4-year media blitz against Trump only elevates him

FPI / September 21, 2020

The major media's 4-year disinformation campaign against President Donald Trump is reaching fever pitch as Election Day nears.

In its continuous bashing of the populist president, however, the media "may not be achieving its desired results," a columnist noted.

"While the Trump-bashing stories continue to mount, so, also, do Trump’s accomplishments," Augustus Howard wrote in an Sept. 19 op-ed for the New York Post.

"Many Americans see through the negative reporting and agenda-driven commentary," Howard wrote. "Lacking elite connections and influence, many voters also know, from their own lives, how it feels to be on the wrong side of power — as when their jobs were offshored, or when their businesses were kept closed by the same governmental elites who endorsed non-socially distanced mass protests during the pandemic."

According to the Real Clear Politics polling averages, Joe Biden's reported lead in the polls is closing both nationally and in battleground states. Evidence of enthusiasm for Trump is also real: Thousands are attending MAGA rallies, as Trump takes Air Force One on a “whistle-stop” tour of the country.

"One can almost hear the collective gasp from establishment-media quarters: Can this really be happening again? Won’t any of our Devastating Reporting ever catch up with the Donald?" Howard wrote.

Trump has succeeded — and will likely continue to succeed — "not in spite of the media campaign against him, but, at least in part, because of it," Howard continued. "Voters have grown wise to the media agenda, and recognize stories crafted to fit a certain mold rather than to follow the facts. They know what a smear looks like, and they don’t like it. At the same time, the ceaseless onslaught has made Trump a permanent underdog. And Americans identify with and cheer for underdogs."

As the election approaches, the anti-Trump media unleashes what it hopes will be bombshell after bombshell only to see Americans recognize the reporting for the dud that it is.

The Atlantic claimed Trump ridiculed American soldiers who died in battle. The story was soon undermined by reality. None of its sources came forward. Officials who did come forward — including former National Security Adviser John Bolton, a noted Trump critic — contradicted the account.

Then came Bob Woodward, who taped hours of interviews with Trump for the book “Rage” and who, Howard noted, claims that almost any statement by Trump can be grounds for scandal.

Speaking to Woodward on March 19, the president said of the coronavirus: “I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”

As Howard noted, Woodward eagerly made the leftist media pilgrimage to 60 Minutes where, "clearly eager to use the vocabulary of Watergate, suggested Trump was 'going down the path of deceit and cover-up.' "

"But attentive observers at the time intuited the president’s strategy — the fact that he wanted to take decisive action against the virus while instilling calm in the nation. Where Woodward sees a tragic cover-up, others will find a common-sense approach to an unfolding crisis, and leadership in the context of often conflicting scientific information," Howard wrote.

And while the major media either ignored or dismissed the importance of the historic Abraham Accord, "the American people won’t," Howard noted.

"Nor will they disregard a stock market recovery, good news that a vaccine is likely near, or the president’s pressure on obstinate Democrat leaders to conclude another coronavirus relief bill. Trump’s record of action plainly belies his media coverage."

Free Press International