The Washington Post caused a stir last week after admitting that it published a false account of statements made by President Donald Trump in a call with a Georgia election investigator. While the Post has been chastised by many of us for failing to address other false or ethically questionable articles, it did acknowledge that it got the story wrong (albeit three months later). The real problem is how such false stories are used to create an indelible narrative and lasting damage. Various experts used the false quotes to declare clear criminality while the House managers relied on the false account for the impeachment. None of these members or experts have acknowledged the changed record or the earlier reliance on a false account.
There were two calls on the Georgia electoral challenge and this correction concerns the six-minute exchange between the former president and investigator Frances Watson December 23, 2020. The transcript was published by the Wall Street Journal. The recording was found in a trash folder of the Georgia investigator and would not have been located absent the push from the WSJ.
In both calls, Trump pushed the officials to “find” the uncounted votes. There was pending litigation on such alleged uncounted votes and the other call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (and both legal teams) was a settlement discussion. The entire stated purpose of the challenges was to count what the Trump campaign alleged were uncounted votes that surpassed his 11,780 deficit. Trump put forward different theories of how many more votes were destroyed or not counted. He continued to return to the fact that they only need to confirm 11,780 of those hundreds of thousands of allegedly uncounted ballots.
The Post now admits that it’s bombshell report from early January was wrong and that Trump never told Watson to “find the fraud” and that she would be “a national hero.” Rather, Trump stated that if the officials did a neutral investigation “you’re going to find things” including “dishonesty” – a position consistent with his electoral challenge. I still view Trump’s statements to be irresponsible and unwise. He should not have been on these calls in the first place and many of us criticized his rhetoric leading up the January 6th riot.
CNN has also been criticized for claiming that it confirmed the statements independently. Other media outlets confirmed the account as true and neither Watson nor any other official familiar with the calls corrected the false account for months. The story notably ran just before the Georgia elections and was used extensively in the coverage and the campaign.
I previously wrote about these exchanges in challenging arguments by figures like NYU law professor (and former Mueller deputy) Andrew Weissmann that Trump’s remarks clearly established the basis for a criminal charge. As a longtime criminal defense attorney, I believe these statements fall short of the type of clear criminal intent asserted by Weissmann.
Yet, other legal experts rushed to join the declarations of presumptive guilt. Worse still, the House eagerly latched on to the story to support Trump’s second impeachment. Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., repeated the false quote and insisted that “Trump urged him [sic], ‘Find the fraud,’ and claimed the official would be a national hero if he [sic] did. Let’s call this what it is. He was asking the official to say there was evidence of fraud when there wasn’t any.”
The controversy perfectly embodies the political and journalistic failures of the last four years with a false account being used in a rushed impeachment. Once again, the story was true because it had to be true; because people wanted it to be true. In the media, there is an old saying that there are simply “some facts too good to check.” The Post story fit the narrative and that is what mattered.
Legal experts have long joined “the coalition of the willing” in running columns eagerly proclaiming “smoking guns” and clear crimes against Trump. It does not matter that many of these same experts have declared a long litany of such crimes for years without their being used in an actual charge or an impeachment. Indeed, many declared Trump clearly and openly committed the crime of incitement in January. House managers insisted that he not only committed that crime but that he had no defenses (a position supported by dozens of professors and experts). Yet, he has yet to be interviewed, let alone charged, with that crime.
For Congress, there was even less interest in actually confirming such facts. When I testified in the first Trump impeachment, I criticized the House for proceeding on the thinnest record and in the shortest time of any presidential impeachment. In the second impeachment, the House outdid that record. They held no hearing at all. They conducted no investigation. They did not even give Trump a formal opportunity to respond in a one-day hearing. They used a “snap impeachment” for the first time in history. Due process be damned. Facts be damned. Like the impulse-buy reporting, this was an impulse-buy impeachment. The House did nothing for weeks before the Senate trial to confirm basic facts. It could have easily subpoenaed this recording, but decided to use a false press account. It did the same thing on facts surrounding the Jan. 6th riot. Rather than use weeks before the trial to call key witnesses and confirm basic facts, managers cited news sources like the Washington Post. It left the proof to the press and the press has little to prove when it comes to Trump.
There is still a criminal investigation in Georgia and a grand jury was recently impaneled. As a criminal defense lawyer, I do not doubt the ability to secure an indictment from a grand jury. (The stronger allegations remain tax and fraud claims from Trump’s businesses rather than his presidency). However, I was skeptical before and only more skeptical now on the ability to not just secure a conviction but defend it on appeal. We will have to wait for the evidence to fully evaluate any case against Trump. However, as with the criminal incitement claims, there are ample defenses available to Trump if any charge is based solely on these recordings. It is easier to proclaim such cases on television than to prosecute them in court. If charged, these cases could backfire in vindicating rather than convicting Trump of these crimes. Just in time for the 2024 presidential election.
Anything said or done to support The Party IS the Party’s TRUTH. V.I.Lenin and every socialist since they were spawned
Jonathan: Chastising the Washington Post for misquoting Frances Watson during her 5 min. call with Trump on 12/23/20 is not in any way a game changer in terms of the outcome of the impeachment trial. Trump apparently used the word “dishonesty” instead of “fraud” and “when the right answer comes out, you’ll be praised” instead of “a national hero”. “Fraud” is a synonym for “dishonesty”. No doubt any newspaper should use accurate quotes but the error does not change the meaning of what Trump wanted from Watson–he wanted her to change the Georgia election results. So I don’t agree that the Post misquotes caused “lasting damage”. Most Republican Senators had already made up their minds before the trial. They would rely on your discredited argument that a former president cannot be tried or convicted. The House impeachment managers did not rely only on the Watson conversation. Their case rested on the many statements and actions by Trump before, during and after the election that led up to the insurrection on Jan. 6. You say Trump should not have been on these calls [12/23 and 1/3] in the first place…” Why not? As an experienced defense attorney you know Trump is his own worst enemy. But a narcissist rarely takes advice. He always knows what is required at any given moment. Trump couldn’t rely on Rudy because Giuliani had discredited himself by losing all the court challenges to the election. Trump’s attorneys who sat in on the 1/3 call were in an uncomfortable position. They didn’t want to be accused of also violating federal or state election laws. So it was up to Trump to lead the charge with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger–that is now the subject of a criminal investigation. This is really the smoking gun call that you don’t discuss in your column.
When Trump called Raffensperger he knew his back was against the wall. He had lost all his legal challenges to the election results. Now he had to use extra-judicial means to overturn the election. So Trump did what he often does in business negotiations–bully, badger and threaten, He dominated the call with Raffensperger, often interrupting his own attorneys and aides. Trump made so many false claims it’s hard to keep an accurate account. He told Raffensperger that 5,000 dead people had voted in Georgia. Raffensperger tried to point out that after a full investigation it was found that only 2 dead people voted. Trump wasn’t interested in facts. He went on to falsely claim that one of the vote counters, Ruby Freeman, was a “vote scammer” who ran Biden ballots through a counting machine three times. Trump then falsely claimed there were thousands of forged ballot signatures, that the Dominion voting machines were rigged and there were thousands of Biden votes where the voter was not on the official voter registration list. Trump falsely claimed he had won the Georgia election by 400,000 votes. This is where Trump dropped the bomb, He asked Raffensperger to find one more vote than Biden’s winning margin and added a threat: ” You know the election was dishonest, Brad”.. “Why wouldn’t you want to find the right answer?”…” They’re laughing at you Brad”… “shredding ballots”…”that’s a criminal offense, that’s a big risk for you” “I’m notifying you that you are letting it happen”. Despite the threats Raffensperger and his aides refused to change the vote count. After an hour Trump finally realized he had lost the argument and ended the call. This is when Trump knew he had to resort to the nuclear option–to call on his Proud Boy friends and other right-wing supporters to show up on Jan. 6 and prevent the certification of the Electoral College votes.
Whether Trump is criminally charged, tried and, maybe, ultimately acquitted, it doesn’t really matter. You claim that an acquittal would mean Trump could claim he is “vindicated. Hardly. There is the more important judgment of history. Historians won’t require criminal “intent” to judge Trump guilty of being the most corrupt president in recent memory. That’s really the judgment that counts.
Hey Dennis — will Joe Biden have to stop using his gender-specific language like “Come on, man”….you know, that annoying line he says all the time when he is pressed for an answer? “Come on, man” he whines, “gimme a break”….as if his entire campaign wasn’t one lucky break after another with the friendly media running cover for him day in and day out…..which they continue to do even now when Biden is clearly ‘hiding’ from and avoiding the mostly friendly media. Just sickening, isn’t it?
Why even reply to Dennis’ post with this?
To bad you left our credible sources and zero facts but a true example of Marxist Leninism.
Too bad so sad you offered no credible resources nor facts in evidence. But another fine examplke of Marxist Leninism and their rulke of anything done to support the party is the party’s truth.
JT >> perfect segue to talk about the IC finding that the Russians jumped in on trump’s side again in ’20. Better yet, diving into just exactly WTF Manafort was doing in handing over trump’s internal polling in ’16 to a Russian intelligence agent.
Dare ya.
EB
So a false report is used to impeach a President and nobody is bothered? No in depth scrutiny, no chance to defend against, false evidence. I understand this is politics, but where is the due process? For those of you that think this is OK, remember whips change hands and memories run long. Do not cry the crocodile tears when it happens to your guy and I fully expect it will in the future. This is bigger than an irritating individual President. If a President is not given due process, how do you expect the rest of us to have due process?
The damning part of this is that it makes Trump look correct that “they” were out to get him.
No false report was used to impeach a president. He was impeached the second time for inciting the January 6th Capitol riot. He was impeached the first time for extorting a foreign country with government resources for personal gain. It didn’t hinge on those recordings which materially say the same thing as was reported. We have a full year of Trump lying publicly about election fraud setting up what happened on the 6th. He spent a full year setting up the stage for if he lost a close election and January 6th was the result. It was about the only good thing about Trump, you didn’t need the media to tell you he engaged in this stuff, he did it publicly. I don’t care what party the person is in, if you cannot understand how disgusting his actions were and the damage it did to our democracy, once again, for his own personal gain, then you, like Turley here, just have fundamental moral problems. You care about a maintenance of a power structure and that is about it. There are no discernible values that I can see. Any candidate of any party that engages in this should be impeached and disqualified. I vote in Georgia, it was never even a possibility that the machines changed votes. You get your own paper ballot printed out after your touch screen vote, for you to look at for correctness, which you place in the ballot box yourself. No one ever touches your paper ballot.
This was simply a bunch of lies set forth for two reasons, 1. To make a case if Trump lost a close election and 2. To make GOP voters think there was widespread voter fraud so the nonsense voter suppression tactics that are going on right now in Georgia and other states would have support. It is disgusting.
I wish Turley gave a crap about people’s right to vote, like he cares about people’s non-existent right to free speech on a business’s platform. Platforms are making a choice as to the customers they want to keep. I left social media because of the crap that Turley wants to call free speech. I have since returned to Twitter since they have made an effort to clean up their platform. They have a right to protect their business. Sorry, Turley side rant. I came to Georgia as a libertarian republican and I am now voting democrat almost exclusively until this Trumpism and hatred for democracy is stamped out of the GOP. When a party chooses the path of impeding people from exercising their vote to win elections instead offering a platform that people want to vote for, that party deserves to lose. it is not a party I will ever consider voting for while this is their path.
Hear! Hear!
Well spoken Bruce.
You really have to question the intelligence and/or integrity of anyone who supports Trump.
He is such an obvious crook and charlatan, but he couldn’t con his way out of a pandemic.
Just be glad he’s gone.
The silver lining in Coronavirus – it swept Trump out of office and we don’t have to listen to his BS and blather.
Hopefully he is going to prison.
On another matter it appears that Chauvin is going to get a biased jury.
Attorney Branca is following jury selection at Professor Jacobson’s legalinsurrection.com site
https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/03/chauvin-pre-trial-day-7-defense-burns-two-more-strikes
How many times has the Former Liar in Chief, accepted his THOUSANDS of lies and apologized for them.?
Sal Sar, I agree with much you say and respect your erudition. One thing has me confused: Why that particular alias? Seems 180 degrees opposite from your views…
So olde Edo is a fan of Tokugawa Ieyasu? If so, you might understand Sal better than you think. Sal’s views are complex and atypical, and there are certain eras in which Sal is the guy you want on your side.
There is a lesson here – NEVER BELIEVE THE MEDIA! THEY ARE LIARS!
Is the Trump Vaccine similar to the Salk Vaccine?
Is the China Flu, 2020 similar to the Spanish Flu, 1918?
Is Joke Bidementia similar to Alzheimer’s Disease?
Does the “media,” or the MSM, ever report the truthful truth or only the communist (liberal, progressive, socialist, democrat, RINO) truth?
Answers: No and Yes.
_________________
Nomenclature Update:
TRUMP VACCINE
CHINA FLU, 2020
BIDEMENTIA
Individually and collectively they have and serve special and peculiar interests. Signal diversity increases information in a data stream, reducing the risk posed by misinformation and disinformation, aids identification of propaganda, and enables discernment of other resources. They may be liars, but they don’t have absolute freedom guaranteed by critical mass or force to lie or bray incessantly. Not yet, anyway.
There was a report that Mitch McConnell had sex with a dog in the hall of congress late one night. The dog was a support dog. The dog has a collar which has a tag which says “Support Mitch”.
This just in: Meghan Marxist, duchess of excess, plans to run for President. Developing…
Will the “Duchess of Compton” jump into that primary?
Her career path is appears undecided at the moment?
All reasonable questions. Maybe she just wants to drive the Duke crazy so she can claim abuse and complete her apotheosis to the new and improved Diana.
Yes Diogenes. The kid must be as dumb as a box of rocks not to read her that way. Sal
Hear, hear!
If you’re really struggling to understand why Harry and Meghan made the decisions they made and are living where they are living, all you have to do is watch The Crown.
It’s a beautifully-written, beautifully-acted, very expensive TV series which details the dramas and dilemmas and disfunctions of the Royal family and could be seen as a justification for H and M saying “Nope” to all of it and bailing out for sunny California – halfway around the world.
If I were writing that show I would bring it right up to the present. The last episode would be H and M finishing up with Oprah and then jumping on their pushbikes to ride through the peace and quiet and sunshine of Montecito with Archie in the basket and not a care in the world.
They get back to the house and Meghan takes care of Archie while Harry goes in the house and flips on the telly.
“What’s on then?” Meghan says.
“A show on Netflix, my dearest,” Harry says as Season 1 Episode 1 of The Crown comes on. “This will explain everything.”
And it does. H and M want privacy, peace and quiet and don’t want their lives controlled by a failing, outdated institution loaded with stuck up sticky beaks.
Freedom!
You are as dumb as a box of rocks. You want peace and quiet and then go on a show broadcast internationally and make stupid inflammatory statements.
True they could have avoided that, but maybe they did it to build the brand?
Did Oprah pay them?
Their stock went waaaaaayyyyy up because of that interview.
But I still say they want peace and quiet and privacy, which is why they moved halfway around the world from England and said “Nope” to a very old institution.
The Post should know better than to put words in quotation marks if they don’t have a recording. What they had was a source, and they could have attributed the quotes to the source’s description, and that wouldn’t have been problematic. This was an avoidable error.
Trump told the investigator to find “dishonesty” in specific counties votes, said she had “the most important job in the country right now, and told her, “when the right answer comes out, you’ll be praised.” The thrust of what the source claimed was correct.
In this context, it’s especially ironic that JT continues to insist that “the other call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (and both legal teams) was a settlement discussion,” when it’s been disputed that it was a settlement call. JT should take a lesson from the Post in posting corrections.
“I hope you’re going back two years as opposed to just checking, you know, one against the other because that would just be sort of a signature check that didn’t mean anything,” Trump said. “But if you go back two years, and if you can get to Fulton, you’re going to find things that are going to be unbelievable, the dishonesty that we’ve heard from, just good sources, really good sources.”
Demos-cracy is aborted in darkness.
“The Post should know better than to put words in quotation marks if they don’t have a recording.”
Thanks Captain Obvious. But since when has the WaPo (or the NYTimes) cared about journalistic integrity when it comes to anything to do with Trump?
You’re pretending like this is the first time they’ve ever quoted an “anonymous source” regarding an alleged offense by Trump that turned out to be completely fabricated propaganda.
Just during the 27 months of the Mueller investigation alone, they did the same thing on a daily basis.
As to Raffensberger. Apparently you missed the fact that he deleted the recording of the call. Or so he thought.
“You’re pretending like this is the first time they’ve ever quoted an “anonymous source” ”
I didn’t suggest anything of the sort. The pretend is on your end.
“As to Raffensberger. Apparently you missed the fact that he deleted the recording of the call.”
LMAO. What you’re calling a “fact” is just your personal confusion. The recording of Trump’s conversation with Frances Watson was in the trash folder on Watson’s laptop, not Raffensperger’s. Apparently you imagine that he’s going onto other people’s laptops and deleting files.
The patriotic military in Myanmar would not allow the election, nay, the nation to be stolen by communists (liberals, progressives, socialists, democrats, RINOs).
The communists (liberals, progressives, socialists, democrats, RINOs) have nullified the Constitution and “fundamentally transformed” the United States of America into a one-party communist state in the mold of the one-party communist states of China, Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam and California.
The treasonous, anti-American military in the United States supported the theft of the election and the conquest of the nation by communists (liberals, progressives, socialists, democrats, RINOs).
The American Founders wrote:
“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
– Declaration of Independence, 1776
_____________________________
Hail to the New Guards!
Oh stop! They’re the Washington Compost. They can do no wrong since they are the mouthpiece of our woke overlords. Hail Jeff Bezos! (hope you’re reading this Jeffy. I love Amazon, too). I’m sure Trump said it … or something like it … or didn’t say it all. The tape is doctored!!!
Doesn’t matter.
Trump is out and stifled.
That’s what matters.
America has been saved from the brink of falling into a Third World Banana Republic, run by a corrupt kleptocrat, worshipped by gullible proles.
If the Washington Post was underhanded, good on them.
The ends justify the means: NO MAS TRUMP.
Washington Post has MAGA.
Bezos Uber Alles.
BM:
Out? Maybe. Stifled? Not hardly As for gullible proles, I’ll let that reference from 1984 set it since you raised it there, snob. Orwell had communists pegged and you have irony on the ropes.
Mespo, you stole “Washington Compost” from Mark Levin, the Judge Roland Freisler of the Radical Right,
Georgia is a state named after a royal George.
Paneci is a pan named after a Communist red sea. Someone cooking parts of a royal George in a frying pan will panic at what they will see.
The trolls have their hair on fire today. Fun to watch. Their talking points for today:
(1) WaPo was essentially correct, even if the quote was wrong.
FACT: Trump never made threats or enticements and the press suggested he did. Confirmed by the audio release.
(2) Republicans are as bad or worse.
FACT: Even prominent liberals are so appalled at the woke media that they are turning to Fox to air their outrage.
(3) WaPo goof is not important.
FACT: It would be unimportant if not combined with Twitter’s censorship, etc. but in fact, the goof shows an alarming pattern.
(4) Call names.
FACT: Gaslighting.
In other news, Buckhead is considering seceding from Atlanta. Homicides are up 80% there. Elections have consequences.
Especially fake elections.
If you think the 2020 election was fake or fraudulent, I’d like to sell you the Golden Gate Bridge.
Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8v0TXRTu4E
You can’t. It’s already occupied by homeless.
Actually, you were the inspiration for talking point #2. You are my muse, Benjy.
Talking Point #2 = (2) Republicans are as bad or worse.
FACT: Even prominent liberals are so appalled at the woke media that they are turning to Fox to air their outrage.
Which prominent liberals are going on Fox? That chick from Hawaii? Tulsi Gabbard?
Who else?
Anyone who supports Trump in any way has serious intellience and/or integrity problems.
You really want to see America become a Banana Republic, run by a corrupt, old antichrist?
My guess is you are OAFS = Old And From the South.
And no the Golden Gate Bridge is not overrun by homeless.
San Francisco is still one of the most unusual cities in America, and the third most popular tourist destination in the world.
I was born there.
The president iteration is not so great, but San Francisco deals with it.
“OAFS = Old And From the South” Talking point #4.
“Which prominent liberals are going on Fox? That chick from Hawaii? Tulsi Gabbard?” Another #4
To answer Benjamin’s question about prominent liberals on Fox:
Jonathan Turley, nationally-recognized constitutional scholar
Alan Dershowitz, nationally-recognized constitutional scholar
Glenn Greenwald, nationally-recognized journalist
And yes, Tulsi, former congresswoman and presidential candidate, among others.
Now who do we have on CNN? Jeffrey Toobin, nationally-recognized self-abuser.
As for San Francisco, visited last year and it is beautiful and friendly, but the trend for SF is not good unless folks like Benjamin stop believing everything they hear from self-abusers.
Diogenes,
Turley is an employee of Fox which explains his shameful presence. Dershowitz used to be a paid contributor for Fox, but now he appears to shill his podcast or his books, and Greenwald I suspect is being groomed to join TrumpTV as a paid contributor. There is so much behind the scenes financial machinations of which we are not privy.
BTW, did anyone watch the takedown of Tucker Carlson by John Oliver? Brilliant!
I’m glad you enjoyed San Francisco. Did you happen to visit Marin County were I live?
Marin is lovely.
Thanks for the recommendation!
Jeffrey, I didn’t, but I would have enjoyed seeing the famous FLW civic center. Big fan of FLW. We stayed a few days in Sausalito, and we could see the bay and Alcatraz from our room. Truly magnificent. We spent quite a bit of time on Market and Embarcadero. Wonderful eating and shopping. We visited friends in San Rafael, and I got to see a business colleague downtown for the first time, but we were really there on my wife’s business. I got to be a trailing spouse–which is more relaxing, I can tell you. We left right before anybody knew about Covid-19.
Just for you, Honest One
It’s awe-inspiring to see in person. Did you know that it was his last commission?
https://s30645.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/MCCC-2.jpg
@diogenes
Being a leftist means never having to say you are sorry. After all, you are fighting ‘fascism’ and all is fair and sometimes necessary in such an endeavor.
antonio
Oh well whatever.
Unlikely this was tactics by the Washington Post, but if the Democrats and the left are learning to use evil, untrue tactics like the Republican right – game on.
Whatever it takes to win, right?
Who set the pace?
Remember Watergate?
Considering this and the recently released information regarding the FBI’s spying on the Trump campaign has there ever been a public figure more unfairly treated by the opposing party and the press? A most unsympathetic victim but a victim.
They complained about being called fake news and then proved Trump did not go far enough in calling them out for it.
Trump reaped what he sowed.
He’s a wife-cheating, stripper-shtupping, tax-evading, draft-dodging, student-defrauding, charity-stealing, daughter-creeping, thrice-bankrupt charlatan and fraud who couldn’t con his way out of a pandemic.
Whatever “unfair treatment” was heaped on Trump, he more than deserved.
Fight liar with fire.
He’s out of office, that’s the important thing, and now Biden and Team are left to clean up an even bigger mess than what Bush43 left behind.
Republicans screw it up. Democrats clean it up.
Ben. Since you obviously consider yourself someone to be morally righteous.
Have you seen the photos of Hunter Biden having sex with his 14 year old niece?
Are you bllssfully unaware that Joe Biden completely fvcked millions of people in the middle class through his undying support and passage of BAPCPA? (I’m sure you have no idea what BAPCPA is).
Do you realize that Biden has Dementia, and is nothing more than a puppet who hasn’t done a single press conference since taking office?
As this revelation clearly shows, Biden and the Democrats are incapable of cleaning anything up. These are the same idiots who included the false claims about Trump’s statements in their second failed attempt at impeaching him.
These are the same idiots who spent 27 months on a debunked Russian conspiracy theory, and like their 2 attempted impeachments, failed miserably.
They are the masters of “screw it up”. If I wanted to screw up a steel ball, I’d just send it to Pelosi, and in no time it would come back mangled.
“Have you seen the photos of Hunter Biden having sex with his 14 year old niece?”
If you’ve looked at what you believed to be child p0rn, then you’re a shameful person.
If Hunter Biden had created child p0rn, I expect that he’d have been arrested, so I assume that what you viewed was fake.
“Joe Biden completely fvcked millions of people in the middle class through his undying support and passage of BAPCPA”
If you believe that, then presumably you believe the same thing about everyone who voted in favor of it, like McConnell (and Grassley, who sponsored it). It passed because of the Republican support.
Thank you.
On both counts.
Have people always been this dumb and gullible, or has social media just enabled them to expose their stupidity and gullibility?
And who cares about Hunter Biden anyway?
He’s just a soft spot that Republican Conservative right tried to manipulate to smokescreen all of Trump’s misdeeds and get at Biden.
Didn’t work.
If I were Hunter Biden I would sue Trump for accusing him of taking a $3.5 million bribe from China – if it’s not true.
Dirty deeds didn’t work.
I wish the Republicans would commit mass seppuku with Trump at the head of the pack, bit that’s just a wish.
BendyJi , You and your trolls here are the consummate village idits. Lord darth biden of chyna…is senile , is a puppet , is a sellout. His son is a pedophile. And just like Epstein is a protected class…unless like epstien you trod on the powers that be toes.
People like you and your cohorts that support senile social fascists and their depraved pedophile children are the problem with this country. It’s people like you and your ilk that turn morals upside down and cry wolf when you don’t get your way. Meanwhile we have thousands of illegals …many with covid amongst other communicable diseases being given a free pass by senile lord darth biden of chyna , more taxes by the score , more restrictions on Americans rights and freedoms by the very social fascist you worship. You are hypocrisy wrappe din a poisonous snake and yet you expect citizens to accept you … let alone agree with your insanity. The gall you have… the leap of sheer stupid you take at every stride….. I’d wager even grass dies under your tainted feet that you slither upon.
“January 6th riot”
ROFL….not a riot
a Operation to Enable Fraud
No dear, that was a riot caused by a remarkably corrupt president manipulating the dumbest 50% of America to believe the election had been stolen, and inspiring a mob of mullet-headed, low IQ proles to raid the capitol, destroy government property and threaten lawmakers.
Of course if the rioters had gotten within harm’s length of Pence or Pelosi or anyone important, that Secret Service would have mowed them down.
Fortunately (or not) that didn’t happen, and the Capitol Police showed professionalism and restraint in not injuring more rioters.
IT was a riot and the only fraud were Trump’s claims of fraud.
Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8v0TXRTu4E
Demonstrates two things:
(1) WaPo’s contempt for the truth;
(2) WaPo’s willingness to actively interfere in our political processes.
My real contempt is for the readers of WaPo; they know that they are being lied to and they don’t care.
Dishonesty and hatred combine in a contemptible alliance.
Yup
Trump set the pace for dishonesty and hatred.
The Washington Post was playing catch up and if they learned to use those tactics, good on them.
Fight liar with fire.
Whatever means it took to crowbar Trump out of office were justified in the end.
Hey WaPo, Democracy dies because of deceit as well as darkness
Retraction well after the election; the fake news, lies, were intentional to shift the outcome of the Senate election in Georgia. It was an ends justifies the means false smear and now they have to own it. They are liars and cheats rigging elections with false propaganda.
Propaganda Is Destroying Trust In The Fourth Estate and Wreaking Havoc On Society
Steve, your article there is ok but you do not make the critical observation
The mass media (and social media) are OWNED by billionaire tyrants who want to rule us with lies.
They are hand in glove with other billionaires the captains of global finance.
We are never going to get out of this pickle by asking them to play nice.
Ultimately, we are going to either break them up with lawful tools like antirust, or, they are going to break us.
There is a third possibility, and that is we break them with other tools, lawful or not. That is a possibility.
The forces of global capitalism are out to destroy all nations America included. Old timey conservatives who are reluctant to identify this dynamic are not effective.
The nation-state has to have the power to break up monopolies and curtail the harmful actions of the powerful private interests who are out to sell us all into oblivion.
And our nation state has those tools, we just need to use them.
Sal Sar
Otherwise known as plutocracy