Fake News
August 12, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
The Washington Post’s latest attack piece on President Trump bears the infantile but revealing title: “The brand label that stokes Trump’s fury: ‘Racist, racist, racist.'” Philip Rucker and Ashley Parker begin the Post’s attack this way: President Trump considers himself a branding wizard, but he is vexed by a branding crisis of his own: how to shed the label of “racist.” As the campaign takes shape about 15 months before
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August 9, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
I haven’t. I don’t do evil mass murderers the honor of reading their deranged writings. Byron York has read the manifesto*, and he reports that the media, led by the New York Times, is not providing a truthful account of the document. As he puts it, “the impression one gets after reading the manifesto is quite different than some press accounts.” Byron begins by stipulating that the document is “insane.”
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August 7, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Philip Rucker of the Washington Post is a dishonest anti-Trump partisan. His reporting is some of the Post’s most slanted, and that’s saying a lot. In this screed masquerading as a news story, Rucker tried to assign responsibility for the El Paso mass shooting to President Trump. In the second paragraph, Rucker wrote: “How do you stop these people? You can’t,” Trump lamented at a May rally in Panama City
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August 7, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
The top headline in today’s Washington Post (paper edition) reads: “Trump faces rising anger over mass shootings.” In a sub-headline, the Post says: “Grieving cities spurn his outreach.” This is fake news. The cities of El Paso and Dayton aren’t “spurning” Trump’s outreach. The mayors of both cities say they will greet Trump. El Paso’s mayor said: He’s coming out here on Wednesday, and I want to clarify for the
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August 6, 2019 — Steven Hayward
So the New York Times did what newspapers are supposed to do and used to do: Report the news in a straightforward and neutral fashion. Hence the Times lead headline about Trump’s speech yesterday: Well this headline triggered lots of libs on social media, including most of the Democratic presidential candidates. The Daily Caller has a rundown here. Like this: So the Times has dutifully genuflected before its readers and put
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August 5, 2019 — Steven Hayward
The New York Times “Style” section has an advice column called “Social Qs” that I never read (the wedding announcements—or what Charles Murray calls the “mergers and acquisitions” page—is usually all the Times comedy I can take), but an alert reader pointed me to one of yesterday’s questions and answers, which is destined to be classic: Did Dr. Seuss Lie to Our Kids? My 12-year-old daughter had a sticker on
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July 19, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
How much mileage did the Democrats get out of President Trump’s unpresidential tweet suggesting that four ultra-radical, America-bashing congresswomen leave the country? I’m not sure, but I know they didn’t get as much as they wanted. Now, however, the Democrats and their media backers have a new card to play. At a Trump rally in North Carolina, some in the crowd responded to the president’s reference to the rads by
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July 3, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Readers may recall some years back when John posted an item that began “George W. Bush is a political genius,” and naturally readers with an irony-poor diet (there are vitamins for this!) took him literally. So when I suggest that Trump is a political genius, I run the same risk. Especially since you don’t really need to be a genius to exploit the growing madness of the American left. The
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July 1, 2019 — Steven Hayward
You know how the left is obsessed with proving that Trump’s election is entirely owing to Russian Kallusion. Now we have empirical social science to prove it! At last! From the “peer-reviewed” internet journal First Monday (I’ve never heard of it either) comes this new study from several academics at the University of Tennessee: “Internet Research Agency Twitter Activity Predicted 2016 Election Polls.” The Internet Research Agency (IRA) is the
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June 16, 2019 — Steven Hayward
I missed the notice a few days ago that publisher Houghton-Mifflin is delaying publication of Naomi Wolf’s latest book, Outrages, for the simple reason that it has been exposed as an embarrassing piece of crap. (See Scott’s post “Death Recorded Live” if you haven’t followed this fabulous story.) This from the Times story: “As we have been working with Naomi Wolf to make corrections to ‘Outrages,’ new questions have arisen
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June 13, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Sorry to hear that Sarah Sanders is stepping down as Trump’s press spokesperson. I think she has been the best press spokesperson in modern times, as she has the perfect combination of unflappability and contempt for the contemptible press corps. She always treated the press with the mien of a kindergarten teacher angry and disappointed with a bunch of unruly toddlers. But the daily press briefing has outlived its usefulness.
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May 23, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Anyone remember Samantha Smith? Don’t run away to look her up on Google; I’ll come back to her in a moment and explain why her name occurs to me just now. Two large media meta-narratives prompt the title question here. First, Michael Avenatti. Finished laughing? Okay, good; to continue: Avenatti was entirely the creation of the media, right down to the idea, which CNN and MSNBC took seriously, that he
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April 1, 2019 — Steven Hayward
So it’s April Fool’s Day—the day when you’re supposed to fall for . . . fake news. Which means it’s just another day for CNN. Yet another great American custom the media has ruined for everyone. (Though I am still skeptical of today’s news that Mick Jagger is getting a heart valve replacement operation soon. I think this is a deep cover story for his unfolding plan to become the
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April 1, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Isn’t it ironic that, at the same time Robert Mueller completed his investigation of the signature alleged scandal of the Trump presidency, Valerie Plame, the key figure in a Bush era alleged scandal that led to the appointment of a special counsel, is back in the news. Plame moved to New Mexico. Reportedly, she will offer its residents her services as a U.S. Senator. Plame told the Washington Examiner, without
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March 29, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Scott’s two posts on his and Victor Davis Hanson’s treatment by The New Yorker calls to mind one of the first and most important lessons I learned from my mentor in journalism, the great M. Stanton Evans. Most “mainstream” journalists are not merely biased, but have a narrative story line in mind when they begin “reporting,” so that when they call you on the phone, they aren’t looking for actual
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March 28, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Amber Athey of the Daily Caller has compiled a list of the worst offenders among news anchors and reporters who, as she puts it, “gave breathless coverage to the alleged [Russia collusion] scandal and ultimately misled the public.” She names 15 offenders. Naturally, Rachel Maddow heads the list. She built her program around the phony collusion story. Below is a sampling of others singled out by Athey, but do read
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March 27, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
According to the Daily Caller, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow lost half-a-million viewers in just one week after it became clear that Robert Mueller did not find enough evidence to support a claim of “collusion” between the Trump campaign and Russia. The phony Russia collusion story had been good to Maddow. It helped drive her show consistently to first or second place in overall cable news ratings during the past year.
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