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The Media's Overwrought July 4 Debacle
Townhall.com ^ | July 10, 2019 | Brent Bozell

Posted on 07/10/2019 9:55:51 AM PDT by Kaslin

It's fair to say that a week doesn't go by where President Trump doesn't want to be the center of attention. That being the case, he must be well-satisfied with events leading up to the Fourth of July. He succeeded in creating another full-blown media panic about the erosion of democracy and the collapse of civilian control of the military, all because he is behaving like a dictator. The "news" manufacturers wanted us to know Trump was bending the national holiday into a celebration of his love of self.

The Washington Post kicked off the hate-filled hyperbole when Trump first announced that he would be giving a speech at the Lincoln Memorial and wanted tanks on the Washington Mall and jet flyovers. Stop here and ponder: What in the world is wrong with the president of the United States delivering an address on America's birthday? And what is wrong with showing an infinitesimal display of her military might that ensures her freedoms?

Well, the cost, silly. With a $4.4 trillion federal budget, the country cannot afford it. In its "news" coverage, the Post decried the costs of having the Secret Service suffer the inconvenience of defending the president on such an occasion.

Over the years, the Post and its media brethren have aggressively defended our tax money going to every possible leftist adventure, including when "artists" sunk a crucifix with Jesus Christ in urine and made a painting depicting his mother surrounded by dung. But a celebration of America's armed forces on Independence Day? This was an outrageous waste of taxpayer dollars.

The Post didn't complain about the costs on Aug. 28, 2013, when Rev. Al Sharpton held an event on the same Washington Mall celebrating the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s March on Washington, featuring speeches by then-President Barack Obama and former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. No one at that partisan paper smelled a partisan event.

As with Sharpton's event, Trump's address in Normandy only one month ago was nothing like the media's horror-movie premonition. Trump spoke unselfishly about the greatness of America and the bravery of her military men and women. Commentators noted after the event that it was a dramatic recruitment pitch for the military, which has had trouble attracting recruits. It had nothing do with Trump.

How did the press get this so wrong? Obviously, as the Democrats begin trying to select a nominee to prevent Trump's re-election, the "objective" journalists don't want Trump to benefit from incumbency in any way. Thus, a speech honoring our nation on July 4 had to be denounced as a campaign rally. Their loathing of Trump led them to interpret his every tweet bragging about this tremendous forthcoming event as a sure sign it would be all about his ego and not about our history.

He's playing the press like an accordion. They are the campaign issue. They are the ones politicizing current events against the candidate they despise.

You can also blame the Pentagon. In a post-event segment on "PBS NewsHour," Mike Lyons, a Gulf War veteran and a non-resident fellow at the West Point Modern War Institute, complained that the president's critics inside the military "used the media, unfortunately, to get a lot of disinformation out with regard to how the thing was going to go, that general officers weren't happy about it." He lamented, "Their mission was to execute on what the president's vision was." Instead, they kvetched to eager reporters.

Lyons said: "If the Pentagon released a plan that said it was only going to be a couple of static displays of some tanks and some Bradleys and the like, it would have quelled some of the hysteria that took place well beforehand and made this more palatable from the very beginning."

Of course, the cable-news analysts could have surmised the same, but it would have been contrary to the narrative that the Trump Train must be derailed at all costs.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: 4thofjuly; july4th; media; msm; presidenttrump

1 posted on 07/10/2019 9:55:51 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

The whole “Trump’s tanks” talking point was so childish.


2 posted on 07/10/2019 11:13:46 AM PDT by shanover (...To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.-S.Adams)
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To: Kaslin

Liberals are just projecting how they would act given power. I seem to recall one Barry Obama (or whatever his name is) telling Republicans that he won, and they should shut up and get to the back of the bus that democrats are so gracious to let them ride along on. No, we can’t get along, but it isn’t our fault. We want to be left alone, you want to rule over us. We’ve tried being nice.


3 posted on 07/10/2019 11:47:59 AM PDT by bk1000 (I stand with Trump)
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To: Kaslin
Ever since Brent Bozell pompously denounced Trump (based on incomplete knowledge of the man) in that National Review editon trashing Trump soon after he announced his intention to run for the presidency, I have had no use for Brent Bozell's opinion of anything related to Trump, even a favorable one.
4 posted on 07/10/2019 2:15:45 PM PDT by Albion Wilde (It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it. --Douglas MacArthur)
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To: All

Why is it the focus has always been on the date of the Declaration of Independence. Not when we were actually officially recognized as an independent nation officially created country seven years later on a day and month that ironically centuries later was nearly the same as when WWII officially ended, and yet both dates remain unobserved.


5 posted on 07/10/2019 2:56:47 PM PDT by mosesdapoet (mosesdapoet aka L,J,Keslin posting for the record hoping some might read and pass around)
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To: mosesdapoet
The Declaration of Independence is our founding document as a nation. The Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation as the structure of government.

-PJ

6 posted on 07/10/2019 3:05:47 PM PDT by Political Junkie Too (The 1st Amendment gives the People the right to a free press, not CNN the right to the 1st question.)
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To: Kaslin

bump


7 posted on 07/10/2019 6:55:03 PM PDT by foreverfree
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