Wendi Deng, the Chinese-American ex-wife of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, is accused of serving Beijing’s interests in the United States. The Wall Street Journal recently published a story reporting how “unnamed intelligence sources” warned Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, about the “threat” his friend Wendi posed. Those same sources claimed Deng wanted Kushner’s help authorizing the construction of a Chinese-owned garden park in Washington, D.C., where a large surveillance tower would have been constructed.
The proposal went nowhere, because who in his right mind would approve such a thing? But Deng denies any association with the construction firm or the project in question. For their part, Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, have been close friends with Deng for years and deny ever having discussed the topic with her or anyone else.
But don’t let that stop the media. Given a narrative that confirms their suspicions and affirms their hopes, they are not going to let pesky facts get in the way of a story.
Not only have all parties offered loud and repeated denials, but The Guardian reports that Marcus Brauchli, the former managing editor of the Wall Street Journal, is “deeply skeptical” of the claims made by unnamed counterintelligence sources.
This is what the press does now in the era of Trump. This is #TheResistance (snicker), reaffirming the adage that when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. This isn’t fake news, exactly. It’s akin to the partisan journalism that was perfectly commonplace throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The difference this time, however, is that newspapers used to pretend to care about the less fortunate. During (and after) the 2016 presidential election, the Democrats and their allies in the mainstream media maintained that white, blue-collar Americans were somehow lesser than other Americans of differing socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds. Now, a vast swath of middle-class Americans was “deplorable.”
To the Left, it made sense that Trump would be middle America’s “white messiah” because he, like them, is a deplorable human being.
When insulting the intelligence and background of a large chunk of American voters didn’t serve the Democratic Party, the Left then sought to delegitimize the historic Trump victory in 2016. They engaged in a yet another tried-and-failed tactic: they claimed the Republican who had soundly defeated the Democrat must have cheated. Tacked onto that ridiculous narrative was the claim that Trump was a Russian stooge. Soon, the raging bile machine that is the mainstream media began insinuating that anyone of Russian origin who was even somewhat complimentary of the Trump campaign must have been an enemy of the state!
The world’s greatest smear campaign was then directed against not just the authoritarian government of Vladimir Putin (which is a terrible regime), but against Russians in general. The racism was stifling—and dangerous, considering how popular Putin has become in his homeland since the American media began their offensive campaign against Russia.
As the Russian “collusion” narrative failed to take off (despite the litany of investigations), Michael Wolff’s book arrived to save the Left’s day. A few short weeks ago, Wolff’s book made national news with claims that Donald Trump was “childlike” and effectively a madman. Within 48 hours of the book’s publication, Trump refuted those absurd claims with another historic move: having the congressional leadership of both parties meet him in the White House, to begin talking about finally ending the chaos over America’s broken immigration system. Overnight, the media’s new narrative on Trump’s mania was blown to smithereens. Next!
A new narrative materialized soon enough. Enter Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.). Shortly after the immigration meeting, an “anonymous source” told the Washington Post that the president asked why the United States should take more immigrants from “shithole countries” like Haiti, El Salvador, and parts of Africa. It was Durbin or one of his staffers. Suddenly, the meme that Trump is a racist and unworthy of the presidency was yet again in play! Trouble is, most of the attendees of the meeting challenged Durbin’s claim. Durbin himself has yet to prove Trump really said the things Durbin insists he said.
With the “shithole” brouhaha crapping out, the media has circled back to the idea of Trump and his inner circle engaging in treason. Only this time, the enemy is China, not Russia.
Repeating themes in propaganda can be effective. But all of this is starting to sound a bit old. The media have tried to delegitimize Trump’s presidency over and over and over again for a year now. They might as well try to switch it up one more time. Protests, whining, claims of collusion, accusations of racism, and outright slander and lies have not done the trick.
The Democratic Party press has become a parody of itself. Americans need to understand that the ground has shifted. The media peddle clichés, innuendos, and rumors as legitimate news. They attack the president day and night, but they fight to restore and preserve a political establishment that does not have Americans’ best interests—or the truth—at heart. Maybe as another media narrative fizzles, people will get the message.