally was too kind: if most reporters were merely hacks, it would be an upgrade.

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