Imagine for a moment that Donald Trump was back in the White House and the news of the day was that the Trump Justice Department was investigating the Biden presidency and the 2024 Harris campaign for “election interference.”
The liberal media would be going berserk. The New York Times would be running with headlines like this:
Why Legal Experts Are Worried About a Second Trump Presidency.
In a survey of 50 members of the D.C. legal establishment, many warn that Trump could follow through on his threats to prosecute his political adversaries.
The Times report might sound like this:
As a candidate for president once again, Donald Trump could not be clearer about his plans to use the Justice Department to seek revenge against his enemies. During his 2016 campaign, his rallies exploded with the chant “Lock Her Up.” Now Trump talks about ordering prosecutions against so many people that his threats have become commonplace. “WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences,” Trump posted online in September about election administrators, among others. It’s just one example in a long list that extends to President Biden and his family, Vice President Kamala Harris, members of Congress, prosecutors, judges and former F.B.I., Department of Justice and national-security officials.
Oh wait.
That headline and excerpt are in fact real. The Times is out there fretting about the Department of Justice were Trump back in the White House.
But the hard fact in reality is, of course, that Trump is not back in the White House. And the Department of Justice is run by Joe Biden’s own Attorney General Merrick Garland. Who, in turn, launched a “Special Counsel” - a Trump-hater named Jack Smith - onto the idea of prosecuting the former President.
And the media love it.
This week - by coincidence, but of course - Jack Smith has fed his media friends more anti-Trump material for them to ooh and ahh over. And ooh and ahhh they have.
Samples:
The New York Times:
Filing in Trump Election Case Fleshes Out Roles of a Sprawling Cast
Donald Trump is the only defendant in the special counsel’s case that charges him with a plot to remain in power after his 2020 loss. But a newly unsealed brief provides fresh details about many other figures.
We're still "fleshing out" the January 6 story? Also from the New York Times:
Four Takeaways From Jack Smith’s Brief in the Trump Election Case
The special counsel provided new details that help flesh out how Donald Trump sought to remain in power, while setting out his argument for the case to survive the Supreme Court’s immunity decision.
"Bombshell," proclaims ABC News:
5 key takeaways from special counsel's bombshell filing on Trump's alleged bid to overturn 2020 election
The filing from Jack Smith lays out the bulk of the evidence in the Jan. 6 case.
"Damning details," oozes Politico:
11 damning details in Jack Smith’s new brief in the Trump election case
From Trump’s fictitious stats about voter fraud to the FBI’s forensic analysis of Trump’s phone, prosecutors previewed how they would make their case at trial.
Make sure the word "crimes" is highlighted, as in The Washington Post:
Prosecutors lay out new evidence in Trump election case, accuse him of having 'resorted to crimes’
Prosecutors say Donald Trump laid the groundwork to try to overturn the 2020 election even before he lost, knowingly pushed false claims of voter fraud and “resorted to crimes” in his failed bid to cling to power
And that’s just a sample of the flood of loving media stories conveniently with material obtained from prosecutor Jack Smith and filling oodles of space in this, that or the other liberal media outlet.
But we all know if Trump were in the White House and the flood of stories in the media were about a Trump-appointed (by his Attorney General) Special Counsel targeting the now gone Biden Administration and perhaps the Harris campaign.
To say the least, all heck would be breaking out. Instead of lavishing favorable coverage on the Special Counsel and his or her latest moves, that unlucky soul would be portrayed as a sinister political devil incarnate, his targets painted as sympathetic, persecuted poor souls targeted by a corrupt president and his lackey Attorney General. Jeff Sessions appointed Robert Mueller to haunt Trump for years, and he was still a lackey.
But for the moment, Joe Biden is in the White House, his Attorney General is running the Justice Department, and the Biden-loyal Trump hater Jack Smith is the Special Counsel.
Which in turn means the media coverage of Smith is ohhhh so favorable, turning Smith into a media version of the long ago, 1930’s era famous investigator Eliot Ness. Ness, for those who came in late, was the real life FBI pursuer of the legendary mob guy Al Capone, Ness winning public acclaim as head of FBI agents known as “The Untouchables.” (A role so favorably fame-drenched for Ness that The Untouchables was turned into both a hit TV show and movie, making Ness a household name and an American hero.)
Not for nothing here the calendar. Which shows a tad over 30 days until election day -- and thus the maximum moment to flood the media with anti-Trump media tales starring prosecutor Smith. An easy task for Smith to offer more election-denying details for liberal media allies.
Imagine that.
