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Journalists have been caught in a fierce post-election crossfire, accused by the president and his team of ignoring or tolerating a massive wave of voter fraud.
“The media is just as corrupt as the election itself,” Trump tweeted over the weekend.
But news agencies that insisted on reporting the facts are confirmed as the Trump campaign’s arguments have so far failed in court and his legal team is in upheaval. This includes Fox News, which called for the election of Joe Biden along with other networks and angered the president because he appreciated the high-level support from some of his opinion leaders.
It is possible that the presidential side will still produce widespread evidence of fraud, but following a scathing opinion from a judge in Pennsylvania, that seems increasingly unlikely.
TRUMP QUESTIONS WHY BIDEN FORM A FIRM AS HIS LEGAL TEAM CONTINUES THE FIGHT AGAINST ELECTIVE FRAUD
Chris Christie, a longtime Trump ally, called the president’s legal team a “national embarrassment” on ABC. Republican Senator from Pennsylvania Pat Toomey says Trump lost the election and it’s time to move on. The national review tears up “Trump’s shameful gambit,” claiming that it “turns a narrow electoral defeat into an attempt at infamy.” So it’s not just the liberal media.
On Sunday night, the campaign threw Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell under the bus, announcing that she “practiced law alone.” Powell, who represents Michael Flynn, was not only announced as part of the legal team, but was also widely criticized last week with Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis, who released the disallowance statement.
It was there that Powell wove a conspiracy theory about the late Hugo Chavez and the Dominion voting machines, although he offered no evidence and did not make those claims in court. Fox’s Tucker Carlson said Powell didn’t offer him any proof and then told him to stop contacting her.
Over the weekend, Powell took it further on Newsmax, claiming that Georgia’s top Republicans (Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger) were making a profit in the alleged scandal – again without evidence. And Powell claimed on Fox Business that “dead” voted “overwhelmingly” for Biden.
Kicking off a campaign lawsuit he said would rob nearly 7 million voters in Pennsylvania, a federal judge said the Trump campaign had assembled a “Frankenstein monster,” using “strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations ”. The campaign plans to appeal, but Biden’s lead in the state is 81,000 votes.
What has pissed off Washington most is the president’s attempt to persuade Republican lawmakers to overthrow their states by appointing pro-Trump delegates to the Electoral College. That’s why he had Michigan’s top Republicans in the White House, although they emerged with a statement saying they weren’t planning on interfering with the vote count, which put Biden ahead of 150,000. It sounds more like an attempt to overthrow the election by crude political muscle than legitimate legal tactics. But the tactic failed in Michigan, which yesterday certified Biden’s victory.
The media are now in total opposition to the outgoing president. In “Meet the Press”, Chuck Todd accused Trump of “aggression against our democracy”. On the “State of the Union”, Jake Tapper said Trump was trying to “undermine democracy” with a “coup” he called “clownish”.
SUBSCRIBE TO HOWIE’S MEDIA BUZZMETER PODCAST, A RIFF OF THE HOTTEST STORIES OF THE DAY
It’s only natural that news outlets that have spent four years portraying this president as a dangerous, norm-breaking liar feel justified now that he’s trying to hold onto power with claims the judges reject.
But it is also true that the media have lost their credibility by too often assuming the role of an opposition party, especially those who have relentlessly promoted the narrative of Russian collusion as a means of delegitimizing its presidency. Much of the country no longer sees the press as a fair arbiter of anything.
Trump’s insistence on a stolen election may have more to do with setting the stage for a four-year term as Republican kingmaker, and possibly another run in 2024.
But while his most loyal supporters accuse the media of downplaying corruption, the facts at this point all point to a Biden inauguration in two months. Suggesting that Trump will suddenly uncover enough fraudulent votes to topple three states may be fine for political cheerleaders, but that’s not journalism.
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