When compared with a recent opinion column, Univision’s coverage of the impeachment finale featured a revelation that all but confirms Jorge Ramos to be a partisan actor masquerading as an advocacy journalist.
Watch Ramos’ summation of the partisan arguments for and against the impeachment of President Donald Trump:
The Republicans’ argument is very simple. They say that the Democrats hate President Donald Trump, that they do not agree with the results of the 2016 election, and that they have trying to remove him from office ever since. To impeach him. And the Democrats say no- that President Donald Trump is a cheater, that he tried to gain political advantage by speaking to the president of Ukraine and asking him for an investigation into one of his political opponents, that he abused his power, and therefore....and that he should therefore be removed from office.
On TV, Ramos is careful to frame his arguments with the requisite “Democrats say…”, so as to avoid any suspicion of partisanship. However, his opinion column --- the only such column published by a network news anchor in the United States --- tells the whole story.
Compare his above quote with this portion of his January 29th column, titled “Trump In The Midnight Hour”:
Trump called the president of Ukraine last July, allegedly to ask him for “a favor.” Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president, knew exactly what Trump meant: Before he would release nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine authorized by Congress, Trump (as shown in a series of messages) asked Zelenskiy to dig up dirt on one of his main political rivals, former Vice President Joe Biden, and his son Hunter, who had sat on the board of Burisma, a Ukraine-based gas company.
The quid pro quo Trump proposed to the Ukrainian president seems quite straightforward: Give me information on my possible opponent in the 2020 presidential race, and I'll give you the money. It's as simple as that. You give me what I want, and I'll give you what you need. This is a bully demanding loyalty and obeisance.
Trump's problem is that he got caught red-handed. That has led to the trial on two impeachment articles: abuse of power for personal gain, and obstruction of Congress during the corresponding inquiry.
To be clear, the points that Ramos presented on TV with careful “Democrats say” framing are in fact his own. It's not "Democrats say" but "Jorge Ramos says." Whatever standards exist at Univision appear to bind him only to TV, but no such guardrails appear to exist for what Ramos publishes on other media.
But there’s more. Not only does Ramos come out as a partisan Democrat- he confirms his own version of the Republican impeachment argument:
As he attempts to protect this sham notion of himself as a perpetual champion, the U.S. president is losing his battle with history. He will always be remembered as the bully who was caught red-handed. Worse, we can't help but wonder if, given the opportunity, Trump wouldn't just cheat again.
Not satisfied with the outcome of the 2016 election, Ramos now goes on to pre-poison 2020.
Now, more than ever, the market cries out for an alternative to Univision, and to the partisan activist that stands as the face of the network.
