I can’t recall a media feeding frenzy quite like has been directed at Donald Trump. What’s remarkable about this frenzy is that it takes place in the absence — as of now — of any actual evidence of Trump wrongdoing, much less illegality. More on that later in the post.
Sometimes I think it resembles how the media swarmed all over Mitt Romney after Benghazi in September 2012, accusing him of politicizing the deaths of four Americans. The media purpose plainly was to help Obama escape political damage by making the story about Romney.
I wrote about it at the time, Dead Ambassador dragged through streets, MSM furious at Romney criticism of Obama:
If there ever were a doubt, no matter how small, that the mainstream media is deeply in bed with the Obama campaign, the reaction to the killing of the U.S. Ambassador to Libya and several other Americans should put such doubt to rest.Beginning early this morning, when news was just breaking, the left-blogosphere and mainstream media, led by MSNBC, has attempted to shift the focus from the Obama administration’s failure to protect our embassies and for its apologies (both before and after the attack on the Cairo Embassy) to whether Mitt Romney was wrong to criticize Obama last night.No, I’m not kidding…. So now the focus of the MSM is whether Romney made a mistake, not the dead Ambassador, not the Obama administration failures, not the complete disarray of U.S. MidEast policy, not the rise of Islamists, no none of that.
The usual suspects were at the lead in attacking Romney, as they are in attacking Trump. Here’s Chuck Todd:
The feeding frenzy was so intense that mainstream reporters coordinated questions at a Romney press conference to make sure the focus of news coverage was on whether Romney should apologize and not the mistakes of the Obama administration (including Hillary Clinton):
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I described it as “two days of non-stop all-out Romney bashing from the media.”
That’s what it’s been like for Trump since before the election, but all the more so after winning. It’s as if that two-day Romney feeding frenzy was never-ending.
The question is whether Trump’s presidency can withstand this unprecedented media swarm.
That fevered pitch is despite the fact that as of this moment in time there is zero evidence that Trump has done anything wrong, much less criminal.
As to alleged Russia collusion, every person with access to information who has made a statement has indicated that as of this time, there is no evidence of collusion. Dianne Feinstein said that just recently, after receiving a classified briefing from the CIA.
As to the alleged leak of classified information to the Russian Foreign Minister and Ambassador reported by The Washington Post, what exactly did Trump say? We don’t know, we only know what WaPo paraphrases based on anonymous sources. The focus of the WaPo story and alleged worst transgression was that Trump revealed a city from which threat information was obtained regarding bombing airplanes. From that city identification, WaPo argued, the Russians might be able to piece together the source. That’s speculative, and disputed on the record by all three officials who were in the meeting. Yet who actually leaked sources and methods? Not Trump, the media, with the NY Times reporting that the source was Israel, and ABC News reporting the method – an Israeli spy in ISIS. So we have zero evidence of Trump wrongdoing, and very substantial evidence of media disclosure of sources and methods.
On the latest bombshell, the Comey memo about Trump making comments about the investigation, we don’t have the memo. We might in a week or two, but as of now all we have is double or triple hearsay, Comey wrote what we call a “prior consistent statement” (usually excluded in court unless to rebut a claim of recent fabrication), which a friend of Comey’s partially read to a NY Times reporter. Such second or third-hand partial reporting without any verification is not evidence of anything. Even if provided to Congress, the memo may end up being nothing more than self-serving statements that weren’t even conveyed to Congress when Comey testified on March 20.
Yet in this evidence-free atmosphere, the media is swarming like never before.
If it were any other president, I’m not sure he could survive this onslaught. But Trump is different.
That difference was on display at the Coast Guard Academy today, where Trump delivered a speech. All the media are focused on Trump’s claim that he has been treated worse by the media than any other politician in history. That might be hyperbole, but not by much.
“Look at the way I’ve been treated lately, especially by the media. No politician in history — and I say this with great surety — has been treated worse or more unfairly.”
The more important part of the speech, however, was Trump’s pledge to stay the course, not to back down, and to keep fighting (emphasis added):
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Now, I want to take this opportunity to give you some advice. Over the course of your life, you will find that things are not always fair. You will find that things happen to you that you do not deserve and that are not always warranted. But you have to put your head down and fight, fight, fight. Never, ever, ever give up. Things will work out just fine.Look at the way I’ve been treated lately — (laughter) — especially by the media. No politician in history — and I say this with great surety — has been treated worse or more unfairly. You can’t let them get you down. You can’t let the critics and the naysayers get in the way of your dreams. (Applause.) I guess that’s why I — thank you. I guess that’s why we won.Adversity makes you stronger. Don’t give in. Don’t back down. And never stop doing what you know is right. Nothing worth doing ever, ever, ever came easy. And the more righteous your right, the more opposition that you will face.I’ve accomplished a tremendous amount in a very short time as President. Jobs pouring back in to our country. A brand-new Supreme Court justice — who’s going to be fantastic for 45 years — (applause) — a historic investment in our military. Border crossings — thank you to our General — are down more than 70 percent in just a short period of time — a total record, by the way, by a lot. (Applause.) We’ve saved the Second Amendment, expanded service for our veterans — we are going to take care of our veterans like they’ve never been taken care of before. (Applause.)I’ve loosened up the strangling environmental chains wrapped around our country and our economy, chains so tight that you couldn’t do anything — that jobs were going down. We were losing business. We’re loosening it up. We’ve begun plans and preparations for the border wall, which is going along very, very well. We’re working on major tax cuts for all. We are going to give you the largest tax cut in the history of our country if we get it the way we want it, and we’re going to give you major tax reform. (Applause.) And we’re also getting closer and closer, day by day, to great healthcare for our citizens. (Applause.)And we are setting the stage right now for many, many more things to come. And the people understand what I’m doing, and that’s the most important thing. I didn’t get elected to serve the Washington media or special interests. I got elected to serve the forgotten men and women of our country, and that’s what I’m doing. (Applause.) I will never stop fighting for you, and I will never stop fighting for the American people.
Trump’s single-mindedness, ability to compartmentalize, and bull-headed determination may get him through this.
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