President Trump ordered a new offensive in Iran over the weekend, taking out top Iranian tyrants like Ayatollah Khamenei. Bizarrely, our media composed puffy obituaries for the Ayatollah and gave Iran's foreign minister a softball platform when they all pressure each other to be ever more hostile in questioning our elected president.
MRC President David Bozell and NewsBusters Associate Editor Nick Fondacaro joined the show. Nick pointed out that over the weekend, The Washington Post ran an obituary titled: “Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, is dead at 86.” The paper warmly remembered the brutal Islamic dictator as a “avuncular figure” with an “easy smile” and a love for “Persian poetry.” Why must American press outlets swoon over our enemies like that?
The often savage Sunday shows go soft on Iran, asking spokesmen open-ended questions of a "what say you" nature. On ABC’s This Week, Senator James Lankford (R-OK) called host George Stephanopoulos out for platforming the Iranian foreign minister and allowing him to spin. Stephanopoulos repeated the Iranian line that the American attack was “unprovoked,” and Lankford began by quipping: “I would hope that Iranian TV is carrying Marco Rubio today, the same as you all just carried the Iranian foreign minister today.”
Some media outlets didn't want to emphasize rallies that supported Trump's actions and expressed joy at Iran being potentially liberated from tyranny. A reporter at the CBS station in Austin, Vinny Martorano, was told to deemphasize the rally behind him in support of Operation Epic Fury, which he refused to do before going live on TV. Reporters should show protests or rallies from both sides. Neither necessarily equates to public opinion. But the networks cooked up polls to suggest Trump's actions were not popular.
As socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) launched a frontal assault on Trump’s decision — declaring the military action “absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment” — the New York Times provided covering fire, unleashing a barrage of skepticism about the justification for the strikes, spotlighting leftist protests and arguments -- without identifying them as leftist.
On Saturday, CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins interviewed Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), one of the six Democrats who appeared in a video suggesting military service members disobey Trump. When asked about American casualties in this offensive, Crow ranted about Trump: “I'm just damn furious... The man's a five-time draft dodger.” Collins didn’t ask about the military records of Clinton, Obama, or Joe Biden. Instead, she tossed another softball: "So you want to see a congressional vote on this?"
Enjoy our podcast with the prez below. The audio can be found here.
