After Donald Trump was elected, The Washington Post took up the motto “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” The paper would fight "the darkness."
Obviously, word of this has not reached the ABC and NBC television networks. The networks flatly refused to carry an address to the nation from the President of the United States. The President’s subject: Accusing China of meddling in US elections and “shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure.”
One would be hard pressed to think of subjects more worthy of hearing from a President than on interference by a foreign government in American elections and the state of the American election system.
Indeed, The Washington Times was concerned enough to report this from the President:
China has scooped up America’s voter lists, U.S. states’ voter rolls are filled with noncitizens who have managed to register, and Venezuela has tried to develop methods to alter electronic voting machines, President Trump said Thursday in a primetime speech to alert the country to what he called “shocking” vulnerabilities.
The fact of the matter is, even leaving China out of the story, America has had a long and not-so-good history as the target of voter fraud and election mischief.
As a Pennsylvanian, I am aware of my own state’s long and sordid history when it comes to running honest elections.
Whether it was early 20th century mischief in Philadelphia where systemic voter fraud was relied on by the GOP Philadelphia political machine, or whether in later years it was voter fraud depended on by the Democrat Philadelphia political machine, the historical fact of the matter is that William Penn’s beloved Commonwealth of brotherly love developed a hard core reputation inside the state’s political circles for voting funny-business in various elections.
Which is to say, the President was hardly off-base in bringing into focus current allegations, revolving this time around the Chinese Communist Party government seeking to use high tech wizardry to manipulate the 2020 elections.
The charge from the President has grounding. Not only serious discussion but serious investigation should clearly be had.
Yet there are ABC and NBC quite literally making themselves the embodiment of that Washington Post motto that “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” Leaving one to wonder: What are ABC and NBC so afraid of in reporting the facts of an American election?
If they disagree with what the President was saying? Fine. Then delve into the facts they feel he has ignored and present them to the American people. But don’t -- for heaven’s sake! -- refuse to shed light on his concerns and what he sees as the facts of an assault by a foreign government on the integrity of the American election system. After all, these networks were eager to share the theory that the Russians colluded with the Trump campaign against Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Among the issues at hand are charges that some 220 million voter files have been hacked by China -- if true making it the largest compromise of election data in history.
DHS Secretary Mullin charges that California, Nevada, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania between them have some 250,000 non-citizens registered to vote in elections.
The way to resolving the problem is to shine the sunlight of journalistic investigation on them and find out what, exactly, is going on. The answer is decidedly not what ABC and NBC have done -- which is to ignore the issue and leave Americans in the dark on the subject, refusing to carry the President’s speech and investigate his charges. They claim "no evidence" and move on.
The real question: Why would ABC and NBC do this? And, alas, the answer is as plain as it is decidedly wrong-headed. The answer is that the two networks (and they are not alone) are not real journalists. They are, in fact, left-wing political activists. Political activists who cannot stand this President. And so real journalism is not their real job. Their real job is to target President Donald Trump and, by extension, his voters/supporters. Making sure that anything he has to say is just not reported. Or, if reported, skewed in presentation. So that when the President chooses to address the nation on a subject he believes is important - these activists will simply leave the American people in the dark as to what he said.
Which is to say, in their own way they show they don't believe in democracy.
As the late CBS anchor Walter Cronkite use to say: “And that’s the way it is.”
It is. But thankfully, the American people are entitled to disagree -- and they do.
