Since the “Let’s Go, Brandon” incident, the media has been repeatedly accused of reframing news or rewriting words to benefit the President or the Biden-Harris Administration. This week, the White House Press Office and various media outlets like Politico and MSNBC have been ridiculed for denying that President Joe Biden called Trump supporters “garbage.” It has created a weird dissonance as Democratic politicians denounced what the White House and many in the press denied was said. Now, the White House Press office is being criticized from a new quarter for the clean up on aisle three: the Director of White House Stenography, Amy Sands. The White House stenographers objected to the rewriting of the transcript by the Biden White House staff to suggest that the President was condemning Trump’s rhetoric, not his supporters.
The President’s attack on Trump supporters was nothing new. Leaders like Hillary Clinton called them “deplorables,” and Biden himself has described their views as a return of the confederacy and the rise of fascism. Democrats have called the movement a modern form of Nazism and an effort to destroy democracy, round up homosexuals, and create internment camps.
The problem was the timing. As Harris was denouncing Trump for name-calling and insisting that Democrats are bringing the country together (while condemning Trump as a modern version of Hitler), Biden was literally behind her in the White House, calling tens of millions of Trump supporters “garbage.”
Fox News reportedly obtained an email in which the supervisor sounded the alarm on the White House press office’s “breach of protocol and spoilation of transcript integrity between the Stenography and Press Offices.” Sands went on to say that
“if there is a difference in interpretation, the Press Office may choose to withhold the transcript but cannot edit it independently. Our Stenography Office transcript — released to our distro, which includes the National Archives — is now different than the version edited and released to the public by Press Office staff…After last night’s process, our team would like to reiterate that rush drafts/excerpts the Stenography Office sends to assist the Press Office are not intended for public distribution or as the final version of the transcript. Please avoid sharing rush drafts/excerpts, which are subject to review and might create confusion among staff, media, and the public while our Stenography Office completes a thorough review process.”
The White House was criticized for adding an apostrophe to the President’s comments to change the meaning of the key line.
After the statement, there was an immediate clean-up effort by Politico White House bureau chief and MSNBC host Jonathan Lemire, who was accused of changing the language by saying that “Biden, in a Zoom call with the organization Voto Latino, said ‘the only garbage’ was the ‘hatred’ of Trump supporters who said such things about American citizens.”
Lemire was widely ridiculed. For many, it sounded like another “Let’s Go Brandon” moment. He later turned to the apostrophe spin: “The full Biden quote from the Zoom tonight, which is being taken out of context.” Accompanying the text is a screenshot of a transcript that has Biden saying: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”
The spin would have been more convincing if many of these pundits were not at the same time insisting that a line from a comedian delivered at a Trump event should be attributed to Trump (despite his later condemnation of any such view). It would also be more credible if Biden had not spent much of the last four years portraying the Trump movement as a new confederacy (before it was reframed as the new Third Reich).
When asked about the internal objections, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates only repeated the prior statement: “The President confirmed in his tweet on Tuesday evening that he was addressing the hateful rhetoric from the comedian at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally. That was reflected in the transcript.”
However, Fox noted that it remains “unclear … whether the transcript the White House cites is the one that was altered and released to the press or the final transcript that was sent to the National Archives.”
Other reporters now admit that Biden said what he said but describe it, as did CBS News anchor Norah O’Donnell, as “a gaffe by President Biden where he, in his explanation, inadvertently called Trump supporters garbage.” The “inadvertent gaffe” ignores years of portraying Trump supporters as seeking to return the United States to the Jim Crowe period or pursuing a neo-Nazi future.
While various Democratic politicians have denounced Biden’s statements and Harris has said that she strongly disagrees with them, diehards like MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell mocked those who were critical as “some of the worst” or just ungrammatical journalists:
“To do so, they had to refuse to listen to the actual sentence Joe Biden spoke. They had to refuse to look at the written words of that sentence. They had to refuse to understand English grammar. They had to refuse to understand what a singular possessive is. They had to refuse to understand what apostrophe ‘s’ means. They had to refuse to remember what they learned in elementary school about the English language.”
It appears that the non-partisan, career stenographers who recorded the interview contemporaneously are also on that “worst” list of ungrammatical morons.
The mainstream media is now dismissing the entire matter as just the placement of an apostrophe. Yet, many of these same voices were supporting a full-fledged investigation into the transcript of the Ukraine call during the Trump Administration over “the use of ellipses.”
I was critical of that call and supported calls for an accurate transcript, particularly on such a weighty issue. However, back then, the accuracy of such transcripts was accepted as of paramount importance. Whether it is a matter of foreign or domestic policy (or an apostrophe or ellipses), the public should be confident on the accuracy of White House transcripts, as stressed by Sands in her internal objections to the White House Press Office.
One of those objecting to the use of the ellipses was Lawrence O’Donnell.
It appears that one person’s punctuation is another person’s punch line.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
Well, I think Mr. Trump had the perfect response when he drove up to his speech in a trash truck. It’s obvious that this administration and its minions, and Hilary and her minions before Biden thought we were all trash and untouchables.
It’s almost like we are in a class war. That is simplistic in many ways but the screeching from the DNC and the present Vice President all have a hint (very large) of class consciousness in their statements. The Democrats try to relate to us about how they are like us while at the same time letting it be known that they are really superior and should make all the decisions since we are obviously stupid and uneducated and incapable of making saliant points or even understanding what they are.
It’s really insulting in a very visceral way. Coming from fairly humble beginnings where we lived on army bases around the world and as my father moved from enlisted man to officer (reserve commission from OCS) then back to enlisted after demobilization then back to officer when Korea rolled around, it becomes very insulting.
Mr Trump makes no bones about his upbringing and how lucky he was but he demonstrates to his voters and supporters every day that he understands where they are and what they do. He speaks to them and not at them. And he loves them and does not just tolerate them.
Work is work and sometimes glamorous and sometimes foul, but there is always a human being in there and no matter what they do or who they are they deserve respect and not denigration. And thats what they get from Mr. Trump
From the Dems we are told we are stupid, our women are stupid and weak, and out children amount to nothing and should just be aborted because we’re just in the way.
Well a dollar earned working at an incinerator or on a road crew for the Atlanta Street dept in the summer buys just as much as the dollar that you get being an ICU Specialist at a leading hospital in this country and I did both on my way up. You get more dollars, of course, and more praise in some jobs than others but that dollar is still a dollar.
And my vote still counts just as much as any other vote (usually).
Oh and sometimes those trash trucks drag you out of a snow drift in the winter and then just go on and finish their job while you stand there thinking about how lucky you are that trash trucks came your way.(been there also)
GEB,
Well said and I agree.
The Democrats exudes with their smug belief they are superior to the rest of us. We not only see it in politics but in academia. They see us as the “help,” while rolling their eyes at us as we do the “work” they cannot or will not do themselves.
@GEB
Great comment. It isn’t ‘like’ we are in a class war – we are, IMO. The wealth gap is so massive now there is no way most ‘ordinary’ people could ever hope to close it, no matter what they do, at least as things currently stand. I think the modern, elitist left would be happiest if we’s just relinquish our freedoms and accept their plan for a caste society. 🤷🏽♂️
Do you suppose that at a “community organizer” is a euphemism for a Marxist? Isn’t class war part of their strategy?
When one thinks about it, when did the class war really begin in its present form?
E.M.
I would have to say it started with the Democrat party trying to keep blacks on the plantation. Then, the Democrat war on the nuclear family. Followed by their war on religion. Now, their all out war on all the social norms, like putting biological males in women’s sports, getting pornography in elementary schools, indoctrination, cutting off health organs and chemical castration, the assault on parents rights.
“It’s almost like we are in a class war. ”
We are. It’s the unproductive political parasites against the rest of us. It won’t stop on November 6, no matter what the election outcome. And there is an unfortunate possibility that this war might not remain virtual. Everyone with a functioning brain should be making some kind of preparations for that eventuality.
We all heard it. We all know what he said. We sure don’t need MSM to try to explain it away. We have been hearing this Nazi, Hitler, dictator “garbage” for years now. Besides, they have all let it be known what they think of Trump supporters for years too. It is no surprise if they use the word “garbage.” Just yesterday Mark Cuba accused Trump supporting women of being weak and dumb.
The White House Stenography office is right in their objection to the WH Press office of altering the transcript.
Democrats act like Fascists…well because they are!
We need to defund them…at the Federal, States, City, Non-profit and Education level!
Sorry, the trump fits the definition of fascist to a T.
Fascism – A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, a capitalist economy subject to stringent governmental controls, violent suppression of the opposition, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.
Who is calling for their opponents to be charged with crimes (interesting that the “crimes” supposedly committed are undefined, they are just “nasty”)
Who loves the dictators of the world and has actually said he wants to be one? trump.
Who has used violence in an attempt to get his way? trump. Jan 6 was an attempt to stay in power when he lost the election. He has openly called for violence at his rallies.
Please stop with the made up stuff. What does trump say, and do. compared to what the demos have said and done?
“Sorry, the trump fits the definition of fascist to a T. ”
Like police state fascism, Anonymous Useful Idiot? Did Trump commission and pay for an illegal “Trump Russia Dossier” – so that he could send his Attorney Generals and FBI Directors as his personal STASI to perjure themselves to FISA courts in order to get lawless counterespionage spy warrants to use to take out political opponents?
You prefer to call yourself “sorry”. In reality, a far more accurate description is that you’re absolutely pathetic.
Get help for your anger…now. When trump loses the election you really need help.
“. . . economy subject to stringent governmental controls . . .”
You mean like on cars, appliances, energy, prices, health care, banking, student loans, rental properties, . . .?
Pretty sure those fascist policies come from the Left.
Frank Zappa – Apostrophe
All this angst over Biden.
Have you all been hiding your head in the sand these past 4 months? Biden is not running for office. He’s old, says crazy sh!t, and will be gone in less than 3 months.
Meanwhile the cult hero that has assaulted women says he is going to be the protector of women. Give me a break. The rapist is now the protector. What a joke.
Go on JT, keep feeding BS to the masses, they love it.
“All this angst over Biden. Have you all been hiding your head in the sand these past 4 months? He’s old, says crazy sh!t, and will be gone in less than 3 months.”
You hope normal people forget Harris has made no effort to use the 24th Amendment to pry his hands from around the nuclear football he’s sharing with his felon son? That Harris and Anonymous Democrats told us to the day of the insurrection where they removed him as candidate that Biden was master of all he surveyed and was working staff half his age to death.
He’s president, you tell us he’s bat sh!t crazy… and you tell us it’s just Biden’s bat sh!t craziness that people care he’s still playing with the nuclear football.
That would be the president who alternated between raping his aids when he was a senator and raping his teenage daughter in the shower, BTW.
The saddest element in this is the fact that half of the country doesn’t care that the other half was called garbage. They accept the statement and have no problem accepting the ridiculous denials by the Administration and the duplicitous media. This proves the unworthiness of the Left, its hypocrisy and its lack of any sense of decency. The nation must never be placed under the control of these people. Ever.
Two things:
Telling the OFFICIAL Director of White House Stenography to go pound sand while using the media and big tech companies how to spin the speech sounds kind of fascisty.
It turns out the the only reason that Biden, a mental midget with dementia, was sitting in front of a laptop at the precise moment that the Democrat nominee for president was in front of the WH giving her biggest speech of the campaign is because KJP fired up the computer and put the brain damaged Biden in front of it. Now KJP, sadly, does have some power, but in my opinion the order had to have come from someone higher up…DOCTOR Jill Biden.
HullBobby,
Why would they trot Biden out knowing full well of what a disaster he is, is the question I have. Saw the pics and video of him at the Halloween party at the WH, biting little children was creepy.
* The early morning comments made me chuckle. They’ve hit the main points. Particularly –> the thing itself speaks 😏. I’d’s add’s the’s thing’s itself’s speak’s.
The troll’s haves nots arriveds.
The explanation for this situation is quite simple: The Democrats are phonies and they have turned the government into a phony operation to the extent that even involved bureaucrats are complaining. How bad does it have to get for that to happen?
Democrats: the antithesis of democracy.
Although I don’t think it was planned, there’s no doubt that the “garbage” kerfuffle is being used by lefty politicians and their media colleagues to keep people away from the actual facts and bad policies of the Harris camp in the final days of the campaign. Fortunately, the vast majority of folks understand this and have discounted whatever the left is saying as they and we await a Tuesday tsunami. Kudos to Trump and his people, though, who have turned the left’s lemons into lemonade! Whether it’s frying fries or sitting in a garbage truck, Trump has proved by his past record that he’s for the little guy far more so than “middle-class-family” Harris.
JJC,
Well said, especially about how to make the most of a situation.
Two parents PhD? That is middle class in the US. She’s saying she’s not lower class.
Washington DC is nothing but a POOP Show!
You speak the truth
The thing about listening to a guy who has been in politics for 50 years is that we no longer require an interpreter. We all know what he said.
“The Binder” resurrects memories of those ’30]’s gangster motion pictures where the protagonist tells his torpedo to go find ‘da moutpiece’, and bring ‘im. She’ll never rise to the level of the governor of the state. Wouldn’t be surprised if MSNBC has her lined up already. That’s her speed.
Well… Lawrence O’Donnell is a ‘journalist’…
You beat me to it! O’Donnell is an angry, sad man.
No he’s not. He’s just reading copy for a big paycheck. Nothing else.
I cannot see how a Trump administration could allow most of legacy meeting into the White House Press Corp. Why credential any so-called journalists representing outlets, including the WaPo, NYT, ABC, CBS, the myriad of NBC’s, PBS, Politico, AP, Reuters, BBC, CBC, etc., etc., etc., as a matter of honor.
I wish Trump would start learning from the actions of his enemies. When he was giving 2hr press conferences during his first term, he thought he could “win” over these parasites. He didn’t realize that the MS media not only didn’t care what he thought, they despised him as well. All they were doing was trying to trap him and make him look like a fool. He needs to have complete control over how his message is being delivered. Don’t allow the press to do it for you. No more 3am tweets, no more 2hr free-for-all press conferences where he is taking live questions. That was insane and did him no favors.
So, censor the media is your answer? Why, because they hate him? If Trump can’t take the heat he has no business being preisdent. God bless Donald J. Trump.
“Why credential any so-called journalists representing outlets, including …”
I would strongly favor changing the balance of the WH Press Corps, and reducing the representation of the MSM in favor of, for example, JTN, ZH, ET, Rogan, etc. But eliminating MSM would be a mistake, because the left would claim that shut out their readers/viewers, and a large segment of the public would buy it. Currently there is a greater perception of fairness than actually exists; the ideal would be to achieve both real fairness, and the accurate perception of same.
White House Press staff are a bunch of clowns/robots repeat only what they are told to say? KJP comes out with her notebook and reads from it. Violation of the records act? they do not care. Bottom line Biden said what he said and he did mean it. But, I find it funny he seems to come out and say and do things when Kamala is speaking, seems he seeks to steal the show and Kamala finds herself defending.
The thing itself speak’s
The, thing’s, itself, speaks.
When he was dumped by his own party for his cognitive impairment why wasn’t he removed from office? Let’s hope the people of the United States have had enough of this democrat party.
Re:”Why wasn’t he removed from office?” For one, the language of the 25th Amendment makes the the Vice-President ‘Acting President’. There’s something to ponder in the present state of affairs.
The thing, itself speaks.