The front page of today’s Washington Post exemplifies Steve’s view that there is no longer any distinction between a “news analysis” article (the precious term for “opinion piece on the news page”) and a supposedly straight news piece. The Post’s supposedly straight new pieces consist of an article blaming Trump for school bullying, an article attacking him for saying nice things about Xi Jinping, and a piece claiming that Trump is trying to rewrite the history of the Russia probe.
It’s the last of these articles, written by Philip Rucker, that I want to focus on in this post.
Rucker, whose hatred of Trump has made him dishonest, argues that a “turbocharged” Trump is “actively seeking to rewrite the narrative that has been meticulously documented by federal law enforcement and intelligence officials.” But all Rucker shows is that Trump remains furious about being investigated for false claims he colluded with Russia. Who wouldn’t take that badly?
Trump’s lashing out at the Russia investigation and the events that led to it requires no rewriting of a meticulously documented narrative. Despite his meticulousness, Robert Mueller found no evidence that Trump colluded with Russia. It is Rucker who, by trying to create a different impression, is slyly rewriting the documented narrative.
Nor is Trump rewriting a documented narrative when he complains bitterly about the conduct of those who created the phony narrative that led to the Mueller investigation of Trump. The Justice Department’s inspector general has demonstrated misconduct by key “Deep State” players who helped create the phony narrative. The Durham investigation might well show additional misconduct.
Rucker notes that U.S. intelligence agencies long ago concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. But his article doesn’t say Trump is trying to overturn that narrative. Rather, it shows that Trump is rightly claiming victory in overturning the false collusion narrative, and attacking those who put him and some of his associates through a needless and harmful investigation of alleged collusion.
Rucker is pulling the old switcheroo. Hoping to make Trump look bad, he substitutes a narrative that is documented — Russian interference — for the narrative that Trump correctly attacks — collusion.
Just another day at the office for this dishonest partisan.
In reality, Trump isn’t trying to rewrite a documented narrative. He just wants everyone to know that the narrative used in an attempt to destroy his presidency is false.
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