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James Perloff popularized the phrase, "Truth is a Lonely Warrior," with a book by that title.
The press is demonstrating just how lonely the truth about President Trump has been over the last 6 months---so lonely that White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders nailed the press this week with some actual "truth."
Her truth, the press says, "is disheartening"---and makes them "angry."
Last Monday White House Press Secretary made it abundantly clear she and her boss are sick and tired of the way the press is covering President Trump. And she was not discreet with the truth.
The press, however, blames Trump and his administration because they say he is critical of them.
CNN's Chris Cillizza said Huckabee-Sanders condemnations were "disheartening" and made him "angry."
A couple of weeks ago, disgraced ex-CBS anchor, Dan Rather, gave a lecture on MSNBC saying, "If you look at the arc of history presidents who have been very hostile to the press, they have not wound up very good in terms of having their likeness carved into Mt. Rushmore or anything approaching that...You know the old cliche, if you're in a hole, stop digging. In terms of his press relations, he just keeps digging."
I guess that means, "If you don't be nice to us we will destroy your presidency." Or candidacy next time around.
Most know they will try to destroy it whether he is nice or not because they disagree with his conservative agenda.
Finding another willing listener this week, Rather told the Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart, "A free, truly free and independent, fiercely independent press, when necessary, is the red beating heart of freedom and democracy."
Even though Rather destroyed his own career by creating his own "truthful fake news" regarding George W. Bush's Air National Guard service in Texas, which caused CBS to fire him, he is now an advocate of "truly free" and "truly independent" news.
Free and independent of what? Accountability?
Media Research Council is reporting "the media have approached the Trump Presidency with unrelenting hostility."
They say their latest numbers show that coverage of Trump on ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts in September, October and November was more than 90% negative---and they count only explicitly evaluative statements from reporters or non-partisan sources.
In September, there were just 31 pro-Trump statements on the Big Three verses 359 negative. In October, the number of positive statements grew to 41, while the negative statements swelled to 435.
In November, there was less coverage of the president, as journalists obsessed over the destruction of Roy Moore in Alabama. However, the ratio stayed essentially unchanged--33 positive, 320 negative.
MRC has put all that together and it adds up to 91% negative coverage during the past 3 months.
Their research for the preceding 3 months shows the identical hostility toward the president, 91%.
Well, maybe Trump isn't doing anything right, and Dan Rather's free and independent press is merely doing its job.
There was an interesting article in the far Left, biased Huffington Post this week. Perhaps it was a Freudian slip.
Their headline admitted, "Trump is winning."
Their story by Earl Hutchinson begins with this:
This is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to write and admit: Trump is winning. In the brief space of a week, he won a court fight to shove Mick Mulvaney to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Mulvaney wasted no time in unhinging a spate of consumer protection rulings, regulations, and personnel hires made during the Obama years.
His SCOTUS pick, Neil Gorsuch, eagerly cast a vote to impose the Muslim travel ban. His EPA head, Scott Pruitt, delivered a couple million acres of public monument land in the West to oil, gas, and coal industry developers. Trump busily continues to pack the federal judiciary with a parade of ultra-conservative, strict, constructionist Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia clones.
After an all-out tirade against Trump's policies, which are also the policies of those who elected him, Hutchinson admits again--"But so far this has been a win-win, and a sad one to admit."
Truth, apparently, is both lonely and painful to the American press.
Albert Einstein said, "Whoever is careless with truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters."
And the Reverend Charles Spurgeon was fond of saying, "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."
I think the press is counting on that.
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Prayerful.