What kind of Twilight Zone are we living in when Democrats pretend that the mainstream media are objective journalists and Fox News is an arm of the Trump administration?
People are always talking about media bias, so why am I bringing this up now?
Well, because of two news alerts that popped up on my phone. First, I read that the Democratic National Committee is refusing to partner with Fox News for the 2020 primary debates. The stated reason, according to DNC Chair Tom Perez? “Recent reporting in the New Yorker on the inappropriate relationship between President Trump, his administration and Fox News has led me to conclude that the network is not in a position to host a fair and neutral debate for our candidates,” he said.
Bill Sammon, Fox's senior vice president and managing editor in Washington, responded to the DNC's announcement saying, “We hope the DNC will reconsider its decision to bar Chris Wallace, Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, all of whom embody the ultimate journalistic integrity and professionalism, from moderating a Democratic presidential debate.” Sammon is clearly right about that.
The second news alert was titled “House Democrats Want ‘Oversight’ Over Fox News' Editorial Decisions.” In a normal world, I'd have laughed this off as preposterous, but since the Democrats give us a new real-life episode from Rod Serling every day, I continued reading. House Democrats are demanding to know why Fox did not rat Trump out prior to the 2016 election for his alleged affair with Stormy Daniels, whom you might recognize as the lady who hired one of the most obnoxious lawyers in the history of America.
What prompted this latest Democrat overreach? Aha! Another piece in The New Yorker. That bastion of print media objectivity accused former Fox executive Ken LaCorte of spiking the Stormy Daniels story to protect Trump. LaCorte has vehemently denied the charge, saying the rumor lacked corroborating evidence and that the network was exercising responsible journalistic practices, as did other outlines.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings wrote to a former Fox reporter demanding she produce documents concerning Trump's alleged affairs. But Cummings is reportedly going further, also seeking information that could be used to review Fox's editorial decisions.
How many times have we heard the republic was going to end if Trump didn't quit calling the Fake News Media the “enemy of the people?” In Trump's case, by the way, we're talking about rhetoric offered in response to a liberal press that has been dedicated to his destruction since he announced his presidential candidacy. Those hyperventilating about Trump's self-defensive verbal brushbacks are wholly silent about the House Democrats’ actions — not just their rhetoric — in seeking to oversee the only arm of the television broadcast media that is not in an incestuous relationship with their party. Why no concern about assaults on the media? The threat to the First Amendment? Those outraged that Trump calls out the media are also mum about the wholesale dedication of all the major networks — and their nastier, more flagrantly biased cable offspring — to personally and professionally ruining President Trump and his family.
The liberal narrative about Fox's alleged bias is maddening considering the mainstream media's pathetically monolithic liberal message, and their laughably shameless charade about their blatant partisan activism being unbiased journalism. And let me share a little secret with my liberal friends: The token conservative guests or contributors who appear on the mainstream media are those who hate Trump as much as, possibly more than, Democrats and liberals do.
The left's phony indignation about Fox’s partiality is especially exasperating in light of Fox's efforts to bend over backward to avoid bias and the appearance of bias, especially in its news division, and its continuous effort to include guests and contributors to present the liberal viewpoint — as lame as it usually is. Moreover, those Fox News opinion hosts who are supportive of Trump are forthright about it; they make it clear when they are offering their opinions — but they do not distort the facts.
The liberal mainstream media oligarchy still masquerades as God's gift to objectivity, but it is just a muscled-up arm of the Democratic Party — or the Party's puppet master, depending on one's perspective. They don't tell you when they're editorializing, which is always; they present their propaganda as unvarnished news. It's remarkable in its absurdity, really.
I probably view this sad state of affairs a bit differently than some of my conservative friends, who are convinced the liberal media know they are deceiving the people by thinly disguising their partisanship as journalism. In one sense, that is true, but I think there is also an element of proud self-deceit among these elites. Certainly in some region of their brains they know they are partisan hacks, but in another, their self-awareness is obscured by an intoxicating delusion that they are serving a higher purpose. As political liberalism is their quasi-religion, they actually believe that news with a liberal spin is the only valid opinion and all others are aberrant — and evil. So when they deliver their opinions dressed up as objective fact, they are honoring their higher calling. That, frankly, is scarier and far more dangerous to the republic than their calculated, conspiratorial collaboration to destroy President Trump and advance their leftist agenda.
