By Seth Tamarkin
Let’s make something clear. Donald J. Trump was an awful President. Despite that truth, it’s also true that history will be kinder to Trump’s Presidency.
Before he was President, America saw Trump as an oaf with a lot of money. The media saw him for the fool America saw him as and decided to have some fun with the prospect of him running against Hillary.
More than any recent candidate, the media was the key to Trump’s rise to power. They gave him billions of dollars worth of free airtime, way more than any other candidate. It’s like they say, it’s hard to look away from a car crash. Trump was looking like the biggest car crash in Presidential history.
However, when the dust settled, he shocked the world. More importantly, he shocked the media. They realized they created a monster. Now, it was up to them to stop it.
The media was on Trump’s ass for every single transgression, tweet, or mean comment. They took him to task for everything. Let’s be clear, the media should hold the President accountable. Unlike many who think politicians and journalists are above criticism, the President deserves our scorn.
As a President, he was absolutely terrible. That much is clear. Just look at how he handled the many crises presented to him.
You had the Charlottesville riots, where he infamously claimed there were good on “both sides.” Or his unilateral support for Israel which led to some of the current violence we’re seeing today.
Oh, and who could forget his tax bill, giving tax cuts to rich people while also raising taxes on the poorest Americans. Make it make sense.
Then you had his racist policies towards immigrants. His border wall was both a colossal waste of taxpayer money and a colossal failure. This all culminated in the most infamous event of his presidency, the January 6th insurrection.
The media was right to take Trump to task for his many failings as President, but now that the dust has settled on his Presidency, it’s time to take the media to task for their failure to report on Trump objectively. Soon after 2016, the media decided their sole role was to stop Trump on behalf of Democrats.
If you’re a Democratic operative, that’s fine. But as a reporter, the one thing you should never strive to be is a shill for another political party.
Reporters refused to cover legitimate news stories about Trump’s opponent, Biden. Explosive revelations like Hunter Biden’s deals with Ukraine and eventually his recovered laptop should’ve proved to liberal media’s critics that their reporting is objective. Instead, they buried the stories. More so, they accused anyone spreading the stories of being dangerous conspiracy theorists.
That same timeline occurred when Trump raised concerns that Coronavirus may have originated in a lab. Immediately, the media pounced on his claims as loony and racist. It didn’t matter there was evidence citing so, just the fact Trump said it caused the media backlash. Now, reporters are even admitting their bias prevented them from accurately reporting on the story.
So, yes, the media has changed tune now. However, it’s only been about four months into Biden’s Presidency, and the media corrections are coming in waves. Suddenly, many of Trump’s most infamous acts are being revealed as lies.
Remember the George Floyd protests in Washington, DC? People rioted over the horrific murder everyone watched occur on camera. During the riots, Trump wanted to show how much of a ‘strong leader’ he was by holding up a bible for a photo-op at a famous DC church.
The media said he had officers use tear gas and beat up protestors to clear a path for the President. NY Times reported how it became a “defining moment” of his Presidency. Recently, a report came out detailing how the defining moment was a lie.
Another infamous “defining moment” was the Russia investigation. For years, following an uncredited dossier alleging Putin had dirt on Trump, the Democrats and the media tried to impeach Trump for his crimes. Trump’s kind words towards Putin showed an inexorable link that he must be Putin’s henchman. And everyone ate it up.
SNL literally serenaded the lead investigator, Robert Mueller. News shows spent 24/7 on “Russiagate,” supposedly the biggest scandal since Watergate. When all was said and done though, Trump didn’t get impeached.
More so, the facts came in about Russiagate. It turns out, once again, everything about it was overblown. Mueller himself basically said there was no evidence for any of the claims against Trump. Furthermore, it turns out President Biden is actually softer on Russia than Trump ever was.
Regardless, diplomacy should always lead first. It seemed like Democrats understood this with Obama’s Iran deal and fostering relations with Cuba. However, after Trump broke their brains, they now spent four years trying to out warmonger the Republicans.
Even when the Trump administration was hardline against Russia, the media and Democrats refused to see facts. Suddenly, “fake news” became just as ubiquitous around Democrats as Republicans.
Then you have journalists and politicians trying to take credit for Trump’s few good moves. The media touts Biden’s vaccine rollout as his first major accomplishment. Except that it was Trump’s rollout, arguably the only thing Biden changed about it was the name.
The Biden administration’s other big win so far, finally leaving Afghanistan, was also a Trump policy. The only difference was that Trump wanted to take our soldiers out of Afghanistan by May, and Biden moved the date up to September.
There are other instances where the media either on purposely lied or didn’t check the facts too. As tough as it is to say, history will almost certainly be kinder to Trump because the media ditched their journalistic integrity.
It’s telling that there were tons of Trump’s actions that Democrats could’ve criticized. Policies like the 2017 Tax Reform Bill which will massively increase income inequality. The Democrats could’ve hammered Trump for that and cruised to election victory just off his disgust for working class Americans.
To do so, however, would mean Democrats needed to care about working class Americans. Instead, the media and the Democrats largely focused on Trump rumors and unsubstantiated evidence. Because of this, his administration’s worst policies never became his “defining moment.”
When multiple of the “defining moments” of your Presidency end up being falsehoods, you’re bound for a reevaluation. He’s still an awful President, but not the one we were told he was.
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